No Regrets

Chapter One

If there was one word to describe the Ricci family, it would be secretive. The family was large, for sure, with a large house, but their secrets were larger than anything they owned. The family consisted of the parents, Archer and Marissa, their eldest son, a tan man named Antonio, their eldest daughter, a beautiful woman named Ginerva, and then they had Lorenzo, Salvatore, Matteo, Elena, Isabelle, and their youngest daughter, Gabriella. 

Each child had a room in the Ricci mansion, with three guest rooms, a ballroom, two kitchens, two dinning rooms, and two living rooms, one for the adults and kids each. They were rich for sure, with a courtyard, pool, almost anything anyone could dream of.

Their secrets were dark and hidden, though, yet plainly obvious whence you had all the evidence. Very few in the family knew, and even fewer were involved. Marissa and Archer, as the parents, were the ringleaders, but Antonia, Ginerva, and Salvatore knew.

That was when Isabelle found out.

Isabelle sat across from her parents in the adult living room. Despite the rich decorations and the plush leather couch she sat on, a frown was etched onto her face. "Why didn't you tell me?" She demanded.

Her parents seemed to be scrambling for an answer, but it was Marissa who spoke first. "Well, there was never a good time." Despite how quickly she had had to come up with something, her answer was well thought-out and her tone was smooth, posture straight and calm. "When you all were younger, you may have spilled, and now that you guys are older, it just seemed too awkward."

Isabelle saw right through the methodical lie. She was smart, undeniably so, and was almost like a human lie-detector. Perhaps that was why she had figured it out when no one else, even the law, couldn't. 

"So you didn't trust us," the young Ricci supplied with a dead, tone that seemed so scream, really? "I'm not going to tell, I swear, but it's a little more tempting now than it would have been if you had actually told me."

Her parents exchanged panicked glances. She had them in a choke-hold, they couldn't anger her but were too prideful to give in to whatever she wanted, which was, quite simply, nothing but an explanation as they continued to dig a deeper hole. 

"You're fifteen," Archer finally snapped, deciding to fight fire with fire. Isabelle knew how dangerous they were, now, surely she wouldn't spill and risk angering them, right?

Marissa decided to try and smooth it over, never being as smart as her husband. "We know that you wouldn't have told anyone, but what if you got angry at us, or went through a rebel phase, or got drunk or high and spilled?We were going to tell you when you were eighteen, that's why Antonio and Ginerva know and joined."

Despite her surprise, Isabelle kept her expression calm and blank. "Who else knows?"

"Just Antonio, Ginerva, and Salvatore. Salvatore found out last month, and he's going to join us in a few weeks. Of course, if he didn't join us he'd have to be shipped off," Marissa mused.

That was when the panic started to creep into the black-haired girl. "Wait, I don't want to join! What are you guys going to do with me?"

Her parents exchanged alarmed glances, then stared at her in shock before her dad spoke. "What do you mean, you're not going to join?"

"I mean that I don't want to kill anyone! I don't want to be involved in something like that! I can't stop you guys, I have no power over you and I can't go to the police or I suspect, well, I don't know what you guys would do! And I can't stop Ginerva and Antonio and Salvatore or whoever else wants to join, but I'm not going to! I'm not, I'm not evil! I won't do it! I'm not going to join and if you're going to ship me off, so be it!"