two months later...

After our little conversation, Sky never showed again. He has not contacted neither Pearl or me since then. Well, he hasn't shown his face to either of us, but checks in with Pearl via text once in a while.

It feels like Sky is throwing salt into my wounds. I guess this might even be how he felt when I left....

I feel terrible, the worst. I should have expected Sky to run out on me and hate me forever. His granny was his only relative who cared and looked after him ever since his parents passed away in an automobile incident. Then, his so-called best friend gets her killed.

Yeah, no wonder he hates me. i should have thought of the high chance he wants to wring my neck.

Ever since that day, Pearl and I have been dancing around each other, never mentioning Sky too much. The atmosphere is quite awkward between us. Her visitations have dwindled over the month, maybe once a week now. I miss her, and truly hope one day we will be the same as before.

I miss her visits. All my visitors are my nurse, doctor, and dad. Not once have I seen any of my brothers.

Thus, it's been boring. I don't want to talk to my dad. Yet, two months has taken its toll. We actually talk normally now, as in normal topics. However, we argue more than talk but at least our conversations are on normal things. Ever since my main injuries have mostly healed and my casts cut off, he has brought up a new topic: school.

Yuck. I'm not even fully healed, though healing at this rate is already a miracle but not a surprise. I'm sure my father pulled some strings to get me the best doctors and yada yada. Physical therapy has been an ass. Hey, at least my body is 80% fully functioning with the exception of my arm. I can use my right arm, fingers, wrist at probably 80% capacity? The percentages are supposed to make sense in a way.

Anyways, back onto the most loathsome topic ever: school.

Stupid Giovanni wants to enroll me back into PUBLIC SCHOOL! Do you know why it's the most ridiculous idea ever? There is only two months left of school before graduation. Why would I go to school when there is TWO MONTHS LEFT?

He's stupid.

He's insane.

And here he comes. I get ready to argue with him, perhaps even throw things at him. With my casts off and some functionability in both arms, I can now throw things!

"I'm not going to school," I glare at him as soon as he comes in.

"What a wonderful greeting," he raises an eyebrow at me.

"There is only two months. You're going to throw me into a lion's den for two months?"

"I already enrolled you. I'm your father, and what I say is final." He says sharply.

"You can't make me."

"Yes, I can."

"I'm eighteen." I shoot back.

"And?" He sits on a chair and smiles. Ugh, it's the smile when he knows something that I don't.

"I'm not going. i don't need to go to some stupid high school."

"You need to get your high school diplomma. No daughter of mine will not have a high school diplomma."

"Last time i checked, you didn't give a rat's ass about me." I mumble. I stare at the ceiling, anything to avoid contact.

The air gets chilly, and it probably has something to do with his icy glare on me.

"Wait," a random thought pops into my mind. "Do you know a Matthias and Danielle Smith?" I can't believe i didn't think of this sooner. Then again, i have been recuperating and stuff.

He grimaces a bit. "That is quite a good subject change, but we will continue the school subject later. How do you know the Smiths?"

"I had an encounter with their son." I reply vaguely. "He asked for your help."

"Jacob?" He says in surprise.

"Wait, you actually know them?" This time I am surprised. I thought Jacob was bluffing. I truly thought that he was trying to take revenge for his parents because he believed the Riccas killed them. His story was a bit far-fetched with the double-crossing.

"We have history. Those Smiths are always up to no good, poking their noses in my business." Despite his words, his voice actually holds some affection and lightness to it.

"He told me his parents were murdered, betrayed by their own people." i eye him warily.

"Where is Jacob?" He closes himself and gets right into business.

"I lost him on the way. I mean, when you're trying to run away from--Uh nevermind," I rush to cover my slip. I never told him about the Acerbis, nor have I told them about the Key. My father thinks my mother stole the key, which is quite reasonable now that I think about it. I'll just let him continue believing that. I think if I ever slip the name Acerbi, he will have double the guards around me. Yes, he still have two guards posted outside my room.

"How many times do I tell you to speak clearly? Do not stutter or mumble. It shows.." He frowns over my stumbling.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I wave his words away. "I know what it shows."

His eyes flare up briefly before focusing once more. "Where is the last time you saw Jacob?"

"That one time I got into my bike accident." It was quite hard to hide that incident because the medical staff noticed right away that some of my breaks were recently healed. My excuse is that I lost control of my bike on black ice. "I haven't heard from him since."

"What did he want?"

"How am I supposed to know? I barely knew him!" I snap a little.

Immediately, he stands up and reprimands me, "I am still your father, and you will respect me!" He pulls "that card." I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"Right," I nod stiffly, eyeing him to leave. He gets the memo, though it is more that he doesn't want to stay any longer. Ah, here is our regular routine.

I would not say we will ever be close to each other again. No more typical daddy's girl. Contrary to popular belief, i was raised rather normally with love and care. He wasn't the mafia boss; he was my fun, loving dad.

I really should stop remininscing so much.

I drum my fingers against the table in irritation. I decide to put some of this negative energy into something meaningful, like exercising. Slowly, I wobble rather unelegantly out of the hospital bed. Taking baby steps, I hobble over to the rehabilitation center on my wheelchair, which I honestly don't think I need anymore. Still, it is quite fun speeding down the hallways on wheelchair. And let me tell you, some of the old folks are talented at wheelchair racing. They are tough competitors!

***

I was actually getting a workout here. I like to think muscles are reforming and I am regaining all of my strength. Hopefully, that is more than wishful thinking.

I finally get to the one part I always wanted to avoid, my wrist/arm. On good days, i can use it 80%. I am getting better at faking that all my limbs work perfectly. I sigh as I begin the exercises I was taught.

Not even five minutes has passed before I am on the point of giving up in frustration. today is not a good day. I am shaking and sweating trying to force my wrist to move how i want it to move.

"Argh!" i let out a shout of anger. I throw a nearby dumbbell at the wall. When that doesn't make me feel better, I kick a nearby sandbag as hard as I can.

"You shouldn't be in here." Someone says behind me.

"I am allowed to be here." I shout back, thinking it's one of my bodyguards. One of them always follow me.

I shouldn't come here more than my required amount or I might overstrain everything. However, I believe in my body and know that a little exercise will do good, not bad.

"Well, you shouldn't strain your wrist so much or your body." He is not my bodyguard. My bodyguards don't speak more than they need to.

"Don't tell me what to do!" I hit the bag one more time. Then, I turn around. "Mind your own business."

I blink once. I blink twice. "You got to be f**king kidding me." I sigh and stare at him. Who would have thought that Dante Ricca would be standing here in front of me? I thought all of my brothers abandoned me when none of them rose to defend our mother. The three of them were like loyal dogs to the family. "Go away Dante."

"I guess I deserved that." He shrugs, which makes me notice how muscular he has gotten. All three of them were expected to be around my father's 5'11 height, and Leo and Tony shot up to 6'1". Before I left, Dante was 5'4, lean, and boyish. Now, he looks just like the men in our family, probably the tallest of them all.

"Go away." I point to the door. "Giovanni probably sent you here." I sneer slightly. Dad always knew I was closest to Dante. That is because he was the most normal, not as serious as Leo and Tony.

"No, I came here of my own volition." He replies. He raises his eyebrows slightly at the mention of Giovanni.

"Well, what do you want?"

"I came here to visit my little sister." He walks over and picks up the things I threw around in my fit of anger.

"Yeah, two months too late." I spit.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing. That's all." He stands up and runs his hand through his long hair that covers his eyes a bit.

"And what else?" I do not believe him for a second.

"Calm yo tits, sis. I kept our secret, so I'm on your side." He raises his hands defensively.

"Well,..." I have no comeback. Dante saw me take the Key back then. If he hasn't told anyone, then that may explain why everyone actually thinks my mom took it.

"Exactly." He makes a proud face. Grabbing some gloves, he starts punching the bag. Each punch is rather loud so I scoot in a little bit closer, but a safe distance.

"We aren't allowed to talk to you. Leo, Tony, and I." He says under his breath. "That uncle of ours is taking control over all ours lives bit by bit. None of us actually have anything against you. We still love you sis..."

"But you're here, right now, talking to me." I state the obvious.

"There's a new family, the Acerbis, who has taken control over the other three main Families and..."

"Cut to the chase, man. I know about the Acerbis," I cut him off.

"You do? How?" He squints. "Dad said you were living under a rock or something. Some school."

"I have my ways."

"They've taken almost everything. We are the only thing that is stopping them from getting total control. First, we need to make sure that Key is safe. You have the key?"

"Aw hell no," I step back. "I'm not telling you nothing. You're still a loyal dog to Giovanni."

"I love you and am happy you're alive, but you're still so goddamn annoying," he grips the bag and stops. "Just listen to me." He grits his teeth and exhales.

"I assume the Key is safe and well. Second, that nasty bastard of an Uncle we have is totally in cahoots with the Acerbis, has been for years. We fear he will soon assassinate our father. Dad actually knows he can't trust him anymore, but you know the saying, 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.' That's still not what I am here about: the Key is the most inportant thing we have right now. We need to get that Key locked up within the vault."

"If you throw that key in there, then we don't have the Skeleton key to open it up. It'll be locked up forever." I frown. "All that knowledge will be wasted. Think about the years and years that were spent accumulating everything."

"Exactly. Knowledge is dangerous. It's too tempting. It's better nobody uses it."

"That's your brilliant plan to stopping this all?" I almost explode. "I'm sure Alfredo will leave kindly after he finds out there is no Key. He isn't here just to take the Key; he wants our territory and power too. After he assassinates all of our family, he is going to kill our uncle too."

"I never told you the boss's name." Dante hones in on my blunder. Of course he would.

"That's not the point." I try to change the subject. "Say we lock up the vault. Then what? We try to reason with the Acerbis. We try to get our damn father to kill his own brother. We try to..." I run my fingers across my face in aggravation. "No key is equal to no reason not to murder off everyone associated with the Riccas."

I finally decide to tell him what really has happened in the past year.

When I am done, Dante lies on the ground and whispers, "F**k my life."

"Ditto." I lie next to him.

"You do know this just brings everything to a whole new level of shittiness?"

"Yup." I pop.

"You're crazy." He shakes his head as we stare at the ceiling.

"runs in the family." I smile a little. i sit upright and look at him with a bigger grin.

"What is it?" He recognizes my "i got an idea" face.

"I can be bait."

"No-" He begins to shut it down completely.

"Oh, shut up." I shove his shoulder. "It's a briliant plan. I can be bait. We capture Alfredo sauce when he comes to catch me. We hold him here and try to force him to give up his territory and hand over his power to the Riccas, leaving us alone. Then, we get him to rat out that stupid uncle of ours. Lastly, once Riccas have all the power, we can get the other families back up and running. wait, they are probably all dead. Nevermind..." I trail off. "that's all i got for now."

"Oh, in the end, I can go and live a normal life without any mafia crap. I am thinking of going to college or something." I add as a second thought.

"Alfredo sauce?" Dante laughs and ruffles my hair.

"i called him that straight to his face. Boy, he was not happy..." I laugh at what was once a terrifying memory.

"You actually called him that? Wait, hold up. You're the only living person I know who has seen him. That could be vital..." He stands up and takes out his phone. "I need to make a call."

"Wait," I grab his phone. "How about this plan?"

"Let's do it. Of course, it's probably going to be ten times more gory. The Acerbis will not be coming out of this alive."

"Of course," I nod.

He goes outside with the phone. I wait a couple minutes before he reenters.

"You're going to have to listen to dad and the three of us. You might be," he fake shudders, "one of the loyal dogs."

"Look, I'm sorry about that--" I start.

"Eh, I know you don't mean it. deep down, you love us." He chortles. Then, I gulp as Dante looks at me with a very creepy, huge smile. "There is one condition that you have to do if you are going to participate."

"What?"

"You're going to have to go to school."

"WHAT!" I freeze.

"You need to look like you're living a normal life with us. School would be the perfect place to blend in and show "normality." Plus, last time I heard, there were some spies in our neighborhood. Some are even in the schools...." He smirks a little.

"No, you can't be serious."

"Dead serious. Plus, all your forms are filled out and ready." He snickers.

"No, you're evil. I hate you." I try to whack him. "This is not the time to go to school! Help! No more school! No more! I have had enough already! I thought I escaped a hell hole. I am not prepared to go to another! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!"

"I AM CRIPPLED. I CANNOT GO TO SCHOOL!" I grip his shirt. The evil brother of mine merely laughs. This is no joking matter. i am serious, almost as serious as I am about Netflix.

"Of course, we can't having the mafia boss's daughter attending school normally...." His already large grin brightens and stretches even more, deepening his dimples. "I heard something about some disguise you had in that rock school of yours..."

"What disguise? I didn't wear a disguise?" I squeak. By god, who found out? I am not going to wear that godforsaken disguise. It was terrible. The wig got so itchy by the end of the day, the clothes clung to the worst places possible. And my glasses was a pain when it kept sliding off of the bridge of my nose.

"I heard you were an actual nerd in disguise." He holds his stomach and laughs. "You! A nerd!"

I wait until he stops laughing.

"I can't wait to see this!" He starts laughing again. "You are like the least nerdiest person ever."

"I'm a certified genius!" I bark. My IQ may be higher than average, but I am unfortunately not a genius.

He continues laughing...

________________________________________

A/N

Happy Valentine's Day! <3 Indulge yourself with a little bit of chocolate and netflix. to those couples out there, appreciate your partners of course and stufffs. I give up on advice...toodle doo.

thanks for reading!

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