Hiraeth; a Welsh word that means "a homesickness for a home you can't return to or that never was."

I've never felt at home anywhere. How am I supposed to when I couldn't even grow up with my parents?

They died when I was young which left me with my aunt and uncle. I'm sort of like spider-man in a way.

I love them dearly but it always felt like they had to take care of me like I was some burden and I could never shake the feeling away.

I guess the closet place to home for me is MI6. I was about to go to a bad path when I was younger but this place saved me. I was training for this since I was fifteen.

And yet, I've only led one undercover mission. I've been on loads but I've only ever led one. The thing is, it went well. So why on Gods green but heavily polluted earth haven't I led another one?

At least put me undercover in some McDonalds. What the hell do they put in the sprite that makes it taste so good? See I wouldn't even be mad at that mission.

A hand waves frantically in my face, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Earth to fucking Azaría?" Aaliyah scoffs.

"What's up?" I ask her. "You've been staring at that report for ages now. You need to finish it up by the end of the week, you donut," she nudges me playfully.

Donut. A nutella covered donut with hazelnut on top. "Now I'm really craving a donut."

She opens her mouth to speak but someone interrupts her. Not just anyone. James. James Evans. The blonde haired prick who likes to say jokes that aren't funny.

"There you are," he says out of breath like he just ran a marathon. "I knew you'd be with Aaliyah, you two should just get married at this point."

Aaliyah and I have been close since forever. Her parents and mine were really good friends which made us friends. After they died, her parents were always there for me with whatever I needed.

Since both our parents worked for the MI6, it was known from the moment we were born that we would join too. I'm always on the field, love going undercover; while Aaliyah was best at hacking. She's my lil nerd.

At some point in my life I did make her hack into our school network and change my grades. C'mon if you had a hacker best friend, you would too.

Aaliyah's voice catches my attention. "But if I married her it would leave you sobbing," she replies with a snort. Oh yeah... James may have a little crush on me. Well, it's just a joke thrown around the team.

"I wouldn't mind a threesome," he teases, throwing a wink at her. In return, she starts fake gagging. Them two never take anything seriously. "Anyways, have you heard the news?"

"What news?" my brows furrow at his question. "Azaría?" his eyes widen. Okay now I'm intrigued.

"Spit it out, blonde boy," Aaliyah says, clearly inpatient and so am I. "There's a huge mission coming up. A huge one that they've been trying to do for years. Take down the Italian mafia," he finally tells us.

There's no way. The very top of MI6 have been trying to take them down since almost forever and now there's mission and this team gets to do it? Fuck yeah.

"A little birdy told me that you're going to be leading it," he says in a singing tone. I immediately scoff at his words. "Real funny, James." If he thinks I'm going to believe his little prank then he's wrong.

"Imagine though," Aaliyah exclaims, grabbing onto my shoulders and shaking me. "You're the best for this job. You know it and everyone knows it."

"I mean, she's right," James shrugs. I give him a small smile in return.

The thing is, I know they're right but no fucking way in hell am I getting the lead on this one.

Before I could reply, the boss' secretary walks up to us. "He's waiting for you," Amelia states. I point at myself, "Wait, me?" She nods her head. Confused, I get up and start following her.

I don't know why I'm nervous. I talk to him quite a lot. He's the one that saved me from going down a bad path when I was a teenager. He knew my parents and he saw them in me so he got me into training.

I let out a deep breath before entering his office. "You needed me?" I ask and he nods his head, leaning back on his chair.

"I know you think that I have been ignoring your great work Azaría, but I haven't," he says. "In fact, I want you to be leading the new undercover mission."

My eyes widen at his words and I try to hide the smile that's making its way on my face. "I'll gladly do it."

"This is a very important mission and very risky, Azaría. You will be put through many challenges," he adds. I nod my head in reply. I don't care I'm just so happy right now.

"Is this about the Italian mafia?" I ask him, too impatient to wait. He chuckles at my question. "So you've heard about it already?"

"Everyone has," I tell him and he stands up. "I guess it's time to tell everyone then," he sighs and I nod my head in agreement.

When I turn around and leave his office, I see Aaliyah waiting for me. Like a child, I start jumping around and doing a stupid victory dance. Let me have my moment... okay?

"I knew it!" she squeals. I feel so bad for people who don't have a supportive best friend. How does someone live like that?

"I'm leading this mission," I mutter to myself, "and it's about the fucking Italian mafia, Aaliyah?!"

"You're lucky. All those hot men," she sighs happily, obviously daydreaming about them.

"You're crazy if you think I could get distracted by them?" I scoff. "I mean, I wish but I have to stay focused for this mission."

The thing is, after the mission all the Italians will either be in jail or hate me so none of them would be available.

"Alright, everyone in the conference room!" Amelia announces and we all get up. "I can't believe this is actually happening," I whisper to Aaliyah as we walk towards the room.

I feel an arm throw itself around my shoulder. "So, was I right or was I right?" James smirks and I roll my eyes. "I guess you were right," I mumble quietly.

He laughs at my response and opens the door for us. "Ladies first," he winks. "Why aren't you going in then?" Aaliyah teases before dragging me into the room with her.

All the snickering in the room stops as soon as Mr. Arthur steps in. "I'm sure you all have heard about this new mission, yes?"

I scan the room and watch as everyone nod their heads. He presses on the remote to retract the projector screen which reveals a bunch of pictures and string. A large face is in the middle, making it hard to miss, especially with the writing 'Niccolo Alvera, The Target' in bold red.

"This mission is regarding the Italian Mafia," he announces which results in whispers all around the room. "We have been trying to catch them for a while now and we finally have the opportunity."

"Azaría here," he says and points at me, "will be leading this undercover mission." Everyone's eyes are all on me now making me feel the pressure.

"We caught a very famous assassin. Now this is important because Azaría will pretend to be her. This is perfect since the assassin has kept her identity a secret this whole time."

So I get to be an infamous assassin? Basically I'm a bad ass bitch, got it.

"We will make a deal with the Italians, say that she no longer wishes to work alone. Month by month, she will gather evidence on them and report back to us. On their annual auction event, that's when we will interfere and arrest them all."

His words make me heave a deep breath. As fun as it may sound, this shit is scary. Especially since I will be undercover all alone.

Aaliyah nudges my shoulder, pulling me out of my thoughts. "You've got this," she whispers reassuringly.

"We will update you all on this tomorrow. Everyone leave but Azaría," he says. After the room is empty, he hands me a massive file.

"Study this. Learn all you can about Niccolo Alvera because you're meeting him next week."

Did this guy just say next week. Next week as in seven days? As in 168 hours? Oh okay, thank you so much for the heads up.

"Got it," I reply, staring at the fat folder in front of me. I just have to know every little detail about this Mafia Boss's life... easy. Yeah, I'm definitely pulling an all-nighter.

"Azaría, you have been trained for this. If your parents were here right now, they would be proud," he says. I really hope so.

When he leaves, I finally open the file to dig into Niccolo's life. I feel like some stalker. Once I actually meet him, I will know everything about him and he will know nothing about me.

Because of my job, there is no information about me anywhere. No Azaría Silva anywhere. It got all wiped away.

But I already know his parents have died and he's an only child. I guess that's something we have in common.



first chapter guyssss 🙈🙈

okay but the next few chaps may be a little boring or short but just waittt i have great ideas for this book omg !!

word count | 1657