The Bad Girl's Fight

We Start and End With Family

P.O.V Xander Cartellini

Leader of the White Dragon Gang. Family man. Business man.

I am a man of many different faces - first and foremost however, I am a man whose heart has been captured by his family and whose duty lies with them.

Many people say they would die for the ones they love, and I can respect that completely. But I can also guarantee that my family is safer with me shooting and walking. That is the lifeline I had relied on for so long, an excuse that kept me asleep at night; my family would be in danger for the entirety of their lives but as long as I held them close, they would be protected and happy regardless.

Now they are all gone. My selfishness and naivety had either almost killed them or gotten them taken from me. 18 months ago I had the life any man could ever dream of; I had two incredible children and a stunning, kind-hearted wife. 18 months ago my family home was bombed by Diablo, son of the late Vicious gang leader - Escorpión. My wife Emilia hadn't died, even as Diablo had sent people to kill survivors of the attack. They may have gotten a shot at her, but she was ok, physically. Mentally, It was a different story - after the attack she was so distraught by he loss of her children that she retreated into the back of her mind. I haven't heard her voice in 18 months. I haven't seen her love or her warmth in 18 months. I also haven't seen her out of the little Italian care home for "Victims of trauma" in 18 months. Our eldest Angelina, had escaped taking our son Fox with her, however Fox tried to come back. It was my son's attachment and loyalty to his parents that had him taken away from us. At first I couldn't understand why Diablo would keep my son alive. I expected the worst: that my son would die by the hands of his enemies as soon as he was left unprotected. Then I realised the only way my daughter would come out of hiding was if there was a chance any one of her family were alive. He was using my son to draw my daughter towards her imminent death. As soon as he had them both, I would truly have no family to speak of.

Now Diablo had many issues. His biggest were his ego and self-assuredness - just like his awful father and his scum bag brother Esqueleto. He believed he had killed me, but he misunderstood the strength a family could give to a man. His typical ideals kept him from living a happy life alongside running his business - he thought my family was my weakness but he couldn't be more wrong. My children had kept me alive; I escaped that bomb ridden inferno, Emilia bleeding out in my arms, all because I had hope that my children were still alive.

As a father I was proud of my ability to keep my family life separate from the gang life.When Emilia birthed my firstborn daughter, my darling Angel, there was an innate instinct to keep her tucked away safe for the rest of her life. I knew she would event to become the greatest kept secret in the history of the mafia coalition. Just like in ancient times, the dissolution of a coalition would only come about due to a man's family or because of his whores. When Angel becomes known to the mafia world, I can't even begin to imagine the uproar that would cause. This is a tough world and firstborn girls are either killed or abandoned, apparently I was one of the only men to have a heart.

The only people that I trusted to keep her life secret over their own were the king Cobras. Their late leader, Zeus Harding, had grown up beside me; we had gone through wars side by side and had protected our families with the same determination as each other. Before his devastating death, we had introduced a deal on our firstborns' entrance into this world. Our gangs would lay their lives down for the descendants of Dragon and Cobra leaders. Apart from that no one else in the mafia world had a clue that Fox Cartellini was not my firstborn child. They didn't know he was not the legitimate heir to the white dragon throne, either. I had thought that would keep the heat off my Angel's back. But through no fault but my own, her existence had been discovered and now she was on the run. Angel thinks her whole family were killed; especially after the explosion, I can imagine our death would seem obvious, in black and white. Now It's my duty, while living off the grid, to find my children before they are killed.Angel was still my own child. I knew what kind of fiery blood ran through her veins, so I had taught her how to survive and stay alive if ever she needed it. It's ironic her survival skills are the very thing that could kill her. The unfortunate implications to her hiding from Diablo were that now, I had to find her while she did not want to be found. 

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Hi guys,

I know this is short, but it's purpose was to ensure some of the confusing background information was understandable and a little easier to digest!

A new chapter will be up possibly this weekend but very soon nevertheless,

XOXO Phoebe XOXO