Chapter one

It is unfathomable what the mind is truly capable of.

When born, a child has the ability to remember and recognize faces. They develop this ability to remember who they should trust, who to feel comfortable with and whose presence should calm them.

That same ability to remember can create memories that can scar them, making them scream in agony every time they see that face that they wish they couldn’t recognize.

As toddlers, we ran around looking for answers to every question we had as infants but never were able to ask. Our imagination can ignite such an intense flame of interest in the smallest things. We look, and observe, and ask, and touch.

That same curiosity gets toddlers their scars.

As teenagers, we believe we are invincible. We have already heard the disappointing truth about life and realized that everything is not as shiny and dreamy as it seems. We become more careful, that’s for a while at least. When the carefulness takes too much control of our life, we become what we think is careless instead and face the biggest challenges yet. Some memories might still make you laugh when you look back at those days, maybe even a few happy tears dampen your cheeks when thinking of them.

But, that same carelessness and the dream of freedom and life is what gets us killed.

Life has been and will always be divided into evil and good. That is one thing we will never change. Everyone is born either evil or good.

Already as a baby, your brain is either capable of certain things or not. Your experiences might delay the inevitable. Your life and memories might have that scale tipping, trying to balance itself. But eventually, where there is light, goodness will rise, and where there is dark, evil will rise, and the scale will come to stand still. His scale has been standing still since he was born. He was darkness birthed by darkness. He was not what light feared, because light did not even understand that darkness so deep could exist. Yet there he was, living, breathing, acting in complete darkness, eliminating any source of light that was heading towards him.

That is why Giovanni Mancini needed to die tonight.

C H A P T E R O N E – D A R K N E S S

Athena always believed she was put on this earth for a reason. In her mind, everyone, and everything alive had a purpose to fulfil. She believed she already knew hers and spent her life preparing to reach that goal. The goal that many might consider as untouchable, but not to her.. In the eyes of Athena, she had spent the majority of her life reaching this day, and here she finally was.

She was unsure whether to view this as the beginning of the end or the end before a new beginning. Stepping inside that room in front of her right now would mean leaving her whole life behind her, it would mean a new life that she could not return from without fulfilling her purpose, and whether she would be alive or not after that was still an ongoing debate in her mind. She knew, however, that even if she was to rethink her choice now, there was no going back. Loris had already vouched for her, and the very dangerous man on the other side of this wall was already expecting her. There was no turning back, there never were.

Taking a deep breath and clearing her throat, she waited for Loris. Her body could not sit on the chair like Loris had instructed her, the nerves going around and the thoughts dancing in her brain were too loud. Instead, she paced back and forth, trying to calm down and admire the beautiful mansion she stood in. She had been taught this very early on, to not show fear or doubt. Especially not when it comes to choices she makes on her own. Yet here she was, struggling to take a deep breath that otherwise would not have been a task needing thinking of. She did not imagine that being here would feel this different from training. Sure, she knew it was not going to be as easy or predictable. But this felt like torture to her, not knowing whether she had already blown her shot without even saying a single word.

The sound of the wooden door being opened and the metal hinges slightly squeaking snapped her out of her thoughts, making her look up at Loris who was now waiting for her. He gave her a slight nod, and she understood that there truly was no going back now. They were waiting for her inside, and the last thing you want to do is keep anyone from the Mancini mafia waiting. She took one last deep breath, trying to exhale as quietly as possible before making her way towards Loris and walking behind him.

“Mr. Mancini, this is Athena Vaccarelli, the woman I told you about”

Whatever she was expecting Elvio Mancini to be, this was definitely not it..

Hearing the stories of the ruthlessness of these men, the reputations they had built for themselves, she did not expect them to be this young. Loris had told her before that most of them were in their 30s, making them only a few years her seniors, but she did not imagine those behind the murderous Mancini family to be this.. good looking.. sure she had seen some photos of the men, but they were all blurry and you could barely make out their faces in the huge crowds they were always in.

A part of her was expecting exhausted men, high on whatever they shot up in their veins, to have the ability to survive in this world. After all, no sane man would choose this life for himself. One was always born into it. If not, then you better have a damn good reason to know about its existence in the first place, but also a reliable man to vouch for you. Elvio Mancini looked the opposite of a shot-up drug psycho who killed people. She did not mean that he did not look dangerous, hell his whole energy said.. no.. screamed nothing but danger. If looks could kill, then his dark brown eyes going all over her body now would have sent dagger after dagger, ripping her flesh, making her bleed and die in agony in her place. However, he looked so well put together. A black suit wrapping around his body, with a black shirt under, not completely buttoned up. His hair was slicked back, not a strand out of place. His hand was wearing a silver watch and a ring to match, she doubted it was an engagement ring though. Not that he couldn’t get the most beautiful woman based on his looks, but because of the size of the ring. It was thick, very thick, and broad, with something etched into it with a slight black colour. She did not imagine that men’s engagement rings would be this huge.  

“Leave,” he said, his eyes not leaving her. She looked up at him and heard Loris make his way out of the room before shutting the door behind him. “Take a seat Ms. Vaccarelli.”

She did as told, her eyes not leaving the man sitting behind his desk, as his eyes did not leave her.

“Loris told me he knew you from his days on the streets,” he looked at her, tilting his head slightly. “He explained that you were the best fighter he had seen.”

Athena did not take her eyes off of him, she knew not to say anything unless a question was directed at her and her only. Elvio Mancini studied her for a while, without saying a word. She remained calm, trying not to seem the least bit phased. She made sure to not remove her eyes from his gaze, to not look intimidated. He opened his mouth again, “but do tell me Ms. Vaccarelli, what did a girl like you have to do in order to earn the respect of a man like Loris?”

She looked him up and down quickly before simply replying “survive.” She knew to never say too much during her time here. She had limited power, and she planned to make full use of all of it.

“A whore on the streets survives, but last I checked it wasn’t whores who impressed Loris. Unless he forgot to tell me something about you, that is…”

“I do a job and I do it well, Mr. Mancini. I ask no unnecessary questions and once the job is done, I erase its existence from my memory.”

“Sounds just like a whore, my dear.”

She looked him up and down once, smiling, before staring into his eyes and getting up, walking around the room as she spoke. She admired the paintings hanging on the walls, as she broke down the man in front of her ever so casually.

“You keep a gun to your right, Mr. Mancini. Every time a noise breaks out in the room, your first reflex is to move your hand closer to that drawer you keep the gun in, even if you don’t glance at it. You are always on your guard, yet you wear your suit with a shirt that’s not fully buttoned and leave out the tie, trying to look more casual and less restricted by a dress code. You don’t enjoy people thinking you only follow orders and don’t give out any,” she walked over to the window behind him, admiring the view this mansion had. She could feel eyes burning onto her back, but she knew that Elvio Mancini had not turned around when she walked to the window behind him.

“You like an organized life, your hair sits perfectly still in the spot you want it to. When I first walked in you looked quite underwhelmed, perhaps expecting someone taller. But do tell me, Mr. Mancini, do you think that someone else, a whore perhaps, would have been able to have a knife out right now, ready cut your skin open and slit your throat before you even notice?” She turned around, placing the knife on his neck, slightly pushing. It would not have been enough pressure to even cut through fabric, but it was definitely enough for him to know that she wasn’t playing a game she could not handle.

“Sit.”

She did as he wished, sitting in front of him on the chair but this time appearing much more casual. She slid further back into her chair than before, and rested her arms on the chair, after she placed the blade she just mentioned cutting his skin with on Mr. Mancini’s desk. He looked her up and down, with eyes so deep you could drown in them, as he held the knife in his own hand and admired it. Athena could have sworn that his lips twitched, but before she had time to think about it, he looked right behind her. She furrowed her eyebrows, confused at what had caught his attention. She did not dare look behind her and give Mancini her back. Even if the sudden gaze she felt burning through her back made her shift in her seat.

“Seems after all like I need you to do a job for me, then Ms. Vaccarelli..” Mr. Mancini said, almost surprised himself as she heard the door behind her open and a few footsteps inching closer towards them.

“Make sure Ms. Vaccarelli gets settled in, won’t you Loris?”

“Yes sir.”