Enchanted By The Villain

(Third Person Point of View) Alexia could not help but hold her breath at the beautiful scenery that greeted her eyes. The island sat on what she guessed could be about 3000 acres with thick and lush green vegetation, coconut plantations, sandy beaches, rich green mountains. It was a haven of natural beauty. In the middle of this seemingly surreal beauty of nature stood the mansion, arrogantly imposing, looming over a long river that emptied into the Carribean Sea. The expansive and breathtaking mansion sat gloriously on a 16,000 square metre of land. The mansion had a rectangular shape curved inwards to accommodate an open yard carpeted with green grass, stretching endlessly from the house. The yard was adorned with manicured flower fences and giant trees which stood aloof like prehistoric beasts waiting to prey on the unsuspecting human elements below. Before this trip, she had done her routine background check and investigation concerning this mission. She knew that her target lived well. He was a billionaire with properties scattered across Europe and America. She knew that he was scheduled to be in his private island at the middle of the Caribbean Sea for the next three months. She had studied everything about his business, movements and shedules. She equally had the picture and schematics of this exotic mansion and had studied it well. She knew every nook and cranny of the island before she took off from Venice, but seeing it now, being physically present on the island, feeling the crisp, watery and fresh-fruit scented breeze caressing her face, a totally different feeling enveloped her. It was in every sense a flawless beauty; the kind of place she would love to spend quality time when she retired, that's if there was retirement for her, because the only retirement that seemed to await her kind was the grave. As the chopper touched down on the turf of the vast open yard meters away from the mansion, Alexia alighted from the flight concealing her excitement about the private island and its undeniable beauty. A balded man in uniform, with the face of a dedicated handy man, approached from the house. His movement was almost robotic and his hands looked hard and dry like someone who had known manual labour all his life. As his face parted in what he must have thought was a beautiful smile, deep lines appeared vertically on both sides of his face and veins lined his forehead. Had he practiced with a mirror, he wouldn't have risked this smile, Alexia thought to herself. "Welcome to Coconut Island Ms. Harvey." The man greeted with a strange accent and quickly went for her suitcase and duffle bag without waiting for a response. Effortlessly, he pulled both bags out of the aircraft and turned quickly to face her, the smile returning to his face. "Would you follow me please?" He asked with the same accent but this time it sounded a bit familiar to Alexia. Middle East, Palestinian or Jordanian? Alexia queried in her mind tasking her brain to remember exactly where she had heard that accent. Precisely six years, three months and fourteen days before this mission, she had spent eighteen months in a Jordanian correctional facility for a drug related offence. She was on a business assignment to deliver a parcel of white to a cartel boss in Palestine when she got arrested by the Jordanian Anti-Narcotics Department (AND). Thanks to Don Patrizio Giovanni who was able to get her out with his contacts after a year and six months of incarceration and torture. She had refused to divulge information that could lead to a clamp down of the Middle East drug network. She was thankful for his intervention, as she would have faced capital punishment had he not gotten her out, but still, she knew that it was not out of love and goodwill that he did it as he claimed but because she was his most prized asset and not expendable yet. Knowing her worth and reputation in the dark world of organized crime, he couldn't risk rival cartels getting to her first. He knew they would push for her release if he had sat back or delayed further. From the moment she came on board his organization, business had expanded to unimaginable heights because of her skillset and unrivalled resourcefulness. She had saved his life on two remarkable occasions killing five most feared assassins in the European drug world in the process. She was revered and called the "hit woman" by those below her in the cartel's hierarchy. Her exploits inspired other girls and forced them to submit to the crucibles of vicious training in martial arts and fire arms combat. The boys, even the most ruthless of them, saw her as serious competition. She did special jobs, jobs that others wouldn't dare to touch. She was Don Patrizio's best asset.