Farfalla

2.

"Dad!" I opened up my arms to the ageless man I called my father. His blue eyes were piercing with the crystal blue coloring I had not received. Rather I had acquired my mother's eyes dark and beautiful. Even though I hadn't attained my father's most defining feature I had obtained his blonde hair that was now greying lightly on his sides.

"My little Farfalla!" My dad embraced me tightly from missing me for the long period we had gone without seeing each other. I really did wish I got to see him more but he had told me that it was for my own safety. I missed his embraces, the way he called me by my childhood nickname.

"I've missed you so much." I expressed following him inside his plainly decorated flat. The walls were stripped of any art or pictures, no accent pieces to stand out from the white walls. The living room only held two brown leather chairs that were positioned in the middle of the room with a coffee table putting space between the two pieces of furniture. The kitchen wasn't much of a sight either with it looking like it hadn't been used to ages which was most likely true.

Briefcases and papers filled the oval-shaped dining table in the small kitchen. Bullet packages and holders to guns that sat on the table scattered, giving off the only sign of a resident here. From the way my father dressed, however, you would have never guessed he lives in a smaller flat just outside London.

"I missed you too." My dad spoke walking towards a big open window where he checked on the man that had brought me here. The man began walking up to the door and stood in front of it with his arms bent to the front of his body in the position most bodyguards stood.

"So what is happening? You scared me when I got your call." I wanted to jump right into why I was summoned even though I enjoyed his missed company. The sad reality was that the only time we talked was when there was a security breach.

"An old enemy has come back on the radar and there is intel leading us to believe that he is coming for you." My dad began to explain turning around from the window to face me. My heartbeat quickened hearing what little things I knew in the situation. All I knew was that now I was being hunted by a criminal my father hadn't caught.

"What would anyone want with me?" I questioned my mind reeling to the man who murdered my mum. My father didn't talk much of the death of my mother, he was tight-lipped about the subject.

"We don't have firm details just assumptions based off of what we have known in previous situations." My father gave vaguely. I noticed my father's attire and the gun holster that strapped around his arms sitting by his rib cage. The black straps brought contrast against his white button down that was freshly pressed and ironed, the complexity of perfection ran through his blood.

"Is it the man who killed mum?" I dared to ask wanting to cover my hand over my mouth when the question slipped. Embarrassed by the suddenness of the question I searched his face to see he had no reaction to my question. The silence burned in my ears, bringing a blush to my cheeks from the long pause that we sat in.

"Yes." My father replied simply to which I gasped lowly, heightening my already escalating fear. I could still hear his voice in my ears no matter how hard I tried to drown out the dark tone that haunted me. The way he delivered threatening lines to my mother that I could only assume tried to protect herself as well as me.

I took a breath in efforts to self-medicate myself by calming my own nerves with breathing patterns I had learned. I was in a war against my own mind, I didn't want to see the flashes of blood that pooled around my mum's lifeless body. I didn't want my mind to flash the images of the shadow under the door or the shot that stripped away my mother's life. I fought hard to press the terrorizing memory away from my recollection.

"I am going to have you transported to Italy where there is a safe house for you waiting." My father informed me coming in closer to put his arms around my arms. I hated relocating. I thought now that I was of an older age that would have gone away but it looked like this was all still present. The same safety procedures were untouched and still in full motion from when I was little.

After my mum was murdered I was forced to relocate for my safety. This had been a pattern for me since that night I still dream about nightly. I was passed off to different caregivers when my father couldn't be there to protect me, his job was demanding when he rejoined the service. My father had resigned from the British Intelligence when he married my mother but, just because he left the Intelligence doesn't mean the Intelligence left him. He brought back enemies like the man that killed my mother in cold blood. My life was never the same after that night with long plane rides and adapting to new strangers that put my safety before anything else.

"You will stay there until further instruction is given." My dad finished letting go of my arms and stroking my cheek. He looked at me with sympathetic eyes because he knew the weight this put on my shoulders. He didn't want to have to do this but with threats for my head loomed, there was no such thing as being too careful.

"Dad I have my life here. I can't leave Louis." A thought came to Louis in all of this. I knew that if I was to go through with all of this I had a good chance of never hearing from Louis again. I had been proud of our relationship because it was one that has been withstanding for two years now, besides my parent's relationship with my father that was the longest relationship I had ever had.

"As long as you are here you are in danger. By staying here, you are putting Louis' safety at risk as well as your own. I will not let that happen on my watch." Taking a few steps away I gave myself space to pace around. I needed to move to keep still was only building onto the anxiety I was feeling.

"When are we leaving?" I decided to be as cooperative as I could. I only wanted what was best for everyone in the situation and if that meant staying away from Louis to ensure his safety, that's what I was going to do.

"I am not going with you, I have things to tend to here as well as any leads elsewhere. I have assigned you a bodyguard who I have been mentoring personally. He will be transporting you to Italy as well as overseeing your day to day safety until the mission has been accomplished and it is clear to come home." I didn't like the idea of my father leaving me once again but I did see why he could not attend my transport. I knew he had other things his training had trained him to do with these "leads" he spoke of. My father was specially trained for things like this, this was his job.

I knew leaving was only a precaution for my safety but that didn't make me like it anymore then I did. Italy would be beautiful and I was grateful I was going to a place with such beautiful culture rather than a few other places I had been placed in. Not everywhere I was transported to was as glamorous as Italyfar from it. When I was fourteen and spent a hefty amount of time in the rough parts of India. I was undercover and told that I was forbidden to talk to anyone except the men working for my father, I was completely cut off from the world. I didn't want to leave my life in London knowing that even though my father never asked me to it was implied. I knew that most likely I wasn't coming back once I left, it was a pattern I had seen when I was twelve. I since have never returned to India or any other place I had resided in for a fixed amount of time. London was my hometown and the place I had built my life on, I found it hard to leave that all behind now.

"Can I come home when this is all solved?" I asked my father listening to what he was saying very carefully. I saw a small glimmer of hope that I wasn't going to have to leave this all behind and start fresh all over again.

"I hope so." I could see a small smile curved on his lips seeing my relieved reaction to the news. I needed some shred of hope and I had found it.

Striding over to him I walked into his open arms feeling his warmth wrap me up. I missed the times when things were simple with our family when I used to wait for my father to come home from work like any other family. When he used to pick me up and spin me around upon his arrival home to my mother and I. That was a short-lived period after unsuspected motives came to light and certain tasks were followed through.

"So when am I to leave?" I wanted to at least go home and pack the few things that mattered to me. I owed Louis an explanation of what was about to happen next and how things were going to play out over the next few hours. I wanted to spend my few remaining hours with him since I didn't know when I would return.

"You will board the plane with Harry at 5:15, it would be best to go and pack a few things for the road." I nodded to his logic already putting a schedule together in my head. I was a planning person, I needed a guideline to follow.

"Harry must be my security detail then?" I assumed listening to my father's instruction on how everything should run.

"Yes, he is a highly trained agent that like I have said mentored. He is responsible and gets things done which means you will cooperate with what he tells you to do. If he asks you to follow through with an order you will obey, is that clear Mia?" My dad's tone of voice became sterner and firm on what he was pressing into my mind.

Furrowing my brow I responded in my own defense, "You know I have always been cooperative before, I'm no stranger to orders."

"I know you aren't I'm just ensuring that you know what is expected." His tone was still firm in the context as if he was worried about the way I would behave around Harry.

"I am not a child dad, you don't need to talk to me like I still am one," I mumbled not caring for his tone or eyes that stared me down. Feeling significantly smaller next to him who was of taller height and had higher intelligence.

"But you will always be my little farfalla." He stroked my cheeks once again softening his demeanor and bringing a softer approach to me once again knowing that I didn't respond to others that pushed their superiority in my face. "I love you." He pressed a kiss to my forehead letting me hug him one more time.

"I love you too daddy." I picked up his Tom Ford cologne scent that he had made his signature since I was little. The smell of it brought me comfort when I began to miss him. When I was little and I was forced away from security reasons, he always let me take one of his button-down shirts with me so when I missed him I could smell the shirt and know he was there with me. It was the small things I cared deeply about like the memory of a smell or a comforting shirt a loved one wore often. Those were the things that kept me going when I was little and even now.

note// I'm in the process of moving right now, thus why the lack of updates! But by next week when I'm moved in they will be more consistent:) thoughts about what's going on?