ONE WEEK PRIOR...

Ava was in Amalfi, a beautiful municipality with an idyllic atmosphere with colorful architecture, cobblestone walls, ornate vines displayed on some of the balconies which gave and organic and florid ambience to the suburban areas. A fitting getaway for tourists who wanted to jaunt at some of the local shops and restaurants for a vacation. Some of the locals would differ from the recent spike in crime rates due to illicit activities that had transpired.

It was plain as day that many members involved with drug trafficking and the transportation of fireams would keep a low profile to plan out their next crime, not out of common sense, but to survey which of the brutes from the opposing gang had the gonads to meddle on their turf first. As primitive as their modus operandi may seem, it was the most effective course of action depending on the circumstances they had to face; either to confront them or to make a strategic retreat.

They were alert on guarding their hotspot like ravenous wolves when it came to outsiders moseying on their territory.

Ava was an outsider, and an influential outsider like her could attract onlookers to peek what she shouldn't be showing and could inadvertedly attract the attention of the authorities with the thousands of followers she had on her social media platforms, even one of the gang members was a fan of Ava and followed her on every social site.

He watched her recent livestream which was located a couple of blocks near their district. It was a simple trip to one of the restaurants that had one of the best meals, herbs and spices.

She spoke to the camera and showed one of the dishes that she ordered before picking up a fork to take a bite of the zucchini mushroom pasta while some of her viewers left comments and likes. When she finished eating her serving she commented on her modelling experience back at Milan.

“As you all know when I was at Milan, I auditioned to model back in 2015 to start my debut. I already had my portfolio done with the help of a photographer named Lucca, he has a keen eye for the lighting and adjusting the fps of the camera shots. Love you, Lucca.” Ava gave a shoutout to one of her close acquaintances on before she resumed her rant. “Anyway, I had sent some of the best photos to the agency, one of the photoshoots I did was more of a semi-casual look where I wore these knee-high leather boots under denim shorts. The upper half was made of pure denim while the rest was made of dark leather. I was tying my hair to a bun while I sat on the white stool before Lucca took the snapshot. I cringed when I found the photo on the portfolio, no wonder I didn't make the cut.”

Ava rolled the spaghetti around her fork before taking another bite of the pasta. “If I'd known Gino had hidden the photo last night I would've killed him for sure. I didn't realize that I was pouting because I was trying to do my thing.” Ava made a brief hair flip and a pose, “The usual, right before one of the secretaries walked in and whispered to the manager about the wardrobe. My portfolio was passed onto the secretary and they left. My modelling career ended before it began so I went out to eat at a restaurent to think of a way to get back at him. You all know the rest of the story. Ciao, miei cari. (Bye, my lovelies.)” Ava said goodbye to her followers before ending the livestream.

When she had finished the pasta along with the rest of the hors d'oeuvres, she received a call from her mother and picked up her phone. “Ciao, mamma. Come stai? (Hey, mom. How are you?)”

“Ciao, Ava. Sto bene, anche se tua nonna si è ammalata. Starò via per un paio di settimane per vegliare su di lei finché non si riprenderà. (Hey, Ava. I'm doing fine, though your grandmother has gotten sick. I'll be away for a couple of weeks to watch over her until she gets better.)” Ava's mother said over the phone before Ava's grandmother yelled angrily from where she was.

“She doesn't sound sick.” Ava responded.

“Questo perché non lo sono! L'unica cosa di cui sono stufo è che tutti voi ingrati cercate di farmi passare per un idiota. Anche se posso essere una vecchia malata, posso ancora colpirvi tutti su questa sedia a rotelle! Ho partorito quattro ingrati. (That's because I'm not! The only thing I'm sick of is all of you ingrates trying to play me for an idiot. Even if I may be a sick old woman, I can still smack all of you in this wheelchair! I gave birth to four ingrates.)” The nonna rolled the wheelchair with her own boney hands and moved to the kitchen to yell expletives and curses. “Il primo è un cretino ingrato che ha sparato a un delinquente per strada per una prostituta che gli aveva rubato il portafoglio. La seconda è un'infedele bifronte con una doppia vita, che tradisce l'unica donna decente che è più figlia di quelle che ho già e ha avuto l'audacia di tradirla con tre vagabondi e un transessuale dopo tutti questi anni. Il terzo è un cercatore d'oro ed è qui solo per prendere i pochi soldi che mi sono rimasti della mia pensione, e l'ultimo è la iena che ha mollato i suoi stessi figli per vivere con uno stronzo. Non lascio un solo euro a nessuno di voi! (The first one is an ungrateful cretin who shot a lowlife at the street over a prostitute who stole his wallet. The second one is a two-faced infidel with a double life, cheating on tbe only decebt woman who is more of a daughter than the ones I have already and had the audacity to cheat on her with three tramps and a tranny after all tbese years. The third one is a gold digger and is only here to take what little money I have left of my retirement, and the last one is the hyena who ditched her own kids to live with a scumbag. I'm not leaving a single euro to any of you!)” Ava's grandmother coughed after her tirade which wasn't heard on the phone.

“Ciao Ava.” Ava's mother spoke wearily before hanging up.

At a quaint beach house there was a domestic employee who had served the Ricci family for several years, Giovanni was a butler. His hair had turned white as snow from age but during his adolescence he had worked in the same vineyard as Giorgio's father. Fortunato Ricci was a humble man who had came from Naples and migrated to Milan for a better future, Giovanni was only eight years younger than Fortunato when his companion would work day to day, stepping on grapes to make the wine.

Fortunato was designated to inspect the grapes, and Giovanni was designated to ferment the wine at the cellar. They hadn't officially met until an employee had fallen ill and wasn't able to accompany Fortunato in collecting the grapes that. It was around April of 1973 that they came across each other to collect the batch of grapes in baskets. Neither of them spoke, Giovanni was more focused on collecting as many grapes as he could while Fortunato had taken a bite from one of the grapes for testing—at least is what he told to himself before Giovanni had caught him.

“Unbelievable, lying down on the job so quickly.” Giovanni used to be a lanky brunette as he clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“I'm only testing the fruit to see if it's really good. There is nothing wrong with getting a taste of what you're missing. What good is it if you can't enjoy it?” Fortunato prompted as he took a bite out of another grape.

“You could get fired for doing such things, you know.” Giovanni commented as he looked away from his coworker and resumed collecting the grapes far from him.

“No need to rush, there are plenty of grapes to choose from.” Fortunato gleefully picked the ripe grapes and put them in the basket. Giovanni had found it aggravating that some of the green grapes he picked matched the color of Fortunato's eyes. Now that Giovanni had recalled those days, he couldn't help feel nostalgia and let out a wry smile.

Ava entered the house and went up the stairs to find something. Giovanni was occupied with changing the curtains of the leaving room while a housekeeper was on the second floor mopping. Ava had dashed to her bedroom door and opened it since the bucket and the mop was metres away from the door frame when Ava went inside and closed the door.

Ava's bedroom was lavishly decorated with one section of her room full of light fixtures which was used like a miniature studio for her to do livestraming and recording on one of her vlogs during her free time. The rug next to her bed had a fleur-de-lis pattern that complimented the carved bedpost while Ava opened her closet, skimming to find what to wear on her trip to the club that night. She discarded some of her ensembles on the bed and found a white spaghetti strap blouse with a ruffled trim and placed it on the bed as well, then searched for her leather shorts and fishnet stockings.

Ava had a variety of shorts; denim shorts, leather shorts, overall shorts, skorts. A tricolored skort was found collecting dust in her closet and Ava inspected it for a few seconds.

“When was the last time I wore it?” Ava thought to herself as she checked the front and the back of the tricolored skort then decided to throw it away.

Once she found the mini grid fishnet stocking, she moved the rest of the wardrobe to the side to find the dark leather short and went checked her drawer to find some underwear whilst the rest of the domestic workers were tidying up.

Giorgio already returned from his business meeting while he parked his vehicle in the garage. The curtains were replaced with greener hues and white accents and the furnoture was refurnished by the time Giorgio entered the house and loosened his tie.

“Good evening, Mr. Ricci.” Giovanni welcomed his boss just as the enterpeneur removed his stylized tie with a yank.

“Good evening, Giovanni. What have you prepared for supper?” Giorgio replied as he unbottoned the collar of his dress shirt.

“Spaghetti Carbonara, sir. I have added a bit more meat to the sauce than usual and a side of pesto pasta. There is also some stew, it should be ready any minute now.” Giovanni stated as he set the table.

“Make sure you add some extra garlic and olive oil for flavor.” Giorgio commanded while pulling out the chair opposite Giovanni. “Also, please bring some dessert to my study later.”

“As you wish, sir.” Giorgio smiled in amusement upon hearing that answer. “Is there anything else that you'd like me to do?” Giovanni asked carefully, estimating Giorgio's response.

“No, that will be all for tonight.” Giorgio dismissed Giovanni's questions and settled down into his seat before grabbing the bottle of red wine and pouring a glass. Ava descended from the stairs as she prepared to take a jaunt through the town but before she could leave, Giovanni was already present at the front door, standing in the way like a warden, inspecting the gilded cage and prompted Ava to eat.

“Leaving so soon, Ms. Ricci? Why don't you try to take some of the spaghetti carbonara and pesto pasta on the way out?”

“No grazie, Giovanni. I don't want the extra carbs to ruin my hips with the zucchini mushroom I ate this afternoon.” Ava stated as she sashayed her way through the door with her purse slinging, Giovanni insisted.

“Signorina, per favore. Tu e tuo padre siete gli unici rimasti in casa. Cerca di passare un po' di tempo insieme per l'ultima volta. (Miss, please. You and your father are the only ones left in the house. Try to spend some time together for one last time.)”

“Don't worry about it. I'm just going out for a girl's night. What could go wrong?” Ava rolled her eyes.

“But Ava--”

“Ciao!” Ava closed the door.

Giovanni couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, like a bad premonition. Fortunato wouldn't have liked to see his family drifting apart. Gino went away to reside at the university and Giorgio's ex-wife went away to take care of her own mother. Giovanni had suggested to bring Mrs. Pausini to the household to be well taken care of though Mrs. Pausini also known as Ava's grandmother was an inmovable force to sway, even when the senior citizen was on wheels. Ava and Giorgio were barely on speaking terms and their father-daughter relationship was on the rocks.

Ava was in the backseat of the car as her friend Vittoria drove the vehicle while the guy who was on the front row had his arm around the armrest, eyeing the wild brunette driving while the passenger opened her bag to apply some lipstick.

“I can't wait to get to the club and have you for myself tonight.” The guy who was Vittoria's friends with benefits, stated brazenly as he slid his hand above Vittoria's knee.

“Not yet, Tom. We're almost there.”

“Yeah, almost.” Tommaso said as he bit his lower lip, looking lascivously at his girlfriend, even if Vittoria said otherwise.

“Try to not lose your head on the way there.” Ava commented as she smacked her lips after putting her lipstick back inside her purse.

At the nightclub, there was a long line of adults waiting to get in, the bouncer kept watch until three VIPs got in. These three were tattooed men who were well acquainted with the owner of the establishment; the one in the middle was a man with ombre red hair, black shirt with a logo of a flaming skull with devil horns, golden chain necklace, a dark leather jacket with stainless steel spikes accents and faded ripped jeans and Nike sneakers. Alessandro Mancini was on the list and rumored to be the leader of the Corna Rosse cartel and son of a white collar mafioso. His left arm was adorned with tattoos, his forearm had a tattoo of an angel and the devil facing each other while in middle of it had his initials, above the initials was the letter I which looked like a thin hourglass. His bicep had a tattoo of a skull surrounded by thorns and roses with blood dripping out. His dimpled face, defined jawline and burning amber eyes were his appealing features.

Lorenzo Maglio, a dark skinned man with an afro styled buzzcut, a thin frame and a beard. He had a small tattoo of a cross on the left side of his neck and had a tattoo of a Celtic hammer on his left bicep. On that night he wore a white shirt, jeans, a black hoodie, and a necklace with a tiny mallet. He peered behind Alessandro's left shoulder, eyeing the bouncer. The bouncer checked his name and he was found on the VIP list and checked for the last one.

Francesco Forte, a large man nearly as bulky as the bouncer. Stood akimbo, sporting shaggy brown hair tied to a man bun, and a thick beard. On that night, he wore a sleeveless denim jacket, a bandana, a tye-dye tee, leather brown trousers, and large combat boots. He didn't have any visible tattoos, just hairy arms.

The bouncer searched for his name and flipped the page and found his name on the third row of the list and allowed them in when Ava, Vittoria and Tommaso had just gotten out of the car and saw the long line.

Merda.

“How long is this going to take?” Vittoria questioned as they saw people of various shapes and sizes waiting in line. Ava Ricci saw a group of four leaving the club, half mast. One of them order an Uber to pick them up. Ava took the opportunity to help them.

Ava nudged Vittoria to come with her while Tommaso followed. “Hey, do you need help with anything?” Ava asked him.

“Nah, we're fine.” One of them said, feeling buzzed. Another guy who was at the club slung his arm around Ava, it was a fat blonde in his mid-thirties, breath reeking of alcohol.

“But I am now with this hot babe.” It was uncomfortable but she had to take a risk in getting inside.

“Would you take me and my friends inside?” Ava humored him.

“Sure thing, babe. Hey, Alfredo!” He hollered at the bouncer. “I'm going back in with my new pals.” The blonde man slurred while Ava motioned Vittoria and Tommaso to help her take the drunkard back inside the club.

The bouncer sighed and rolled his eyes before he let them in with the customer in tow as the ones who waited in line kvetched angrily about those three slipping in.

Inside the club, strobe lights flashed around in different colors while the catchy music blasted in full volume as hundreds of strangers danced to the tune and some of them sitting in their tables drank shots. The lights changed rhythmically from red, yellow, cyan, magenta, green, blue, white, orange and so on while they brought the drunken man to a seat and put him there. The blonde man plopped down and leaned his head back while Ava darted out of sight to order a shot of whisky.

“Well, we made it.” Vittoria admitted, not expecting that they would get in so easily.

“Finally.” Tommaso wrapped his arms around her waist. “Let's go have some fun.” He kissed Vittoria's neck before she pushed him away.

“Wait, shouldn't we keep an eye on him?” Vittoria saw the blonde man rake his hair back, his sweaty forehead shining while the lights flashed in a kaleidoscope.

“He'll be fine. Ava will take care of him.” Tommaso reassured her. “C'mon, the night is still young.” Tommaso grabbed her by the wrist and brought her to dance with him to the dancefloor. Ava drank her first shot of whisky and ordered two more, one for her and one for the bachelor who invited her in.

In a separate room near the back door of the establishment, the owner sat on the desk chair negotiating with Alessandro. Francesco blocked the door, arms crossed while Lorenzo had his hand grappling the magazine of his firearm and Alessandro took out a vape pen from his pocket. The owner eyed his client as he activated the vape pen as he drew vapor into his mouth for a few seconds and sealed his lips, then exhaled the vapor as it came out of his mouth and nostrils. The mist was in the owner's face as the man coughed, Alessansro was like a vaping dragon, ready to spit fire from his mouth at any given moment when someone is keeping information from him.

“I heard there is an Ala Bianca roaming around here and I want to know who it is.” Alessandro responded while the owner swatted the mist from his face, clearing the tense atmosphere.

“Alessandro, if I knew who it was. I would've informed you myself and spared you the trouble of coming here.” Alessandro thumbed the tip of the vape pen as he heard his response.

“Is that so?” Alessandro eyed him.

“Absolutely.” He affirmed.

Ava brought the two shots of whisky and gave one for the blonde man to drink and sat next to him. “What's your name, handsome?” As the guy drank, Ava saw a tattoo of an angel's on the side of the guy's index finger.

“Mi chiamo Lucca Bianco, e tu? Come it chiami? (My name is Lucca Bianco, and you? What's your name?)”