Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Prologue

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

I sat alone in my small room, lost in thought, staring at my shoes, which I had worn for far too long, and just waiting for my uncle Fillipo to finally leave the house.

He was a monster, but since I had no schooling, no real talents and no courage, I was unfortunately in a broken dependent relationship with him, which gave him more power over me than he should have.

But I still didn't let him and his bossy nature get me down!

No matter how often he hit me or even humiliated me, I kept my cheeky mouth to him despite everything and didn't let my insecurities show, which might have been a mistake, but my pride was just too big for that.

"Ludo!?", I heard his voice coming from the living room and before I got up, I quickly hid my new watch under my pillow.

Yes, I stole them from a store, but I certainly wouldn't let him spend them on his nightlife, which consisted of cheap whores and alcohol. Here in Palermo it was hard enough to get money anyway...

I quickly tied my black hair into a high ponytail and, annoyed, strolled into the living room, where he was sitting in his green armchair, as usual, in a dirty undershirt and underpants, watching some erotic film on TV.

The whores who had to sleep with him had my deepest sympathy. Even at the sight of it, my stomach turned uncomfortably.

"Make me something to eat!" It came out of his mouth absolutely decisively and I watched him in disgust as he took a large sip of his whiskey, more than half of which ended up in his dark, thick beard.

And it shook me with disgust.

"Si, zio," I nodded, not letting my emotions show. Otherwise he would probably get the idea to yell at me again and I really could do without his severe breath in my face.

Then, while he continued to pull off his pre-night routine before heading to the nightclub, I padded toward the small kitchenette, glancing at the fridge as I did.

At the sight of the only picture of my parents, an unintentional smile appeared on my face, but it didn't reach my eyes. These were filled with sorrow.

It was exactly 6 years ago, when I was 12, when strangers simply broke into our house and both of them were executed in front of my eyes. At least that's what I was told, because I couldn't remember that night.

The doctors assumed it was a shock, which must have blocked everything out in my brain.

Better this way...

"Soon!" I suddenly heard Filippo scream and immediately opened my eyes to turn to him. He looked at me with hate and sometimes I really thought about why he was like that to me.

He was my father's brother, which sometimes made me think that I probably reminded him of him. After all, I looked exactly like my father.

The same full lips... The same straight black hair... The same few freckles...

I only had one thing from my mother, and that was her light green irises, which faded into dark brown on the outside.

A last, quick look at the photo and I got a pan out of the cupboard, but before I could set it up on the only stovetop, there was suddenly a loud knock on the door...

It wasn't a regular knock like a neighbor or friend would. It was louder, more demanding and somehow more threatening. Until I heard that knock, I didn't even know you could even tell the knocking on a wooden door.

"Who is that?" Fillipo wanted to know from me, but I just shrugged my shoulders and looked just like him at the door, which was suddenly kicked in at that moment, which made me gasp while watching three men with wide eyes looked.

Great! And all before dinner!

My first absurd thought was that the three guys wanted to steal my watch, but of course they wanted something completely different.

I wish they had taken the watch with them....

Chapter 1

"Buona serata, Fillipo," one of the three guys greeted my uncle in his dark voice while I watched the whole spectacle with wide eyes.

I've always been a very good observer, which is why I noticed a thousand different things in just a few seconds.

Not only that I recognized the fear of death in Filippo's eyes, whose hands were shaking slightly while sweat was slowly running down his forehead...

I also noticed that these three guys were definitely not to be trifled with. They weren't idiots and this wasn't a spontaneous action. You seemed to understand the situation very well, as did I. While one of them only had eyes for my uncle, the slightly taller one just stared at me through his balaclava, as if expecting me to do something stupid.

The worst thing that went through my head at that moment was that the masks were on. The meaning behind it was pretty simple. If there were dead people, they wouldn't want any witnesses. No picture in the newspaper, no phantom drawing... Nothing...

"Chiedo perdono," my uncle suddenly begged for forgiveness, standing up so hastily that the one at the back immediately aimed his submachine gun at him, causing a squeaky cry of fear to escape my dry throat.

"Don't worry," said the one who was staring at me the whole time anyway and stepped closer to me, which made me feel absolutely constricted and took a step back while holding my breath, which probably even encouraged him to, me to get closer. "Where is your room?"

He was standing no more than a meter away from me and my panicked glance fell to the others, but the man in front of me took my chin in his hand and forced my eyes to block out everything but him.

"What?" I asked, overwhelmed, hearing his chuckle while shaking his head slightly.

"Your room?"

"Oh," I reeled and when I pointed my hand past him, he turned to the others for a millisecond, nodded to them and luckily let go of my chin again,

"We'll wait in your room. My cousins just want to chat," he explained so calmly that I had to wonder if he was a criminal by night and a psychologist by day.

Completely absurd!

My heart was pounding in my throat and I walked beside him to my room as slowly as I could, unable to imagine in the least

From “he shoots me in the head” to “he would like to organize a teatime with me” everything was definitely there in my imagination...

“What's your name?” he asked into the oppressive silence as we entered my room arrived and he closed the door behind me.

"Ludovica Grasso," I replied in a shaky voice, perching on the edge of my bed while he stood and just stared at me through his mask.

"That's an absolutely terrible surname," he suddenly said with amusement in his voice and I just looked at him in bewilderment at this insult.

"Excuse me?" I asked if I had really understood him correctly, but he gave me no more reaction. On the contrary. He seemed absent-minded and looked around my room as if he was looking for anything interesting, which surely wasn't to be found here.

"And you?" I spoke to him and immediately he gave me his full attention again.

"Nunzio," he said thoughtfully, leaning his back against the wall across from me. "Nunzio Mancini."

I felt my lips part slightly. I felt my heart beating painfully against my ribs and I couldn't breathe because of this sudden overload of my own feelings.

"You okay?" he asked, taking a step toward me, but I quickly rolled over my bed and stood on the other side to keep a close eye on him.

Mancini! The worst mafia family in and around Palermo. Not only that they were considered unpredictable and have been for as long as I can remember. On top of that there was a rumor that the younger generation was the most brutal and one of that generation was standing right in front of me in my room.

"What do you want from my uncle?" I wanted to know in a panic and no matter how cruel Fillipo could be, I would certainly help him out of this situation with everything I had.

"He owes us money, Ludovica. A lot of money."

"How much?" I add, glancing at my pillow. The watch must have been worth several thousand, so at least that would be a start.

"Too much for you to pay for. At least not with your money."

I didn't understand what he meant for a moment until he lowered his head slightly and I could almost feel him undressing me with just his eyes alone.

"Nunzio?!" Luckily one of the others called him from the living room at that moment, but before he turned to my door, he gave me a menacing look.

"Si?" he asked loudly through the slightly opened door and I froze when I suddenly heard the following words.

"Take the girl. We're going!"

My body felt numb and it took all my strength to grab my pocket knife from my bedside table, flip it open and bravely hold it out in front of me while Nunzio turned to face me and seemed unimpressed by my courage in defending myself.

"Wow," he laughed, and when he ripped off his mask at the same moment, I quickly looked down at the floor. "Your uncle must really think a lot of you."

"

This idiot, despite my knife, came up to me without any fear at all and just threw me over his shoulder as easy as pie,

"Pssst, pupetta! You'd rather not have any trouble with me."

Rolling my eyes, I exhaled in frustration, just about to curse softly, when he suddenly stood up in front of me again to examine me intensely with his cold brown eyes...

"I can be your best friend, but I can also be your worst nightmare and something else . I count as the patient one in my family, so you better behave now."

"So I should just let myself be taken along, without any resistance and also in a friendly manner smile?" I replied with an ironic undertone and got a grinning nod from him in return.

"So you got it," he said happily and quickly lifted me over his shoulder again.

"This is really frustrating," I whispered more to myself, glancing one last time at Fillipo as we walked through the living room, who was standing in front of his chair, glancing at me apologetically.

"Idiota!" I cursed, overwhelmed by my anger at him, flashing my middle finger at him, only to be knocked out by a hard punch to my temple...