Preparing to Leave

Preparing to Leave
Isabella's POV

"What lullaby?" Luca's voice was like a knife in the room.

Startled by the intensity in his eyes, I looked up from where I had been sitting. He was gazing at his phone as if it had just caught fire.

I said, "What are you talking about?"

"The lullaby your father used to sing to you." Luca approached me with a pale face. "What were the words?"

My heart began to beat more quickly. How was he aware of that? My father and I shared a special and intimate lullaby. Until I was ten years old, he had sung it to me every night.

"I don't understand," I replied. "Why does that matter?"

"Just tell me the words!" Luca took hold of my shoulders and held on so tightly that it hurt.

"Hey!" Dante pushed his brother back as he moved forward. "What's wrong with you?"

Luca displayed his phone to us. The screen glowed with the messages from the unidentified sender. In an attempt to understand what they were saying, I read them twice.

The names of all those who killed your mother.

"Your mother was murdered?" I muttered.

The brothers became motionless. All of their faces flashed with pain, and even Nico's normally expressionless face broke.

"We were told she died from illness," Marco muttered. "That's what our father always said."

"But someone is claiming differently." Luca faced me once more. They also claim that your father was aware of the true murderer. that when he sang you a lullaby, he concealed their names."

This was crazy. My father was a kind man who assisted people with their taxes. He wasn't the type of person who used children's songs to conceal secrets and uncover murders.

However, I didn't truly know my father, did I?

"The lullaby was in Italian," I uttered slowly. "The family of my mother was Italian. Before she passed away, she taught it to my father.

"What were the words?" Calmer this time, Luca asked again.

I tried to recall while closing my eyes. I hadn't heard it in a very long time. However, the words and the melody returned to me.

"Luna bella, stelle d'oro," I murmured. "Marco, Lucia, and Antonio Lopez. Piccola mia, dormi bene. Salvatore ti porta via.

Marco was completely white when I opened my eyes.

"Marco," he uttered. "That's my name."

"And Lucia was our mother's name," Dante continued in a firm tone.

"Antonio and Salvatore," Luca whispered. These are the names of two Castellano family bosses. They perished in a car bomb five years ago.

My mind was racing. "You believe my father intentionally included those names in my lullaby?"

"I think your father knew something terrible," Luca remarked. He has been keeping it a secret for years. No one would ever consider looking in that one location.

"In me." My voice was barely audible.

That reality weighed heavily on my chest. I believed that my father was expressing love to me on all those evenings when he sang to me. However, he was also taking advantage of me. transforming me into a place where his secrets are kept.

"We need that box now," Luca declared. "Whatever else is in there might explain all of this."

With a bundle in his arms, Marco moved forward. "Over here. Put these on.

When I opened the bundle, I discovered what appeared to be a standard black sweater and pair of jeans. However, they had an odd feeling. heavy.

"Bulletproof fabric," Marco clarified. "It will shield you from handguns, but it won't stop a rifle."

clothing that is bulletproof. This was actually taking place. I was going to enter a building full of assassins dressed like soldiers in armor.

"The shoes have tracking devices," Marco went on. "So if something goes wrong, we can find you."

"And this." I was given a tiny earpiece by Dante. "So we can communicate during the mission."

With numb hands, I took everything. Paying the rent was my biggest concern just a week ago. I was now preparing for a combat mission.

"I need a minute," I said. "To change and to... think."

I was allowed to enter the bedroom by myself. Naturally, the bulletproof clothes fit me perfectly, so I changed into them. They were fully aware of every detail about me, including my precise measurements.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. It was the same face I had seen my entire life, with the same messy hair and brown eyes. However, the person gazing back seemed alien.

The girl's parents were devoted to her. a typical life. Easy dreams.

This girl's father, a criminal, may still be alive. Lullabies contain secrets. and four dangerous men who are prepared to transport her into a combat zone.

"You can do this," I said to myself. "For Elena. For the truth. For yourself.

The door was knocked on. The voice of Dante: "It's time."

After taking a final breath, I opened the door.

The brothers, dressed in full combat gear, were waiting. Their faces were serious, and they had guns on their hips. They appeared to be the dangerous men they truly were.

Luca gave me a picture. "This is Sophia's most recent photo that we have. Learn her face by heart.

I studied the picture of the woman. Gorgeous, icy, calculating eyes. Elena was being threatened with a gun by the same woman.

"I won't forget her," I declared.

"Good." The front door was opened by Luca. "Because she won't think twice about killing you if something goes wrong tonight. regardless of what you say or do.

We ventured out into the darkness. Black vehicles with running engines stood in the driveway. Rain and another smell permeated the air. Like the sky before a storm, something electrifying.

My phone buzzed just as I was getting into the car. It was my real phone that I believed had been taken away, not the weird one from earlier.

An unknown number sent a text.

When I opened it, a video was loading.

My father was in the video. Sitting in a room I didn't recognize was my real father, alive. He appeared scared, worn out, and older.

His voice broke as he said, "Isabella," in the video. "They've already located you if you're watching this. I'm so sorry, sweetie. I never intended for you to be involved in this."

My face was wet with tears.

"Don't trust the Romano brothers," my father went on. "They are not who they claim to be. To hide the fact that their father murdered their mother, he will also murder you. Proof is in the box. Keep them from—"

The video abruptly ended.

All four of the brothers were staring at me when I looked up.

And a man I had never seen before emerged from the shadows behind them, brandishing a gun.

The man said, "Hello, Isabella," and his smile chilled my blood. "My name is Don Alessandro Romano. The father of the boys. And I believe it's time for us to have a brief conversation about your father's true knowledge.