Five men glared across the room at the Spanish gangster playing leisurely on his cellphone as they waited for Serenity to take a shower.
Lorenzo cleared his throat loudly, “What are you to Serenity?” he glared.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Peter snickered just as Serenity entered the living room of the Lombardi estate.
“Hey, you’re still here.” She smiled softly when her eyes caught his dark ones and Peter’s smile mirrored hers.
“Of course, you didn’t think I’d leave you here alone, did you?” He cocked an eyebrow at the men watching them like a group of hawks.
“They’re mostly harmless.” Serenity chuckled, but it was cut off by a wince when a sharp pain stabbed her brain.
Xander shot from his seat, but before he could make it across the room, Peter already brought her to a nearby couch.
“Better?” Peter asked as he fluffed the cushion behind her back.
“Much, thank you.” She offered him a beautiful smile and Peter’s breath hitched much like it always did. She was just that; breathtaking.
Looking over at Alexander who still stood in the middle of the room watching them, she cocked an eyebrow, “Have you guys figured out who was behind the attack?” She glanced at her father and brothers with expectant eyes.
Her question seemed to sober them up and all five men tensed up, “There’s been some chatter about the bombing, so far all we know is that someone isn’t happy that you’re alive.” Lorenzo’s jaw clenched.
“I was never dead, whoever’s after me isn’t an enemy of mine.” Serenity stared at them with meaningful eyes and Darrio at least had the decency to look ashamed.
“We will get to the bottom of this Serenity, I promise you that.” Lorenzo frowned deeply.
“I don’t doubt that, Lorenzo, in the meantime, all I have to do is stay locked up here and hide away from the world because someone wants to kill me. Also it’s probably worth mentioning that I lived a carefree life before you decide to drag me back to this… Prison.” Serenity spat the last word like it was acid on her tongue, keeping her eyes set on Giovanni who was uncharacteristically quiet.
“Serenity that’s not fair-” Lorenzo started,
“No, she’s right. I brought this upon her.” He stood from his seat and looked around the room, “Which is why I am retiring as Don.”
Serenity’s eyes bugged out at his words, never in a million years would she have expected those words to leave Giovanni’s mouth.
“What!” Darrio flew up from his seat with his eyes wide in Giovanni’s direction.
“Why?” Matteo hissed, looking at his father with confusion and uncertainty swimming in his brown eyes.
“I have made my decision, Lorenzo will take over operations starting tomorrow.” Giovanni informed them and all eyes turned to face Lorenzo who remained quiet throughout the exchange.
“You knew?” Serenity accused when the look on his face registered.
“I told him not to say anything.” Giovanni stepped forward, glaring with finality as his eyes glanced towards Peter suspiciously.
“What does this mean?” Darrio asked, looking between Lorenzo and Giovanni with a deep frown and Serenity got the idea that she was missing something important.
“You know what.” Giovanni answered cryptically and went to leave the room, but Serenity’s voice stopped him.
“Know what?” She hissed.
“Alessia-”
“It’s better-”
Lorenzo and Matteo spoke at the same time, but they were cut off by Giovanni.
“It’s none of your business.” His back remained facing her, but his words travelled to her easily.
“What? Of course it’s my business!” She burst, she hated being the only one out of the loop, but this time the confusion on both Peter and Xander’s faces matched hers.
“Perhaps if you were a Lombardi it would be.” Giovanni’s words washed over her like a bucket of ice water.
Serenity felt her heart stop for a second before it kicked up its pace to a racing thud.
Giovanni’s footsteps echoed down the hallway and up the stairs, eventually disappearing when he reached his wing of the mansion, far away from the silent living room where five sets of eyes watched her with caution.
“Serenity?” Peter placed a soft hand on her elbow, but before he could take hold of her she shrugged off his touch.
“You should leave.” She stated plainly, stepping beyond his reach.
“I-” Peter went to argue but she shook her head and met his eye.
“I’ll call you later.” She promised and after a few seconds of staring, Peter sighed and nodded.
“Okay.” He conceded and took a few steps back.
“Thank you, and, Peter?” She once again met his eye, but she didn’t have to say the words for him to know what she needed. Peter knew her that well.
“I got you.” He nodded softly, offering her a soft smile before he turned on his heel and left the house.
“I’m sorry.” Darrio whispered suddenly and stalked out of the room followed by Matteo and Lorenzo, but the latter froze in the doorway.
Just when hope surged in her, Lorenzo’s fist flew out in front of him, “Fuck!” The room shook under the force of his assault and Serenity flinched when Lorenzo moved and a hole appeared in the wall.
“I guess this makes you the underboss?” Serenity commented when she realised she was alone with Xander.
“Yeah, it does.” Xander answered cooly in the way that always seemed to help in calming her nerves.
“Did you know about this?” She asked, knowing it was a loaded question.
“He has mentioned a few times over the last few years that he’d retire once he found you.” Xander supplied easily.
“You don’t know what he meant either, do you?” She looked up at Xander to gauge his reaction and when his expression remained unguarded she sighed in relief.
“I’m pretty sure they don’t mean for us to know.” He smiled sympathetically, taking a small step closer to her. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms, but even though she was standing right in front of him, she was a million miles away.
“Of course. We’re not Lombardis.” Serenity sneered, recalling the words Giovanni callously threw at her.
“You know that’s not what he meant.” Xander tried and Serenity’s head snapped to him, staring at him incredulously.
“Apparently I don’t know anything anymore, because the last I recall, you swore you’d never step foot in this mansion again. I was dragged back here against my will, what’s your excuse?” Serenity narrowed her eyes at him and just like that her walls were back up.
Serenity spun on her heels and stalked away from him.
She hated that she was forced back here, forced back into the role of the unwanted daughter.
She hated that she was forced to be around Alexander again, but most of all she hated that she still cared about him even after he’d clearly chosen his side.
Descending the stairs for breakfast, Serenity welcomed the stillness of the mansion, it meant the brother’s had already left for the day and Giovanni was either cooped up in his study or long gone as well. All of those possibilities favoured her. Entering the dining room with a spring in her step, Serenity didn’t notice the man at the head of the table as she danced around piling a plate full of sweet breakfast treats. Alexander watched the show with a mix of amusement and affection as Serenity tried to pick between waffles and pancakes to add to her already unsturdy tower of sugary treats. “One of each.” He suggested, finally announcing his presence when her fork hovered over the plate of pancakes for the third time. His voice startled her causing her body to jerk and before she could react a large strawberry rolled to the floor with her watching in horror. “Look what you did!” Serenity shrieked and bent to pick up her fallen fruit with a pained look on her face. “It’s just
Serenity’s body dropped to the ground and it took a second for her to realise the scream was coming from her own lips.Xander’s footsteps pounded up the stairs, shaking the ground as he raced towards her, but before he could reach her another round of bullets rained through the open door. Uncaring about his broken arm, Xander sprung into action, dropping his body over hers, shielding her from fire as he crawled them away from the entryway.When they were around a corner and far away enough, Xander sat her up against the wall and searched her body for signs of blood.“Serenity, are you okay?” He questioned in a panicked tone.In the distance Serenity could hear me
“You fucking cheated!” Xander exclaimed, after losing by ten points.He was a sore loser, but that was nothing new, it was one of the reasons she always let him win in the past.That, and it usually worked out in my favour.Serenity shook her head to rid herself of her crazy thoughts and smirked at him, “No, you’re just a sore loser. I’m open to a rematch if you’re interested.” She baited, but Before he could answer the sound of the vault door unlocking alerted them.“Get behind me.” Xander shoved her behind his body and drew his gun from his hip to aim it at the door.&nb
Serenity pulled the single duffle bag from the back seat of the car and walked around the house, but instead of entering it from the back like Enzo’s instructions suggested, she kept walking, into the woods. Serenity was a few miles south of the safe house when a loud explosion sounded behind her. From the little space between the trees, she saw the large cloud of smoke that appeared in the direction the house was located. For a moment she was frozen and when she finally came to her senses she took off in a sprint. When the tree line came into view Serenity dropped to her knees and dug through the bag, looking for a change of clothes and anything she could find to disguise herself. There was a burner phone in the pocket of a pink hoodie that she tossed, at this point she didn’t trust anyone or anything. After three attempts on her life, Serenity wasn’t willing to take any chances, but she needed a place to stay and the last thing she wanted was to put any of her friends in danger.
“Hey.” Serenity spun on her feet, her hand flying up to her chest to calm the wild beating of her heart. “You scared me.” Serenity blew out a heavy breath and turned back to the stove where a pan of scrambled eggs sizzled away. “What are you doing up anyway, you should be resting that.” She nodded toward the bandage on his side. “I’ll be fine, I promise I won’t rip the stitches.” Xander smirked and took a seat at the kitchen island. “What ya cooking?” He peeked into the pan, inhaling deeply before he hummed. “Scrambled eggs.” She smirked, knowing it was his favourite. “In butter.” He added and leaned back in the chair with a happy smile on his face as he watched her prepare their breakfast. “Where did you get food from?” He frowned as if just realising the place was void of anything before this. “Ordered online, had them drop it off at the apartment downstairs.” She smirked and dished a heap of eggs into plates before getting started on the bacon. “You could have left, gon
“What exactly did you agree to in there?” Serenity asked when they pulled into the basement of the Jaxon building.“That doesn’t matter, all we have to focus on now is staying alive.” He dismissed her, but Serenity wasn’t the type to back down.“Of course it matters, it sounded bad, whatever it is you can’t do it.” She hurried after him as he made his way to the service elevator.“Assuming we live to see the end of this war-” He pushed open the door manually, “I can handle it, okay? You don’t have to worry about me.” Xander pulled her in and pressed a combination of buttons that got the lift moving.
Serenity and Xander waited patiently seated in the grey BMW X5 for Enzo’s signal when Serenity suddenly broke the silence.“Do you love her?” She questioned, catching a glimpse of the red heart emojis on Xander’s screen.“Love? Who?” he looked up in alarm and Serenity swallowed the amused smile threatening to break out.“Sapphire.” She nods to his phone, “That is her name right? It doesn't seem right to call her ‘the red head’.” She grinned sheepishly.“Uh, yeah. She goes by ‘Fire’.”He replied, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.“S
Checking her phone for the hundredth time, Serenity waited for some sort of indication that they were okay, but like the famous saying goes; no news is good news. Given the stillness of the warehouse and absence of bullets flying, Serenity could only assume they were still alive and well.Just as she locked her phone once more, it buzzed. Serenity hurriedly opened the message and frowned when she saw the words displayed on her screen.“It’s a trap.”she read aloud and before the words were fully out of her mouth shots echoed in the night and flashes of light appeared in the small windows of the warehouse.Scrambling up from the truck, she called to Olympia to drive the truck and sped across the street to the SUV parked across the street, th