Forever & Always

Chapter 18: Ignify✔️

(v) - to form into fire; to burn

Pronounced: ig-ni-fy

•Winter's pov•

Everyone is silent for a moment, contemplating my words. They all look deep in thought, as if they're trying to play out all the outcomes. However, I know for a fact that they all know it's true. If they send the girls and I, it'll catch the Egyptians off guard. They won't be expecting 5 "little girls", as Viktor put it, to break into their warehouse, beat their asses, and steal their intel. They'll underestimate us which will be a huge mistake on their part.

"I think it's a great idea." Giovanni says.

"As do I." The other mafia dons all begin to voice their agreement on the suggestion.

"Are all of you sure you want to take this mission?" Lorenzo asks the girls and I. We all nod in response. "Then it is settled. The girls will take the mission to break into the Egyptians' warehouse, get the intel, and destroy the warehouse. The mission will take place on Friday." Lorenzo states, leaving no room for disagreement.

I look at all of the girls, giving them a silent message with my eyes that they all seem to understand. I whisper to my eldest brother that the girls and I are going to the private training room. I get out of my seat and walk towards the door with the girls following me. As we walk down the hall, I can hear Lorenzo informing the others about where we are going.

We walk to the training room silently, not wanting to talk until we're out of earshot of anyone. When we get to the room, I let all the girls walk in first before walking in myself and locking the door. We all find a space to sit, but we don't talk immediately. I can tell that the girls are still trying to take everything in and I don't want to interrupt or ruin that process by speaking first.

"Have you known about all of us?" Ember asks, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes."

"Were you ever going to tell us who you really are?" Dani asks the next question with anger in her voice. The others look up at me once they hear her question, anger evident on their faces.

"...Were you?" At that, their anger disappears. "I knew you would all find out one way or another, it was inevitable. Besides, we all have secrets and none of us are obligated to reveal them to anyone. I kept a secret from you, you kept a secret from me. Now, they're no longer secrets."

They all seem to relax after listening to my words. The tension in the room lessons the more we talk to each other. It's as if we never held secrets from each other in the first place. We all talk as if we've known each other for years.

Knowing about the mafia and the fact that we're all allies makes it easier to connect with each other. These are people I can actually relate to, who have the same problems as me. None of us have normal lives, we all live the same way. It also helps to know that we're not putting each other in any danger considering we all have the same enemies.

Our conversation eventually moves to the mission. We start talking about what our specialties are, where we will be most effective, what we could do to reinforce our training and whatever skills aren't our fortes, and how to be successful on the mission. Then the conversation then moves to how we got into this life and how we reacted when we found out about it.

"Wait wait wait. Let me get this straight. The guard thought you were a kid spy for the Irish mafia!?" Ember exclaims to Liz.

"Yup. My father was so confused when he got word that they found a spy and he saw me tied to a chair. I was honestly too confused to be crying or anything, so I just sat there bored. I did manage to convince my father not to give them too harsh of a punishment considering they didn't know about me." She explains. They all laugh at Lizzie's explanation.