𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘

prologue

if i risk it all,
could you break
my fall?

rome, italy

   a clanking of heels hitting the stone echoed through the silent, tight streets as brick walls sat upright on both sides of judita avani as she listened to the bell swinging from side to side in the distant streets of rome

   the hold on her dark grey, soft coat was present, as the material contrasted from the one of her black gloves - leather

   the mission was simple, kill the german spy who betrayed the entirety of italy, nevermind the vatican, right before his departure to his country

   while you might say she's crazy, others might say she was the true heroine of a modern story with a twist

   cliché? maybe. insane? definitely. heroic? absolutely.

   and so she did exactly that, she lock-picked her way into the hotel room of a guy that she once knew as nicolas fratelli, a lawyer and business man to assist the pope in handling paperwork and transporting large sums of money to another abroad company, she now knew to actually be hans sommer, primarily a german spy sent to drain information from the grey-headed pope, then return to his country

   but judita wasn't having any of it. she knew what she needed to do, she knew what had to be done

   "auf wiedersehen", the voice of an unholy angel rang through the coral-tiled bathroom as it was followed by the muffled sound of a bullet shooting through a skull

   ("goodbye")

   the blue eyed woman stared down into the almost-black eyes, twisting and rolling into the back of his head

   she stepped away from the puddle of blood now forming on the matching, coral, tiled floor as she was about to leave

   her hand placed itself on the door of the bagno, as she took one more look at the man who layed dead on the floor, papers scattered across the bedroom floor, bed, and bedside table

   judita smiled as a thought, an idea ran through her mind at the sight of the red stained forehead of hans. she took a dark brown pocket knife out of her coat, as she crouched down and used all the force she could, to stab him in the throat

   it splashed blood all over the bath tub and toilet, but she didn't stop there, oh no

   she kept the knife in his throat, as she continued cutting all around, which, took an awful lot of time, but once she completed the three hundred and sixty degrees around his neck, she picked up his limp, heavy body, then placed his chest against the edge of the white bathtub

   and in one quick crack, the head of the once alive enemy, snapped from its holder as it fell into the bathtub, flat against the bottom

   a couple of hours later, a news article was spread all around the globe

   "in the midst of dawn, the decapitated head of a german spy was sent back to the front porch of the german president. the spy was allegedly sent to gather information from the vatican's pope, to possibly cause the start of world war three.

   the true yet twisted hero, or, heroine of this story is judita avani, married to flavio sabbado, the legendery italian mobster family of italy, as it's written here in the picture of a bloodied note, which came with the severed head in its box

   "nimm diese als warnung, senden sie einen weiteren spion in mein land und ich werde ihren kopf zurück an die haustür des präsidenten liefern. mit freundlichen grüßen die avani-sabaddo familie"

   ("take this as a warning, send another spy to my country and i'll deliver their head back to the president's front door. sincerely, the avani-sabbado family")

   the gruesome sight made the german side of politics throw all it's cards on the table, and resign from the espionage, seeing how it obviously failed... "

   this brought business, respect, and a controversial reputation to the avani-sabbado family, even when a baby girl - liviana - got introduced to their family

   but of course, everything must come to an end, just like the life of judita avani. her story became legendary, as she was compared to judith, the girl who seduced and decapitated a man named holofernes, then brought his head to his people, in order to save her side, the jewish side

   the sixteen year old girl stood in front of the coffin that was just now dropped into the hole in the ground

   red and white roses, along with notes and letters from colleagues, friends and family, even strangers, were dropped on top of the black coffin

   she gripped the umbrella handle tightly as she heard the rain hit the black material of the strong umbrella

   no wind, cloudy and rainy - just like her mother liked it