Chapter Two
1063 Words
Chapter Two
The hammer divided the middle of his skull open with one strike.
Blood gushed from his head to his knees, spilling on the floor, parts of her boots, and even her cheek. He dropped, lifeless and twitching, a dark pool spreading fast beneath him.
Zara stood over him, her breath unsteady, her face stiff, cold and focused. She threw the hammer beside where his lifeless body laid, a loud clang echoed through the warehouse concrete floor.
While her face still depicted no emotions, she wiped the blood on her cheeks with her sleeves and turned to the guards, everyone staring with their eyes widened and face pale.
"Clean this up, leave no trace of him. This is what you get when you sell us out, and I won't hesitate to rip the next traitor's head off," she said, pulling her gloves off, leaving them on the blood-stained floor.
She walked out confidently from the warehouse with two guards beside her. Outside, her car waited. The driver stepped forward and opened the door.
“Home,” she said.
The door shut behind her.
*************”
Zara got home. A big, beautiful mansion surrounded by armed men. She walked inside quietly to the sitting room. There, her dad relaxed on his chair, smoking a cigarette and sipping liquor.
She turned to him while their eyes met.
"Hey," he said, blowing out smoke.
“Hey Dad”
“Did you find the traitor?”
“Yeah, I did.”
He gave a slight smile. "Knew you would. What did you do?"
"I handled it. He's gone."
Her dad laughed loudly. "That’s my girl. I knew you wouldn’t let him walk away. You’ve always been ruthless, like me." He leaned back. "I won’t bother you tonight. Go clean up. Mark will take care of the rest."
He called Mark, Zara's closest mafia member who went with her, to give him the details on how Zara dealt with the traitor. Her dad always liked hearing how it happened. It made him proud in his own dark way.
"Whatever, Dad. I’m going to my room." She walked off and slammed her door like she always did. It was her thing. Everyone knew that sound meant she was back.
She sighed, letting out a deep breath, tied her hair up, pulled off her clothes and dumped them in the trash and headed to the bathroom. She had a habit of dumping any clothes she wore for missions. She never wore them twice.
She looked up at herself in the mirror. No smile. Just the imagination of her twin brother, of how much resemblance they would have had if he was still alive.
The memory of the man she just killed came to her. She knew for a fact, he was a young man who deserved a second chance. Guilt crept in, but she shoved the thought of him away.
“He was a traitor,” she told herself. “He had to die." All of them have to die for balance. I lived, so I could make them pay. Every single one that wiped out everything that I knew existed. They all have to die.
The memory of it never left her all these years, and lately she’d been digging into where they were staying. She wasn’t rushing it, one mistake could ruin everything. So she had to strategize well on how to raid them down with her men.
For ten years, she trained; fighting, waiting. All for revenge against the East blood Mafia. But she had kept it all low because of Marvy.
She was afraid of putting him and the whole group in danger and then realizing she had been lying all this while about her total existence.
She wished she could just live a normal life away from revenge and Jeopardy. But, she lived all her life in chaos.
I’ve waited this long. But I don't know where to start.
She planned to strike when the time was right and bring them to their knees, begging for their life; she'd watch them suffer, then kill them slowly and get justice for her traumatized childhood. After then, she'll resign from the mafia.
After her bath, she was drying her hair when Rose's voice came from the hallway.
“Zara. It’s time for dinner."
She was about to say no, but Rose quickly added, “And your dad wants you there.”
Of course, she did that. Rose always threw his name in before she could refuse. If it was not for her dad, Zara wouldn't have bothered. “Alright, I’m coming,” she mumbled.
She hated dinner with the whole family. It only reminded her that she didn’t belong, especially when they raised conversations that didn’t include her.
She arrived dining, everyone was already seated. She slid into her seat, face blank, and waited to be served by the maids so she could eat quickly and go back to her room.
“Bring the special champagne for me and Zara, she made me proud today.”
She didn’t look up. “Dad, I’m okay, I don’t want anything.”
He nodded. “Alright, I won't force you.”
“You’re encouraging her, Marvy,” Rose cut in sharply. "The organization’s under heat, we can’t afford to mess this up."
Marvy stared, silent.
"I told you to tell her to cut down on everything for now so we won’t be traced. Just last week, she gunned down three men outside the Fehlings store. We had to clean up her mess.
“Rose, stop!” Marvy said.
"Don’t tell me to stop, Marvy!" If you don’t stop her, who will? I told you not to train her to be an enforcer. She’s a lady, for crying out loud. Everyone sees her as a threat, and she’s putting herself out there.
As they exchanged words, Zara just kept tapping her fork against her plate. She didn’t take a single bite.
“But your sons aren’t handling things the way she does,” Marvy said. “She understands what it means to be part of the mafia; I love it.”
“Oh, don’t bring my sons into this! If she’s arrested, she’s done for. She’s not your daughter. She doesn’t even remember her parents or her real name!”
Rose!” Marvy said, louder this time.
“Enough.”
- Writer
