"Don't you dare die under my watch, Isabella."
***
Isabella Moretti is known to be the best among the rest. A deadly rose amongst a field of daisies. A strong ripple in calm waters.
A killer seeking revenge, finds two allies more than willing to l...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Isabella Moretti | Bella Ryan
-
"Turn pain into power."
♤♤♤
"Have you ever been in a situation where you felt so weak and helpless?" I asked Jace, who was sitting on top of the pool table, watching me as I held a dart tightly, squinting my eyes as I aimed at the center of the board.
He shrugged. "I think we all have. We're assassins, we're bound to feel helpless at some point." He explains, making me let out a sigh.
I stood up straight, completely facing his direction.
"I meant before you entered this place-before you became an assassin." I stated, correcting my point.
"What's with all these questions, Isabella?" He chuckles making me roll my eyes.
"Just answer the question, Mendoza."
He lets out a breath. "I don't think I have. My parents were assassins, I was bound to follow their steps ever since I was born. This assassin academy was everything I ever came to know of." He answers truthfully.
"How about you?" He asks, asking me my own question.
I clenched my jaw, nodding my head before throwing the dart and hitting the center of the board.
"Would you mind sharing?"
11 Years Ago
"Stay with me, Ma!" I cry as I continue to pull my mom's sleeve, preventing her from leaving me in this room.
"I need to get your brother, honey. I promise I'll be back." My mother assured me with a soft voice.
"At my young age, I knew that if she got out of that door, she will never be able to come back." I explained to Jace.
"Mama loves you, my piccolo fiore." [Translation: My Little Flower] She kissed my forehead, as both our faces become drenched with our tears. She ripped herself from me-closing the doors of the closet I was in before she got out of the room.
"I stayed there, Jace. For what seemed like hours, my whole body was trembling inside that small wooden closet as I slowly losed hope. Every ounce of belief that I had for the thought of my mom and my brother running towards me with open arms, slowly disappeared with every second that passed."
"Eventually the shooting stopped, and like I thought, my mother and my older brother never opened that door. They never came into the room I was in. They never came back." I say in a low voice.
I raise my head to meet Jace's gaze. His eyes hold a look of sadness.
"The rescuers had to pull me out of that closet and bring me to the hospital."
"Honey, are you okay?" The nurse asked softly.
"M-my mom and Enzo. W-where are t-they?" I questioned, as my hands continued to shake.
She looked at me with pity, hesitating whether she should answer my question. "I'm sorry," I froze.
No, they're not dead. They can't be.
"What are you sorry for? Where are they?!"
"They told me they were gone-that they died. But I wasn't going to buy that unless they showed me their bodies. Apparently the police gave up on finding them. They announced them dead and I eventually ended up in an orphanage."
"I'm sure you're aware of what happened next." I glanced at him.
"Yeah. Everyone was curious of the girl who the Romanos brought home. Especially when they introduced her as their adoptive daughter." He raised a brow.
I chuckled. "I was surprised too. I mean, who would want adopt a kid who survived in massacre?"
The Romanos were the brains behind Combattere L'Accademia: the best assassin agency and academy in all of Europe.
Giovanni and Liliana Romano were merciless in different ways yet they were the only ones who spared me a glance. They raised me like their own daughter, trained me to be the best assassin. They provided me with everything I needed.
"I'm glad they decided to adopt you. If they didn't then you wouldn't have had the chance to meet me." He winked
I simply rolled my eyes at him. "You'll never guess what I found out this morning," I inform, making Jace's face contort into curiosity.
"What is it?"
"The Sicilian Mafia was behind my mother and my brother's death."
"What?" Jace asks, obviously shocked about what I said.
"I was surprised too." I let out a dry chuckle.
"Because why would one of the strongest mafias in the world disturb an average family quietly living in peace?"
Jace let out a breath. "What will you do now?"
"Go after then, I guess." I casually replied making Jace tense from where he was standing.
"You alone? Against a whole mafia?" Jace asked with a tone of disbelief. I nodded back in response.
"I don't know about this, Isabella. They're much more powerful than you think." He warns. "Let me help you."
"I need to do this alone, Jace. This is between me and the Sicilians, do not even think about interfering. I finally have a goal to achieve so please, just let me have it this once."
He sighed in defeat, knowing that he cannot change my mind once I've made a decision.
I will kill, torture, fight. No weaknesses. No emotion.
After all, I'm only a survivor, trying to survive.
