Mafia's Missing Murderer.

28. I Am Here if You Ever Need Anything.

Luciana Point of View:

Shit... this is not going the way I hoped. I was running down the sidewalk, my legs feeling like they were going to give out from under me.

The owner of the convenience store has been chasing me for blocks. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up for. I was coming up to a stop light and ran through the red stop.

Once on the other side of the street, I noticed he had stopped to follow the law. I stopped for a moment in order to catch my breath. Before I could take off again, I was yanked into an alley.

Before I could see what was going on, I was shoved between two large trash cans. "Stay quiet", The man instructed as he walked away.

"Where did that... little brat go", asked the store owner who was panting.

"Who?"I heard the sound of a lighter igniting, then the quiet sound of the exhaling smoke.

"So you didn't see a girl come running down this way?"

"I saw a kid run down the street towards the park."

I could hear the smile in the man's voice as he spoke," Thanks man." Then the sound of shoes slamming into the sidewalk.

"Alright, he's gone, you can come out now."

I got up from between the trash cans and brushed the dirt off of myself. "I appreciate that", I thanked him and took the granola bar that I stole from my pocket.

"Is that why he was chasing you down? Over a granola bar", He suspiciously asked me.

I nodded and started eating quickly. "I was starving..." It had been almost a week since I had last had proper food. There was this kind woman who would give me scraps of her food but it wasn't enough for us both.

He sighed,"If you are going to steal, don't do it from small businesses that are struggling to stay open."

"Yeah..."

"I haven't seen you around here before, where are you from?", he asked me while taking a hit from his smoke.

I paused, "Uh... queens I think?"

He chuckled," You don't know where you are from?"

"No, not really. All these streets start to look the same after a while", I shrugged and put my wrapper into one of the trash cans.

"Do you have a place to stay?"He asked me.

"Maybe...", I glanced around," This alley?" There wasn't much trash or other people staying in it, it would do for tonight.

"Bull shit... you look like you are fourteen? Come stay at my place until you find somewhere safer", He motioned for me to follow him.

I hesitated. My parents always told me not to talk to strangers let alone go home with them. However if my dead-beat father actually gave a shit about me, he wouldn't have made me live this life.

"Okay", I followed him, what have I got to lose? I'm already on the streets and the nights have been cold recently.

As we walked, he kept turning his head and looking at me.

"Why do you keep doing that?"I asked, slightly annoyed.

"Just making sure that you aren't running off to an alley somewhere", He shrugged and slowed down so I could walk next to him," What's your name?"

"Luci... just Luci is fine", I replied not wanting to give out my entire legal name.

He chuckled," For a second I thought you were going to say Lucifer... although it would make sense."

"How would that make any sense?"

"You look fourteen and are already getting chased down by folks for stealing", He explained.

"Yeah... whatever", I paused," What's your name?"

"Just call me Zane", He replied with a smirky smile.

We stopped with the small talk and walked for a few more blocks. Soon we arrived at a decently sized brick house.

"Well this is it", He explained as he unlocked the front door," I have two spare bedrooms so you can take your pick."

"Oh, it doesn't matter to me", I muttered as I walked inside.

"Alright then", He smiled and led me upstairs to one of the rooms.

I stepped inside and examined the room. There was a single bed, a fairly sized dresser, and a wooden end table next to the bed.

Zane came back inside the room with some clothes neatly folded in his hands," I don't know how well these will fit you... Help yourself to the shower in the hall."

"Thank you so much", I smiled and took the clothes from him. I practically ran into that bathroom to shower. It had been a while since I left Ms. Peter's, I can't remember the last warm shower I took.

Once out of the shower, I looked at myself in the mirror. I hardly recognized myself, I wasn't the little girl my family thought I was. The clothes I wore were incredibly baggy on my small frame.

I went back into the bedroom, desperate to take a nap in that comfy bed. However before I could crawl up under the blankets, there was a tray on the nightstand with a bowl of soup, a note, and a spoon.

I examined the note, written on it in sloppy handwriting was:

"Figured you would be hungry."

I couldn't help but to smile at the small gesture. I sat on the bed and started to eat the soup. The chicken and vegetables filled me up quickly and the salty broth was refreshing.

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It had been a year since I started staying with Zane at his house. Once we had gotten to know each other, he decided to teach me the school work I had missed.

He seemed almost impressed at how quickly I picked up the subjects, however I never fully understood all the rules of grammar.

After I was caught up, he taught me some self defense techniques. We truly bonded over that. Once I was familiar with that, he decided to show me how to properly use knives, and how to shoot a gun.

When we first began, I was honestly terrified of using a gun. Zane was patient with me and didn't force me to do anything I didn't want to. Soon I had gotten used to it and we practiced more and more with it.

I was almost as good as Zane was. But he had trained for years.

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"Hey Zane", I inquired as I entered the kitchen, a thought has been in my mind for weeks and I was ready to share it with Zane.

"Yes", He pondered as he read the newspaper.

"I've been thinking a lot about what you said last week."

"Which thing? I tell you lots of things every day", He muttered.

"About what I want to do with my future", I sighed.

He sat the paper down, finally paying proper attention to me", I'm listening."

"Yeah", I paused and took a breath," I think I want to be an... assassin."

Zane had taken a long drink from his coffee and ended up spatting most of it on the table," Absolutely not."

"You said I could be anything I want to", I argued.

"Yeah, I thought you would want to be a doctor, or a police officer or something like that... not a fucking assassin."

"That is what I want to do", I told him.

"Not under my roof you won't."

"Fine if that is how you feel", I nodded and went upstairs to pack my stuff. I stuffed all of my stuff into a suitcase and a backpack. After everything was packed, I stopped in front of the door. I was hoping he would say something or stop me but he didn't.

I sighed and went outside. When I got down the street I got a message on my phone. I glanced at the screen and it was Zane:

"I am here if you ever need anything at all."