Crimson Vows ( LenaMiu/Mafia)

Chapter 1: Crimson Princess and Calm Doctor.

The Schuett family — Anurak and his daughter Lorena — were two nearly unstoppable forces ruling over the underworld. The king and his deadly princess. They held almost all territory at the heart of the big city, Bangkok. As Lorena grew up, never once did she see her father fall to the gruesome battles and armies he had to face to keep his power over their kingdom.

To Lorena, her life had always been about preparing for the day she would take her father's place.

There had never been another path waiting for her.

No normal childhood.

No ordinary future.

Her father had raised her to understand that Schuett was not simply a name.

It was power.

It was territory.

It was fear.

And one day, it would be hers to carry.

She had learned early that power came with a price.

So she paid it.

She trained until her hands were bruised, learned to shoot during the years when girls her age were learning to hold a makeup brush, and fought anyone her father deemed strong enough to test her.

Men.

Women.

It didn't matter.

If they stood between Lorena and the future her family had built for her, she learned how to make them move.

She had spent years becoming the woman everyone expected her to be.

And somewhere along the way, she had stopped wondering who she might have been without it.

But one dark, cold night, everything changed.

Her father sent Somsak and herself, along with thirty-plus men and women, to take care of a rival gang trying to move in on their territory.

In a caravan of sleek black SUVs, Lena was on her way to show these fools why the Schuett family always won.

She was calm, her breathing steady, just like her father had taught her.

As they arrived at the dark warehouse, the SUVs rolled to a stop just outside, on a ridge overlooking the building. Nobody moved immediately. Lena looked at the warehouse through the tinted glass, and something felt off immediately.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

No lights.

No guards.

Absolutely no movement.

Lena tapped her leg once to signal that she felt something strange. Somsak noticed, and in a low whisper:

"You feel it too?"

She didn't answer, not letting that feeling stop her from completing the mission. She stepped out of the car and started walking, the wind of the night rushing through her hair, blowing it back as she made her descent toward the warehouse.

She slowly approached the door and eased it open, a small crack forming between the door and the frame. One eye peered into the gap she'd created, and she was met with nothing but the night air.

Cold.

Still.

She turned slightly to get a better look and stepped forward, her boots echoing as they hit the concrete pad at the entrance of the building. She took in the sight before her, and suddenly she understood — not consciously, not logically, but something in the back of her mind whispered, Don't go in.