Don

16

Melanie and Miranda both lay asleep in Miranda's bed.

After she woke up alone at 5 am, the cold emptiness of her own room was too much to bear.

Miranda didn't ask questions when her best friend snuggled into her covers.

She just gave her a sleepy hug, letting her cuddle her to heart's content.

She was used to losing everything she lived in an instant; though she should've been, Melanie was not.

But that's best friends are for; to cuddle you and remind you your not alone.

You've got a wacky b***h who calls herself Becky with the good hair when she's mad that'll love you to the end.

It makes you wonder whether that's a good thing or bad thing; but you know it won't be a lonely thing, so there's that.

°°°

Luciana loved her job.

She loved being the bad guy, the villainess of New York and Beyond.

She did not, however, enjoy rescue missions.

It simply went against everything she stood for:

Most all things bad, villainous, and illegal.

She'd bet there wasn't a law she hadn't broken yet; from murder to tax evasion she's done it.

So why she climbing over the ten-foot cement wall of her own safehouse to rescue a couple damsels in distress, she didn't know.

That's the dumb Prince's job; she was the highly attractive, extremely evil witch who wishes death in all things good, nice and sweet.

Except for chocolate and Nutella.

And maybe her brother.

Maybe.

Mumbling angry comments, vivid threats and vicious insults under her breath, Luciana jumped off the wall.

She caught a branch, scampering down the tree and landing in the terrace.

From there she sprinted to the safehouse, her gun in her high heeled boots and a knife hidden in her hair, she opened the door.

Finding it empty but not putting down her gun, she called out cautiously looking into open doors.

"Hello?"

Then, Luciana's vision faded completely black.

°°°

Melanie grinned wolfishly at the black cast iron pan, then to Miranda, and then to the unconscious woman in front of her.

"I thought Tangled exaggerated but nope!" She cheesed, "Instant knockout."

Miranda shook her head in an amused/concerned way, holding her stomach feeling queasy.

"I'll tie her up. You need to go throw up probably, and then we've got to a find a way to get about hundred pregnancy tests."

Miranda ran from the room, throwing up digestive fluids.

Melanie winced.

It wasn't a pretty sound, that much is certain.

°°°

Luciana had a headache, though she didn't remember getting drunk.

She moved around, finding herself tied up in front of a beautiful woman with curls she'd die for.

She refrained from telling her.

"Wow..." She mused, "I'm really taking leaps here. b**m and Girl on Girl? Last night must have been pretty shitty."

"I don't know what nor whom you were doing last night, but you came into our house with a gun," Melanie raised a brow, "Got an explanation? "

"And here I thought you were damsels in distress," she murmured, her assignment coming back to her.

"s**t!" she exclaimed, remembering what she was doing, "Listen, Becky with the good hair-"

"She's Becky with the good hair."

Miranda nodded indignantly.

"Listen, Becky with the bad hair, my brother Giano Baccardi got a message from the Russo brothers telling us to come get you. They said you were in danger."

Melanie remembered the note Pierto left her.

"Where's the proof?"

"In the pudding, Becky!" Luciana said exasperatedly.

"Please. If you die...I'm dead."

Miranda and Melanie shared a best friend telepathic look.

Can we trust her? Melanie said with her eyes.

I think so, Miranda said back.

Melanie grinned.

Just be in guard and get something to beat her with. I'll take my trusty pan.

Miranda rolled her eyes with a smile.

You and that damned pan.

°°°

The attack was swift and sudden. 

Masked men invaded the safehouse before they could get out.

They trapped the three women in the living room, rummaging through the House while they were at gunpoint.

"It's not here," A gruff voice said.

"Take 'em to the boss."

The guns that were at their heads were now pressed firmly to their backs.

How anticlimactic, Luciana thought.

She touched her earring, causing the man escorting her to yell.

"Hands to your sides!"

"I just wanted to make sure my earring was tight," she justified indignantly.

"OK, well-just...don't make any more sudden moves," The man stammered.

"Yes, sir."

He was going to be such a shame to kill.

Her ruby ring glinted with a red twinkle.

Luciana grinned.

She couldn't wait to take their castle by storm.

°°°

Vittore Flores sat in gleeful excitement.

The motherland was finally good for something.