CHAPTER 1

Faye's

I gripped the gun with tight fingers and aimed at the target sheets in front of me, while dad guided me by telling me where to aim.

"Left! Nine o'clock. On your right! Focus on your angle Faye! Shoot!"

The firing of the bullets blocked out the last of dad's remaining instructions, and I smiled in satisfaction when it perfectly landed on the big red circle in the middle of the target sheets.

I placed the gun on top of the counter and removed the ear muffs from my head.

"Good job sweetheart. You've improved." Dad said and I smiled up at him.

"Thanks dad. I think I nailed it cos the last time we were here I could barely hit bullseye." He chuckled.

"You're right. Now remember, you never know where your enemies could hit you, so it's always better to be aware of someone creeping up on you or attacking you from both sides. Got it?" I faked a salute.

"Yes sir!" We both chuckled and he placed his arm around my shoulder before we walked out of our shooting range and started heading back inside our house that is just a couples of steps away.

I quickly made my way straight to my room upstairs, and as soon as I walked in, I headed straight towards the walk in bathroom to take a shower. All those shooting made me sweaty and tired. I stripped out of my jeans and tank top before running the shower for about a minute till I stepped in and let the rainfall of cold water to soothe my aching muscles and body.

After showering, I put on a pair of shorts and a casual big shirt that covers my whole upper frame, and let my wet hair down to dry. This is like my usual Saturday routine. Goes to the shooting range with dad, stays home and lounge around or wait for my cousin/best friend Kaycee to randomly comes home just to see me. As if face time wasn't enough.

I went back downstairs to grab something to eat, and saw Jake walking in through the front door. Jake is my older brother.

"Hey jakey!"

"Sup short stuff?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Where have you been?"

"Hanging out with Maddy and the boys." Maddy is his girlfriend. His first, serious girlfriend that does not go to our school.

To be honest, my brother is a womanizer. He doesn't stick to one girl, he can even date them all without the girls knowing. So when he suddenly has a new serious girlfriend, my parents were shocked but I was the least surprised. I know my brother better, more then anyone. And it wasn't surprising when I finally got Madison to tell me, that they were faking dating the first time they came home for dinner a few months ago.

But it's all cool now, they decided to stop so they became friends again and now they're dating for real.

I went to the kitchen while he made his way upstairs. As soon as I walked in, all the kitchen staffs and the cooks turned to me with a smile on their faces. I kinda have that effect on people.

"Hello Faye!" They all said in unison making me chuckle lowly.

"Hey everybody!" I walked towards the counter and leaned on it while propping both my hands on it.

"What can I get you sweetheart?" Maggie, one of the kitchen servers asked.

"My usual snack, please?" She smiled back at me while Micky, the cook turned around behind her back to face me.

"Sure thing! Your parents are having lunch at the back patio." I nodded before walking out of the kitchen and headed to the back patio.

Mom and dad were sitting face to face by the small round table outside, having a late lunch that only involves salad, fruits and a bottle of white wine.

"Hey mom." She looked up at me and greeted me back while I sat down on one of the empty seats beside them.

"Faye is improving a lot with her shooting and aims. I say, she's almost ready to come to missions with us." Dad said to her and winked at me.

"That's great. I'll consider that if, we have a mission someday." Mom said before sipping her wine.

"Thanks guys. Anyway, how did that meeting with the drug lord from Chicago?" Mom glanced briefly at dad with a small smile on her face.

"It went great then we had expected. I guess drake was able to come around, now that his son in law is Shane Ryder." I perked up in my seat when I heard the name Ryder being mentioned.

A

"Probably. Shane may have connections with other Mafia's, but drake has an alliance with almost everyone. It's still hard to believe that drake and his son in law used to be enemies." Dad added.

"Jonathan Ryder goes to our school." I said randomly and they both looked at me.

"We know Faye darling, it's not a surprise that he also goes to Pendleton high. That boy used to hang out a lot with Jake remember?" Mom asked, causing me to freeze.

Keyword? Used

Jake and Jonathan, are far from being friends now. Every time they confront each other at school, they ended up in fights and got sent to the principal's office almost every time. I still don't know the reason why, they're not friends anymore.

Now that we were talking about Jonathan. I can't help but remember his gorgeous face, his tousled brown hair, his light brown eyes and his full lips, and not forgetting his lean muscular body that he always shows off during p.e classes.

Yes. Jonathan Ryder is my crush. Since freshman year when he always shows up here at our house, to hang out with Jake or just randomly checking in anytime of the day.

I know, he sees me as his enemies sister nowadays, that maybe he needs to start treating me as an enemy as well like he's been doing to Jake. We never made eye contact in school or anywhere, if we do, it will barely last a second. But I don't mind of course, as long as i admire him from afar then my secret crush is safe.

If anyone finds out at school that I have a gigantic crush on Jonathan Ryder, my whole reputation of being a 'Royal Princess' in school, well technically I am a princess cos my family is the Royal Mafia, everything will crumble. Besides, the last thing I want is to deal with Jake's angry overprotective mode if he ever finds out that I secretly like Jonathan.

That, would be a real nightmare come true.