Secret Mafia Princess

Nova’s POV My name is Nova Miller, I'm twenty four years old and my height is 5'8. I have dark brown hair and my eyes are blue and green, depending on the lighting. My mother's name is Elise Miller and she's the only family I have. Her parents kicked her out when she was pregnant with me because she didn't follow their strict lifestyle. She never had any siblings and as far as my father goes ; I've never met him. My mother used to talk about him sometimes if I asked but I could see the pain in her eyes so after a while I stopped asking and just accepted. Because if he wanted to be apart of my life he would be around. Right? I've lived in New York with my mother for as long as I can remember. It's always just been me and her against the world...but one day we found out she had cancer and she tried to fight. She had two surgeries and even suffered through a round of chemo but nothing seemed to work; it just made her sicker. So she stopped it all and lived her last few months without treatment spending as much time with me as possible. She died of cancer two weeks ago. It's been hard but I've been throwing myself into my work. I'm a fashion designer's assistant. It isn't my dream job but I'm not one for the spotlight so I like it enough and it pays the bills. My boss is an older lady who has taught me so much about being a woman in business and she's been extremely understanding and kind through the past few years with my mothers sickness and death. Most people hate their bosses so I'm definitely lucky in that sense. Anyway, today is the day I'm packing up my mother's things and giving items to a local women's shelter that she helped open and run until she got really sick, and even then she would make me take her to visit. My mother had a heart for helping those in need especially if they were women. I know she must've gone through a lot of tough times in her life by how she dealt with things..but my mother always had a kind, calm, innocent, and peaceful spirit about her. It was something I always admired her for but I know that it must've caused her a lot of pain in her younger years because the world tends to try and stomp out the light in people a lot. As I'm going through her things. I can't help but remember memories where she wore the piece of clothing or jewelry. I guess that's how it is when someone dies; you only have memories to look back on and at times things will bring back memories no matter how painful or happy they are. I've just finished packing most of her clothes and jewelry outside of the pieces I'm keeping. She also asked before she passed that I donate her bed and everything to the shelter as well. I even found a key hidden under her mattress belonging to her file cabinet located in her room that she always kept locked. In the file cabinet I just found a lot of my childhood drawings and things, but at the very bottom I found what seems to be her old diary and huge envelope file that says "Ferrari" At that moment I became curious. My mother always said it would get me in trouble one day. She was right… I read her old journal first. I'm a fast reader especially when I'm interested so it only took me about two-three hours to read about her whole life up until she gave birth to me. It only took a few hours for my life to be flipped upside down, and for only one question to remain. What now?! A quick version of her life story is-- she grew up in a rich family. Her mother was an author named Anne Smith, and her father was a business man, his name was Gerald Smith. My mother wrote that she always felt like she wasn't perfect enough for her parents but she knew they loved her the best they could. She more or less had a happy childhood.. and as she grew up my mother volunteered in shelters from when she was sixteen until she was eighteen where she happened to meet a girl named Angelina, who turns out to be my aunt. Apparently Angelina had been visiting California on a business trip with her family, when she decided to visit the shelter where my mother was volunteering. As it turned out Angelina's family, the Ferrari's owned the shelter to help out women and children who had either been abused or widowed. My mother wrote that Angelina was very much like her name, she even called her Angel for short. The two of them quickly became like sisters within a month's time. Angelina couldn't stand the thought of leaving my mother behind so she convinced her to come back home with her for a visit so she could see where Angelina was from. My mother hesitantly agreed because of Angelina's pleading, and her own trusting heart. My mother didn't really find out where they were going until she boarded a seemingly private plane and pushed for answers...turns out Angelina was taking her to Italy. She suddenly realized how crazy it was to get on a private plane with a girl you've only known for a month to Italy. Just as she was about to tell Angelina she had changed her mind, and turned to walk off the plane.......an attractive man walked into her view. Only my mother wasn't just simply attracted to him. Everything about him made her want to know more about him. He walked with such confidence, and seemed to hold everyone's attention, while having everyone's respect. My mother felt like she had to know him, or at least try to know him. Something just came over her in the moment so she took a leap of faith for once in her life, and she sat down and stayed on the plane. My mother found out the mystery guy's name on the plane, Valente Ferrari.. who just so happened to be Angelina's older brother. My mother later goes on to talk about how beautiful Italy was, and how much of a culture shock it was...but she also later goes on to mention how strange and different the Ferrari family turned out to be. The real Ferrari family seemed to have all died off somehow..well outside of Angelina, and her older brother Valente. The rest who Angelina introduced as her family weren't of any blood relation at all, most of them were actually men who walked around like bodyguards. Most of them never said a word unless it was a quick hello to Angelina, or if they were talking to Valente. All of this made my mother more curious about this family, and the more she discovered..the more she realized she didn't actually want to know. She wasn't prepared. But there was my mother falling in love with Valente, and his mysterious personality. She found him to be somehow charming, and he even seemed to have a soft spot for her. Everything would've seemed and would have been like a fairytale, but my mother got too curious. She discovered that life is far more dangerous and cruel than what she imagined.. She found out that Valente was the Don to the Italian mafia, and his best friend Francesco was his underboss. How my mother found out she didn't really explain..but for her to be so scared I know she was one hundred percent sure.