Broken Connection

DARINA

I cried until I had no more tears left. The way my father fell down on his knees in front of Nico… I couldn’t get that image out of my head. I’ve always thought of my father as a strong man, but Nico reduced him to a weak, blubbering mess. Now more than ever I was determined to get my revenge on him, if not for my father, then for myself.

But I was angry and disappointed in my father for getting my family into this violent situation. What the hell was he thinking? How long had he been working for the Romanesco Mafia? I blamed myself for letting my parents keep me in the dark to what dangerous game they were playing at. The moment I got suspicious I should have confronted them, but no, I was so wrapped up in my studies and my own life I let it slide. And just look what it got me.

In the bathroom I washed my face, my eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Removing my makeup, revealing the purplish hickeys he left on my neck, I turned away from the mirror ashamed to look at myself. It was