4

London, England ~ Ava’s POV

The Shade and Henry were on one of the rooftops, having our final session on sniping. Personally, I didn’t see why we needed the training. We had sniper assassins in the mafia for a reason. Why did those at the top have to train in it when we could pay them to do the work? 

I personally didn’t like remote killing. I considered close contact killing to be more efficient and faster although it was less safe.

“Each of you will be handed a case of a disassembled rifle. Your goal: Assemble your rifle and eliminate your target in under thirty seconds.” The grumpy man with bushy eyebrows instructed.

A few minutes later four men arrived, each clutching unto a silver briefcase. I watched, slightly envious as the case with the inscription ‘Boss’, was handed over to my brother.

“Ready? Kill!” The instructor barked once we had taken our respective places.

I had my rifle assembled and ready in mere seconds. My target was a dummy in the passenger seat of a taxi coming in fast. It was expected to take a sharp right turn, and then I would lose sight of it completely.

I glanced through the scope and carefully aimed at the dummy in preparation for a clean head shot, then I pressed the trigger. The bullet pierced through the glass and went straight into its head.

“Congratulations, my Princess. You completed your assignment in under twenty-five seconds. I sincerely wish I could say the same for my future boss.” The man grunted, his last words heavy with sarcasm.

I whipped my head in Henry’s direction to see him still struggling with parts of his rifle. He glanced up in frustration and our eyes met. I disassembled mine and arranged its parts neatly into the briefcase before ambling towards him.

“Here.” I smiled encouragingly and guided him on the proper way to assemble a rifle and load it.

This was how it always ended. He getting frustrated over failing an assignment, and me stepping in to clean up his mess or help finish the assignment.

His target was a dummy in a building metres away from here, which bobbed its head up and down continuously. I showed him how to aim properly and left him to press the trigger when the dummy’s head bobbed back up.

“Congratulations, Boss. You completed your assignment with assistance in exactly five minutes.” The instructor scoffed before leaving. He shook his head and murmured to himself as he went.

“Come on.” I muttered, leaving with the others right behind me. Henry stayed behind to try to disassemble his rifle. Keyword- try.

“That instructor was cruel.” Ellie spoke up and glanced behind her at my brother’s diminishing figure in sympathy.

“Cut him some slack. The man is just stressed over the fact that our next Boss may bring this mafia to its knees.” Leroy pointed out, and Eli nodded in agreement.

What he said was nothing short of the truth. My brother failed to gain the respect of the Shade, unlike me who had it without breaking a sweat. I really hoped for the mafia’s sake that my father found a way to make me the boss, because Henry for some reason wouldn’t give up his rightful position. I didn’t intend on killing my brother either to get what I wanted.

I headed straight for my room to freshen up before leaving for the dining hall. The cook had whipped up bangers and mash for dinner. Everyone was present, everyone but Henry. Even my father was here and that was saying something. He was probably sulking in his room again, which was the usual after every training session.

I sighed and begun filling two plates with food. Realizing what I was up to, Eli placed the plates on a tray while Ellie filled two cups with tea and placed them also on it. I balanced the tray in one hand and entered my brother’s room without knocking.

“Hey!” He exclaimed, quickly pulling the duvet over his body, “You really have to stop doing that.”

I rolled my eyes and set the tray on his bed.

“I’ll stop when you stop skipping dinner with us.” I smiled sweetly at him.

“Don’t worry, little sis. I’ll come down to have dinner with the family when your father stops glaring at me like he wants to put a dagger in my heart.”

“So… never.” I sighed.

“Why are there two plates?” He asked after throwing on his shirt.

“Oh, come on, it’ll be like old times when I used to sneak a few snacks up here so we could share.” I grinned, plopping down onto his bed.

He just shook his head at me and begun eating. I looked around his room, it hadn’t changed that much from the last time I was here. My eyes finally rested on a framed photo of a gorgeous woman with brown hair and light blue eyes. Our mother. The only thing we had in common, considering we each got our dominating genes from our fathers.

“How was she like?” I gestured towards the photo with my fork, realizing that I had never really bothered to ask anyone until now.

I never got to meet her. I was taken away from her the moment I was given birth to and never allowed to contact her. Apparently, all I could ever need was my father and the Shade.

“Trust me, she was a horrible woman. She was having an affair with my father way before your father’s coma. She only agreed to marry Frederick for the power and the money. She was secretly in love with my father. Everything was going according to plan for them, until I came along. It was obvious I wasn’t your father’s when my eye colour turned out black instead of any shade of blue.

Strangely, he neither said nor did anything about it. Five years later when you came along, that was when your father filed for a divorce. She realized he had kept her around only to function as an ovum donor. Nevertheless, she agreed to the divorce on the condition that I continued to stay with the mafia, unharmed.

The night you were delivered, was when it was confirmed that she was a psychopath. I watched as she held a knife against your throat, ready to end your life if your father didn’t swear to make me the boss over you. He readily gave her his word, he couldn’t risk taking any chances.”

I gaped at Henry as this new piece of information sank into my consciousness. My own mother wanted to kill me the very night she had me. What did I ever do to her?

“That night your father’s hatred for me ignited. I not only remind him of our mother’s infidelity, but I also remind him of the fact that I was the reason he almost lost you.” Henry ended.

“Why did he marry someone like her in the first place? Was he blinded by love or something?”

“Their marriage was an arranged one, and actually I think you should be thankful they met, or else you wouldn’t be here.” He replied in a tone that ended the discussion and returned to his food.