Hey Little Songbird

Prologue: Birds of a Feather

Death is a force that no mere mortal can control. Every creature born upon the earth eventually goes to meet its maker one day, and there is nothing that could prevent it. Our life is set in stone the moment we are born, that is what Molly Renee Bernardi had been taught from an early age.

The day her mother passed was one of the most heartbreaking moments of her life. The 6-year-old's knees lost all strength to hold her at the sight of her beloved mother laying in the casket. Her father did not shed a single tear, leaving his daughter in the hands of her grandparents. Her nana allowed the girl to sob into her lap as her brothers stood protectively nearby.

She was the middle child of three; her oldest brother was named Sebastian Joseph Bernardi and her twin brother was named Anthony Robert Bernardi. Although she was older by seven minutes, Anthony still treated her like the younger twin. The boys were instructed not to cry by their father, men did not show emotion. It was a sign of weakness, and only females were allowed to do that.

This was the first and last time Anthony cried in public because their father pulled him out of the room to have one of his quote-unquote "talks". Sebastian stood by his grandparents and stopped Molly from following, holding her tightly in his arms.

From that moment on everything was different, and so many changes happened. Anthony and Molly were forced into separate bedrooms after their father had caught the 8-year-old crying into his sister's arms. It was considered incestuous, according to their father at least. Molly would sneak to her brother's room to lay next to him and sneak back before their father ever caught wind.

This worked until Sebastian caught her one night and told their father. That night, she and Anthony both got whipped with their father's belt until their backsides were sore.

It wasn't the only change that came after their mother's death. Priscilla, some random broad her father decided to marry because it would quote-unquote "strengthen their family'' ended up being cruel to the Bernardi twins. Sebastian was Priscilla's favorite, and she took to the young teenager like a fly on roadkill. As for Anthony and Molly, they could look at her wrong and their father would punish them when he got home.

"Just wait until your father comes home," Priscilla said quite often. Eventually, their father sent Molly to live with his parents up north and Anthony to a boarding school.

When their father found out Priscilla had been sleeping around with Sebastian, that woman disappeared. At least she wasn't there to torture them anymore. Then came Constance and her rotten kids Theodore and Abigail. Theodore and Sebastian clicked quickly because they were the same age, but Abigail was the antichrist if such a thing existed.

Abigail would find a way to be the little angel in her stepfather's eyes, and make Molly the villain when she had been allowed to return home. Anthony by that point had been expelled for unruly behavior and forced to come home. Constance would shove her religion down their throats any chance she got.

Her thinking was that the twins had demons possessing them and that's why they misbehaved.

"Once is a blessing, twice is a curse. You had two children born during your first wife's second pregnancy. Coincidence? I think not." Molly overheard Constance say to her father one night.

That would explain why Abigail was such a royal witch. Her dad didn't care that much about her rantings as long as the twins behaved. By this point in their lives, Sebastian and Theodore joined the family business, and Anthony started his training to join as well. Molly was constantly reminded that young ladies needed to learn how to be good wives and look pretty for their future husbands.

Speaking of husbands, Molly was arranged to marry the son of a rival mobster once she turned 16.

"It's good for the family." Her father said to her after the engagement announcement, "Lorenzo shows big promise, just keep your head down and your mouth shut. Okay, princess?"