War of the Sun

Four

I stepped into the shower and let the water over wash my skin. For the next twenty-four hours, I want to forget how cruelly the world chewed me up and spit me out. The innocent little girl I used to be had been left to be devoured by the wolves.  Sicily would forever be my home, but it was also the place I died.

Metaphorically speaking of course.

Well physically too.

I grabbed the loofah and let it lather all over my tattoos. The scars that laid under the ink was something only the select few had seen. The times I had been shot or stabbed covered by an art piece that was slowly starting to cover up my body. If I kept getting more, I would be completely covered in tattoos.

When I said, I was living in a hell. I meant every single word. It took a lot for me to get where I am, and it came at a price. My childhood. My innocence. My life.  

To the mafia world, I was a myth.

A legend.

Nobody knew who I was. A faceless leader that rose from the ashes and who kills anyone that stands in their way. I was ruthless all under the age of eighteen. My identity was only revealed to the few I trusted and the ones in the gang that still remember me. A little girl who is feared by everyone. I had been found by the Sicilian mafia right before I met Diego. They had taken me the night I had snuck out of the academy planning to run away forever.

The Santini’s.

They were named after the boss Ricardo Santini who ran the streets.

They were feared by everyone, including the government. Hell. They were the government. I was a young kid who had serious anger issues. I let them have it the night that I had escaped. My anger must have impressed them in some way. Next thing I know, I’m being inducted into it. It didn’t take me long till I slowly moved up the ranks. Finally getting noticed by all the hard work I was putting in. The lives I had taken for them. I was there perfect little weapon. A little girl who looked like the embodiment of innocence, but my lethal skills were proof that I was the devil in disguise. The underworld only knew me as ‘Baby’. A name that was given to me by the capo when I made my first kill.

Years later, the mob got dark. Ricardo Santini became a paranoid prick that liked to take it out on the rest of the crew. Most of the members had been killed off by the endless blood baths the boss ordered against those he thought were trying to plot against him. His paranoia had thinned out our numbers drastically. The surviving members were too scared to stand up to the man who controlled the city, but I wasn’t. I had seen him in a haze created by the narcotics or alcohol he had ingested. Totally susceptible to the environment around him. Oblivious to anything outside of his haze.

When I turned seventeen, I decided to act on it. He had given me a job to kill a man he thought was plotting against him. A man that took interest in younger girls. I was the perfect bait, so I was asked to do whatever was needed to seduce him and kill him. Even if I had to lose the only innocence, I had left to do it. That was my breaking point. I couldn’t take it anymore. I reached for my knife that I kept in my sleeve and sliced his throat a second after he told me. I didn’t stop there. I killed anyone else who wanted to retaliate for the boss’s death, but the list wasn’t long. Everyone was already fed up with how the boss was running things at the end, and all the members that died because of his cruelty. None of the members remained loyal to him, and they instead pleaded their loyalty to me.

It didn’t take long for word to spread like wildfire that the big bad boss was dead, and his killer was none other than the mysterious baby. Outsiders tried coming for me, but they always ended up the same. They got a bullet in their chest, or their throat cut. The surviving members keep my identity a secret, and the new members haven’t a slightest idea of who I am.

Diego is my under boss here in the states, but Alfredo Silva is my under boss in Sicily. He takes care of things while I am in America. He is also the face that the new members and outsiders see.  I tried to keep my mafia life and the academy separate, but Diego could never take no for an answer. By day, we were the bad kids of the school. Everyone feared us, but they never knew just how dangerous we really were outside of the academy. By night, we were leaders of the Sicilian mafia wreaking havoc on those who tried to attack us. Anyone else who as so much as gotten a hint of who I am was killed on sight.

The horrors of what I had done in Sicily had begun to spread like wildfire. I ran the city, and I continue to do so now from America with Alfredo as my under boss. It also created a lot of enemies. Enemies that thought they could take me out or eliminate me from the equation. Taking the empire, I had given my innocence to build, so I would take their lives as p*****t.

I had been in the shower for so long revisiting the memories of my past that my skin began to prune. I turned the shower head off, and I reached for the rob that laid by the door. It was made from the softest material that I had ever touched. ‘Sol’ was embroidered on the back of it. My nickname that my mother had given to me that I had shared with Diego. I reached out for the towel to wrap my hair in. Once I secured the towel to my head, I made my way to the makeup room. There were hair appliances on the other side of the room, and I reached for a blow dryer that laid amongst the other equipment. I plugged it in, and I let my mind wander while my hair dried.

Once It was done, I quickly did my makeup and headed for the dress that I was supposed to wear. My phone that was laying on my bed had begun to ring. I looked at it to see that I had thirty missed calls from an unknown number. Twenty coming from Zach.

That little snake gave my number out to my sperm donor.

How rude.

The phone vibrated again and showed that I had gotten a message from that same unknown number that had been calling my number.

Where the hell are you? You don’t get to just disappear without a trace. I am still your father. Tell me where you are right this second.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the last part of the message. The old man really had the audacity to try to demand something from me after he left me there to fend for myself. When I turned back to look at the dress I was supposed to wear, my phone started ringing.

This time it was Zach.

I got tired of their whining, so I decided to answer it.

“Aurora Russo, where are you? Your dad is going to burn the academy to the f*****g ground for letting you leave without his permission or knowledge.” Zach rapidly spat out.

“The last time I checked, I was a legal adult that didn’t need to ask her ‘dad’ for permission to do anything anymore. He left me there for almost eleven years. He can go a little bit longer.” My voice was filled with anger. I couldn’t help it. He was the reason I am the way that I am. I was doomed the second he sent me to the academy, and nobody knew that they had sealed my fate. Before Zach could respond to what I had said, I decided to give them a broad answer regarding my whereabouts, or they weren’t going to stop hounding me.

I stated, “I’m in America. That’s all you get to know.”

“Oh, sweet baby Jesus. Your father is going to have my head and yours too-” Before he could continue on, I cut him off.

“If you want to keep this line of communication between us, I would suggest to do what you’re told and not give it to him in the future, or I’ll make sure you both will never be able to reach me again.” I hung up before Zach could try to give me one of his lectures again. I looked at the time on my phone, and I realized I had one hour till Diego was here to drag me out.

I quickly slipped on the dress and walked over to the closet that had a gigantic mirror. The outfit was stunning, and my tattoos stood out alongside the glistening dress. With the extra time I still had, I decided to roam around my new home. Even though tonight was supposed to be a night of fun and release. I couldn’t let myself relax. I needed to see where the armory was in this maze of a house. I grabbed my phone that had been laying on my bed and opened the messages from Diego that had a blueprint layout of my home. I took one look at the map, and I realized there was a small armory in my closet behind some clothes along with a panic room for emergencies.

I started walking towards the hallway and pulled open the door that led to my clothes. The armory was hidden and needed to scan my eye, fingerprint and my voice just to be activated. As soon as I did what it asked, the whole back wall to my closet started to open. Revealing a huge quantity of weapons. I was in complete astonishment that Diego had considered this to be a small armory. I couldn’t wait to see what the other armory looked like. I glanced over all the weapons in the room, but I started gravitating towards the ones small enough to hide under my dress. I grabbed two leg holsters that could easily be concealed by my outfit. I reached for two sharp blades and placed them in the holster, and I added two Glock 19s feeling satisfied about being armed again. My phone started playing toxic by Brittany spears, and I knew that had to be Diego. I walked to pick it up, and his chirpy voice roared through the phone.

“Are you ready? Because I’m already outside. Start heading out. Okay? Bye.” Diego hung up before I could utter a response. That cheeky bastard.

I made my way out of the armory making sure it shut before I left. Once I saw that it closed, I made my way to the front door. As soon as I opened it, a chilly breeze hit me in the face. A white Maserati was waiting for me which had to be Diego’s new plaything. As I started walking over, he rolled down his window revealing his pearly whites.

“Looking good. Good looking.” That i***t was smiling because he had never seen me so dressed up. I preferred being in black leather the majority of the time, and the other times I had to be in my academy uniform.

The dress hugged my figure in a way that wasn’t too tight to give away the fact that I had two Glocks, but it was enough to compliment my curvy waist. By the smirk that Diego had on his face, I knew I was in for one hell of a night.