The Mafia’s Prisoner

"Do not make a sound if you want to see the sun tomorrow morning, Carmen." The baritone voice was raspy, trembling with a fear he fought to suppress. Her father’s large hands shoved Luna’s small body into a narrow gap behind the cold oak wardrobe. The musty scent of dust and mothballs assaulted her senses. Luna wanted to scream. She wanted to claw at her father’s shirt, begging him to join her in the suffocating darkness. Instead, a single finger pressed against her trembling lips. The secret door slid shut. Total darkness swallowed Luna before she could even say goodbye. A moment later, the world outside the wardrobe shattered into a fragment of hell. The thunderous crash of the door being kicked open echoed in her ribs. Heavy boots hammered against the marble floor. Luna hugged her knees tight, burying her face in the folds of cloth. She heard her mother scream. The sound was high and piercing, filled with pure despair, before it ended with a dull thud. Bang. Bang. Flashes of light pierced the small cracks in the wardrobe door. Each gunshot felt like a hammer blow to her skull. Luna bit her own hand until blood seeped through her pores to stifle her sobs. She smelled the pungent, metallic scent of rusted iron. It was the smell of blood flowing freely out there. The cold laughter of the strangers sliced through the silence that followed. They ransacked the room, smashing her mother’s favorite vase and shoving furniture aside. "Make sure no rats are left behind," a voice commanded in a flat, expressionless tone. The boots stopped right in front of the wardrobe. Luna stopped breathing. Her heart thundered so loudly she was certain the killers could hear it. She watched the shadows of their feet through the bottom gap. A hand touched the wardrobe handle. The old wood creaked softly. Luna closed her eyes, waiting for a bullet to pierce her skull. But another voice called out from the distance. The footsteps retreated. A silence more terrifying than the gunfire now blanketed the entire house. Luna jolted awake, cold sweat drenching her neck. She sat up on a thin mattress that smelled of damp. Her heart still raced like a wild horse. Her eyes swept over the cramped three by three meter studio. There was no oak wardrobe. There was no smell of blood. There was only the dim reflection of streetlights through a cracked window in the corner of the room. "Just a dream, Luna. That was ten years ago," she whispered to the darkness. She wiped away the tears that had fallen without her realizing. Her fingers were still shaking violently. Luna stood and walked toward a rickety wooden desk in the corner. She poured water into a plastic cup and drained it. The chill of the water slightly soothed her frayed nerves. She stared into a small, blurry mirror. The face reflected there looked pale. The dark circles under her eyes told the story of how rarely she found quality sleep. The early hours of the morning were always the most agonizing. The memory of Carmen Valentina Castillo was a burden she had to drag with her every day. That name had died along with the pool of blood on her old home’s floor. Now, she was just Luna. A cafe waitress with wages that barely covered the rent for this place. She had to get ready. Her shift at the cafe started in two hours. Luna put on her faded uniform. She tied her shoulder length hair back with a simple rubber band. Every movement she made was automatic. She left the room, locking the door with its failing hinges, and descended the creaking wooden stairs. The humid morning air greeted her skin as she walked toward the cafe where she worked as a cleaner. Upon arriving, Luna immediately grabbed a mop and bucket. She began scrubbing the marble floor, which was stained with the footprints of last night’s customers. She did not complain. Physical exhaustion was the only way to silence the noise in her head. As she was cleaning a coffee spill under a corner table, a pair of polished loafers stopped in front of her. "You always arrive earlier than the rest of the staff, Luna." Luna looked up. Mr. Brian, the middle aged man from the employment agency, stood there with a black folder in his hand. His face looked more serious than usual. He gestured for Luna to stand and follow him to the empty bar counter. "I have a new job for you," Mr. Brian said, placing the folder on the table. "I already have a job here, sir," Luna answered flatly. "The salary is ten times what you earn in a month at this cafe. This isn't a job in a public place. It's in a private residence." Luna frowned. She dropped her mop into the bucket. The figure Mr. Brian mentioned was tempting. That money could be her ticket to starting the investigation she had delayed for so long due to financial struggles. She needed capital to find out who was actually responsible for her family's destruction. "Who is the employer? Why is the pay so high?" Luna asked. "They need a servant who is efficient, quiet, and has a clean background like yours. The homeowner is a very influential person. They dislike commotion and value privacy immensely." Brian opened the folder and pulled out a contract. He offered a pen to Luna. Her eyes fell on the letterhead at the top of the page. There was a family logo that looked elegant yet rigid. "The Delgado family residence," Mr. Brian said in a low voice. "The Delgado family?" Luna repeated the name. "Yes. They need extra help at their main estate. Your task is simply to attend to their young master’s needs when required. You will live there. Room and board are fully covered." Luna stared at the contract intensely. She knew this was a massive opportunity. If she could enter the inner circle of the wealthy, perhaps she could find access to information that had been kept behind closed doors. She thought of her goal. She remembered the promise she made in front of her family’s unmarked graves. Brian tapped his fingers on the table, urging Luna to make a decision. Luna took the pen. She felt as though she were standing on the edge of a deep abyss. A bad premonition crawled up the nape of her neck, but her ambition for revenge was far greater than her fear. She signed her name over the seal. "Good. You will be picked up tomorrow morning at seven. Don't be late. The Delgados do not like people who waste their time," Brian said, quickly closing the folder. The man hurried away, leaving the cafe. Luna stood frozen in the middle of the room as it began to brighten with sunlight. She did not know that this decision would bring her back to ground zero. She did not know that the mansion she was about to enter was the place where all her dreams had ended ten years ago. Luna grabbed her mop again. Tomorrow morning, she would no longer be cleaning dusty cafe floors. She would set foot on the marble floors of the Delgado estate. A grand place that held the secrets of who had actually pulled the trigger on that bloody night. She had to be ready. She had to be the perfect servant. She had to be invisible so she could see everything. The one thing Luna did not realize was that the Delgado family was not just an ordinary wealthy family. They were the rulers of the darkness whose hands were stained with blood.