⠀⠀⠀⠀IMELDA CASSANO LIVED a fairly good life. She lived with her birth parents until she was five when they both were suddenly taken to prison. Having no other family that was willing to take care of her while they were gone, she was thrown into the foster care system. She spent years in the system, switching between foster homes frequently due to bad behavior. It wasn't really 'bad behavior' though. At each foster home she lived in, she was picked on by the other kids. They'd call her names, steal her things, and even go as far as beating her. The girl could never figure out what she had done to deserve any of it. Obviously, she wasn't just letting this happen. She'd always fight back which never worked out in her favor. Each time after she snapped back, the kids would go run and cry to the adults. And they'd believe them each and every time which ultimately resulted in her getting kicked to the curb.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Now you may be thinking, 'Well damn, that doesn't seem like a good life.'

⠀⠀⠀⠀It wasn't until her adoptive father, Fabio stepped in and changed everything.

⠀⠀⠀⠀He adopted her when she was nine years old and moved her out to Italy. She was introduced to her two older brothers, Pablo and Vincenzo. She automatically connected with Vincenzo since he was also adopted. It was hard for her to learn Italian but with the help of her tutors and brothers, she got it down in no time.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Her father treated her like a queen. He spoiled her and raised her to never settle for less. Anything she wanted was hers in a blink of an eye. Whether it was a new gaming console, food, money, or even his time. She remembers him and his underlings dressed up in pink with pretty tiaras on their heads whenever she wanted to have a tea party. He'd take off work when she said she missed him and they'd have a father-daughter day. The man had always wanted a daughter so once he got one, he gave her his all.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Because of his strong love for her, she had an amazing childhood.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The man was easy on her while he was strict with her brothers. It wasn't until she turned fifteen when it all changed.

⠀⠀⠀⠀It wasn't until her fifteenth birthday when she finally found out what her family did for a living. The worst part about it is, she didn't even find out from her father.

⠀⠀⠀⠀She found out after getting kidnapped by random men on her way home from school and was held for a 4 million dollar ransom.

⠀⠀⠀⠀To sum that up, everyone involved in the kidnapping ended up getting tortured and killed by her father's men.

⠀⠀⠀⠀But after she got back home, her life changed for the worse.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Her father didn't let her out of his sight, keeping a bodyguard with her at all times. Most of the time, it'd be her older brother Pablo.

Who hated her guts.

⠀⠀⠀⠀He always hated the fact that his father adopted two children. He wanted all the attention for himself. Shit, Imelda would be mad too if her blood father loved his adopted child more than him. It was one thing when Vincenzo came into the picture but she ruined his life.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Fabio made her train for self defense from early in the morning to late at night. As soon as they realized that she knocked a deathly punch, she was thrown into the family's business as a soldier. She'd be sent on small missions that consisted of making people submit to her father's will. Everyone underestimated what she could do but she did her job well. This led to her moving up to be a consigliere a few years later.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Her breaking point didn't come until her eighteenth birthday.

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⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda groaned loudly as she felt someone pull off her cover and push her out of her own bed.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Get dressed." Pablo said once she had finally opened her eyes, squinting to adjust to the light. "You're with me today."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Without another word, he walked out of the room, leaving the annoyed girl laying on the ground. She muttered a few curse words as she stood to her feet. Her tapped her phone screen, checking the date.

June 24th.

⠀⠀⠀⠀She furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Surely her father wasn't going to make her work on her birthday...

⠀⠀⠀⠀She sighed, slowly making her way to her closet to pick an outfit. She decided to go with something safe just in case her father had lost his fucking mind. She threw on some sweatpants and a matching hoodie then shoved her special weapon into her pocket before heading down the stairs. She went straight into the kitchen where they usually ate breakfast as a family each day to see that no one was there.

⠀⠀⠀⠀For the first time in nine years, no one was there.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Come on, what the hell are you doing?" Pablo grumbled, grabbing ahold of her arm.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Stop Pablo. That hurts." She scrunched her nose up, trying to pull her arm out of his grasp but he just gripped it tighter. He dragged her out of the house.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"What are we doing?"  Imelda questioned once they got into the car. Pablo didn't bother answering and just gave their driver an address. After asking a few more times and getting no response, Imelda gave up. She sighed as she leaned her head against the window, watching the scenery.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Once they arrived to their destination, the siblings got out of the car. Imelda frowned upon seeing an abandoned warehouse in the middle of butt fuck no where. She knew this was going to be a dirty job. The two walked into the eerie building in silence. An unconscious man sat tied to a chair in the middle of the empty room with duct tape coving his mouth. His left eye was already bruised, assumingely from when they were getting him in there. Pablo led her to a dark corner that was out of the man's sight.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Don't come out until I tell you." Pablo instructed. Imelda rolled her eyes and nodded, feeling annoyed that this had to be done on her birthday. He was acting if he couldn't go do this by himself. The motherfucker didn't even say 'happy birthday' or let her eat breakfast and he wants to drag her around, barking orders. It was a shitty start to the day.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The man suddenly started groaning, gaining the siblings' attention.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"You're finally awake." Pablo chuckled menacingly as he slowly walked towards him. Once he got into eyes view, the man's eyes widened. He began screaming but the duct tape muffled the sound. Pablo smirked, holding his finger to his mouth. "Shh. Shh."

⠀⠀⠀⠀With his spare hand, he effortlessly pulled out his pocketknife and held it against the man's neck. His screams came to an abrupt stop.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Good job." He said. "I'm going to take this off of you now. Make a sound and I'm damaging your vocal cords. Do you understand?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀The man nodded his head. Pablo stared at him for another moment before ripping the duct tape off of his mouth. The man let out a loud yelp.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"What do you think you're doing?" The man questioned. "You can't do this to me!"

⠀⠀⠀⠀"And why not?" Pablo replied. "Someone betrayed us. Put the entire business at risk. Either you can start talking or I'll have to bring out reinforcements."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Reinforcements?" The man scoffed. "I'm not afraid of you."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Well, it wouldn't be me of course." His eyes moved to Imelda who was watching this go down from her corner. He signaled for her to come over. She sighed, pulling her special weapon out of her pocket. She slowly made her way over to the two men as Pablo continued to speak. "This is your last chance to fess up while I'm being nice."

⠀⠀⠀⠀The man spit near Pablo's feet. "I'm not saying anything to you, bastard."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh really? Come on out Imelda."

⠀⠀⠀⠀The man yelled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly his chair was turned around to face the girl. He glanced back at Pablo then back at her before he started laughing hysterically.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"This is your reinforcement? What are you? A teenager?" He cackled, watching as she slid on her custom made pink brass knuckles onto her fingers.

Underestimation.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Everyone did it.

⠀⠀⠀⠀No one ever believed that the girl was a threat.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I wouldn't underestimate her." Pablo taunted. "We call her baby knuckles."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I really wish you'd stop." Imelda sighed. "It's not giving what you think it is..."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"You all are a bunch of pathetic los–"

⠀⠀⠀⠀The man wasn't able to even finish his sentence when she kicked the back leg of his chair, resulting in him falling backwards. She didn't waste any time, climbing on top of him and grabbing him by his collar.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Last chance while I'm being nice." Imelda smiled sweetly. "What will it be?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Fuck you." He spat.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda scoffed, wiping the saliva off of her cheek. She had dealt with a lot of things during her life but being spit on was the last thing she expected.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh, you're fucking dead."

⠀⠀⠀⠀She curled her hand up into a fist and swung for his stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs. The man began to wheeze to catch his breath but the girl was not done with him. She swung again, now aiming for the bridge of his nose. Blood splattered all over his face from the impact of the hit. His head shot back, eyes locking in on the ceiling above him. His eyes slowly drifted to hers. Chills shot up his spine at the look in her eyes. There was nothing but anger and hatred.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Angry that this was how she was spending her birthday. Angry that they couldn't take one day off of work. That's all she wanted for her birthday. To have one relaxing day with her family where they did normal things like see a movie, go out to eat in a nice restaurant, go to the park.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Was that so hard to ask?

⠀⠀⠀⠀She saw the fear in his eyes and made sure not to meet them. He's hurt, she knows this but she kept swinging, landing punch after punch. Wanting to make sure that he can't move by the time she's done with him.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Mel..." Pablo called out to the anger blinded girl but she continued to beat the poor man into a bloody pulp.  "Mel, you're going to kill him!" He marched over to the girl, grabbing her by her arm and pulling her off of the man that lost consciousness a while ago. She attempted to pull her arm out of his grip to no avail.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"FUCK OFF!" Imelda yelled, roughly yanking her arm out of his grip. "And fuck this. You deal with him."

⠀⠀⠀⠀She stormed her way to the the exit, slamming the door behind her.

⠀⠀⠀⠀As soon as they were back home, Imelda rushed to the kitchen to ice her hand. She was surprised to see that her father and other brother, Vincenzo sitting the kitchen, eating breakfast.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Hello, sweetheart. How was work?" Her father greeted happily, not even bothering to look up from his newspaper and took a sip of his coffee. Imelda ignored him, heading straight for the cabinet to get a bowl. Vincenzo stood up and silently left the room as Pablo walked in and took his usual seat next to their father.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Horrible." Pablo answered for her, eyeing her as she went to the freezer to grab some ice. "She almost killed the man."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Imelda, what did you do? You have to stop letting your emotions get in the way." Fabio scolded.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I don't even see why she's a consigliere." Pablo complained. "She's too immature for the job."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda didn't even bother defending herself, simply rolling her eyes at his words. The man had always been her #1 hater since she was a child. Fabio ignored his son's comments, frowning at his daughter's upset demeanor.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Before she could put her hand into the bowl of ice, Vincenzo appeared out of no where with a first aid kit. She let out a short shriek which slightly startled him too.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Don't do that." He said in Korean, grabbing her injured hand. "Almost made me have a heart attack."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda rolled her eyes, replying in Italian. "Don't be a drama queen, Zozo."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Shortly after learning Italian, Vincenzo taught her how to speak Korean so they could talk shit about Pablo without him knowing. It was a great bonding activity for the two, leaving them closer than ever. She consider him as her best friend and brother. She always felt safest around him compared to Pablo.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Don't you think I'm too old for that nickname?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀It was a nickname she gave him when they first met when she was nine and he was seventeen. He had always hated it but he just couldn't bring himself to say anything to the younger girl.

⠀⠀⠀⠀She shook her head, wincing when he disinfected her bloody fist.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Stop speaking Chinese! You know we can't understand you."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Vincenzo and Imelda stopped their hushed conversation to glare at Pablo. He knew damn well that Vincenzo was Korean. No matter how many times they corrected them or Fabio scolding him, he insisted on going out his way to be racist. Another reason why Imelda hated his fucking guts.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"It's Korean!" They all corrected the ignorant man in unison. Imelda shook her head, grumbling some curse words towards him. She shoved her hand into the bowl of ice, sighing in relief.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"What's wrong?" Fabio asked.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that I had to get spit on and beat a man nearly to death on my fucking birthday!" Imelda replied sarcastically. "Why'd you make me work, Pa? You know I just wanted to have a normal day today."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I know and I'm sorry but it had to be done today, sweetheart. How about I make it up to you by letting you have the day off tomorrow?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda almost took the offer until she realized, she could not take it anymore.

⠀⠀⠀⠀The long days the led into even longer nights. The abuse she received from Pablo on a daily basis. His ignorant comments. The dirty work of harming people and going on about her day as if it never happened. The business meeting with people that didn't even respect her. The mafia life was just simply not for her.

⠀⠀⠀⠀She also realized that they were still not acknowledging her damn birthday.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I want to leave." Imelda mumbled.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"What was that?" Fabio asked.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I want to leave." Imelda repeated a little louder. "I don't want to do this anymore."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"What?"

⠀⠀⠀ "I want to live a normal life. Go to college, make friends that don't have any ulterior motive, not have to look over my back to make sure that any of my father's enemies are coming after me." Imelda explained. "Not have to beat random men into bloody pulps on my birthday..."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Fabio furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding what she was getting at. "So, what are you saying?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀"She's saying that she's an ungrateful brat that doesn't understand the wonderful opportunity that's been given to her." Pablo grumble. "I say you dump her back onto the crumb you got her."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda rolled her eyes. This is exactly what the hell she's talking about. She could not handle another second of the man's nonsense. "I'm not saying that I'm ungrateful. I'm just saying that I want to live a long, normal and healthy life... Away from all of this."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Oh that's fine! I completely understand wanting a break from this. It can be a lot." Fabio smiled. "We could get you into the University of Milan so you could stay at home. I want nothing but the best for my baby girl–"

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Actually... I think I want to leave Italy.." Imelda trailed off, being sure to avoid her father's eyes. "Too many people know about the Cassano's business. I just want to go somewhere and start fresh."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Fabio remained silently for a few moments before standing up from his seat.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Absolutely not." He shook his head. "I don't want you going anywhere far."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"But Pa–"

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I don't want to hear it!" The man boomed. "If you leave this house, you're done! You will no longer be my daughter."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda let out a deep sigh, keeping her eyes on the ground. The man was being overdramatic. She really didn't want it to come down to this. She was hoping that the man would be mature about the whole thing. She obviously wanted to keep in contact with her family. All she wanted to do was live life the way she wanted to. What was the big deal?

⠀⠀⠀⠀"It doesn't have come down to that. I still want to be in this family." Imelda said. "I could visit on holidays and during my breaks–"

⠀⠀⠀⠀Her words were interrupted by her father throwing the mug that he was drinking his coffee out of in her direction. She flinched when the glass had hit the wall behind her, missing her face by barely an inch. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from yelling out in pain from the hot coffee that splattered on her back.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Since being in this family is such a burden and since you want to leave so bad, get out. I never want to see you again."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Fabio, maybe you're being too harsh." Vincenzo stepped in to defend his younger sister. "Before the incident, you'd always brag about her grades and how she was going to go to an amazing college. You were the one that wanted her to live a normal life so you kept her in the dark about the business until you couldn't anymore. What happened?"

⠀⠀⠀⠀"Things change." Fabio grumbled. "But none of that matters. If she wants abandon her family to move to a foreign country, so be it. Just make sure you don't come crawling back because you will not be accepted."

⠀⠀⠀⠀Imelda scoffed quietly, taking her hand out of the ice.

⠀⠀⠀⠀"You know what? That's fine with me." Imelda smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll move away, change my last name and never come back. Don't come crying when you realize that you messed up."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"I won't."

⠀⠀⠀⠀The two had a glaring contest before Imelda stormed out of the kitchen, trying to blink away the tears that were beginning to blur her vision.

Fuck them.
She didn't need any of them anyway.

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⠀⠀⠀⠀And she did just that. She moved to America and started law school to follow in Vincenzo's footsteps. She had always looked up to him.

⠀⠀⠀⠀Until she realized that wasn't the field for her. The long nights of endless studying. The competitiveness between the students to be the best of the best made it a very toxic and hostile environment. It just wasn't worth her mental health.

⠀⠀⠀⠀That and having to run away from a psychotic, abusive boyfriend but that's a story for another time.

⠀⠀⠀⠀She ultimately settled in Austin, Texas. She was an engineering major at the University of Texas.

⠀⠀⠀⠀She made friends that she knew she could trust with her life, partied almost every night but still managed to keep her grades on top. Well, she had no choice since she was there on an academic scholarship but the point still stands. She was weeks away from finally graduating. She was finally at a point where she was happy with her life and where it was going.

What could possibly go wrong?

✿❯────「✿」────❮✿
Word Count: 3,300 words.