9

|Alessio's POV|

Never have I ever thought that I would meet my sister again and that too, in the same house as the De Luca Family.

I didn't waste a second and hugged the life out of her when I recognized her. I was confused when she cut me off and introduced herself as my best friend. However, I played along, understanding that she was trying to cover something.

When Lea told me that it was Vladimir who killed our parents and ruined our family, I saw red. All I could think about was ways on how to kill that son of a bitch.

It's been years since me and Enzo have been planning to take him down. Vladimir Molotov is the Leader of the Russian Mafia, the second most powerful mafia after the Italians.

The Italians and The Russians have been at war for longer than I can remember. But the main reasons why Enzo wanted Vladimir gone was because first, he was a threat and secondly, he killed Enzo's sister.

Vladimir is powerful and smart. For us to be able to take him down requires years of planning and power. You can't just be an assassin or a sniper and attack Vladimir, no; you need a whole fucking army. I may be the world's best sniper but I will never be able to take Vladimir down on my own.

Lea told me about her life for the past four years and I couldn't help but to blame myself for everything. If I hadn't gone to that trip then maybe...just maybe I would have been able to protect my family.

I was in another country and only fourteen when I saw the news of my parents' death. The Romanos were famous. My dad was the CEO of a successful company as well as the underboss of the Russian Mafia while my mother was a fashion designer.  I was not in the country because My uncle took me to live with him for a while since we were close. But the guy died of heart attack when he found out about his brother, my father's death.

Nobody knew that the Romanos had two children and my dad made sure of that which kept us safe throughout the years. When you're in the mafia, you and your loved ones are always in danger, no matter what and my dad knew that very well.

I had no idea that my sister was alive until today. My blood was boiling. I had no idea why Vladimir killed my parents but when I find him, which I will, I'll rip the answers out from his god damn mouth before ripping his heart out.

When I returned home, to my country, I was homeless. I had only a few money with me that I saved.  I was walking in the streets when I bumped into Riccardo De Luca, Former Italian Mafia leader, Enzo's dad.

He saw me as a homeless, poor boy and took me to his house. He was damn nice for a mafia leader. I then met Enzo and we became best friends. I would give my life for that boy and I'm sure he would do the same. Enzo was eighteen, making him four years older than me. That's right, I was only fourteen.

Anyway, My sister was the Deadly. Who would've thought? The world's best sniper and world's best assassin are related. Cool, isn't it?

It's been almost a year since anybody heard of 'The Shadow'. I decided that I needed a break because I've been on this for what? Four years. I've been the world's best sniper for four years and now I was back.

I was fourteen itself when I first killed someone, fifteen when I got better and sixteen when I made my own name,  'The Shadow'. I became the world's best hitman at only sixteen. I had go to off the radar for a while due to a very important reason which you would find out soon enough.

"You won't be able to take down Vladimir alone, you know that right?" I asked to which she nodded, "I know but now that you're here. We can do it together."

"Even then we won't be able to. We may be the bests at what we do but Vladimir is a powerful man, Lea and let's not forget that he leads a whole mafia. We are talking about highly trained men and women here. It would be the two of us against a whole army. Enzo and I has been planning to take him down for years now. At first I had no idea that he killed our parents but now I know... I'll unleash hell on that man but we cannot take any drastic step. Maybe you can team up with the Italian Mafia and then together, we take down Vladimir." I suggested. If Enzo had both the 'Shadow' and The 'Deadly' on their side then, they would definitely be able to take down Vladimir.

Lea was quiet for a while before finally nodding with a smile, "Fine then. But nobody can know who I really am, okay?"

"Of course." It's wasn't my secret to share. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat my dinner. Anyway, I definitely do need to thank this Sean." He after all, did help my sister.

**

|Lea's POV|

If The Italians were also after Vladimir then this just makes the whole thing easier. However, I still needed to take down that other man who were present that day; Paul Estes.

After Alessio went downstairs to have his dinner, I closed the door and sat on my bed with my laptop on my lap.

I needed to know where Paul Estes will be tomorrow so that I could finish him once and for all. I hacked into his system and viewed his schedule.

Tomorrow at seven thirty in the evening, he will be at the 'Starlight Club' to meet a business partner. Perfect. I read some other things about him and found out some useful things I needed to know about him.

There's one major problem though- He is into boys mostly. How the hell am I going to seduce him if he's more into boys than girls? Anyway, I'll deal with that tomorrow. I closed my laptop before going to sleep.

**

"Are you ready to go?" Arabella asked, making her way towards the black Lamborghini parked in front of the house. I guess it's her car?

"Oh, no that's not my car if that's what you're thinking. It's Antonio's." She said, as if reading my mind.

She smiled at me before getting inside the car. Blake and Antonio got into the same car and drove away. But...what about me?

"You'll be coming with me" someone said from behind me, making me turn around swiftly. There, stood Enzo with his hands in his pocket, staring at me intently.

There's no way that I'm going with him- you know what? Scratch that. I won't go. I'm going back inside.

I barely made it inside the house when I was pulled back outside by him. "Where are you going?"

"Back to bed" I replied, pulling my hand away from his grip, "You see...I didn't want to go anyway."

He smirked, "Is it because you'll be going with me? Are you scared of travelling alone with me?"

I scoffed at his words. If only he knew. "Whatever helps you sleep."

He clenched his jaw at my words but said nothing. I smirked as an idea popped in my head.  "I've changed my mind. Let's go." I wanted to annoy him.

Without replying, he walked towards his car and got inside. I hopped into the seat beside him and placed the belt on as he did then he started driving.

"So, Enzo De Luca. Is Enzo your name or is it Lorenzo and Enzo for short?" I asked out of curiosity. He glanced at me for over a second before focusing his attention on the way ahead without replying.

I'm bored. It's been like fifteen minutes since we're on our way to the main mansion- that's how he called it- and I've got nothing to do...other than to annoy the shit out of him.

"Enzo" he replied after what felt like hours. At least I've gotten an answer.

"Nice nice..." I replied, looking out of the window. "So your parents are Riccardo and Maria right?"

I already knew all that but like I said, I'm bored and I wanna annoy him so...I'm gonna ask him questions over and over again until we reach.

"Hm" was his response.  I was about to say something but he beat me to it, "stop talking".

"No"

"What?"

"I said, No." I replied, rolling my eyes. What else should I do if not talking? "How long until we reach?"

"Ten" He replied.

"Ten more painful minutes with you...what did I do to deserve this?"

Oh you've done a lot of things to deserve this...for example, Kill people, torture people...

He glanced at me and raised his brows, "You're an assassin and yet,you complain and behave like a god damn child."

A child? Me? Fine...if that's what you want...

"Is ten minutes over?" I asked, "are we here yet?"

"Don't you ever shut up?!" He shouted which made me smirk, "No. Have we reached?"

"For fuck's sake..." He mumbled.

"I want ice cream" I said, "Please? Please? Please? Please?" I kept going on with a series of 'please' like a child would do. He groaned in annoyance before finally pulling the car to a stop.

"We are here?" I asked even though I already knew that we reached.

"No. Stay in the car, kid." He replied, his voice laced with sarcasm as he got out of the car. I got out also and followed him inside.

The mansion was extremely huge, beautiful as well as luxurious. Everybody who were in his way bowed their heads out of respect as he passed though them. He only nodded in response.

I was following him closely behind. I didn't miss those curious and confused looks I was getting as I was making my way inside. He Finally stopped and everybody gathered in front of him.

I only recognize Arabella, Antonio, Blake, Freddy and Izzy from the crowd. They were standing right in front of everyone, smiling at me.

Enzo cleared his throat and spoke, "As you all know, the American Mafia and the Italian have become allies. To seal the partnership, we agreed to exchange one of our own for a while- of course, willingly. Sam, who is one of our best sniper, has gone there for a while... Lea White, one of their best assassin has come here. I expect you all to treat her as one of our own. Am I clear?"

Then I heard an eruption of 'Yes boss' He nodded and waved his hand, dismissing them.