The beginning

"Elisabetta! It's time to wake up!".

The intruder shuffled around my room making it impossible to stay asleep.

I groaned into my pillow and pulled the comforter over my head.

I stayed under the warm blanket for a second before it was yanked off and the sunlight made it's way to my retinas. I shielded my eyes with my arm and groaned.

"Loretta, can't I skip practice today. I just want to sleep in for one day." I whined.

"Mi dispiace amore mio, rules are rules. You need to train so that you can become strong like your papa".

Loretta has served my family for many generations. She's like a second mother to me and my little sister. The enforcer of rules.

I didn't grow up in an ordinary home with stable parents. The luxuries that are spent on me and my sister are trade offs for the time spent away from my non existent parents. My mama and papa are mostly busy running their underground business. As a don for one of the prestige Italian mafia, papa is mostly away in business affairs while mama takes care of the house affairs including the wives and children of all the mafia famiglia. Their time with us is shared with our oh so great big murderous family.

"Andiamo Elisabetta, you'll be late". Loretta reminded me that I had martial art match today. My life as the oldest and heir of my family business has never been easy. From learning etiquette for prestigious parties with flamboyant stuck ups to learning martial arts to protect myself and my family. My life is surrounded by constant instructors and trainers prepping me for my inauguration as the heir of the Castelli famiglia.

Traditionally, males are the only ones who can inherit a family business. Since my parents were not lucky enough to conceive a male as the oldest I took the role as the heir. It took several years to convince some of the families to accept a female as a heir and till this day papa struggles with the traditionally stubborn old fools.

They still believe women are only needed to attend the house and their husbands. Their ignorance and incomprehensible ability to ignore the modern ways of thinking surprise me. I firmly believe women are just as strong and intelligent as a man. In my situation women might not be as maniacal as men but I have never left the comfort of my home to set that statement in stone. Like the saying goes " behind every great man is a great woman", so why can't a man be behind a great woman?

I make my way down to the breakfast nook to eat something before my match with Alessandro. My martial arts trainer has me fight papa's men every two weeks to learn the ugly and dirty ways of the mafia men. It's supposed to be a learning experience but when you've been fighting since you were five it no longer is a learning experience more like a rerun of an old soapbox.

Maria, our personal chef greets me with a colorful bowl of fruit and yougurt.

"Good morning Maria. This looks amazing as always!" A spoonful of fruit is shoved in my mouth. I lick the fruit juice from my lips and groan internally.

"You deserve the best, amore mío". Like Loretta Maria's family has also been serving my family for many generations. Bound by the promise they made when papa took them in. Almost everyone except for papas men have been in servitude to the Castelli family for generations. We are like one big family that never ends.

I don't know how fruit can be this sweet and juicy. It's always my favorite and I only get this meal when I fight. Ricky my trainer, told Maria that my breakfast had to be light when I had my matches. Just to ensure I didn't throw up all over the place.

I finish my plate of fruit and walk out of the kitchen to the courtyard. A fountain was at the center and it was surrounded with mama's beautiful flowers.

I sit next to the bench to stretch. I make sure my shoes are laced up and knotted tightly. I take a deep breath and start my run. I wave a good morning to Carlo the stable man as he greats me with a big smile and waves back.

I see Aurelio, Antonio and Angelo papa's 3 Ace's, his best men. Looks like they are on guard duty or waiting for someone important to arrive. As I get closer to them they hear my feet crunch on the gravel.

All three turn to see me. If they weren't part of the Mafia i'm sure they would have been recruited as models. They're drop dead gorgeous. There 6 foot, dirty blonde hair, greek god bodies did not define their sexiness. It was their luring pin me down and do whatever you want to me eyes that topped their attractiveness. Their alluring transparent sea green eyes made you want to kneel and beg them to touch you. Sadly, they're off limits since we all grew up together but a girl can still dream. One would assume they were triplets but the truth is most of papa's men were gathered from orphanages and then trained to be killing machines.

"Whoa, Where's the fire"? Angelo asked as he stretched his arm to signal me to stop.

"Did you forget Angelo. I have a match today with Alessandro". I huffed as I tried to catch my breath.

"Poor boy doesn't even know what's going to hit him". Antonio comments.

"Shouldn't you be happy for me. I know you three would be disappointed if I lost. Aren't you the ones who secretly trained me before papa gave in to get me a trainer".

All three looked at me wide eyed.

In unison " shhh that's why we did it secretly so that it stays a secret. You want your papa to chop off our hands?

I crack a devilish smile. I swear at times like these they make me believe they're actually triplets.

I laughed at their serious faces. I didn't blame them though papa was intimidating. Easiest way to describe him tall dark and handsome. Papa is 6 foot 3, olive tone skin and jet black hair with the darkest eyes anyone can have. Although he's always busy with business he never stops working out or training with his men. Compared to these three dad can compete with them as far as attractiveness.

" Calm down boys he's not even here". I laugh at their reactions.

"Whose not here?" All three men bowed with respect. As a chill ran down my back. I turn to the familiar voice.

"Buon giorno mama!" I smile sweetly to her.

She raises her eyebrow, waiting for an answer. My mama was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Light brown hair with green eyes and olive skin tone. She had the most beautiful voice and smile. Angelic is the only way I could describe my mama. But her temper was quite the opposite from Angelic. She had my papa beat when it came to lectures and discipline.

Unfortunately, I didn't get all of my mama's beautiful traits. I had my papa's jet black hair and thankfully I got my mama's green eyes. I inherited my mamas height 5 foot 4 inches while my sister Anayeli could have been my mamas twin but with dad's height. Anayeli was only 13 and she was already 5 foot 6.

"I was just saying how much I miss papa". I smile at her. Deciding not to believe me mama puts her hand on her waist and starts tapping her foot. Getting the hint I take a deep breath and leave running.

"Bye mama i'll see you at the match" I waived a goodbye to her before a lecture could even be formed.

Elisabetta!! I hear her yell my name but there was no way I was stopping. I could feel my life being threatened with just the glare from her eyes on my retreating back.

I make my way to the training grounds where Ricky has set up the arena.

Buon giorno Ricky! I stopped right in front of him with sweat trickling down my temples and back. Before I can catch my breath I hear a whoosh on the my right side. I jump to my left as a whip hits the floor throwing dust up in the air.

Another whoosh comes inches to my face only for my body to flip backwards missing the whip. My feet skid through the gravel. I grab a stick that layed on the ground aim it to Ricky and fling it at him.

At least let me catch my breath! I yell from a few feet away.

Without missing a beat he bats it way like it was a fly. I launch myself to him trying to land a punch. Out the five I threw none came close to hitting him. Swatting my arms away like they were mere insects, I continued my assault. Failing miserably Ricky held on to my last fist punch only to twist it behind my back as my body landed with a humph on the floor. The side of my face was plastered to the dirt. My breath creating a cloud of dirt.

"You're late Elisabetta". Ricky's loud voice vibrated through my back. He was pissed. One thing this man could not forgive was being late. Punctuality was sacred. To him if you couldn't make the time he set up for you then he wouldn't waste his time to teach you.

"What have I told you about time". A wooden stick zips and hits my calves.

I groan and answer

"Shtime ish shacred shonce ish gone ish lost". I coughed as dirt entered my mouth and nose. He stands up untwisting my sore arm.

I massage my arm and wipe the dirt and drool off my face.

"I'm sorry Ricky, my mama wouldn't stop talking" I lied as I spit the dirt out of my mouth.

He humphed and turned his back to me.

"You're lucky today is your match because if it was training day you would have gone home half dead". He's told me this a handful of times. This man does not lie. I've been beaten and left to train until my body could no longer move. His punishments were in humane. He was right today was my lucky day.

"Today you will have a match with Alessandro. He is new and needs to learn how to properly fight. You will not go easy on him. We only get the best of the best and he must show that he is worthy of being part of the Castelli famiglia".

"If he can land a punch on you he will be considered worthy. If he fails he will be sent back to the streets". I hated that I held someone's future in my hands. These poor boys just wanted a place to call home. I truly wish we could just accept all of them but I knew that was too good to be true. My heart aches for Alessandro. I truly hoped he could land a punch but the endless training said otherwise. I could fake it but Ricky knows my fighting style and would smell my hesitation a mile away. He would call me out if I held back even a smidge.

Ricky and I turned as we heard a commotion near the arena where my match would be held. We got closer and some of papa's guards were cheering and whistleling as they surrounded two boys around my age.

"What is going on here". Rickys voice boomed across the arena. Everyone turned to see Ricky and a silence fell over the crowd. The boys held each other by the collar fist frozen in mid air.

" Ah come on Ricky we're just having fun with the newbies". Thwat! Ricky hit Angelo on the back of his knee making the grown man falter.

"Show respect to your elders". Ricky held a level of respect from all memebers due to his discipline and training methods he bestowed upon all of us. Showing disrespect to Ricky was like disrespecting the right hand man of papa.

"My apologies" Angelo bowed.

"Speak, why are there two boys on my arena without my permission"?

"Don Vincenzo brought two boys who seem worthy of becoming part of the famiglia. One of them is Alessandro and the other is Giovanni. Since we usually just approve of one we thought we could do the elimination round and the winner can fight Elisabetta".

Twath Ricky hits Angelo on the other leg making him hiss.

"And who gave you permission to authorize this fight. Are you perhaps trying to take over my job and make decisions for me". Ricky shows no mercy when he's mad.

Angelo knew very well that by upsetting Ricky he was going to suffer for a couple of days.

" I apologize for stepping out of bounds. I will take responsibility".

"We will meet after the match Angelo". Angelo moved out of Ricky's way as he approached the boys. I walked behind Ricky curious to see how badly the boys were beaten.

Both were sickly thin and bruised. Blood trickled both their mouths and knuckles. How unfair the world is to those who are born in unfortunate circumstances. Guilt formed in the pit of my stomach. I didn't want to fight these boys I wanted to help them.

Ricky looked at them once and let a long breath out. "Take them back they are too weak and I have no time or patience to train weaklings".

"No!" I shouted at Ricky. Ricky looked at me in disbelief. The crowded arena became quiet.

I don't know what came over me. I've never spoken out like that. But at that moment I looked at both of their eyes and saw nothing. No life, no dream or aspiration. Just empty shells. My heart hurt for them. I wanted to give them hope and light up their eyes and show them that life was worth fighting for.

I grabbed both of their hands and gave them the best smile I could give.

"Hi my name is Elisabetta, I will make sure you have food and clothes and a place to stay okay". They both nodded in unison but still no spark of light. Tears welled up in my eyes but I didn't let the tears fall. I was the heir of the Castelli famiglia and I could not show any weakness.

I sniffed and pulled the boys to their feet and with determination and confidence I looked at Ricky. " I am taking them to papa, they are staying until further notice".

Ricky and the three Ace's burned holes on my back. I knew I was going to get it the next time I trained with Ricky but the boys needed me. At that moment I felt like I was doing the right thing.