one

Chapter one

14 years ago.

The darkness that surrounded AVIANA under her bed did nothing to alleviate the shaking in her bones and pounding in her chest. Her mouth was clamped shut with her hands and she was doing everything in her power not to be noticed just like her mother had said to her but it was hard especially when she could hear her heart beating loudly in her chest.

The tension in the room grew to a degree that was unbeatable and all she could do was watch and wait like he mother had instructed her to.

She watched in complete helplessness as the strange men in her mother's bedroom became more aggressive with their words, cursing out her mother in a thick accent she couldn't place.

She'd seen them before. Once or twice. Her mom called them friends but she'd always felt something wasn't quite right about them and could never fathom how she'd become friends with men like that..

The yelling continued and Aviana heard her mother began to beg them but they didn't seem to want to listen to her pleas.

They seemed angry about something she'd done or said.

She couldn't exactly see their faces,.only their legs were visible.

She shrsb further under the bed, her tiny hands covering her ears.

The pleading and yelling suddenly stopped and Aviana dropped her hands but that was a mistake because the next thing she hard was the sound of a lion growl and then the souhd of gunshots..

AVIANA's eyes zeroed in on her mother as she fell with a thud to the ground with blood pouring out of her head.

“Mom!’ she yelled, scrambling to come out from under the bed to save her mother but nothing came out of her mouth, it was as if something was blocking her throat. She tried to move to help her mother but she was stuck under the bed. She couldn't move for some reason. Almost there was an invisible force holding her in place, refusing to let her move towards her mother.

“Mom!” She called out again, desperate to reach her but the sound of a loud ringing stopped her from moving.

AVIANA opened her eyes to the sound of her alarm clock ringing. She picked up her phone from the cafe table with a sigh and hit snooze.

It was 12: 45 pm and she had a meeting to attend with the Chief of detective.

A sigh escaped her lips as she stood up from the cafe booth .

She'd been busy reviewing a stupid case she'd been given a week ago.

One she didn't care about.

It was about some woman who was believed to have murdered her husband's lover.

She'd handled cases like this before. They were pretty easy to handle but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to care about this one.

She was more interested in the big price.

The Mafia case that had been taken away from her six months ago because she'd acted a little recklessly.

As she paid the beautiful blonde waitress with blue eyes that always seemed to flirt with her whenever she came around, she made her way out of the cafe and into her car with coffee in hand and took off to the precinct.

“Aviana, where the hell have you been? I have been trying to call you,”

Timothy, Aviana’s partner said,. walking towards her with a concerned expression on his face as soon as she entered the gloomy looking building.

“I was out on my lunch break”

Aviana replied with a deadpan expression.

Timothy rolled his eyes at his partner.

“I thought I told you to cancel your lunch break that we had a meeting with the chief, didn't you read my messages?”

“By 1pm. Also, cancelling my lunch break is out of the question. It's the only time I get to do what I want in this place, I'm not giving that up,”

Aviana replied, taking a sip of her black coffee as she stared at Timothy from under her eyes.

Timothy sighed in exasperation. He was used to Aviana's stubborness by now but it still irked him sometimes.

“So, Godamn stubborn,” he muttered under his breath.

“Whatever, let's go. Meeting started five minutes ago.”

Aviana followed Timothy into the conference room without a word. She knew she'd have to report how her case was going today. It would be a disappointing report because she has nothing concrete to show. Now if it was the Mafia case, she had plenty but that cases was taken from her almost a year ago.

All the other detectives were already seated. They glanced up at her and her partner as they entered.

“Glad you decided to join us, Detective Grey,” The bald headed chief of Detective said with a narrowed and pointed gaze.

Aviana gave a tight smile, “Apologies for my tardiness, Chief, traffic.”

“Hmmm…” the Chiefs eyes narrowed but Said nothing more.

*Have a seat,” He gestured for Aviana to sit and she did as she was told.

“Let's cut right to the chase, shall we?’ Chief Donovan began, wiping sweat off his greasy forehead as he stood up from his seat, facing the detectives.

“We have a big case in front of us right now, Ladies, and only one of you is getting it.”

Everyone in the room glanced at each other except Aviana. She couldn't wait for the day to be over.

“If you are able to solve the case, Well, just know your future is incredibly bright.”

He stood up straight and went to the projector and put it on.

“As we all know by now, my assistant and detective Conor passed away two nights ago. God rest their souls.” The chief said as he did the sign of the cross.”

“Amen,” everyone else replied except Aviana who didn't seem to care.

“We believe this tragedy is the work of a Mafia group,, Conor was secretly working for as an undercover agent. He seemed to have been discovered and killed. He was careless for not letting us know about this but his bravery has gotten us some tangible information we probably would have never gotten if not for his courage. I have decided to give one of you this case because It's time to take these criminals down. An eye for an eye.”

The Chief said, his eyes darkening for a second.

Aviana felt bad but she didn't quite understand his anger. He'd always hated his assistant and Detective Conor. Hell, the man hated everyone.

“Who is this Mafia group?” Detective Timothy was the one to ask, taking the question right out of Aviana's mouth.

“I'm glad you asked. We suspect it's the Iron Vine group. Yes, we are reopening the case,” The chief nodded. His head seemed to catch the light of the fluorescent light above, giving it a moon-like glow.

Aviana’s eyes widened. The same group that she'd been watching for years, the same group that had been responsible for killing her mother eighteen years ago. The same case that had been taken from her six months ago after only a month.

“So, who's getting the case, Chief?* Clara, a Latina detective asked, her eagerness showing. She was a competitive one and Aviana didn't quite like her because she was a little bit of a pick me.

“Detective Salone,”

“What?” Aviana shot up from her seat without thinking. That case was hers!

“Is there a problem, Detective Grey?”

The chief asked.

“Yes, that case is mine. I've been the one working on it till you closed it two six months ago.”

Aviana yelled, unable to control her shock.

“Step outside, Detective Aviana,” Donovan gritted out.

Aviana glanced around her, noticing the look her colleagues were giving her before storming outside.

Once the meeting was Over, she rushed after the chief of Detective, falling into steps with him pretty quickly.

“Sir, I want to apologize for my outburst earlier but I think I should have this case. I've worked so hard for it.”

She began.

“The answer is no,* the Chief said as he pushed open the door to his office.

“Why not?” Aviana asked, pushing the door open and following him in.

“Because you are not for it, now hand over the case files to Detective Salone, I know you've been secretly following them after I explicitly asked you to stop.

“But…”

“Close the door behind you as you leave, Detective Grey,”

He said firmly this time.

Aviana couldn't help but stare in disbelief.

Everything she'd worked for for years… she couldn't let this happen. She had to find a way to get this case no matter what.