Hitting The Target

Firmly holding the gun in her hand, her sea-green eyes were fully focused on those moving bullseyes in front of her at a distance of yards. Her gaze was wandering on all those dozens of targeting sports on the bullseyes which had different numbers on them. They all were moving together in a tilting motion.

"Ready?" hearing that voice, she touched the trigger without taking her eyes away from that bullseye.

"Number 5," Listening to that number, her gaze snapped to the target which had number 5 on it. She pulled the trigger and the bullet pierced right in the middle of the number 5th bullseye in seconds.

"Number 9," she pressed the trigger and this time the bullet hit exactly the 9th number. 

"Number 12…."

"15…"

" 6…."

"10…."

"3…" 

All her targets pierced through the right number at the right time within a blink of an eye.

"Perfect," She finally lowered her gun, hearing that word from that person's mouth and tilted her head to look at the owner of that voice. A smile formed on her heart shaped lips by seeing her father, Riccardo Alfanso, in front of her. 

Handing her gun to one of their men, she ran towards her father and hugged him.

"Did I do well, papa?" She asked him. Her parents' approval meant to her the most in this entire world. She saw him beaming in return.

"You did amazing, piccola," He praised while caressing the crown of her head. (Little One)

"Yes, boss is right, Flora," she heard her uncle Dario agreeing to her father, who was standing beside her father. 

"You beat yesterday's record by hitting 10 targets in 47 seconds," her uncle Dario told her, looking at the timer in his hand. The 20 year old girls' eyes widened.

"Really?" She asked, a bit startled. Yesterday, she had hitted 9 targets in 55 seconds. Her uncle Dario nodded at her. He was her father's second in command. Both her father and her uncle Dario had been training her for more than a decade now.

"None among our men has ever reached this target ever. Not even your father and me," Flora giggled at her uncle Dario's words. She looked at her father where she found a proud smile playing on his face.

"Getting defeated by my child means to me more than any kind of winning," he uttered. Pride was gleaming in his dark brown eyes for his daughter. Her heart filled with happiness. She again embraced him. Her father was her entire world. The strongest pillar of her existence. Her father embraced her back. 

All the men present inside that training arena witnessed that beautiful bond between that father daughter. 

"Okay, now before leaving I have something for all of you," Flora said, looking at all the men of her father. She grabbed her bag and took out a box from it. 

"Last night, I made a special kind of sweets, using my mom's recipe for the first time, so you all have to taste it," she stated while opening the box. Its delicious aroma scattered everywhere.

"I know it might not be healthy to eat sweets right after our training but don't worry. I have made it with fruits' sweetness. No sugar. So eating a little bit won't hurt," she winked and everyone chuckled. Contrasted with her deadly training skills, she was extremely adorable. Her presence always remained filled with the tenderness of her mother. She was the perfect blend of her mother's warm heart and her father's vicious head. 

Flora started sharing the sweets from her father and uncle Dario and then distributed it among all the men. Not just as a part of their group, she always treated their men as her family and that was one of the biggest reasons their entire cartel had accepted her as their next leader after her father who was going to lead them in future. At the mere age of 20, she possessed all the qualities of a true leader.

"Okay now let's go. Momma must be waiting for us," she stated, earning a nod from her father and then she left the training arena with her father.

…………..

"Really? You beat yesterday's record of yours, Ora?" Flora heard her mother, Aniya, asking her. She nodded at her, smiling. Her mother caressed her head in appreciation. Although her mother wasn't in that much favour of her father's decision of making her the next leader of their cartel in the beginning, but she never opposed it because that was what Flora wanted. Flora had always wanted to be like her father from her childhood and her mother wanted nothing but her happiness. Her mother was her life.

"Sissy, dad told me you made a new record today?" Flora saw her 16 years old brother, Rican, running inside the kitchen. Flora playfully pushed her hair away from her shoulder to annoy her brother.

"Yeah….," She faked her show off and ended up laughing at her own acting. 

"Damn…. I should have come to practice today," he frowned, disappointed.

"Language, Rican," her mother uttered. 

"And just focus on your tomorrow's test," Aniya told her son. Rican had a very important test tomorrow in his school and for that purpose, he had been studying the entire night, so his parents suggested he should drop his today's training as he needed some sleep. Rican and Flora, they both were getting trained from their childhood but at the same time, their parents never let them compromise with their studies and education for any reason.

"Okay now come and have your breakfast," Aniya uttered, grabbing the bowls of food. Her children helped her and they all went out of the kitchen.

After breakfast, Aniya went to her room to get ready as she was going out with her friends for shopping today. Flora was going out of the country after a couple of days to her aunt Bellyana to receive her higher education as studying in abroad had always been her and her mother's dream for her and for that purpose, she was doing the shopping.

Wearing a black ripped jeans and a beige off-shoulder crop top, she was combing her light brunette hair which reached below her waist when her phone rang. She grabbed it and it was from her friend, Niley. She picked it up.

"Where the fuck you are, FLORA ANIYA ALFANSO?" Her ear blasted with her yelling. She pushed the phone away from her ear and scowled.

"My ear was this close to bleeding," she spat at her.

"Then why are you still not here? Me, Axle and Lena have already reached the mall," he retorted back. They all were her childhood buddies.

"Already?" She took a glance at her wrist watch and it was already 12:15 in the afternoon. They were supposed to meet at 12 in the noon. Her eyes widened. She didn't notice the time.

"I am just 5 minutes away from the mall. I am stuck in the traffic," she lied.

"I didn't know your home also has roads and traffic lights, Flora," That was the voice of her friend, Lena. Her gaze enlarged more. 

"We called aunty Aniya before calling you, Flora so there's no point in lying," she heard her friend, Axle, telling her with a chuckle. He was the most patient one among them.

"Come here faster," Niley screamed at her.

"Yeah….yeah," Flora hung up the call and grabbed her hand bag. She took a last glance at herself in the mirror and ran out of her room.

"Bye momma, papa. I am leaving," she uttered while seeing her parents in the hall. 

"Ora," her father stopped her. She turned around and saw her parents walking towards her. 

"Ora, be careful," her mother told her. Flora could clearly see the fear and worry in her mother's sea-green eyes. She had inherited her eyes from her mother. 

Flora sighed, sensing her mother's fear for her safety because a couple of days ago, they all had gone out to enjoy a family day out together but there in the middle of the road they got attacked with the men of her father's one of the biggest rivals, Armando Zelvasco's men. Fortunately, no harm reached any member of her family but it had disturbed her mother to a very big extent as her mother hated violence.

"I will be completely fine, momma. Don't worry," she pecked her mother's forehead. Her mother was a very soft hearted person. She worried, cared and loved even tiniest things in her life. Her mother wagged her head.

"Bye, papa," she looked at her father. He also nodded at her and patted her head.

"Take care,"

She nodded at both of them and then dashed away there as she was already very late.

Riccardo sighed, watching his wife still very tense. He surrounded his arm around her shoulder, making her look at him.

"Believe in her, cara mia," he said to her. (My dear)

Aniya heaved a sigh, hearing her husband and again travelled her eyes back at the door from where she had left.

"I believe in our child, Riccardo but I don't trust the facades of this world," she revealed her concern. His arm tightened around her because he was completely aware of that terrifying past which his wife had to endure. 

Turning her around, he cupped her face.

"Our daughter will never have to endure that painful facade of this world, Aniya. I will make sure about it forever," he assured her because no parent would ever want their children to face that pain which Aniya had faced in her past. 

Hugging her husband, she closed her glossy eyes because Aniya knew this world could be too cruel to even get endured.

………….

"Why didn't Oliver come?" Flora asked, checking a dress. 

"He had some work to take care of in his home," Lena answered. Flora nodded. Oliver was also a childhood friend of hers. Oliver, Lena and her used to be neighbours when she was just a 3 years old toddler.

"Hey! How's this looking on me?" Niley showed a coral pink top to both the girls. Axle had gone to the men's section to check for his clothes. Axle and Niley were also going with her to get their education from abroad as they all were in the same class and were keeping the same courses. Oliver and Lena were older than Flora and were already enrolled in a university unlike the rest of the three friends in their group who had just completed their graduation years.

"Wow. This colour suits you very well," Lena uttered. Flora dipped her head in agreement. 

"Really?" Niley turned towards the mirror to check herself. Flora's gaze followed her to the mirror.

"Yes. This is looking really pretty on you, Niley,"Flora remarked, looking at Niley's reflection in the mirror, with a smile on her face but her smile dimmed a bit when she noticed something in the mirror. But she didn't turn around to look behind and continued shopping.

"I will go and check if this dress fits me or not," Flora told her friends and went towards the trial room. The area of the trial room looked a bit empty. No one was present here. Roaming her eyes everywhere, she went inside the trial room.

"The information was right. She has come here in this mall with her friends," that man uttered on a phone call while keeping his eyes on the trial room's closed door. He was keeping his eyes on her from the second she had entered this mall.

"Yes, I am keeping my eyes on her. She will …" his words halted when he felt a hard punch on his face suddenly. Tilting his head, his eyes widened by seeing her sea-green eyes glowering at him.

She grabbed his neck in an extremely vigorous hold, blocking the passage of air in his lungs and then slammed him against a wall. That man could not do anything except for writhing in suffocation as he couldn't breath. She knew exactly where to grip a person's neck in order to block his air from getting inside his body.

Flora snatched the phone from his hand and pressed it against her ear.

"Listen to me carefully, you fucker," she spat on the phone, exactly knowing who was on the call and on whose order, this man was keeping his eyes on her.

"Be man enough to come in front of me and then kill me instead of sending your goons after me and my family," she blurted out, tightening her hold around that man's neck more. Tears had gathered in his rimmed eyes as he was running out of complete breath now.

"But the second I reach you, I will fuck up your entire existence, Armando Zelvasco,"