"When thinking about life, remember this;
no amount of guilt can change the past
and no amount of anxiety can change the future."
- Unknown
Aurora's POV:
My expression must have been one unable to forget.
I don't remember ever being that baffled in my life and I, sadly, went through some rough stuff in my short life.
"Wait-what? Why would a maid and most importantly our babysitter kidnap me?"
It doesn't make any sense to me as to why she would just up and kidnap me.
"That we do not know," continued Ricci, "there are a few rumors spreading around though. Apparently she has been offered a huge amount of money to take the most precious thing for father from him. She has been with us long enough to figure out that our little princess would be the perfect victim. You see, our family and business has a lot of enemies but even more allies. The enemies played dirty by taking a baby but before we could find and question her as to who has offered her that amount of money it was too late."
It seems the more they tell me, the more confused I get. I feel my brows furrow even deeper, desperately searching for the answer but came out empty.
"What do you mean, it was too late?" I ask very careful as I'm not quite sure if I even want to know the answer.
My father muttered something under his breath, low enough for me not to understand.
Upon seeing my questioning look, he took a deep breath and I would have sworn I misheard him.
"Her head was delivered to us."
Now I know that I am gaping at him like a fish that is without water.
"I think I misheard you." I chuckle nervously, really believing that I did misheard him but when I saw them shaking their heads silently, I knew that I was hearing him just perfectly fine.
I honestly have no idea how to react to news like these.
"Back up, I know I am missing something here. Why did we have such high security and why are your so called enemies cruel enough to decapitating someone?"
"Before we answer this question, please promise to keep an open mind and to hear me out." Pleaded my father and I immediately nod my head, ready to finally hear the truth about who my family is.
"The business I own wasn't build by me per se, it was given to me by my father and he got it from his father. It's a family business that continued to grow pretty fast. It is a pretty complex but to describe it as easy as possible; we work for no one but ourself. Every now and then though someone from the government would request our help in some matters, yet it is our final decision to accept or decline. It was part of the long lasting deal. If their request is unreasonable then we would decline right away and they understood each time and still hire us and only us. You could call us an agency with a little kink in it; an agency of assassin'. The difference between us and other assassin agencies is that we ONLY assassinate the bad people. We refuse to kill anyone who is innocent and a child/teenager."
After my fathers confession I was weirdly enough only slightly baffled. Before I even had a chance to say or ask anything Alessandro continued his point of view.
"We all grew up like a normal child until the age of 13/14. We still knew about the business beforehand but were never that included. Our father trained us first with self-defense, then hand-to-hand-combat and then finally with different kind of weapons. Each of us has a different specialty in weapons. Lorenzo is perfect with any kind of guns, Ricci is pretty old timed with the arrow and I myself am good with hand-to-hand-combat. While being in the training center, which is also in this very building, he is our trainer and not our father and at home he is our father. Private and business will always be separated and that works perfect in my mind."
My brain went a high mile right now and I have no idea if it's working like a normal human being right now or not but I'm not scared off after the confessions.
Feeling a hand laying on my shoulder I looked up and saw Michael looking down at me with soft eyes which made me smiling up at him but I didn't miss the jealous look of my father from the corner of my eyes.
"I know it must be overwhelming for you to find out so much in one day, we understand, so don't hesitate to ask if you want to know something."
I slowly nod as I think over Michael's words and when I finally made my mind up I look up to my father and send him a smile to which his face lit up.
"What about me?" was my first question.
"Excuse me?" asked my father back.
"What about me? Will I need to train as well and be part of your business?"
He didn't hesitate to answer, "It is up to you whether you want to be a part of it or not but I still would like you to learn self-defense. Nowadays it's sadly very important to be able to defend yourself as a woman."
I nod before asking the next question, "Would it only be you to train me, one of my brothers or a even stranger?"
His eyes darken slightly at the mention of an stranger training me.
"It would be most likely be either me, Lorenzo or a family friend. His family has been part of this Organization the start. I grew up with him, his father and brother. And Your brothers grew up with his sons. They are practically family to us and helped searching for you the whole time. My best friend and right-hand-man would sometimes slap me upside down for thinking that we will never find you. They are, after all, the godparents to you guys."
I'm being honest when I say that his answer did calm me down a lot. Hearing about how they all grew up together did make me somewhat sad, however I am glad that I was the one who has been taken and that it didn't hit any of my brothers.
Looking around the room and seeing their faces waiting patiently for my answer with a hint of longing and hope in them made the thoughts about decision definitly easier. Looking over to Miguel who sits on the other love seat on my right, I'm scanning his face to if I see any judgement. I am not even surprised to see that his eyes are full of support.
With that I looked back towards my blood family and say my answer with an amount of confidence that I ever heard out of myself.
"I want to train with you; being an assassin."