When I arrive back home I already see most of the men are gone. Dad already called me to inform me of the raid, so that was to be expected. He told me there was no need to hurry there since he and the others were already prepared and heading out when he called me.

I walk up the stairs to my room and collapse down on the bed. I think back over what happened earlier tonight. There is more to her than meets the eye... That's one thing I'm sure off. It has been a long time since I was truly interested in something, or rather someone. She has a big mouth and is not afraid to tell it how it is, but there is something else... She seems almost too detached from everything. Like a part of her died, I'm not sure whether she's in complete survival mode or she doesn't really care what happens to her at all. She's wracking my fucking brain. There are so many different behaviors she's giving me, which makes it hard to figure her out. She acts all tough, but I think it's just a thick wall she's built around herself. She's afraid of something, I could see it in her eyes.

My mind drifts back to what she told me earlier tonight, she lived on the street for over a year when she was only a kid. That's one hell of a fucked-up life experience for a girl at such a young age. But it still doesn't make any sense, that's not why she's afraid. Going to the boxing scene must remind her of those days when she had to fight on the street to survive. If she was afraid of that, she'd probably avoid boxing like the plague. And she didn't look to avoid the subject either, she wasn't withdrawn or ashamed to talk about that part of her life at all...

I kick off my boots and throw my jacket aside. So what is it that you're afraid of? What did you go through as a kid before you ended up homeless? These questions keep haunting me until I finally drift asleep. Good night, Karma Smokin' Stone...

***

'So how was your night?'

My dad asks me amused as I walk into the kitchen. It's still fairly early, but my father, Sonny, Micah, Marty, and a few others are already having breakfast in the kitchen. Mom's behind the stove cooking up some eggs while she flashes me a smile.

'Good morning Luca, eggs sunny side up?'

My mom asks happily, I sigh and sloth over to my chair.

'No thanks mamá, I'm not hungry.'

Micah looks at me surprised as I pour myself a cup of coffee. After I take a sip, I look over to the other side of the table to see my dad grinning widely and the others watching me as well. Fucking hell, can't they at least let me wake up in peace? I grumble to myself as my dad snorts.

'You already living on love, son?'

The other guys chuckle softly as my dad says this. I glare back at them, shutting them all up in an instant.

'Like hell I am. More like hungover from all the whiskey I drank.'

I groan while sipping my coffee. Gotta love mamá for making it strong, as always. My dad laughs amused, but his eyes are still as sharp as ever. Damn that old man, I'm not in love for crying out loud! I think as I continue to glare at my father.

'Besides, isn't there something more important to talk about? Like last night's raid.'

The others quietly continue eating their breakfast while I keep my eyes trained on my dad and Marty.

'Hemsworth tried to make a deal behind our backs.
As you already know I found out he wanted to sell some weapons under our name. We raided the hideout last night and got all of them, including what they were about to sell. Overall everything went smoothly.'

My dad nods in confirmation at Marty's words. We've been suspicious of Hemsworth for some time but we needed to wait until he made a move, so Marty was already keeping an eye on him for quite some time. I guess yesterday put a nail in that bastard's coffin.

'It's a good thing we noticed. The serial numbers on the weapons he was about to sell were poorly removed and it would've caused unnecessary trouble on our part.'

My dad mutters in anger. His restraint has always been lacking when it comes down to someone breaking his trust. I think as we continue to talk business for some time, all the while slowly most men head to their duties leaving only me, my mom and dad, Sonny, Micah, and Marty in the kitchen.

'So, tell me about Karma.'

My dad says while finishing his breakfast. The others also focus their attention on me while I pour myself another cup of coffee and snicker.

'Well... She basically thinks of us as wimps.'

My mom's and Micah's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets as I tell them that with a faint smile playing on my lips. My dad and Sonny, on the other hand, don't seem to be shaken by it at all. More like they're trying to hold back a laugh while Marty stays as stoic as ever.

'I still don't get what it is with her, but I can tell you this much at least. She'll never agree to become one of us, so you can stop wasting time by bothering her.'

My dad puts his index finger to his mouth quietly thinking over what I just said while the others observe both of us without making a sound. I study my dad wondering why he's so interested in her in the first place... I know that he can be a pain in the ass when he sets his mind to something... But for some reason, this seems different. Just as I'm about to open my mouth my father looks at me and asks his voice serious.

'What makes you say that?'

'What do you mean?'

'Are you asking me this as a leader and member, or as a son?'

'Neither one. I'm just saying that constantly bothering her won't make her reconsider, she despises us.'

'Despise? That's a rather strong word to choose, Hijo...'

My mother says worriedly and my father laughs in response.

'I already knew that she wasn't fond of us. Do you know why she hates us that much?'

My father asks his voice as calm as ever and I shake my head at him while thinking back to last night.

'I understand the gist of it, but I can't put my finger on it exactly. The one thing I'm sure of is that the main reason she hates us is that we rely on firearms...'

'Our guns?'

Sonny asks confused and I nod. My dad quietly looks at my mother for a while and my mom speaks up as if they just read each other minds.

'I can understand that a woman wouldn't be fond of guns, or us for that matter. That isn't exactly something new, but obviously, your dad is interested enough in her to overlook her behavior up until now.'

I sigh knowing where my mother is going with this.

'Stop right there. I know what you're trying to say, but it doesn't matter. She won't bow for anything, not even us. Even if we try everything I think that when it comes down to it, she'd rather die trying instead of bending her will. She's so fucking stubborn, there are no damn words to describe it!'

The last piece I murmur in annoyance. My father isn't the type to allow a loose cannon like her to walk around as she pleases. I'm not even sure she has a clue as to how serious this matter is. My mother chuckles loudly, which brings me out of my daze and I look at her confused.

'No, I think I know what kinda woman she is...'

She giggles almost proudly and my father smiles. Micah, Marty, and I raise an eyebrow at them wondering what on earth is going on. Only Sonny seems to understand their private joke and grins softly at them.

'Mrs. Whitfield. I don't mean to intrude, but... I'm not sure she even qualifies as a woman, or even as a human for that matter.
She is too dangerous.'

Marty says his voice deadly serious, making both my mom and dad look over at him waiting for him to continue speaking. For Marty to say such a thing is rare. He is our hitman, and one of the best at that. He has killed more people than I can count and for a big part of his life, he has worked in special forces as a sniper. Personally, I think he's the most dangerous man we have walking around in our organization. His background is quite impressive and sometimes I wonder why he quit his old job and since he never talks about it, I guess I'll never know. My dad knows, obviously. It's not like he was going to hire an SF without some leverage and a good reason. But dad also always keeps his word like the proud man he is and promised he would never tell a soul about his story. Marty agreed with that condition and that's that.

His skills with a sniper, or any other gun, are extraordinarily good and I know for sure that if he wanted to, he could kill me in the blink of an eye. He's a good fighter too and I'm sure that if he had been present at the time, my dad would've chosen him to fight Karma.

His shabby looks only add to the deathly air that always seems to hang around him, making him an imposing man from head to toe. He has plenty of brains as well and can judge a character pretty quickly, almost always being perfectly accurate as well. It's probably from watching all the people he had to kill through his sniper's scope.

His knowledge is highly appreciated by our family so his opinion isn't one you should flat-out dismiss. My father ushers him to continue speaking, but just as he opens his mouth to resume, Micah interrupts him and speaks up.

'Marty is right. There needs to be something done about her. She tried to attack Luca last night as well.'

I nearly spit out my coffee, hearing Micah's agitated voice as he grinds his teeth in frustration. So he was pissed I told him off yesterday. I think to myself as I look over at Micah who's clenching his fists tightly.

'Oh, bullshit!'

I exclaim loudly not even trying to hide my frustration. Startled Micah looks over at me, his eyes wide as he shouts back.

'You're seriously trying to deny that?! The three of us saw it, you know!'

I roll my eyes at him, un- fucking -believable! He's better trained than this, but I guess she managed to catch Micah off guard. He didn't expect her to do something like that. And although he was rather interested in her earlier that night, that appeal quickly flew out of the window when she imitated to land a blow on me. I should've known this would happen, but I thought he would know better. Ignoring Micah's banter I focus on Marty and Sonny as I ask.

'What are your thoughts about that particular matter?'

Marty closes his eyes as if recalling the situation before he states calmly.

'It wasn't her intention to hurt you at that precise moment. She wanted to draw the three of us out and managed to do so effectively. Though I cannot guarantee that she won't try anything for real in the future.'

Sonny nods with a smile and nudges his head in Micah's direction before adding.

'We already know Micah can't take a joke like that, so we kinda expected him to not notice.'

'Wait, what? She didn't try to make a move on you?'

Micah asks me bewildered and I can't help but sigh and grin at how oblivious he is at times.

'Well it's a good thing some of us still pay fucking attention, otherwise, we would need to recruit more capable men for sure...'

I snort making Micah storm out of the kitchen in anger. I shrug when I see my dad looking at me in disapproval.

'Luca that was too much, you know exactly why he behaves that way. He's your second hand for a reason, respect that.'

I obligingly nod at my dad, knowing deep down he's right and I'm probably the main reason he got like that anyway. He didn't use to be so uptight when it comes to my safety, but some bloody stupid mistakes in the past made him take this 180 toward me. Boy, do I miss that old carefree Micah some days... We used to do a lot of crazy shit together and weren't afraid of anything. Though his current issues are mine as well, I've changed a lot too since that day... He probably misses how I, we, used to be as well. But we both know that'll never come back, no matter how much we want it. Too much shit has happened... My dad looks at me sadly, knowing what I'm thinking and I shake my head at him as if telling him it's nothing before I look over to Marty and Sonny, my gaze steady again.

'Could you guys make sure he doesn't do anything stupid? I wanna discuss this matter further with my dad, in private.'

They both nod and quietly leave the kitchen, my mother also nods at us and tells us she'll leave us to it as she goes into the garden to tend to her flowers. My father, on the other hand, quirks an eyebrow with curiosity as he looks at me for an explanation of why I would wanna talk in private. I take another sip of coffee quietly studying my dad for a few moments before I set down my mug and speak up.

'Dad. Why are you so interested in Karma?'

I lift my head to look at him and he grins back at me as he speaks, his voice a little too nonchalant.

'Well. That's pretty obvious don't you think, son? The woman is a walking fighting machine.'

'You're lying. I know you well enough papá, you don't like dragging women into the crossfire.
What is it you know about her?'

I tell him my voice deadly serious as I look him right in the eyes. It has been bothering me ever since Micah told me about it yesterday and I've been going over it a lot. My father almost never hires women. On some occasions, they would come in handy. But he tries to avoid it at all costs. At this moment there isn't any reason for him to recruit a woman either, so it just doesn't add up.

I keep my eyes strained on my fathers and he squints his a little, pondering over if he should talk to me or not as he can see I'm not fooled. Typical. He always likes to play mind games with me, saying it'll help me to get sharper. I grumble to myself as I continue to stare him down. Eventually, my dad shrugs and says with a hint of wonder in his voice.

'It is what I don't know that interests me...'

'What the fuck is that supposed to mean?'

'This isn't the first time I've crossed paths with Karma Stone, Luca.'

My father tells me and my mouth goes agape. She hadn't said anything that would've made me think she'd met my dad before... This revelation makes me want to ask even more questions, but my dad lifts up his hand to stop me from speaking. Instead, he starts telling me everything from the beginning, without me even having to ask for it.

'I was the one who officially put Karma Stone's identity on paper.'

Confused as fuck I warily eye my dad. Please don't tell me she's some long-lost sister of mine... I beg inside my head, that'd be messed up in so many ways! I look at him pleadingly to explain, he shakes his head laughing and tells me there is no way he would cheat on my mother. Thank fuck for that. He asks me if I knew she used to be homeless, I nod and he continues.

'Well, that makes this a lot less complicated. The Stokes found her and came to me for help.'

'The Stokes did?!'

I ask speechless. The Stokes aren't exactly an enemy of ours, but they also never interact with our business either. Just as much as we don't get involved with them, it works both ways. It's almost like an unspoken rule between our families. We know each other's  "profession", and both sides try to stay out of each other's ways. Our families settled here around the same time period, which makes us almost equal to each other. Although the Stokes were known around the area long before they settled down here.

'Yes, they did. They found a girl out on the street and wanted to take her in. However the girl was in a terrible state from being homeless for so long, and she refused to get looked at in a hospital. She barely spoke at all and said she didn't have a name, the only thing she was willing to say was her date of birth. The Stokes came to me looking for help.'

'Why didn't they go to the cops though?'

And how on earth does someone not have a name?! I quietly think to myself, astonished by all these new facts about her.

'It took them quite some time to even convince the girl to stay with them. Even back then, she didn't trust anybody.
A Romany has a certain street image, just as we from the mafia have ours. Because of that, they aren't fond of the police and the system isn't fond of Romany folk either. They knew that if they would've gone to a police station with the girl they most likely never would've seen her again. She would've ended up in a government system until they found out where she came from.'

'Sounds about right.'

'The Stokes had tried to get out of her what happened multiple times. So did Sonny and I, but it was to no avail.'

'Wait, she has met Sonny as well?'

'Yeah. You and your mother weren't home at the time, you were on a holiday at your aunt's. I told your mother when you both got back home. It doesn't surprise me she didn't remember us... She was young, in terrible shape physically, and mentally. She was nearly in a state of shock when the Stokes found her. It was bad. Eventually, some of our private doctors convinced her to let them do a check-up and give her the necessary treatment.'

'Fucking hell.'

I breathe, a strange pain pressing against my chest as every muscle in my body clenches together. She said that period of her life was a little hazy... So what the fuck did happen to her?! I can't let go of this question and I guess my dad hasn't either. He probably has had the same thing on his mind for years now... Every fiber in my body wants to know what actually happened to her. I can almost picture the tiny version of her before my closed eyes, a small broken girl.

It's probably nothing compared to the real thing she faced all those years ago. You simply can't imagine it. One can never understand how hard it really must have been unless you've lived through it. Maybe a fraction of what she went encountered, but it'll never be the same as actually having to go through it yourself...

Even though I have enough shit on my plate already, I can't help but want to know. I want to know everything, to protect her from whatever the fear is I saw in her eyes yesterday. I want to hold her and make it better, just be there for her... My own thoughts scare the crap out of me as I blink a couple of times while staring at my coffee. I ...want to protect? My eyes flicker with shock as I realize how fast she's working her way into my heart. I thought I locked it up and threw away the key, a long time ago. But the fact that I'm so affected by every little thing of hers makes me wonder... I look back up to my dad and see he's been looking at me all the while. He nods and continues speaking although the glint of his eyes tells me he knows exactly what was going on in my mind.

'Sonny did a large search but couldn't find anything on her. She wasn't among any missing person files and since she didn't talk we had no idea where to look either. We did a search through the database with the date of birth she gave us, but that also was a dead end. After a while, we decided to give up and give her a new identity. I couldn't make them guardians because then the system could send a check-up to see how she was doing with the risk of them getting separated. She had to have a parent on paper, so I gave her the name Karma Stone and set Kisaya's mother on the birth certificate.'

'Why Karma Stone?'

'The Stokes didn't want to force their own last name on her, for one. When they first told me about her they were flabbergasted how a parent could let a child end up like this. Instantly they were very protective of her, and rightly so. They repeated hundreds of times that "karma" would eventually find the people who did that to her.
I couldn't fucking agree with them more, I will never forget the first time I saw her... She was still such a tiny girl. All skin and bones, covered in cuts and bruises. Her soul seemed as if it was broken. She was completely destroyed from the inside and out. Honestly, I don't think I can blame her for not wanting to talk about it. I have no clue as to what she has been through before the Stokes found her, but even as the head of the Whitfields I knew from the first time I laid eyes on her no child should ever have to go through what she went through. Any fucker who makes a child end up like that deserves a fucking bullet.'

My dad swears through clenched teeth, a pained look in his eyes. My dad rarely gets emotional over anything, but I know he despises people who hurt children. His strong reaction makes me tense up, even more. Children are still innocent in their souls he always says... And I know he even feels guilty for having kids himself at times. He knew we'd never have a chance but to live this lifestyle and he has apologized for it numerous times in the past, though we all know he would gladly run into the crossfire to save a child. No matter if it's about his own children, who've grown up by now, or children he doesn't even know. That's why even though he is from the mafia, a lot of people respect him deeply.

'Karma seemed a suitable name. A girl that survived living on the street, and whatever God knows else, would later on in life bring people what they deserved. Whether it be good or bad. Then Sonny strolled in one day saying the girl was as hard as stone. I asked him what he meant by that and he told me he spotted her training by accident at the edge of the Stokes property as he went to see them. Even as a child she had outstanding fighting skills and an impeccable drive. 'A girl as hard as stone, to go through all of that and still being able to stand tall and fight.' He said, and thus Karma Stone was born. Truthfully, she hasn't changed that much in all those years...'

My father smiles, although it isn't a real smile. More sad if anything else. I pop my boots off and plop my feet on another stool crossing my legs, not the table. Mom would fucking kill me on the spot if she saw me with my legs up the table. I lean back and close my eyes as I drag my hands through my hair, thinking everything over. I already knew there was something different about her, girls don't become like that for nothing. She's completely different from anyone I've ever met. I look back over to my dad and ask.

'So what do you wanna do? She really ain't coming to work for us, that I know for sure. If you've known her since back then you and Sonny know that as well.'

'True. The past is also the past and as long as she doesn't want to deal with her former life, I can't do anything about that either. But what Marty says is also true, Karma is dangerous in and of itself. If you don't want me to keep an eye on her, do it yourself. It might not be intentional but she's too dangerous for us to ignore her completely.'

'I'm not turning into her stalker, fuck that.'

I swear and my dad narrows his eyes at me as a warning.

'I'm not saying that. Just be sure to check in on her every so often, you'll be at most of the fights anyway so it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Besides, I thought you were curious about her?'

'Screw that old man. I may be interested but you know how I am, this isn't going to work!'

My voice comes out a little too rough betraying myself. Fuck. A part of me is kinda glad I have a chance to be around her more, but it still feels wrong seeing it as work. Moreover, that line of work isn't for me anymore and dad knows it. Dammit! I glare at him not happy with this at all, but he doesn't seem to have the same worries as me.

'I know you don't like shadowing people after what happened to Tony and Rico. But this could be a good thing for you, Luca.'

'No! We're not going there, dad.
What happened back then made a lot of us change, and we all know this won't and can't be changed back anymore. I've accepted that and so should you. If you want me to do this then give me the order and get it over with. Even I can't deny a direct order from you just like that. I will obey, and you know it. Don't get all sentimental on shit that happened in the past.'

'Then this is an fucking order, Luca! Keep an eye on her and deal with it if she flies off the wagon.'

'Fine, goddammit.
But I will be straight up with her, just giving you a heads up.
I'm not going to lurk in the shadows somewhere until shit hits the fan! Besides, I think she would notice me within a heartbeat anyway. If that's what you want, I'm telling you right now, go get Marty for the job.'

'Fine. I don't really care how you go about it as long as you get it done.
And you will have to deal with it if needed, understood?'

'I know.'

I mutter through clenched teeth. I'll fucking make sure it doesn't come to that... I make a promise to myself while I finish my coffee. Micah isn't going to like this assignment. I huff as my dad and I continue talking about other matters for some time. Among other things the Blackwell case we're dealing with. Eventually, my mom comes back inside the kitchen and she whisks me up a quick breakfast, not letting me leave before I finish. Just as I swallow my last bite my dad gets up to leave, turning in my direction as he says.

'It's good to see you acting like this, Luca.
It's been a long time since you've had an interest in anything really. Thank her for me.'