Page 4

Three

Reign

Age Nineteen

My fist connects with Papa’s padded gloves.

“Harder,” Papa grunts, making me punch the padded glove harder. "Harder, Reign," he repeats, making me do it again. After ten minutes of repeatedly punching my Papa’s gloves, we stop and have a small break to drink some water. "So, are you nervous?" my Papa asks.

"Me? Nervous? Never," I say with a teasing smile.

My Papa gives me that scolding look that he knows I hate. "I'm serious, Reign. I can't lose you during this mission," my Papa says sternly.

My parents are always so worried about me, especially Mama.

"And I'm serious too. I'll be fine, Papa. Don't worry," I assure him while still smiling because he loves it when I smile.

"Reign, it's not that I’m worried. I'm just anxious about you going on your first mission. Alone, might I add?" my Papa says as he looks down at me with worry.

My Papa, Malcolm Pierce, the leader of the Bulgarian mafia, is one of the softest leaders I have ever met. But that’s probably because he’s my Papa and he is supposed to be all soft around his only daughter. He is all about loyalty and pride. He has a very hard time trusting people outside of family, if he trusts you or even lets you get near his family then you are considered lucky.

He rarely lets me out of the house. The only person he lets me hang out with is Jamie who is my best friend. We have grown up together and have known one another since we were babies. My Papa and Jamie's Papa have known each other for a while. They are very close business partners and they’ve become best friends over the years.

"Papa, seriously, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. It's not the first time I’ve been on a mission," I say while placing my water on the weight bench.

"But the thing is that you have never been alone on a mission, Reign. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"And nothing will," I assure him again.

"Reign, not to be a dick but you don't even know how to take someone down.” Papa narrows his eyes on me before taking a huge gulp of his water. "I just want you to come back home in one piece."

I have a mission coming up in a few days and for this mission, I have to kill this person who my dad found out was a mole in our mafia. He is going to be at one of our warehouses. My papa wants me to gather information out of him first before I kill him.

Luckily this warehouse is in our country because I don't think Papa would be able to handle me being out of the country.

"I understand, Papa. But I'm nineteen. You have to learn to let me go." I place my hands on my hips and raise an eyebrow at him.

Papa smiles at me but it almost looks sad. "Reign, you're my daughter. I don't think I will ever be able to let you go. You will always be my little girl."

I smile at Papa and kiss him on the cheek. "I love you, Papa. But once I turn twenty-one you have to be able to let me go," I said while narrowing my eyes at him.

"I will. But your Mama will be a hard one," Papa chuckles while getting his stuff on the bench.

"True. She cried at the thought of me living by myself.” I smile while reminiscing about Mama crying.

I told her I wanted to move out and she started crying and then yelled at me for being so "ridiculous."

Papa and I get our stuff and walk out of the home gym. "So, you understand your mission and what you have to do?" Papa asks, while raising his eyebrows at me.

"Yes." I roll my eyes at him.

"Tell me. What do you need to do?" Papa stops walking and stands in front of me.

"I have to kill Anton Invano who will be working in the warehouse on Friday this week," I stated, with a teasing smile.

"Okay, and how will you do it?" Papa puts his hand on his hip and stares down at me with a questioning look that is supposed to look intimidating but it’s really not.

At least not to me.

"I will be in your office and call him up to, and I quote, talk to him.”

"Okay, and when he is in the office, then what?"

"You really want a play-by-play?" I laugh.

"Yes, Reign!"

I laugh. "Once he is in the office, I will hold a conversation with him and then ask some questions about the other mafia. I will get information out of him and then kill him."

"And you will stay safe while doing so. Correct?" Papa raises his eyebrows at me, and I nod my head. "Good. ‘Because I can't lose you Reign."

"You won't!" I yelled playfully. "I swear Papa, I'll be careful," I assure him, and he pulls me in for a hug.

"You better be. I can't have you dying on me Reign. I need you to stay alive." Papa narrows his eyes at me, and I chuckle.

"I will! Don't worry."

Papa kisses the top of my head. “Good, now let’s get some dinner. I’m hungry and you know how I am with your mama’s cooking.”

Papa and I walk inside the house and go to the dinner table. I wanted to shower but Mama is super strict on having a family dinner at a certain time.

It's just me, Mama, Papa, and Baba who live in this house. We have such a big house for only four people living here. We used to have Dyado, but he died when I was a kid.

"How was the workout?" Mama asks as Papa, and I walk inside the kitchen.

"Good. Papa taught me how to punch harder when fighting," I say as I sit down next to Mama at the table.

"As long as you're having fun," Baba says with a warm smile on her face.

Baba and I are super close and I'm lucky to have her in my life. She is always there for me whenever I need her, same with Mama but sometimes I need Baba to talk to. Mama can’t take me seriously since I’m her only child.

"I am. But I think I may need a new trainer. Papa’s getting kind of old," I joke, and Papa rolls his eyes at me before sitting next to Mama.

He kisses her forehead and whispers something in her ear making her blush like a teenager. I can’t help but smile at them. They look so happy and in love and I just hope to experience that someday.

"Stop lying. I'm the best damn trainer you'll ever have." Papa looks away from Mama and jokingly glares at me.