Loving the Mafia's Daughter

Nikita Fire licked up the walls of the mansion with a hungry vengeance. Smoke billowed into the sky. This was not what Niki had in mind. She stared at the new recruits with disbelief at their idiocy. There was a reason why she worked alone. Each of the three boys around the age of nineteen stared at her dumbfounded. The middle one with shaggy black hair looked down at his hands where the explosive used to be. Niki wanted to throw him off the second floor balcony. The heat rose and she looked to see the fire had started to devour the stairs. “Get the target!” She yelled. They turned and ran down the hall painted in white with dark wooden trim now stained with smoke. There’s no way that man could still be sleeping. As they left, she turned around feeling the heat of the fire. They needed to search for another exit. She turned, and ran towards the nearest bedroom. The window was open and she could feel the fresh air. However, there was no easy way to get down. She turned her head upwards, seeing the ledge to the house. They would have to climb. Niki ran out of the room towards the target’s bedroom. The boys already had him out of bed with a gag around his mouth. His eyes were wide as he stared at them. His body was trembling. “Let’s go.” She went to his window and opened it. “To the roof, there’s a tree on the other side. I think we can climb down.” With ease, she climbed out of the window and lifted herself to the roof. Niki reached down and helped lift their forty-two-year-old target with a large bald spot on his head out of the window. The boys climbed up. The house has now become a beacon as large clouds of smoke darkened the sky. The Fire department and police were sure to arrive soon, which was never good when trying to kidnap. They ran across the roof towards the tree leaning over the house. Once, they got to the tree. The lanky blonde-haired boy jumped across and landed in its branches. Niki looked at their target, who watched in terror. “Seriously Arnold? Having a tree leaning this far over your roof is a hazard.” She smiled at her own joke. Here they stood on a roof with the house burning, and the high possibility of it collapsing at any moment, and they were discussing the dangers of a leaning tree. “You gotta jump.” He looked at her wide-eyed, different levels of fear apparent on his face. Her orders were to bring him in alive, that was what she was going to do. “Now,” She shoved him hard. He barely made it to the tree. Niki was about to jump when the house rocked and swayed. The front of the house started to crumble. She backed away quickly, creating a jump too long for her to make. In the distance she heard the sirens. They were coming. The law against the mafia never ended well. She looked at the three boys in the tree gripping their target. “Go!” She yelled. “Blue.” She pointed to the oncoming sirens. The boys scrambled out of the tree, literally pulling Arnold with them. He tried to fight, but the three of them held him tight as they made their way to the car. Niki, however, had a different problem. She was still stuck on the burning roof. Fire burst from the large hole in the ceiling, smoke in the air burned her eyes. Niki looked around searching. To her left, she found a drainpipe. She lowered herself from the roof wrapping her legs around the pipe. She let go and started sliding her way down when she heard the pipe make a metal c***k and screech. The fire department was coming closer. She could see their lights turning down the street. Niki worked her way down faster. The drain pipe jerked away from the house, falling to the right. She fell to the side, still barely gripping it. Niki looked down, debating if that was a distance she was willing to drop. The sirens were only a house away. She didn’t have a choice. She let go, falling the last story. Gracefully, she landed and rolled. Officers and firefighters had already started to exit their vehicles. She began running towards the back fence when she heard someone yelling at her to stop. Niki kept going; she was never a very good listener. The fence was at least seven feet high and she had to jump just to reach the top bar to pull herself up. It helped that she was five feet ten inches. She flung over the fence as the police started yelling through their radios of a suspect on the run. Female, long brown hair, tall, wearing a black leather jacket, running southeast towards the business plaza. Niki part ran and part slid down the hill towards the tall buildings. As she passed through the trees of the man’s property, she ran the three blocks towards the center of Scelus City. A large skyscraper with blue and white letters reading Tov Tech Tower gleamed against the night sky. The parking lot was mostly empty with a few scattered cars. She ran towards one of the cars closest to the building, hoping it would be less suspicious to look into. Red and blue lights flashed through the trees, and she turned to look at their proximity. Niki grabbed the handle, fully aware of the sirens on the other side nearing, trapping her. She tugged on the silver sports car handle, thankfully it was open, and she flung herself inside of it. She leaned her head against the seat and breathed deeply, enjoying what might be her last moment before needing to fight her way out. “Next time, I will fling him off the balcony,” she grumbled. What she didn’t expect was to hear someone clearing their throat. She gasped and looked at a man with blonde hair standing by the open door on the driver’s side looking into the car. Niki froze, already feeling the cool blade of her knife against her skin. Not needing the drama, she was about to risk leaving when she heard a cop's voice make her hold her breath. She unsheathed her knife, ready for the fight. “We are looking for a girl with brown hair, black leather jacket. Have you seen anyone run this way?” The man hesitated, and his eyes flashed to hers before looking back. “No, officer. I have not.” “Thank you, sir. Get home safe.” Car drove off. The blonde-haired man entered his vehicle and shut the door. “I’m assuming because I just saved you back there, you aren’t going to kill me.” His voice vibrated through the car. She noticed he held onto his s sounds. “No.” He turned around and looked at her. From the building’s lights, she could see the defined jawline, his cleanly shaved face, and his well-tailored suit that fitted perfectly to his form. He had a narrow, strong athletic build. Even in the darkness she could see he had blue eyes. He said, “Then I am to assume you're going to tell me what all that was about?” She leaned forward. “No.” “Favorite word?” She smiled, seeing what he was doing. “No.” She opened the door and went out. He got out too. “I didn’t catch your name.” She turned around. “You don’t need it.” “Not very friendly to someone who just lied to a police officer. I’m-“ She cut him off, “Don’t want it. Have a good night.” Without looking back, she turned and walked away. She made her way back to The Crimson Spider mafia house. Niki put the last three fingers of her right hand up across her jaw line, the front guard, Huston, repeated the gesture. She sauntered into the house and was caught by her older brother, Orsino. His brown hair was combed back, and his brown eyes scrutinized her. “Did those boys get the target to his location?” she asked. “Yes,” he said. “Though Padre is none too happy you didn’t arrive with them.” She lifted her eyebrows. “His genius of a crew blew up the house before we even had our target. I was the one who got us out of there until Blue showed up and we had to split.” She tried to hit his hand away from her. He gripped her harder. “There is a new development. Padre has a new job for you.” Niki slowly breathed in, steeling herself as she walked towards his office with Orisino behind her. She gripped the door handle, hating being in that room. Nothing ever good came from inside. She opened it. Padre turned around with a cigar in his hand, watching her entrance. As he stood directly under the light she could see the silver hair glistening amongst his black. His brown eyes were calculating and hard. Little emotion crossed his features and she was sure his thin lips were permanently fixed downward into an eternal scowl. “Nikita, sit down.” She obeyed. “DN.9 killed Dever Spillance,” She looked up, DN.9 was their rival mafia group. “Tov Tech Industries is vulnerable now that they have lost their protection. It’s time to send a message.” He tossed her a picture. “You will kidnap Cassius Millbrooks.” She looked down at the photograph and paused. It was the same man she had met outside of Tov Tech Tower. The same man who had lied to the police to protect her, and he was her next target.