Song~ Dark Paradise - Lana Del Rey TW⚠️⚠️ (Scene takes place right before Diovanna starts talking to Nix and Aaron)



We pulled into the driveway immediately knowing something is wrong. Dead bodies of the guards are stationed around the house. Alejandro, Ares, Dante, Dom, and I immediately grab our guns heading towards the front door.

When we reach the front steps, I see Paul trying to crawl towards Randy. The two have worked together since before I know, they are a duo, and seeing them like this hurts.

"Randy." Paul calls out finally getting there. I step forward but Paul pulls a gun on me. I raise my hands in surrender.

I know for a fact he is paranoid right now. The shock of the attack and his best friend lying injured a couple feet away from him isn't helping.

"It's just me Paul, I'm just gonna help Randy." I tell him. He drops the gun sighing a breath of relief.

I turn back to them, "we need to check the other guards, see if there are any survivors. Alejandro and Dom go check the house. Now." They all separate doing what I told them. I turn back to Randy feeling his neck for a pulse.

"He has a pulse but it's weak. He needs a doctor now. We will get him to the hospital wing of the house." I explain to Paul. He nods.

I take out my phone activating the underground entrance. It was built for emergency's like this, that way if anyone is fighting or there is something in the house you can access different rooms through the tunnels.

"Alright Paul, I am gonna take Randy to the hospital. I'll be right back, don't die." I say, grabbing Randy and throwing him over my shoulder.

Damn he is heavy.

I make my way down the stairs and through the hallway to the hospital wing. When I see nurse I get his attention and he takes Randy. Before he leaves I grab his arm to stop him from moving.

"That's my friend, get him to my brother, Elijah. If he dies before you get him to my brother- you die." I hate threatening people who work for me, especially if they did nothing wrong but when it comes to Randy or Paul, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Besides- If he dies Diovanna may kill me.

Hell i would to.

I run back down the hallway of the tunnel and back to Paul. He is leaned against the wall with his gun in hand and his eyes closed. "Alright Paul it's your turn." I make my presence known not to scare him and he accidentally shoots me.

He nods. I do the same thing I did with Randy before closing the tunnel door and heading out of the hospital wing through the inside of the house.

They'll be okay.

My hand rests on my gun, ready to pull it if there is any danger. However I hear shouting in the living room. The voice belonging to my little sister. Diovanna.

I make my way softly down the stairs, my steps not making a sound keeping my presence unknown before walking closer to Alejandro who watches the living room with his gun resting in his hand.

"Nix." I hear Diovanna's voice so I move to where I can see the living room. I take in the situation at hand, only three enemy's remain- although they should count as two and half because a little girl no older than ten is holding a knife to my little cousin's necks with her eyes closed. The knife isn't even touching them but they are so young that the knife even in the same proximity of them will cause fear.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when Diovanna speaks again. "I don't want to kill you, we trained together. But if I have to choose between going back with you or staying with my family. I will kill you in a heartbeat." Trained? What the hell is she talking about? How does she know these people?

The guy on the left scoffs. "Where is your loyalty!?" He shouts.

"Where are your morals!?" Diovanna shouts back.

Loyalty?

The man stays silent not uttering a word. Diovanna's hand slowly makes its way behind her back, resting on a knife tucked into her trousers.

"If you won't come back with us they die." The man finally speaks nodding towards Ruth and Luna who have tears running down their faces as they hold each other's hands tight and their eyes shut just like the little girl.

My blood runs cold, Russians are always ruthless- children or not.

"Then you leave me no choice." Diovanna mutters softly before she pulls two knifes from the back of her trousers and throwing them straight into each of their chests.

What the fuck?

Now it was only the little girl with the knife.

Diovanna turned to the little girl and started walking towards her. The little girl must have heard her footsteps because she opened her eyes as Dio knelt in front of her.

Both Alessia and Amara rush over to Matteo, Giavanna, Lucian, and Liam to untie their ropes. When they are done they untie Aunt Olivia's and uncle Raffaele's ropes. They look like they just woke up so they were probably drugged.

The first thing aunt Olivia does when she is untied is look towards her son who is okay and then Ruth and Luna. She gasps seeing the situation in front of her but Alessia puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her from moving. "Trust her." She says gesturing to Diovanna. "She knows what she's doing." She adds.

Aunt Olivia glances at Raffaele before ultimately nodding.

"Hey, can you tell me your name?" Diovanna asks the girl softly.

"Arabella." The girl mutters softly. "They haven't given me a cool name yet." She adds.

"That's a very pretty name, but Arabella." Dio pauses. "I need you to let them go." She tells her seriously.

The little girl- Arabella shakes her head violently, a fearful expression making its way to her face. "If I go against Nix's orders and let them go, Mrs. Lucia will punish me! I'll be thrown into the pit!" She whisper shouts the last part.

The pit? Punished? What the hell have they done to this little girl.

"It's okay, Lucia won't get to you. My name is Diovanna but a lot of people know me as Dove." No fucking way. No. Fucking. Way.

"Your Dove?" Arabella asks fearful.

"I am, but I will never harm a child. You are safe. Just let them go." Diovanna- Dove reasons with her. She seems to think before slowly backing the knifes away and dropping them to the floor.

I listen intently to their conversation, getting any information I can. Diovanna is Dove, so did she kill all these people?

I mean if she did she did a great job, but I was just in a meeting with Dove. Why didn't she tell us- me?

"Fratello." Dove whispered. That's what she said in the meeting.

Holy shit, that's what she meant. She didn't loose her mind, she simply is my sister. I look to Alejandro who has come to the same conclusion as me. We glance toward Luca and Lucian. Luca was looking at Diovanna but Lucian was already looking at me, a knowing expression on his face.

He knew, of course.

Diovanna turns back around, Arabella's hand in hers. "I'll take her to my room and get her a shower. We will talk later." Dio says already walking towards the stairs.

"Yes we will." I voice out.

I watch as Diovanna walks up the stairs and out of my view. I look over to my family that was home when the attackers came. I only see a few bruises on Luca, Lucian, and Liam. Aunt Olivia and uncle Raffaele are fine- hugging their two youngest kids. Giavanna has no signs of any injuries, bruises, or cuts.

When I'm sure everyone is okay, I call Antonio. He was on a business trip back to Spain to handle some business, however I think he would like to know the events of today.

This will be a long night.



"Alright, that's the shower. A towel is on the counter along with the clothes I got you. I'll be right outside the door if you need anything." I explain to Arabella.

She slowly nods. "You're not gonna stay? The guards always stay." She asks softly, hesitantly.

I had forgot about the guards staying while they let us shower. I guess a lot has changed in my life over the past five months. (A/N: I can't remember how long she has been here)

I clench my jaw at yet another thing the Blood Doves have done to hurt a little kid. "No, you're not there anymore. I won't be in here unless you want me to stay or you need help. It is your decision." I reply calmly.

Arabella slowly nods. "Can you- uh- wait outside? If you want to of course." She adds nervously.

I smile softly at her. "Of course, it is up to you. I'll wait on my bed." With that, I walk out the bathroom and to my bed- left alone with my thoughts.

What am I gonna say to them?

~/~/~

The sound of the water continues to make its way through the silence. It's only been five minutes and my thoughts are running wild. Flashbacks, memories, overall things I do not want to think about.

Why couldn't I be saved to?

But isn't that a selfish thought, I'm just lucky Arabella isn't completely broken yet. They weren't given the chance to corrupt her, like I was.

My mind drifts back to the horrendous things they did to us in that organization, to make us stronger. To make us better. But they never cared about us, they wanted killers, machines, robots. They wanted us to be a personal army and listen to their every command. I on the other hand, had a problem with following commands. That caused a lot of nights in the pit.

I learned to do as told after the countless amount of punishments and nights in the pits and follow commands with little defiance. I never fully listened.

Triggering thoughts cloud my mind but I push them back like the countless other times the triggering memories want to replay in my head. So how do I talk about that?

I have to explain to my biological family that I was sent away to a secret assassin school and became the most known assassin in the underworld. How do I say that? I can't just blurt it out, I might give someone a heart attack.

Hopefully it's grandfather.

I'm just kidding.

Maybe.

Okay I'm done. But seriously, do I tell them everything or half truths? I need to talk to Lucian, it's his truth too. I was not the only one in there for my whole life. Lucian suffered just like me and it's not fair if I reveal my past while also partially revealing his. They all know we were at that school together, it wouldn't take much for them to figure it out.

I just need to figure out what to say.

That's all.

"Dove?" A soft voice calls out. I glance at the doorway of the bathroom to see Arabella in the clothes I had asked an extra guard to get. "Can you help me? The clothes are a little big." She mutters. I chuckle because the clothes are indeed a little big. I'm sure if she were to walk the pants may fall down.

"Of course." I respond walking over to her and back into the bathroom. Although she is eight, she is not severely underweight but she is definitely malnourished. I wonder how long she was with the Blood Doves. Was this her first mission?

I grab a ponytail off the counter and tie the sweatpants tighter. The shirt was long but that was okay, it wouldn't have fallen down when she walked like her pants would have. When I am finished I move back slightly. "Is that better?" I question. She nods softly in response.

"Okay, how about I make you some food and then we can talk, how does that sound?" I smile. She returns the smile nodding her head.

She grabs my hand in hers and I lead her out the room and down the stairs. I can hear hushed voices as we hit the last step and begin walking to the kitchen. None of them seemed to notice mine or Arabella's presence so I decided to speak up.

"Mind if we join the party?" Matteo physically jumps in his seat, not having noticed I was here. I raised my eyebrows at him amused and he gives me a sheepish smile. I glance around the room seeing who is here.

And to no surprise, everyone in the family is now here- probably having heard of the attack and wanting to make sure we were all okay. Lucian and Antonio are also here. Antonio is checking out Lucian's injuries while Lucian just rolls his eyes at him.

Arabella had moved behind me, probably at the number of people in the room. She was probably not used to big crowds, and if she was in a crowd, it was with the people who trained her. New people means untrustworthy. She knows that.

I bend down to Arabella's height. "Do you know who Lucian is? They call him Lucifer." I whisper so only for her to hear.

She nods frantically with her eyes wide.

"He will never harm you, no harm will come to you when I am with you, understand?" I reassure her.

"I understand." She whispers back.

With that I stand to my full height and walk over to Lucian. When I'm close enough I smack the back of his head really hard before grabbing his ear and dragging him a little ways away from my family.

"Ow, ow, ow, what the hell woman." Lucian exclaims pissed.

"ne düşünüyordun sen?" I exclaim in Turkish so only he will understand me. [what the hell were you thinking?!]

"vay be! Neden bahsediyorsun!" He fires back, anger lacing his tone while he is rubbing his head. [oww! What are you talking about!]

Arabella giggle. I guess they have already taught her all the languages. "Tehlikedeyken beni ya da adımı savunmuyorsun! seni aptal pislik. kendini öldürteceksin." I mutter the last part. [you do not defend me or my name when you are in danger! you dumb fuck. you will get yourself killed.]

His eyes burn with anger before a flash of recognition and a sorta soft expression takes over his face. "Seni her zaman benden önce koruyacağım. sen benim en iyi arkadaşımsın." He replies. [i will always protect you before me. your my best friend.]

By now everyone is staring at us with utter confusion but i couldn't careless, because my best friend is all I need and if he doesn't stop putting his life before mine I will lock him in the basement so he can't do that.

"Bir daha yaparsan seni bodruma kilitlerim." I state seriously. [i will lock you in a basement if you do it again.]

He only chuckles darkly in reply and I make my way to the stove, completely ignoring my family's curious faces.

"Arabella, what do you want?" I ask turning to her.

She thinks. "I'm not sure, Mrs. Lucia only let us have the mush. I don't want anymore mush. Please." She practically begs. My heart fills with untamable rage and utter despair for this little girl. For me. For Lucian. And for Rylee.

She is fucking evil. Arabella is an eight year old girl.

"You can have anything you want, have you ever had grilled cheese? It's quick but super good." I explain softly.

She shakes her head. "Well we will try it, and if you don't like it I'll make you something else." She nods happily. "Okay, do you mind going with Lucian to the living room while I talk to my brothers?" She looks worried but I send her a reassuring smile and she agrees walking with Lucian away from the chaos about to erupt in this room.

Good thing the kitchen is sound proof.

"Why are you all staring?" And that was all it took for them to begin with the never ending fucking questions they always have for me.

"What language were you just speaking with Lucian?"

"You can fight?"

"You knew those men who attacked?"

"What are you doing with the girl who held both Ruth and Luna at knife point?"

"Your Dove?"

"I'm confused."

That last one was definitely from Matteo.

The questions continued and I clenched my jaw not to shout. Shouldn't they know to talk one at a time. Or just leave me the fuck alone.

"Stop." I state silencing them all. I rub my temples to provide any sort of relief to my now forming headache.

"The language Lucian and I were speaking was Turkish. Yes I can fight. Yes I knew some of those men. That little girl is a child herself. And yes I am Dove- the same Dove you saw maybe three hours ago." I answer most of their questions. "I know Sebastian and I need to talk, I know I need to explain but I have bigger things to worry about. Besides I need to make a damn sandwich for Arabella so, we will talk after." I pause leaving no room for discussion.

"Liam can you ask Ruth and Luna if they want a grilled cheese sandwich?" I offer.

Liam nods slightly shocked from the news. I hear some people mutter incoherent things under their breaths but I don't care.

I finish Arabella's sandwich and then Ruth and Luna's because Liam had came back and said they wanted one.

"Liam, can you bring them these." I asked motioning to the grilled cheese. He nodded. "Oh and Liam, I need to speak with both Ruth and Luna tomorrow." He looked hella suspicious but did not protest.

"I will go give Arabella her sandwich and her and I will talk. After that, I will clear up any confusion you may have about the Dove thing." I explained to the rest of my family. Luca gave me a smile and I returned it before walking out the kitchen door and to the living room with Arabella's sandwich in my hands.

I could hear soft giggles as I walked into the living room.

Lucian is telling Arabella really stupid jokes but she seems to like them so if it makes her happy I guess I won't tell Lucian how bad they are.

I gently set the plate of grilled cheese on the table before taking a seat next to Arabella. "Thank you." Arabella says softly grabbing the sandwich and taking a bite.

"Well? Do you like it?" She smiles brightly.

"This is so good!" She says happily.

I smile softly at her.

When she is almost done with her sandwich but she puts it back down on the plate. "It's really good but- I'm full." She says.

"That's okay, you ate most of it." I pause, debating if I should start this conversation now or wait a little. "Arabella, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

She shakes her head. "Do you know who your mother is?" Her eyes widen.

"No! I won't go back to mommy! Please, I just want to stay here with you and Lucian." She shouts in fear.

Who the fuck is this woman? And what the hell has she done to Arabella? Because it takes a lot to install that amount of fear into a child just by the mention of your name.

I glance over to Lucian, gears turning in my head. "Okay, okay, I'm not going to make you go anywhere you don't want to go. I just need your mother's name." I assure her softly.

Arabella takes a deep breath.

"Sasha Petrov."

I intake a sharp breath and look over to Lucian. If I'm not mistaken- and I really hope I am- Sasha Petrov is the number one hacker for the Russian mafia. She also happened to marry Vladimir Mikhail five years ago, therefore Sarah Petrov's new name is Sarah Mikhail.

Vladimir's wife had been killed after Aleksei Mikhail was born. His ex-wife had asked him to stop hurting children after she had found him in the basement torturing a child. Vladimir killed her the day after her birth.

He only wanted an heir, so if she was innocent and sweet, she was useless to him.

But if Sasha and Vladimir got married five years ago, and Arabella is eight, he isn't the father right?

"Arabella, do you know who your father is?" She shakes her head softly.

"Mommy said he was a bad Italian man. But he died before I was born." Thank gosh she is not Vladimir's kid.

I look over to Lucian who has the same look of relief I'm feeling. "Okay, well can you tell me maybe how long you were at that school your mother sent you too?" I ask next.

"Two years." She responds.

She was six, fucking six.

And so was I.

Vile fucking people.

I take a deep breath, "alright, I'm only gonna ask you one more thing and then you're off to bed. It's late." It was true, it was probably 1:00 AM since I had went to the meeting and killed a whole bunch of people. It was a long night.

She nods.

"Do you ever recall Lucia putting a tracker in you?" She looks confused at the question so I clarify into more kid words. "Did they ever take you to an all white room with only a bed and a heart monitor in it just to give you a shot?" I ask more clearly this time.

Blood Doves never told us about the trackers, I found out after overhearing two guards outside my cell once when I was in punishment.

I ripped it out that day, stitched myself up, and no one ever knew. They never replaced it or anything. Lucian had one too, but when I found out I had one he ripped his out too. I know most of the assassins there have trackers, I'm just not sure if they put one in Arabella yet since she is so young. Let's hope she doesn't have one or this may take a while.

"Yeah they took me there to give me my six year old shots two years ago. Gave me the shot right in my left arm." Arabella's voice rings out.

Lucian and I share a glance.

Fuck.

~~~



A/N: okay so this chapter wasn't supposed to be in two chapters. However, it was too long to be one chapter so I split it.

I also didn't want to leave you guys on a cliffhanger so the next chapter should be up.

By hoes<3