Sold To The Dominant Mafia

1. Amara Rossi

"Amara?"

I turned at the urgent, almost gentle voice behind me, my heart beating rapidly against my chest while beads of sweat trickled down my back . Dark brown eyes bore into my head with that usual concern that bugged the crap out of me. Brows raised, Nico stared back at me, his handsome face hidden by the mask similar to mine.

"Yeah?" I asked, my voice loud enough for him to hear as we waited at the south exit of a run down factory.

"Are you alright? You are breathing too fast," He asked softly as I veered my attention back to him.

Not liking the look in his eyes, I turned away and slowly nodded. I hate that cajoling voice of his, knowing too well that I can't reciprocate the concern or the kindness back. I didn't want to. And more than that, I don't know how to. I was fine the way I was. It helped me survive so far. And in the world where I lived in, where Nico lived in, survival was everything.

"Fine," I answered and his tired, hopeless sigh wasn't hard to miss. I scowled inside my mask and tried to focus.

"How much longer?" He asked instead. I glanced at my digital watch and took a deep breath.

"Now," I answered, my jaw tightening immediately. The nerves that were creating a havoc moments ago disappeared on their own replaced by a sudden rush of adrenaline.

My scalp prickled as I squared my shoulders and prepared for another gruesome, grueling bloodbath. A part of me hated this to the core. But the dominant part of me loved it. Yes, I was a woman who enjoyed killing people. Men. I had never in my life hurt women or children. And I never will.

But men, they deserved to be killed. I hated them with every ounce of blood in my body. Because the men in my world were not humans. They were the worst kind of animals I have seen. Of course, there were few exceptions, such as the man behind me. But for the record, I loathed majority of them. And there was one whom I hated so much that maybe even killing him wouldn't give me peace. My scalp prickled as his name popped up unbidden in my brain and I shook my head, trying to center myself. Now was not the time.

My eyes drifted to the soldiers on my opposite side. No, not the army soldiers. Men responsible for protecting and fighting in behalf of a family were addressed as soldiers here. Every family and their sub-divisions have groups of armed soldiers who were trained to protect and kill.

I was one of them. And though I knew half of the men in my group hated it to their core, I was the leader of the south band. The only woman leader in the four bands that worked individually under the four capos and collectively to protect the Baldocchi family.

Years of practice has taught us how to sync with our group so when I glanced at him, Michael, the second in command after me, he caught my eyes and nodded. We were just five in number apart from Nico and we were more than enough.

Mattini Ricci was a soldier just like me. Given his father too served as a soldier before him, Mattia was a trusted man of the family until he decided to use that trust to sell out family secrets, business secrets and most importantly the billion dollar drug deals through the Columbian channels. That was the reason why we were here in the middle of the night. Mattia's life was a matter of few moments now.

"We will go that way," Michael said. I gave him a slow nod and motioning Nico, took off towards the opposite direction.

"There he is...that motherfucker," Nico growled low in his throat.

Hidden by a rotten down iron door, I could see Mattini and few other men gathered around a barrel used for makeshift table. They looked grim, the men. Mattini looked nervous as he counted the money with his butter fingers.

"Stay behind me," I muttered and Nico snorted in response.

"That's insulting, Am," He said drily. "I am..."

"I know," I answered, shooting him a pointed look. "That's why. It's my job to protect you. Not the other way around,"

"What if I don't want it to be that way?" He asked, holding my gaze.

"It's not your choice. The rules were laid before either of us were even born," I answered flatly, focusing back on the men.

I pulled out my S&W, attached the silencer, positioned the gun and curled my finger around the trigger. Aiming the first shot towards the bulky guy in grey shirt and black trousers head, I let the trigger go.

No noise was made but an instant commotion went around the room as he flopped down on the ground with a thud. Mattini shouted for help in garbled Italian and out of nowhere hoards of men materialized into the room shooting blindly at the entrance.

"Do you have a gun?" I asked Nico and that was the stupidest question to be asked at the moment. He shot me a look as he pulled out his black, sleek Colt. He loaded the magazine with a flourish that just like me, came with years of practice and shoved it up the magazine well.

"Take that side," He ordered and though I hated it, at this point, I was at his disposal. Whatever his orders, I had to obey.

When no activity came from us, the assassins stopped for a moment. That was my cue, a matter of five seconds before the ammunitions go again. I crouched down on my knees, shot three aims blindly anywhere to disorient them as I rolled over to the opposite side.

Heart pounding, I held the revolver close to my chest and waited for Nico's order. He waved two fingers towards them and I nodded my head. No idea of how many men there were in total, we started to shoot blindly, ducking and shooting, loading and reloading the gun. A quick glance showed six or seven lying on the ground including the two dealers and the one I killed before. Mattini was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's he?" I shouted among the deafening noise.

"Probably crouching somewhere," Nico answered, his face hard, eyes focused as he shot down two other. I opened my mouth to say something but Michael's voice on my bluetooth piece stopped me. He was huffing, sounding urgent.

"More men are headed your way. There are more than we thought," He muttered, swearing at someone at the same time. "We are headed towards your direction. But you gotta stop them," Nico looked up at me as Michael cut off the call, obviously hearing everything through his earpiece.

"I am going to go and stall them," He said firmly. "You look for that traitor. That's an order," He added the last part before I could protest and I had no option but to agree.

"Here, take this. You will need this one," I said, pulling out the AR-15 from my shoulders and throwing it over to him. "It fires faster," I added. "Go...I got this,"

Nico stared at me briefly, worry evident on his face before he darted towards the direction we came. His worry made no sense to me. I have been doing this longer than he has even if he was older. This was who I was.

Shaking my head, I checked the gun and realized that there were only two shots left. Two shot for two men. Mattini, I guess has to be tackled by myself. Taking one deep breath, I walked out of the hiding and shot two quick aims before the opposite party can. That was the thing. You gotta be quick or you die. Dying was not an option for me. Not yet.

The dirty, musty smelling room was empty apart from the bleeding corpses as I walked in. I looked around, my eyes darting to every corner but there was no sign of Mattini there. Where the f**k did he go? I shot a quick look at the arrangement on their makeshift table, blueprints, drug samples...money.

"I know you are around here," I hissed, holding my gun tightly even though it was just as useless as Mattini himself. I had no more magazine left either. But as was taught, I can't let him know that.

"Come out and father will spare you," I shouted again. "He trusted you, he wants you to apologize and come clean,"

"Do you think I am an i***t?" Cold steel pressed on my throat as he held the knife and his arm in a vice-like grip around my throat.

"Aren't you?" I hissed. "An i***t would do what you did, Mattini. But father is generous with his people...he will forgive you," Of course he won't. There was no forgiveness for a traitor. But sometimes emotional manipulation works.

"I have lived longer with them than you have, Amara Rossi," Mattini muttered, tightening the blade. I could feel the coolness of blood slowly starting to spread as the steel touched my skin slightly. "And you...are the last person I will ever trust, you deadly inhuman woman. You are their most loyal slave and you expect me to believe you?"

"Then don't," I hissed as I pulled my knee up and crashed it hard into his crotch. Mattini cried out loudly and released his grip a little which was enough for me to pull away.

With one hand holding his d**k, he grabbed my bun with the other and tugged hard, pulling my hairs free. I didn't have a gun but I did have my knife. It was a gift from father, deadly, unforgiving, engraved with my name on it. I pulled it out from my sock and landed a gash on his arms, freeing myself from his grasp. Without giving him time, I brought my knee up and landed it hard against his chin. He cried out even louder and coughed blood.

"You fuck..." He couldn't speak as I wrapped my arm around him in a choke hold and pulled. Mattini was stronger, taller and obviously better trained than me. But he was disoriented at the moment and I was agile and quicker.

"You should know better than to turn over your family, Mattini," I hissed, gripping the leather handle of my knife. "May you have a better life in your next incarnation,"

Mattia coughed blood all over my hands once again as the knife found its way into his gut. My stomach churned and I closed my eyes, pulled the knife out and shoved it in again. Duty before everything else, after all.

He stopped writhing this time and slowly I let go off my grip, letting him drop on the floor just at the moment when Nico and Michael and our other men walked in.

Nico glanced at me, trying to read my impassive face. I had no idea what he was looking for. Emotions? Guilt? Sadness? Fear? Remorse? If he was, he was going to be sadly mistaken because I felt nothing. I stopped feeling emotions or just about anything else a long long time ago. They scared me and this way it was easier to survive, one thing that everything else boils down to.

"Collect whatever you find and remove any traces. Better...burn the place down altogether," I ordered, wiping the blood off my knife with my gloves which I pulled out and discarded there only. Mattini's blood just like many others will always be on my hands. But I wasn't going to take the literal traces of it back home at any cost.

"Drink," Nico, handed me a bottle of water as we climbed into his black SUV. His eyes bore into my head as I stared out of the tinted window and as always like I have been doing for years, I chose to ignore him.

"I am not thirsty," I answered. "You can call father and let him know the deed's done,"

"You are bleeding," He pointed, ignoring my words.

"So are you," I shot back. It was not hard to notice the red color spreading through his white shirt as he pulled out of his leather jacket.

"The bullet scratched through," He replied. "First aid will be enough," I scowled at nothing in particular.

"Next time...do me a favor and stick to your responsibilities. No need to poke your nose in mine," I said glumly. "My job is to protect you and your family. Your job is take care of the business. Stick to that and you will save both of us a lot of grief,"

"Are you worried about me?" Nico asked, c*****g his head to the side as I turned my eyes to him.

"No. I don't want you playing Superman for me. Your responsibility is your family, your legacy and your business. Not me. It's high time you understand that," I snapped, my temper rising.

Nico Baldocchi was the future heir and underboss of the Baldocchi family. It was the second strongest family among all the clusters, the Ammassari being the first. According to the hierarchy, a family/cluster was headed by a boss which in case of the Baldocchi's was still Nico's father and everyone else's father too, Alessandro Baldocchi.

I was a soldier but I worked under no one but father himself, under his orders. I lived in the Baldocchi mansion with the rest of the actual family and was brought up by Alessandro and his wife Gabriella ever since I was six. I wasn't their daughter though. And they weren't my parents. We didn't have that kind of relationship. They gave me shelter and I gave my life to them in return. It was an equal transaction. Nothing much. Nothing less.

"You are family, Amara," Nico said softly. "You grew up..."

"I am an orphan, whose parents were assassinated and who was given a shelter by your father and mother. That's it," I answered, cutting him off.

He stared blankly at me for a brief second before nodding and turning away. I knew I hurt him every time I open my goddamn mouth. But, I'd rather hurt with the truth than heal with lies.

"Father asked you in his study," He added gruffly, a second later. I nodded.

I climbed out as the car pulled into the elaborate arch driveway of the mansion and gingerly headed towards father's study. The Baldocchi mansion was huge so finding your way around it was a job in itself. Halting outside the fine Oakwood door of father's study, I squared my shoulders and knocked smartly.

"Come in," His voice was calm and collected as always. Opening the door, I walked inside and shut it behind me before turning to face him.

"There she is," He smiled at me, sitting behind his sleek Mahogany desk, dressed smartly in a charcoal suit at the middle of the night. He was always dressed in a suit.

Alessandro was in his late fifties and one of the most lethal person I have ever seen in my life. Of course there were a few exceptions that trait applied to. To his friends and business clients he was kind, cheerful with a goofy sense of humor. Everything that opposed the usual characteristics expected of a mafia boss. I knew better. It was just a facade beneath which lay a man who will ruin his enemies and competitors to dust. Alessandro's rule was simple: I treat you exactly the way you treat me.

"Father," I mumbled, taking my position on the other side of his desk. He looked up from whatever he was staring at and smiled brightly, looking pleased.

"You did a splendid job," He said, leaning on the desk. "As always, I am proud of you,"

"We did it together," I said. "My entire team. Nico too,"

"Being modest?" He laughed, shaking his head. "Well, congratulations to your entire team. Burning down that place was a good idea. As always, you didn't fail me. Which is why...I have a splendid present for you,"

"I don't want any present," I retorted flatly.

Generally, nobody talks to him like that. But I did. Because I don't like to take bullshit from people and I don't care much about anybody or anyone in the first place. Father smiled and stood up. Lazily lighting a cigar, he walked towards me and gave my shoulder a pat before flopping down partially on his desk.

"I think you would want this one," He answered, smirking at me as he blew out the smoke. "You have waited for years for this present, Amara," I raised my brows at him and frowned. Where was he going with his gibberish?

"What do you mean?" I demanded, my voice hard with impatience. Alessandro smiled and reaching out, traced my cheeks with his thumb. I moved away instantly. I hated any man touching me. One tried to and he ended up dead years ago.

"It's time," He said, his eyes darkening. "It's time for what you have been waiting for the past nineteen years. It's time for your revenge....it is now time, my dear child...to avenge your parents death,"

My eyes widened as my heartbeat shoot up with the sudden rush of adrenaline. I stared at him, my eyes hard and father nodded his head, confirming he meant what he said. Clenching my jaw, I took a long deep breath.

I have waited nineteen years for this day. All my struggles, my hardships and my pain boiled down to this one thing, one feeling: Revenge.

I wanted Leonardo Ammassari dead.

I wanted the man who so ruthlessly killed my father and the rest of my family, to die the most painful death history has ever seen. He snatched my life away from me, a mere six year old child. And now after nineteen years, I will snatch every f*****g thing from him. I have got nothing to lose, he has got plenty.

Leo Ammassari...

I am coming for you...