1

~

Chapter 1

Alexia Skylar Hale

To be honest, killing was easy for me. Showing no emotions and killing them, the enemies. There I was, killing for my father. It was my job as il fantasma but as Alexia Skylar Hale, My job was to control my father's company by his side.

My father was Chris Hale. The owner of the Hale company and the leader of the American mafia. We were the second most well known family because of our company. Us being in the mafia part was private. In the mafia world, we were ranked second and we were fine with it considering the family who was ranked first was my father's friend, an ally. They were the De Santis, Italian mafia.

Like us, most people weren't aware of their involvement in the mafia world. Their leader, Ace, was 22 and rumors had it, he was good at his job. People were scared of him for reasons I knew all too well. I, however, was more of a myth. No one was aware of my identity as 'Il fantasma' except for my father and my mother.

"Alexia, focus." My father hissed through the ear piece.

"Relax." I rolled my eyes, knowing damn well that he couldn't see me. "I have eyes on them. I'm just waiting for your orders, dad." I laid flat on my stomach, aiming at a man who was no angel, trust me. He killed thousands of people and each time he got away with it. But this time, he fucked up. Bad. He stole from my father. In general, people who stole from him didn't get to live and guess who got to be responsible for making them pay. It was honorable at the very least.

"Now." That was all I was waiting for. I released the trigger, the bullet immediately pierced his skull and he dropped dead.

"Good job." I didn't have time to reply when he shot another order at me. "Get out of there now. His bodyguards saw you. They're coming."

I quickly packed up my things and ran towards my car before any of them could reach me. Just when I reached my car, one of them grabbed my arm. Grabbing his arm, I twisted it before kicking him in his balls. I smiled when he yelled in pain. I seized the opportunity to get into my car as several guns were aimed at me. They started shooting but I successfully got out of there not before one of them managed to hit me.

"Fuck." I cursed when I felt a sharp pain on my pain. That earned my father's attention. His concerned tone made me lie. "I'm fine. I'm coming home."

After around 15 minutes, I reached my house. I knew I had to be extra quiet because of my mother and sister. I didn't need any of them to see me covered in my own blood. My mother never really liked all these mafia things but she couldn't do much about it. She couldn't do anything about it, actually. My sister, Daniella, and I were trained and taught things when we were kids. My sister failed every training and I, however, passed them all. I made an effort to pass and she didn't. She never was interested in our mafia life and never wanted to have a part in it. She just enjoyed the luxury that came with it. Part of me was grateful for sister's disinterest in the mafia world because she was older, which made her my father's heir. But since she wasn't interested, it fell to me.

I stepped out of my car after parking it in the garage. I held my bleeding arm and pressed the wound, attempting to prevent blood from dripping onto the ground. Once in my house, I climbed the stairs as quietly as I could to avoid making a noise which would earn my mother's or sister's attention. Just when I thought I was clear, an all too familiar voice yelled my name. Turning around, I caught my mother's stare before it found my bleeding arm. She rushed to my side, a worried look on her face. "What the hell happened?"

"Well, I got shot and if you don't let me go and remove that bullet, I might as well die. So, if you'll excuse me...", my mother knew I was joking about the whole dying part. It wasn't the first time I had gotten shot. She also knew I was capable of removing the bullet and stitching myself up just fine. She only sighed, shaking her head. "When you're done, come downstairs and eat something."

I gave her a nod and went to my room. Opening the top drawer, I took out the equipment needed to remove that bullet. Once done, I stitched it back up after disinfecting it and wrapped a bandage around it then went downstairs to eat something. I was greeted with my father, mother and sister, all sitting around the dining table.

"Are you good?", My father asked, glancing at me. I nodded, taking another bite of my pizza. He smiled at me in response. Daniella, my sister, was on her phone. Probably stalking some guy on Social media. She hadn't even touched her food.

"Alexia, when you shot Richard earlier, did you see a file on him? Or with someone who was near him? Or on a table or something?" My father asked, taking a sip of his water.

"Yeah." I replied. "There was this man next to him, he had a red file on him but he got away. I didn't bother going after him. He was a nobody."

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "They were right then."

"Who and about what?"

"I got a call just after you got home, saying that someone has evidence on all of our business that has been going on." He paused, "Underground. Not only on ours but on the De Santis's as well."

That couldn't be possible. Information on our mafia was classified and only the people within the mafia were aware of them. For someone to have evidence, that someone had to be someone on the inside. Which meant someone snitched on us. "We had a snitch?"

My father nodded, coming to the same conclusion as I did. "We need to host a meeting and fast."

"I'm sure you're gonna find whoever that bitch is." My mom assured us with a smile which I returned. I always admired her positivity, to be honest. She was amazing.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Daniella spoke after a while, standing up and walking away with her eyes glued on her phone screen. I rolled my eyes at her behavior, not bothering to say anything to her.

"We'll find them and the evidences. I won't let anything happen to us." I assured my father. More like, I assured myself.