Hidden in Darkness

by Ali D Jensen

  “How dare you come into my home! All this time and you knew where she was. You knew who took my baby away from me! How dare you deny it. You’re trying to tell me that you didn’t orchestrate this whole thing and didn’t try to get Lauren fucking Davis to kill my daughter?!”

  “It wasn’t fucking me!” A man’s voice yells back.

  “You had better believe that I’ll find that that’s the truth or I will make you fucking pay for every moment you took her away from me, you evil son of a bitch. You have two seconds to get out of my house! Get out before I fucking shoot you!” My mom is basically snarling, from the sounds of it.

  I make a run for moms office and burst through the door just as mom whips a gun from a thigh holster she had under her dress. I fall back into my natural defensive stance, grabbing up my knife, ready to help mom take on anyone. Scanning the room, I see a very tall, handsome older man with dark hair, only slightly graying at the temples, looking vicious standing to face off with another man who appears to be my mom’s age. He’s holding his hand out to mom, palm towards her, as if to say “Not yet.” The guy looks familiar, but I don’t have time to think about that now since mom has her gun trained on him with a look to kill in her eyes.

  “Someone needs to explain what’s going on! Right now!”

  I yell into the room. Three pairs of eyes swing my way, two sets of them matching mine own, both of them exuding a fury that I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of. One set of eyes looks my way and I almost stumble back at the brunt force behind the green eyes I know so well. Only these ones have a few more creases surrounding them. This man is Matteo’s father. It’s clear as day, he’s almost a spitting image of the young devil, himself. Those eyes though, they glow with malevolence toward me in a way that his son’s never have, even at his worst. This man is pure evil and he hates me. I can sense it with every fiber of my being. It sends a shiver down my spine and I do everything I can to conceal it from his disturbing gaze.

  “Ah, here she is. You’ve turned out to be quite a beauty. I see why my son is so taken with you. You look much like your mother at that age.” he leers at me, lust clouding his stare. Whether it’s at me or memories of my mom, I’m unsure. It’s fucking disgusting either way.

  “First of all, I’m not a piece of meat. My eyes are up here” I point at my face.

  “Secondly, I don’t give a single fuck who you are or if your son is the goddamn King of England, I have no interest. It appears as though you’ve overstayed your welcome. Now, unless you’d like my lovely mother here to shoot you where you stand, I suggest you get the fuck out.” I keep my voice low and level and I keep my head high. If I've learned anything, it’s that you don’t show men like this weakness. You own who you are and what you say, then you back it the fuck up.

  “Make sure you don’t come back this way.” I hear the older man growl with a slight lilt of an Italian accent.

  “If you do, bring an army because it will mean war.”

  Only then do I look his way and I see him give a smug grin towards the man as he stalks out of the house, my mom following with her gun trained on his head.

  “Come, la mia luce. Come here and give your old nonno a hug and sit. We have much to discuss.”

  He says to me, the hardness in his eyes softening and his grin turning into a full blown smile as he holds his arms out.

  “Uhh, ok?”

  I’m not sure I want to give him a hug. I mean, he did just back me up though and he is my grandfather, after all. I walk towards him and get wrapped up in a massive bear hug. He’s tall and broad so my body just kind of gets corralled in. Mom wasn’t like this at all. She let me come to her in my own time. I guess when you run the mafia you get used to doing whatever you want.

  “So, uh, nonno, I hate to be blunt but, um, well, I’d really love to know what the hell is going on.” He gives a small chuckle at my callous words.

  “Si, I imagine you would. I must apologize for all of the hearsay and secrecy. I would’ve been here sooner if I could have but business got a little messy overseas. What can you do, right?” He gives me a knowing little grin and my mind comes to some gruesome conclusions.

  “Nipotina, I am so thankful you are home. You were terribly missed. We believe we have found the group of abductors from your childhood. I’ve already made the arrangements for those we feel are responsible for your kidnapping. Give me the word and you may have the honor of taking them out yourself. Your mother tells me you’ve become quite the guerriera, the warrior, and in this world, it’ll only keep you alive.”

  I feel so many things right now. I’m proud of the things he says of me, I’m slightly terrified of the amount of power I apparently hold over others’ lives and I’m sad for the time I lost. I look forward to spending time with this man. He feels like a kindred spirit. It feels as though I was always meant to be here.

  “I want to be there. I don’t need to be the one to kill them or whatever, but I’d love to go a few rounds with each of them. Hand on hand combat. Set it up.” I smile as the thought brightens my mood just a bit.

  “So who was that guy? And why does mom want him dead?” I ask, even though I’ve already summed up the gist of things.

  “That, my dear, was Lorenzo DeLuca. His nonno was the one who made the deal with your bisnonno, or great grandfather as you may call him, for the first female heir in the Salvatore line to marry a DeLuca. You see, the DeLuca’s were business partners with your bisnonna’s family, and they were in desperate need of money to grow their business plan to fruition. My father was not only a very keen businessman, but he was also la Don of the Italian mafia on the west coast. When the head DeLuca saw how in love your bisnonna was, he exploited their love and tricked his business partner into only agreeing to give his daughter's hand in marriage for monetary gain and power by connecting the families in the future. Your bisnonno was many horrible things but he took his marriage seriously and honored his beloved’s wishes to stick to the tradition of having her father give her away. So, contracts were drawn up and signed. They were too blinded by their love for one another to see how it might affect their future generations. Only once your mother was born did your bisnonna see the error of their ways and come to me. I looked for any loopholes to get out of it. I threatened my family. I swore to the heavens that it would not happen unless your mama were to truly fall in love. Mio padre was still in charge at the time your mother came of age to marry Lorenzo, but she did not love him. She was an independent spirit, you see. She wanted to travel and educate herself. She wanted to be free. Being the ruthless man he was, my father decided the only way out of it was to hire a man to rape her. He took it upon himself and bought someone to steal her innocence so that she could no longer be considered for the debt owed. For the contracts firmly stated that a virgin was required and must bear a minimum of one heir. Their firstborn was to be a blood heir to the DeLuca name. I only found out what happened afterward when she came to me. She was pregnant and she was going to keep the baby. She was going to keep you. Your mama has always found a light amidst the darkness. That is why since you were just a small girl you’ve always been la mia luce, my light. You may have come from darkness, but you’ll always outshine it. After she told me what had happened, I killed my father. In turn, losing the love of her life, killed my mother. When you were born, your mother decided it was best to go away and start a new life. It broke my heart, but it was what she felt she had to do to keep you from all of this. She travelled often to keep you from being found. This is a life she never wanted for you.” When I feel her presence, I turn to see my beautiful mom, with tears streaming down her face from hearing her own sordid story. I run to her and hold her close. I feel a hot wetness coat my cheeks as I relive her pain through her eyes. I can see the pain but feel her love radiating from her soul. I haven’t cried since I was a young girl and it is a foreign feeling, but I know that I didn’t stand a chance to avoid feeling anything after hearing how my life came to be. My mother, a woman who
just wanted to be carefree and happy had her life stripped from her and then once we found happiness together, I was stolen from her. She is honest to god the strongest woman I know. I’m lucky to have gotten her back. From here on out, I will do my best to appreciate the woman she is and honor what she has lived through.

  “I’m confused. If the goal was to kidnap me and get me back here to ensure the bond of power between the DeLuca’s and the Salvatore’s, then why did I end up in Chicago with Lauren the crack whore from hell?” I question, angry at how everything played out.

  “Well, according to our sources, it would appear as though Lorenzo hired out someone to kidnap you, though not to bring you back, but to kill you. You see, in his mind, it is his rightful place to take over my position when I die la mia luce. In his mind, your mother has always belonged to him and he feels cheated out of what was meant to be his according to his family. If he had found a way to bring you home to marry his son then Matteo would rightfully become the most powerful DeLuca. Matteo would be next in line to take over our family businesses. He has attempted to manipulate his son's mind all these years and that can be a dangerous thing. After you were gone, he spent years trying to renegotiate the deals so that he may still be wed to my sweet Cecelia despite the virgin and ability to produce an heir clause. He has never been successful because I refused to believe you were dead and would not renegotiate terms that do not benefit my girls. As it was, they were stuck because there is no one else to produce a female heir to marry his male heirs. I knew you were alive. I could feel it in my gut. I have spent years looking for you and I am thankful every day that the woman who captured you couldn’t follow through with the murder. She didn’t have the heart to murder an innocent child it would seem but chose to live a life of squalor instead. Now we have your remaining living kidnappers and they have given us all of this information. We have no proof, however, and Lorenzo has amassed his own following amongst us and has enough manpower to potentially go to war with me if he continues to grow his underground business. It is a war he knows he cannot win but it’s still a risk to openly take him out without refutable evidence. Lorenzo was here to try and prove his innocence, but it matters not. He will be punished as well, however, it is Cecelia here who will take the lead on seeing him to his end because it is her that has taken the most hurt from him. You will be fit to deal with his son however you wish, although I must admit a certain fondness for the young DeLuca. He has proved himself useful within our ranks. If it comes down to it, we can place a hit on the whole DeLuca family. We just have to find their copies of the signed agreements and dispose of them. This day in age, there’s a backup for every backup it seems. I have an army at your disposal. After all, you, la mia luce, are the true reigning heir. You will take over unless you choose otherwise. Your mother chose to withdraw herself from this life and I approve immensely. It isn’t one I wish upon my loves. I am already proud of you no matter what you decide.”

  HO-LY FUCK.

  My life was spared by the twisted woman who couldn’t even stand to look at me most of my life. She knew my mom. It has to be why she kept some of my things from infancy. Guilt. I can’t even begin to fathom the pain life has dealt my mom. My whole life, I felt like I had been fighting to live but maybe it was all just the world preparing me for this; for the life I was meant to have. How am I supposed to lead the Italian mafia someday? Matteo was worried I would take his kingdom from him and I thought he meant the school. I finally feel like I understand. He thought all of the power, prestige and fortune would be his one day and then I came along, and he saw everything taken from him. Now he only wants me because he thinks we are meant to run it all together. He doesn’t actually feel anything for me. None of the kings do. Those manipulative fucks think they can take what’s mine. They thought they could break me and then they thought they could take me. They thought wrong. I’ll show them. Come time for school to start back up, I’m taking back what’s mine.

  * * *

  I’m up before my alarm on my first day back from school. The overwhelming need to tape up my hands and get in some time with the speed bag is taking over. I’m all warmed up by the time mom comes in ready to spar. I learned just how excellent a fighter she is over the break. I also decided to forgive SB for not telling me everything she knew. It wasn’t her place and it only would’ve made me defensive for longer when it came to meeting my nonno. I low-key love his random mix of English and Italian and the way he wants me to call him grandpa in his native tongue. Mom and I had SB over for so much of the break that my crazy best friend now calls mom, mom too. She’s next level crazy but I sort of love her. After mom knocks me on my ass a few times and shows me a new kicking technique, I shower, dress and decide to put on some of the makeup mom bought me. By the time I’m done, I’m buffed and polished, shaved everywhere, my long hair is curled, and I’ve got a wicked cat eye and some blood red lips. I tug on my boots, grab my knife and strap on a small thigh holster and my new Kimber Micro pistol. It’s small, super lightweight and easy to conceal. Mom and nonno spent the break making sure I’m an excellent shot as well as fully capable of taking my guns apart, cleaning them and properly reassembling them. We spent a lot of time working with SB as well because if she’s gonna be in my life, she’s gonna need to know how to kick some ass and protect herself.

  I run down the stairs to load up on breakfast, only to find that nonno is at the head of the table.

  “Ahh, good morning la mia luce! Come, sit with an old man for breakfast, si?” He smiles up at me and I find myself grateful once more to have the opportunity to know him.

  “Pfft, old man huh? From what I can tell, you might be in better shape than me and you're rocking the distinguished black and silver look with that full head of hair. Please tell me you passed those dope genetics down.” I smirk at him and he lets out a booming laugh.

  “Si, just look at your mama.” He looks past me, and I know mom’s just walked in.

  “Look at me for what?” She looks at us with a silly little smile on her face, confusion coloring her features.

  “Oh, nonno here was just telling me how I’m gonna stay hot forever. Our family has some sweet genetics that hold eternal youth.” I wink and she laughs as loudly as nonno did. Yep, this is a life worth fighting for. Who knew family would come to mean so much to me? I’m gonna keep them.

  * * *

  Pulling up to the school, I see a spot up front in the main parking with Matteo’s name on it so I take it. I walk into the school and straight to the front office.

  “Good morning Nancy! Hey, look. So, I parked in a spot marked for Matteo DeLuca this morning but seeing as how this is actually my school, I was hoping you could get that changed for me.” I give her my most devious smile.

  “Excuse me young lady! That is not a parking spot meant for you and I will do no such thing. You cannot walk in here and speak to me like that. You have no power here. You will speak to me with respect. My name is Mrs. Sheldon to you.” She glares at me but still takes a small step back as I take a step towards her.

  “Actually, I’ve learned quite a bit from my grandfather over this past holiday break and it turns out I actually have all the power. Over you and anyone else who thinks they run things here. I am Alessandra Evelyn Quinn Salvatore and as the granddaughter of Alessandro Salvatore, I have the highest expectations as to how I will be treated going forward. You will not disrespect me in any way, shape or form. You will do exactly as I say. So Nancy, how about you go right on ahead and schedule someone to come replace that sign out front. Things between us can either be really unpleasant going forward or very easy. I trust you to make the wise decision.” I narrow my eyes at her as hers widen at the realization that I’ve most definitely made the connection to my family that I assume people were hoping I wouldn’t. She quickly starts nodding her head and typing quickly. That was a quick change of heart.

  “Oh, uh... yes miss. I’m sorry for my behavior. I will see to it that things get changed immediately and
take care to move Mr. DeLuca’s spot.”

  “Oh, that won’t be necessary. Just have it removed entirely as well as Mr. Beckett’s and Mr. Bailey’s. They can park with the rest of the student body or in the overflow lot. You can use one of those spots going forward, the administrative lot is way too far for those hot as hell heels you wear every day, don’tcha think? Oh and please create a spot for miss Bradheart. I think she’s rather deserving as well, don’t you?”

  I wink at her as her eyes widen and a blush covers her cheeks. I don’t think she expected me to be nice to her, let alone compliment her, but I know when to fight and when to make nice. This will work in my favor.

  “Wow, ok, thank you. That will certainly make things easier. I’ll go see to it right away. Thank you again.” She finally gives me a small smile instead of being a bitch. I’ll call that a win. I call SB immediately to tell her to park next to me in one of the boys’ spots and she just screams in my ear so I’ll take that as a win too.

  I look back over to Nancy, double checking to make sure we’re alone before lowering my voice to speak again.

  “Oh, and before I forget. Can you do me another favor? It has to be kept a secret. You can keep a secret, can't you?”

  Chapter Six.

  Alessandra.

  There’s no shortage of gossip and awe as I walk through the halls of the academy. I hold my head high and keep moving. I’ve never been one to give into the hearsay and nonsense, but it is pretty funny what these people all think of me. Not a full month ago they were all gossiping about what a whore I was, sleeping with the kings of the royal court and all. SB looks to me, a laugh in her eyes before she blurts out,