Chapter 1 - Sylvia' POV
-Flashback-
"Mommy, look," I said as my chubby 5 year old hands held up a poorly drawn picture of a farmhouse with chickens. The kind of place my mother always described in her stories of her childhood.
"That's beautiful darling. We can put it on the table and show Daddy when he gets home from work tonight. Now come on, let's get ready to go shopping and to the Doctors so we are not out all day," Suzanne, my mother, said in her soft voice. For a small tough farm girl background, she was one of the most graceful and beautiful women to ever walk the earth. Her blonde/browned mixed hair and her striking soft brown eyes made her the picture of soft elegance. To me everything about her was perfect.
"Yes mommy!" I ran to get my stuffed chicken and backpack.
I was always a wild headstrong child, a strong mix of my parents attitudes. Almost everything about me looked like my mother. My long hair color just like hers, my features soft and feminine, the only thing I got from my father was his piercing green eyes. My green eyes would shine no matter what the lighting. There was no mistaking who my Father was with our family's eyes.
That day was supposed to be one of the best days our family ever had. At the doctors office we learned my mother was pregnant with a little boy. In Mafia family's that was what every Man wanted was a strong son to take over and lead their business to the next level and make them stronger. My father only wanted boys, he was so disappointed when my mother told him she was pregnant with me. I knew he only tolerated my existence because of her.
When we arrived home our driver told us to wait in the car. Gunshots rang out loudly and the worst silence after to follow. My mother pushed me in the back and put the shopping bags on top of me and told me to stay down. Her car door opened and she stepped out. I peaked up to see out of the window. A man I didn't recognize was talking to my mother. She stood tall and proudly as this man looked at her with hate and disgust. Never breaking her composure as he held up his gun and threatened her. The smile on his face still haunts me in my nightmares as he pulls the trigger and shoots my Mother.
From that day on my life changes drastically. My father couldn't look at me for months. His life became filled with so much anger and hate for the world his businesses suffered. He became cruel towards everyone and started to raise his Mafia stronger with blood and fear. I was never allowed around him. I was locked in the house with my tutors and maids. He rarely let me out of the house. He tried for years to have a male heir with random women he would bring home or hire. He failed to even get them pregnant, surprisingly to everyone.
Then years later when I was 14 years old he started to take his anger out on me. Called me his devil child, the cause of his misfortune. He hated the way I grew up looking so much like my mother. Puberty had been kind to me and I filled out generously in the chest and hips area. I was as breath taking as my mother with her soft features and my father's bright green eyes. This only seemed to anger my father tho. He started slapping me, pushing me down, and throwing things at me. He took his anger and abusive ways out on me whenever he saw me. My only friends we my Nanny and the son of my fathers right hand man, Thane. Thane was the one that helped me escape.
The night of my 16th birthday my father called me to his office. A group of men I didn't know were there and my father was the image of evil that night. He declared me worthless property of his Mafia and I was to be sold to another Mafia for an alliance bringing him money and new territory. The men held me down and branded me with our family's Mafia crest on my right shoulder blade. I screamed as it burned deep into my skin, forever marking me his property. When they finally let me go he told me to pack some clothes because they were coming for me in the morning. The only good thing is he assigned Thane to escort me back to my room. at seventeen Thane was already in training to work alongside his father in the Mafia. He was my guard to keep me in line.
The pain was horrible as Thane helped me back to my room. It only took us a couple of hours to plan and pull off my escape. Thane promised to cover for me and find me when he was able to.
I ran and I never looked back. Busses and walking for days I finally sat down in an alley too exhausted to continue. I didn't even know where I was when an older woman came out and with the help of her husband carried me into their home. Myriam and Stanley Blake had taken me and given me a new home with them. I made up a runaway story and they decided to take me in wholeheartedly. They saved my life that day and never even thought twice about it.
