MARIA POV

My feet carry me to the basement quickly as the house erupts into terror.

“Mom!!” I yell, looking around the house; the maids are running around confused, the guards are being gunned down, and Dad is by the door, his white shirt stained with blood.

“Run, Tara, run!!” My mom screams at me, holding my dead brother in her arms; her eyes fill with tears, and her head turns to the ceiling as she moans in pain.

Anxiety fills me, and my vision becomes blurry; my heart pumps wildly in my chest as I pull the basement door open, and closing it behind me, the room erupts into darkness.

“Mom,” I whisper, tears blocking my vision, but I move forward in the basement as much as my feet can carry me.

I push the faux library door to the side, revealing a small door at the bottom of the wall.

“Fucking kill them!!” I hear a deep voice from above making me shake in my skin; I lick my quivering lips, pulling the door open as gunshots fill my ears.

I crawl into the small door, closing the door behind me, making it impossible for anyone to find me.

I pull into a wider room; Dad kept all our essentials for running away here in case there would be an emergency. Being a part of a mafia family, it meant we had to be ready at all times. I never imagined I would be the only one escaping.

The CCTV lights up, the TV displaying what is happening in the house, shock in my veins and my mouth slightly open. I watch the masked men grab my mom, tying her to a chair; my brother's dead body lies on her feet as she cries her eyes out.

My father is nowhere to be found on the screen, and an older man walks in, a walking stick in his grip and a large gold ring entangling his fingers.

His eyes move around the room, landing on a CCTV camera at the edge of the room.

The sight of his two different coloured eyes shocks me, my heart pounding in my chest. I pull out the documents, grabbing numerous passports belonging to alternate versions of me.

I grab a bag filled with a bit of cash, at least to start a life somewhere else.

I turn to the camera one more time, where my mother and brother are surrounded by the men pouring gasoline on them.

I close my eyes, not wanting to see the dreadful event, but my eyes pull open, the man pointing his walking stick at them, “Let them burn!!” he laughs, turning around just after throwing a lit match on them.

“Aaaahhh,” my mother screams, filling my ears; my heart aches in my chest, and my tears double as I push the door of the exit open.

It leads down to a tunnel, my boots tied to my feet hitting the wet floor; I immediately know I have to escape this man and make sure he never finds me.

The scene changes, and I appear on the streets of London, a single backpack strapped to my back, standing in the middle of the streets, the rain pelting my skin.

My heart pounds in my chest as I look around; some men had found and recognised me and were on the chase for me.

My feet carry me into the next street, not minding the rain as everyone is running for cover. I try to hide in the crowd, but I spot the two men who had pointed a gun at me earlier; shades cover their eyes, but I know they can see me.

I run into an alleyway, where a man in some tuxedo, a long black coat covering his body, walks out of a metal door into the rain.

I walk towards him, panic in my eyes as the men close in; my fingers grab his shocked face, turning him to me and meshing my lips with him.

The men pass behind us without realising, popping out from her side; as soon as I see this, I detach my lips from the stranger I just kissed in the streets to save my life.

He frowns deeply at me, but his face softens when he sees my face.

“Are those men troubling you?” he says, looking behind at the space they just existed from

I nod, my eyes tearing up again.

I am a full woman with no bearings and no way to escape the country. I look up at the man, spotting the Rolex watch around his wrist, my hero

“Vincenzo,” he stretches his hand forward, looking at me with his eyes in slits.

“Maria,” I lie, grabbing his fingers in my hold.

And from that day henceforth, I became Maria, the mistress of one of the richest and most powerful men in New York; it was the only way to get protection, to escape from the streets of London and into high-rise penthouses in New York.

He needed a slut to do whatever he demanded, and I needed a protector.

I shake my head away from my past thoughts coming back into reality, a cup of tea by my side, my laptop and my assignment before me, and the bed trashed from Vincenzo fucking me in every position that he could before going home to his wife.

I huff; I didn't want this life; the life chose me, and for the past year, which I've been with Vincenzo, not a single attack; he enrolled me in college to finish my degree, and I had an apartment to come to when he wanted to fuck the hell out of me, and I had a paid-for and comfortable dorm with a single friend who doesn't know half of my life.

I left Tara behind in London; here in New York City, I’m Maria, and I will remain Maria to avoid being found and killed by my family’s rival Mafia family.