𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆

~Childhood~

She never let us see what she went through when they hurt her.

All we could do was huddle in the corner and listen to her scream and cry from behind that door.  And when it was over, we could hear her crawl or limp to the door and tell us to close our eyes so we wouldn't have to look at the blood.

Then she would come in and hug us, no matter how much she tried to conceal her cries and sobs and pain, we always knew. The more we grew up the more hesitant we were to hid behind the door and close our eyes. All we wanted to make the pain stop for her no matter how much we got hurt. But she would never let us," Felix sighed.

By now, most had tears rolling down their faces but they didn't need their pity.

No one could doubt that Aria was better of a sister and sibling that anyone could ever think of and wish for. She was even braver and stronger than anyone they knew of.

How did she act like everything was okay when Luca would ask? How was she so strong? His chest hurt for her. If he was there, if he even knew she existed back then, then he would have done everything to make it better. He would've kept her safe.

"What did she look like?" Antonio asked.

Katrina smiled a small smile, almost as if she was reminiscing.

"She had this unique platinum blonde hair. Her grandmother had albinism with white hair and purple eyes. That's where she must've gotten it from but she had eyes just like the triplets...but brighter. She had flawless fair skin that was slightly tanned and she was about 5'6 the last time I saw her. She was just...gorgeous..." Katrina praised as if she was talking about some saint or angel she had seen in a dream.

5'6? Platinum blonde? Honey eyes?

Luca's face contorted to one of hard concentration.

Wait, was Aria even Midnight? Yes, all hints pointed to that conclusion but the description didn't match.

His woman was 5'8. Brunette. Black eyes.

The woman they were describing seemed like an angel but his woman was more like a devil.

It was hard to imagine Midnight with platinum blonde hair and honey eyes. Had she dyed her hair and worn contacts all this time? He sat unmovingly and in deep thought, imagining what his Diavola would look like with that description.

She looked beautiful either way.

~

2 days later

A few days after they had went into Midnight's office, they got another threat in the arena.

All over the walls of the arena, were words written in red.

Red blood.

The words read: The King's reign is over.

And it wasn't just written once.

No, it was written thousands of times, all over the walls and floors so that every inch was covered in the bloody words.

Luca, Oscar, Antonio, Katrina, Matteo, Thea, Starr, Ida, and Blade almost blew a fuse when no one had security footage and no one had seen who had done it and had gotten away so easily. They quadrupled security and camera, surely leaving no stone unturned as they personally investigated everything for some sort of clue to tell them who it was. Along with those precautions, they didn't allow any new members into the Mafia.

They knew that the traffickers had to have inflitrated the Mafia from the beginning.

It was just to risky and time-consuming to interrogate all of them. They didn't have time.

The King didn't have time.

They realized that the King owned the whole black market, and the whole organization betrayed him, leaving most of his resources and assets to be washed down the drain.

The King was weaker -not by much- from the betrayl and loss of power.

They were dead in the water and had no idea if this was the end or not.

Luca had gotten progressively more frustrated as time went on as the others lost motivation and were close to giving up. He hadn't figured out a way to tell them what he knew -of what he was sure of.

No, he needed more time. He needed more evidence and he needed everyone to believe him. He needed her location.

He had a gut feeling that this was the calm before a storm.

A storm that would evolve into a hurricane.

Adrian had fallen off the map the moment they got back into the states, putting him off the list of interrogation.

They didn't have anyone left.

Except Dr. Salib...