TAKING POWER [ MAFIA QUEEN ]

Reina Malika Point of View I am Reina Malika and the title power house is merely a formality. And my family’s legacy resonates in every shadow they fear . In the mafia world, my name is not spoken casually. It is whispered , weighed , respected and feared. Not because I come from a dangerous family but because I became dangerous long before I inherited the name. Men twice my age lower their voices when I walk into a room. Men with blood-soaked hands and prison scars avert their eyes. I have earned my reputation with discipline, precision, and bodies left behind. I do not bluff and I never beg anyone . They call me Queen Shot because when I pull a trigger, I silence futures. And yet tonight, instead of standing at the center of a high-level government gold heist ,the kind that requires intellect, flawless execution, and ruthless control ,I am sitting in a parked car like a disposable afterthought. Waiting on them to execute the mission. My father thought it would be a brilliant idea to leave me outside while my brother, Theo Malika, attempts to prove himself worthy. Theo Malika is the family disappointment dressed in entitlement. Yet he is the apple of my parents’ eyes . The most useless thirty year old I have ever seen in my life . The gold heist is already underway inside the heavily guarded government facility ahead of me. Armored walls. Silent alarms. Surveillance grids layered so deep one misstep could trigger a national manhunt. Stealing gold from the government is not a crime of greed, it is a declaration of war. Theo does not understand war. Theo understands shortcuts. I grip the steering wheel tighter, my jaw clenched as irritation simmers beneath my calm exterior. A gold heist is not something you “try.” You either know your cover story, your exits, your decoys or you die screaming. Normally, I would let Theo fail. Let him embarrass himself. Let my father watch his golden son crumble. But not today. This heist is too big. Too visible. Too valuable. This gold will fund operations for decades. It will shape the future of the Malika empire and my children’s inheritance depends on it . I will not let Theo play roulette with my legacy. Two compact pistols rest in my lap, fully loaded. Easy to conceal. Easy to end lives with. I glance at the dashboard clock. Thirty minutes. Then forty. Then an hour. No signal. No extraction. No movement. The street outside remains deceptively calm. Police patrols circle the perimeter too casually. The kind of calm that follows control, not ignorance. My instincts begin to scream. Something is definitely wrong. I can feel it . My phone vibrates. It is Leon on the other end . I answer his call on the second ring . “Do not tell me you are at the heist location,” he says immediately, his voice sharp with concern. “I am,” I reply coolly. “Reina your father forbade you from going anywhere near that place.” “I know.” I respond to him fighting the urge to not shout at him . “What are you doing there?” he whispers . “Waiting for Theo to fail.” For a second there is complete silence between us . “He needs to learn on his own.” He responds to me even though he already knows the obvious . Theo will never change . “This is not a training exercise,” I snap. “This is government gold.” “ Reina , your father will not like this one bit .” Leon insists. “Do not let history repeat itself .” “This is about our children’s future,” I say, my voice low and final. “And I will not gamble on incompetence.” I hang up before he can respond. I step out of the car , anger welling up in my chest . I know that Leon is my boyfriend and the father of my children but what makes him think he can talk to me like this ? I do not take commands from him or anyone else for that matter, not even my own father . My maroon silk suit fits me like armor sharp, elegant, and expensive. Power stitched into every seam. The pistols disappear beneath the fabric as if they were part of me. That is when I see him. One of Theo’s men. Sneaking out of the building. Sweat streaks his face. His eyes dart like a cornered rat. A coward. My blood runs cold. The mission has gone south. I will deal with him later. I have told them many times to never abandon a mission no matter how difficult it becomes . Right now, damage control matters more than punishment. I walk into the building like I belong there. Because I do. At the reception desk, I present a forged identification and calmly request to see the director. The receptionist barely glances at it ,she shouldn’t. I bribed her days ago. This performance is merely to avoid suspicion. My heels echo sharply against the floors as I move deeper into the building, following memory and instinct toward the restricted wing. Toward the gold. Toward Theo’s inevitable failure. “Ma’am.” The voice behind me is rough and commanding. “You are not allowed on this side.” I turn, already calculating angles , distances and kill zones. I am prepared to lie if I have to. I am prepared to shoot if needed . I am prepared for anything . Except what my eyes see . My breath leaves my body in one sharp, silent gasp. Lorenzo. My son. Standing in a tactical uniform ,armed, staring at me. For a split second, the world tilts. My heartbeat stutters. My mind which I have trained for violence, strategy, and survival goes blank for the first time . What… is he doing here? Shock crashes into me harder than any betrayal ever has. This is not part of the plan. This is not something I prepared for. And for the first time in years Queen Shot has no idea what move comes next.