Razor's Edge (A Vincenzo Fanfic)

7. Promise To Keep

- Flashback -

Carina entered in her room with almost closed eyes, her left hand stuffed inside the huge pockets of her jacket. Her body slightly winced every time the fabric brushed against her wrist.

She made her way to the bed and sat down. Gingerly, she pulled out her hand from the jacket.

It was turning blue now.

Carina squinted her eyes to endure the pain and tried to get used to it.

Although her hand was in great pain, it felt nothing compared to the state her mind was in right now.

She recalled the huge events that happened in just a small span of a day.

Her dad had suddenly gone missing, opponent mafia attacking one of the bases of Cassano family and Paolo, being the idiot he is, charging directly to the scene and managed getting held up as a hostage.

On the top of that, Vincenzo was not in Italy.

Carina had always stayed away as far as possible from her family business, always.

It didn't matter whether it was shady or legal.

The reason was simple. Because she was scared to get her hands dirty.

Even though she already had some blood in her hands, even though she was strong enough to protect herself, even though her hand wouldn't flinch while pulling the trigger of the gun anymore, her heart was still too frail to shoulder that kind of burden.

Because handling these matters would mean she would have to lead her people, to step out in light. And she didn't like that, not even a bit.

But today, she had to come out of her comfort zone.

Because this time, her family was at stake.

She didn't understand how she got the strength to handle what happened today the way she did. Or how she managed to control her fear.

Fear of something happening to her father or her brother. Fear of making one wrong move that could potentially become the reason of Cassano family's demise.

But she knew what she did today, the way she reacted, was for the best. Sure, the lives she took today were weighting down upon her, like a burden on her soul, but she didn't have even the slightest of regret for her actions today.

The only thing she regretted was not being able to punch Paolo when he came back home safe.

She was starting to understand now why wouldn't her father let him handle important work matters. Had he done so, her brother would have definately gotten himself killed a long time ago, he may have even dragged the whole Cassano family down with him.

Carina sighed. She leaned back, to rest her body. She let her injured hand fall at her side and looked at the celing when the door suddenly opened and Vincenzo walked in.

"Vincenzo? When did you come back to Italy?" Shocked by his sudden appearance, Carina began to sit on the bed but slightly winced when her wrist brushed the bedsheet, which prompted the latter to help her.

"Just a while ago." Vincenzo replied, helping her get up. "You are injured.", he frowned as he sat beside her, examining her hand.

"Just a flesh wound. Nothing big." Carina shrugged.

"I guess so." Vincenzo says after inspecting it carefully. "Hmm, it's not broken, luckily. I would have given you some medicine or something but being a medical student, you must have tons of that." He looked at her, letting her hand go.