War of the Sun

One

I had been living in Sicily for almost eleven years now. That all changes today because I am returning to California. A place that was once my home before Sicily. Now, it felt like I was heading onto hostile territory.

It obviously was not my choice to leave the states and go overseas. It was my fathers, Oliver Russo. The now forty-year-old billionaire who owns half of California. The day has finally come were I will finally be face to face with that bastard after all this time. 

 Since I have been in Sicily, I didn't communicate with him at all. He had sent letters, emails, text messages, and would try to call occasionally, but I could not find it in me to forgive him for what he had done. He had left me alone in a different country. Surrounded by unfamiliar faces who spoke the most beautiful language I would learn to love. His choice robbed me of any innocence I had. I wish I could say that I had done something tragic to deserve being sent away. Except that was the furthest thing from the truth. I want to say I was a delinquent or a danger to society, so my father had no other choice but to send me off. I wasn't in the slightest. I got straight A's, never got in any trouble, and I always stayed to myself. Life was great, but it all came crashing down on April 8, 2009. The day that my mother disappeared.

Selene Monroe Russo was twenty-nine when she vanished from our lives. Never to be seen again. The day that it happened started off as any other day. I awoke to the sound of my alarm blasting on my princess night table at 7 o'clock in the morning as it did every morning. The sun was shining brightly through the lavender curtains that decorated my room. As the sound of bird's chirping echoed outside. Today was an important day, but I wish I would have known that it was for a different reason.

At the time, this day was only supposed to be a life altering because I was graduating. Since I heard the announcement that I was advancing to first grade, I had been bursting with excitement. I was so thrilled that I didn't get any sleep the night before. As I was getting dressed to go to my ceremony, my frantic father entered my room with a sense of panic in his eyes. The kind of look that has been burned into my memory. At that moment, I had no clue that my world would soon come crumbling down.

After all these years, the pain in my father's voice that day still haunts me. "Your mother is gone..." My father's pained voice filled the room. My heart began to race. My mother was always at all my awards. Even when I was in little league t ball, she would always make sure never to miss a game, or the awards I got at the end of the season for being the 'Most Valuable Player'. I knew something must have been wrong by the look and pain in my father's face, and the fact that my mother was not here getting me ready.

"What do you mean she's gone? She can't be gone. I become a big kid today. She still needs to do my hair, daddy." My pleading voice echoed throughout my room.

His face faltered at the look of sadness in my eyes. It was quickly replaced with a worried one. "She took all of her stuff, my darling. I don't think she is coming back, but I'll try to find her for you, my love." His comforting voice made me feel like everything would be okay. I never saw her again.

When there was no hope of my mother returning, it took less than forty-eight hours for my father to board me on a plane to the other side of the world. That was the last time I saw him express emotion. The week before I left, I noticed a drastic change in my father. His feelings in general were non-existent. I had only seen him disconnected a few times around business. When he knew he would have to be in business mode, he would make sure that I was far away. Except, I didn't listen most of the time. I had seen him in business meetings a couple of times because I would hide, so I was used to seeing him emotionless towards business partners and deals. I was not used to him acting detached towards me. His own daughter.

He had decided to wait till I was asleep to send me off to Sicily. I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to Zander, my best friend, before I left. The only friend who could have possibly known how to comfort me in a time like this. A time where I feel my world is falling apart.

When I had awakened, the only company I had was one of the goons that I had seen hang around my father, and he had also been there when I would sneak into business meetings. I later came to know his name is Zach. He tried his best to explain what was happening, but I couldn't help and feel betrayed. His comforting tone reminded me of my fathers on the day my mother disappeared. "Little princess, he loves you, but this is what is best for you right now." He spoke as we landed at the airport. This is the only time I really needed my father, and he sent me away. If only he knew, he wasn't the only one who had to bear the pain of losing my mother. I couldn't take my anger out on Zach or blame him for my father's actions. Although I wish that I could take it out on someone, I could see the look in his eye that he pitied me and the situation my father has put me in. Another look I would never forget. Zach went on to explain that some colleagues of my fathers had ended up recommending a boarding school in Europe for the rich and powerful. I had no idea what my father did for a living. All I knew was that he's loaded, so it made sense to send me to a preppy academy.

According to Zach, my father thought I needed to be away from everything that reminded me of my mother, and I could be around and possibly befriend some of the next world leaders. He had hoped I would make powerful allies all around the world to use for his own gain.

My departure must have made him realize that he would miss me more than he had imagined. Because he was always trying to reach me in any way he possibly could. I would make sure not to answer anything he would send to get a hold of me. I still read everything even though I didn't want him in my life for what he had done.

The first letter he wrote to me was given after I had settled in the dorm at this new school. Zach made sure to give it to me right before he left back to America. Since he knew my father was a sensitive subject, He probably didn't want to deal with the aftermath. It was a white envelope that had creased a few times to fit into Zach's pocket. As I unfolded it, I could see my name written in black ink. As I opened the letter up, I could see the tear stains my father spilled on the page. The few words that he had written had bled by his tear stains. The letter itself was pathetic. He could've said anything he wanted, but he couldn't even write more than twenty words. It was the shortest letter I had ever seen. It said, "I hope you don't hate me too much. I am doing this for your own good. I love you." The letter turned my already sour mood to hate.

When I wouldn't answer text, calls, or emails he turned to the academy. He would phone the administrators to force me to speak to him, but nobody could ever get me to talk. When that didn't work, he came to Sicily after a few months, and I had given the whole academy hell. Even when he was at my school, I would find a way to escape the grounds and hide out till he gave up and left back to America. I'd make sure the headmaster and his minions worked overtime by wreaking havoc anyway I could. He tried every month, but I was persistent. His monthly visits turned into every six months to see if I would eventually cave. The thing is that I never did. I had my father's temper after all.

After the first four years of his continuous visits, he finally gave up. He would get updates from my school on anything and everything that was going on in my life. From my grades to the different awards I would receive for being in sports and cheerleading. When he really wanted to know how I was doing beyond my grades, my father would send Zach. He probably sent him to make sure I was okay or getting bullied for being the new kid in a prestigious school because there was only so much administrators were able to do. The first time my father sent Zach, the look of happiness and relief appeared in his eyes. 

"Princess, you know he is trying to do his best. This is uncharted territory. He just wants to hear your voice- ". Before Zach could continue speaking for my father's behalf, I cut him off.

"Well maybe he shouldn't have shipped me off to the other side of the world! I miss mom just as much as he does. I lost both parents all at once." The pain in my voice was obvious. I could not mask it no matter how hard I tried. The tears began to run down my cheek before I could stop it. I had a right for feeling the way that I do. For crying out loud, I was only seven years old, and I had absolutely no one. From then on, Zach made sure to keep his visits about me and never mentioned my father again.

'I would never admit to Zach, but I always kept tabs on my father over the next eleven years. Constantly wondering what he was doing with his life now that my mother nor I were in it. Every time paparazzi took a picture of him, I could see the emptiness in his eyes. The same cold and detached look he would give me before I came to Sicily. Even when the whole world thought that he was fine, I could see past the facade he had put on. It still did not change my mind about him though.

During the second year of being abandoned, I had received a letter from my mother. It was cryptic and hidden in my assigned dorm room. The only way I could link it to her was because of two specific words that were in the letter. Whenever my father was not around, my mother would become a different person. Her obsession with our nick names were the only reason that I had recognized the two words automatically. She had burned it into my memory, so I could always know when it was truly her. At the time, I never really understood why I would need to specifically remember these certain nicknames for each other. When we were alone, she would call me 'Sol' and I would call her 'Luna' for the sun and the moon. She had told me the sun and the moon were forever connected just like our mother-daughter bond. I was her sun, and she resembled the moon. It didn't help that I was named after the roman deity of sunrise, and her name meant the moon. I still hold onto her letter even now nine years later from when she sent it.

"Sol, I know you must be wondering where I am, but I promise you that I will be back. There is an awfully bad man after our family, and I cannot let him get you too. When I have everything that I need, I will come back. Tell no one about this letter because it is not safe. Don't trust anyone. I love you. 

-Forever your Luna."

After I had realized that my mother's disappearance was not because of anything that I had done or my father. I decided that I needed to change from the weak girl that I once was to someone powerful, so I would be able to protect my family from whoever my mother was running from. That is exactly what I did. I befriended powerful leaders in the making and criminals that would become the next CEO all around the world. To say I had friends in high places was an understatement. I kept my mother's secret, and I used my connections to find out who the bad man in my mother's letter was.

With the information that I had gathered from my new connections, I had learned that my family was in the middle of a mafia war. My father was the crime boss for the largest mafia in the United States called 'The Black Dragons' with their archrivals who were called 'The Horseman'. Their identities remained hidden by not including the mob boss last name as most mobs do. This is how my father and his mafia life were able to be kept separate. Two different personas, but both still as powerful.

No one knew what I had been through the past eleven years. Not only had I changed psychically, for being gone for more than a decade, but I had changed mentally as well. I had become the person that everyone answered to. The naive, scared girl that entered Sicily was gone, and I was a whole other person that was impossible to take down. After I finally felt like I was ready to return home, I booked the first flight out of Sicily. My eighteenth birthday was yesterday. I no longer answer to no one.  Now I was on my way to my father's new address in California. Ready to take on the whole world if need be to protect my family. No matter my issues with my dad. I would always have his back. I would make them pay for being the reason my family fell apart and ripped me from my life. I've been gone for almost eleven years, but I'm back. Nobody is ready or safe for the hell on earth I'm going to unleash. Everyone would soon meet the wrath of Aurora Reign Russo.