I woke up around six o’clock in the morning. I got up and checked the calendar hanging on my wall. March 18, 1934, flashed through my mind as I picked out my normal outfit that consists of a pair of black pants, a red dress shirt, some nice black shoes, and a black hat with white trim. I walked over to my dresser and grabbed my favorite pistol. After putting it in the holster around my right thigh, I walked out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen. When I got there I saw Frenchie sitting at the small table we had as our breakfast table. She looked like a complete mess. 

“Hey kiddo, how was your sleep?” She asked me, getting up for another cup of coffee.

 “It was ok, I  guess. Nothing too special.” I said back to her.

“Oh! Your father wants to see you after breakfast.” She told me, walking out of the kitchen.

After I ate my toast, I went to my father’s office. Once I got in there he told me to sit. “Why did you call for Me, father?” I had asked him, readjusting my pistol. 

“Well you see kiddo, I’m going on a very important business trip, with uh..couple of “friends.’”  My father paused. “And I need someone to watch over my boys while I’m gone.” He finished. 

I took a small pause. “Ok, and Frenchie can’t do it?” I asked. 

“Hey now don’t cop no attitude with me. And no she can’t she is going on this mission with me, so you gotta step up and be the big boss for a few weeks.” He said lighting his cigar.

“Ok, I’ll do it. When do you leave?” I said to him. He looked over at his calendar then back at me 

“We leave tonight.” He said looking at his watch next. 

“Ok, is that all father?” I asked. 

“Yes, that’s all.” He said back to me. As I was walking out of his office I ran into a couple of his “boys” but these weren’t his regular boys, these two are trainees. As I walked past them I heard them complaining about how my father could have a ‘girl’ in his mob. And how I was too “weak” to do anything. Or how I should “stay in the kitchen, where I belong”. Oh, just wait till they see what this “girl” can do. Later on in the evening as my father was getting ready to leave he called for a meeting with everybody there, including the trainees. He stood in front of everyone and began talking about his trip. “And so while I am away, you all will be going through my dearest little seed, Nova.” He said. I could hear the trainees trying not to laugh. My father motioned me to step forward so I did. I stood next to him facing everybody. “And they have my full permission to get rid of any dead weight that may be holding us down.” He said looking in between me and the crowd. I heard a mutter of ‘what is she going to do’ and another saying ‘Dude They are like the best so quit talking’. As soon as my father was done talking he left. My father and Frenchie took the Black Ford Coupe, leaving me the Blue Rock Green Ford Cabriolet. As I was walking down the hall to his office one of the recruits shoved me. I had hit the wall and just laughed walking away. I knew this would happen as soon as my father left. I could see more of my father’s ‘boys’ about to take off after him. I didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to show them what happens when you mess with me. I wasn’t some porcelain doll that could break at the slighted touch. I mean, I grew up in the mafia for 18 years, I watched my grandpa get shot in a crossfire at the age of 8, I watched my mother commit suicide at the age of 9. It takes a lot to break me. I finally decided to let it go and if it happened again I would do something about it. I walked off down the hall passing by some of my father’s oldest boys. I gave them a sign to not do anything. As I continued to walk I had found myself in front of my girlfriend’s door. I decided to ask her for some advice about this whole situation. I knocked on her door and waited patiently for an answer. 

“Yes? Who is it?” she said, opening the door slightly. 

“Hello love, I need some advice. Mind if I come in?” I asked, smiling slightly at her. She opened the door for me and let me in. 

“Darling, what seems to be the matter?” she said to me as she sat on her vanity seat. 

“Well, you know how my father left me to be in charge of the base?” I said looking at her in awe through the mirror. 

She looked up to meet my eyes and said “Yes I do remember that I was there” I looked into her eyes and sighed. “Well some of the new trainees are questioning my ability to be the leader of this group…” I trailed off “and I think they’re right. I’m not ready to be the ‘big boss’ yet.” I finished looking away from her. She turned around to face me grabbing my face so I was looking at her. “Darling, if your father did not believe you could do this then he wouldn’t have put you in charge” I nodded along with her. She was right, if I wasn’t ready my father never would have left me in charge. 

“Yes Love, you’re right as usual,” I said looking into those hazel eyes I fell in love with. 

“Now is there anything else you wanna tell me?” she asked letting go of my face. 

“Well, one of the new trainees pushed me into a wall as I was walking to my father’s office,” I said, not looking at her. 

“And? What did you do?” She asked, turning back around in her seat.

“Nothing,” I said quietly, looking down at her floor.

“Oh? Why not?” She asked as she picked up her hairbrush. 

“They already didn’t believe in me, so what good is it to do something that could eventually turn back and bite me in the behind?” I said fidgeting with my fingers. 

“Because then you wouldn’t look like a pushover and they wouldn’t be able to walk all over you.” She said setting her hairbrush down looking at the clock. “It’s 9:45 Darling, almost time for lights out. You should probably get going” she said getting up and walking to her door. 

“I know Love, I got to do paperwork anyway,” I said as I got up and walked over to her. 

“Good night darling,” she said as she kissed my cheek. 

“Good night love,” I said as I kissed her cheek as well. After I left her room I started walking to my father’s office to do the paperwork he left me. I knew I had to pass by the ‘boys’ sleeping quarters. As I did, many of the trainees were whispering and staring at me. I walked past the same one that pushed me. As we passed each other he pushed me again. That was so funny that all the new trainees were laughing at me. I didn’t do anything yet again I just kept walking to the office to try and get the paperwork I was left. I got to the office and opened the door sighing. I sat down in the chair and pulled the harness off my thigh. These next few weeks are going to be hell that’s for sure. I sighed and started to do some of the paperwork he left for me. I know he wants me to take over at some point, but I don’t think I can. At least not yet. As many hours passed I didn’t realize how late it had gotten. So I was startled when there was a knock on the door. I looked up and saw Mitchell. He’s one of my father’s best hitmen. 

“What are you still doing up Nova, it’s well past midnight by now.” He said to me. I looked at the clock on the wall and he was right. It’s almost 2:30 in the morning. I sighed and cleaned up a little bit. 

“I guess I got carried away in all this paperwork. But thank you for checking on me. I’ll head to bed soon.” I said to him standing up and stretching. 

“I heard about what happened today, with that trainee…” he trailed off not knowing how it’ll affect me. 

“Yeah, He pushed me twice, but I just couldn’t do anything about it,” I said back emotionlessly.

I picked up my harness and pistol and walked out of the office, closing the door behind me. 

“Here, let me walk you back to your room, we don’t need our ‘boss’ falling on the floor.” He said moving a hand behind me so I didn’t fall. All I could do was nod. We walked to my room and said good night. Once I got in I placed my harness on my dresser and went into my bathroom. I showered, brushed my hair and teeth. Then I got dressed in some PJs before falling on my bed. As soon as I turned my lamp out and my head hit my pillow, I instantly went out. The next morning, I woke up at 6 o’clock yet again. I got up and did what I usually do. After I was done I walked down to my father’s office to finish the paperwork I couldn’t last night. As I entered the phone started ringing so I answered it. It was my father. 

“Hey kiddo, how's everything going over there?” He asked me. 

“One of your trainees pushed me twice, but I didn’t do nothin’ about it,” I replied to him looking at the paperwork and signing a few. 

“Oh? Why not? You’re in charge, you’re supposed to deal with it.” He said scolding me like I was a child. 

“I know but I can’t, they see me as a joke, and-” I stopped getting cut off by my father. 

“If he does it again shoot ‘em. Show ‘em ‘hos in charge ‘ere.” He said his accent thick and sorta hard to understand. I sighed before responding. 

“Ok, father. I will.” Looking out the small window he has in his office. 

“Good, now I’ll be back sooner than expected too, this deal is going faster than we thought.” He said, “but when I get back I better see you kick some ass you hear?” He finished. 

“Yes father, I hear,” I said back to him. 

“Good, Love ya kiddo.” He said waiting for me to say it back. 

“Love you too dad,” I said smiling at nothing. With that, he hung up. Hours passed and it was now noon. I was hungry and knew I had to get something soon or I’d get weak. So I got up and walked down the long hallways to the kitchen. I see that more of the boys there are new, some I know, some I don’t. I walked over to the fridge pulling out an ingredient to make some Hoover Stew. I get some water in a pot and boil it. Cooking the hot dogs in another pot. I could hear the trainees talking and laughing behind me. Eventually Rose had come down while I was in the middle of it. 

“Hi love, you wouldn’t mind making me any of that would you,” she said smiling sweetly at me. 

“Of course not darling. I would love to,” I said back as I carefully cut the hotdogs up. After I finished it we sat down. Everything was going good till one said 

“Hey, Beautiful why don’t you come to sit over here and have a real fun time.” Rose stared at the trainee as if he had killed her mother. 

“No thank you, I’m fine right here,” she said politely. 

“I wasn’t asking,” the trainee said and grabbed Rose by her arm and pulled her over onto his lap. That was it. I can take being pushed around, but no one and I mean no one was going to disrespect and forcefully grab my Darling. All I saw was red. Nothing but red. I didn’t realize it when I pulled my pistol out and shot his leg sending him down to the floor, and pulling Rose into me. I could feel her shaking and crying. That’s when I came back. I could see the fear and shock on everyone’s face. I guess the shoot was loud enough that some of my father’s hitmen came running. Mitchell stood there in front of everyone. When his eyes met mine he instantly knew what happened. I could also tell by the look in his eyes that I had to do it. So I slowly raised my pistol and aimed at his head. I could feel Rose violently shake in my arm hiding her head away. Mitchell and the other hitmen had to look away too. Even though they’ve killed hundreds of people, it’s hard to watch it happen. The trainees wanted to look away, some did, others didn’t. It was so silent that you could hear the drip from the faucet in the upstairs bathroom. Nobody moved, talked, or breathed. The trainee I was about to kill, couldn’t look at me, his eyes were closed. Then the loud sound of my revolver going off. I lowered my gun and held Rose closer. Everyone that looked away looked back. And everyone that looked was scared and traumatized at it, but no one spoke. It was so quiet that when we heard the front door creak open everyone jumped but didn’t more. We could all hear the sound of footsteps walking our way. When they stopped it was my father and Frenchie. They were shocked at what was happening and pushed through the crowd of hitmen. When they got to Mitchell they saw it. The trainee lying dead on the cold tile floor. My father and I made eye contact. We had a silent conversation. It was quiet until I finally spoke “See this as a warning, mess with me again and I won’t hesitate to aim for the head on the first shot. Understand?” I looked at them. When I didn’t get an answer I got agitated. “I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?” I screamed at them. They all quickly nodded. “Good now, get him out of here,” I said picking up Rose and walking over the body. I walked past my father, his hitmen, and Frenchie. As I walked down the halls I passed by many other new trainees that laughed at me. They were silent as they saw the bloody footprints I was leaving behind. I walked up to Rose's room and sat her down in front of the door. 

“Are you okay Dear?” I said holding her up. 

“Yes, I just need to lay down and rest.” She said leaning into me. 

“Do you need my help?” I asked her as I opened the door. 

“No I got it, you go get cleaned up.” She said walking into her room and closing the door behind her. I walked back down the hall to my room and took my shoes off outside my door. I walked in and got undressed so I would shower. After my shower, I got dressed and exited my room. All the blood was cleaned and my shoes were gone. I walked back down to the kitchen to see the damage I did. While walking down I passed some trainees, they looked horrified when they saw me. I just kept walking past them to my father’s office. When I got there the door was opened slightly. I couldn’t see anyone but I could hear hushed talking. I assumed it was my father on the phone with the trainee’s parents to tell them what had happened, but there were three voices. One I could easily recognize as my Father James “JJ” Valentino, the other male was Mitchell Conrad, and the last was more feminine so it had to be Frenchie Sawyer. Since I couldn’t hear anything I just walked away from the door. I walked back to my room and sat on my bed. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have killed him. And not to mention I did it in front of everyone here’ I looked around my room trying to distract myself from the thought I was having. ‘What if my father, Mitchell, and Frenchie all hate me. What if Rose breaks up with me. What if they all decide that I’m not worthy and they kill me. What if his parents come and kill me.’ I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear a knock on my door. The person that walked in sat next to me and put their arm around me. I felt another dip on the other side of me and knew there was another person. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt someone wipe my tears away. When I finally looked up I saw it was Frenchie, Mitchell, and Rose. I looked over to my door and saw my father. As I was about to question what they all were there my father spoke. 

“Nova, you and I need to talk,” he said stepping out of my room. Rose looked at me and kissed my forehead while she got up and walked out. Frenchie had patted my back as she got up and left. Mitchell has ruffled my hair like a big brother does and soon left. Now it was just my father and me. He sat down next to me and patted my shoulder. 

“Hey kiddo,” he said to me looking around the room. 

“Hey Dad,” I said back to him looking down. 

“I know what you did today, during lunch,” he said. I looked at him. 

“Yeah, that was honestly the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” I told him truthfully. “I know, kiddo. I know” he said. 

“Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about, I’m getting really tired,” I said yawning. 

“Actually there is. I want you to take over “ he took a pause. 

“Look kiddo, I’m not getting any younger and I think you proved to be the leader today,” he said. I looked back at the wall in front of me. 

“You’re right, I think I’m ready to be the leader now,” I said. 

“Alright kiddo, I’ll go tell the others. You get some rest. It’s been a long day.” He said getting up and walking towards my bedroom door. 

“Hey, Dad?” I asked. 

“Yes, Kiddo?” He said. 

“Thank you,” I told him as I took my pistol and its holder off. And laid down. 

“You’re welcome Nova,” he said, closing my door and walking away in the direction of the office.