1.

KAYLA

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Kayla? How can you be late on this day of all days?" My best friend, Miro, scolded me as soon as I arrived at the office.

“The universe is against me, Ro,” I whined. “I slept early yesterday, but I still managed to wake up late."

Today was the briefing for our new assignment, and though my presence wasn’t needed since they never give me any assignments, my co-workers would never miss an opportunity to poke and complain about my lack of work ethics, which wasn’t true.

My life was a trail of bad decisions and bad luck. My mother had died during childbirth after demanding that they save her baby instead when they told her the choice had to be made. That decision was the beginning of the hell that is now my reality.

My father, Jonathan Monroe, has never looked at me with an ounce of love since I was born. To him, I should have been the dead one instead of Mom, and he wasn’t shy about being vocal about his opinion.

I’ve tried so hard to get him to be proud of me. I should have stopped when I graduated valedictorian at the university, but I just had to go and join the secret service behind his back.

I could still remember when the entire office found out I was the chief’s daughter and how their welcoming gaze turned judgemental as though I got in with Dad's connection, and he never corrected them either.

Miro was in too much of a hurry and ended up opening the door to the meeting room more dramatically than he intended to, forcing all attention on us.

“Her majesty finally decides to grace us with her presence,” Anita drawled sarcastically. She was tagged the best agent since she had the highest number of assignments, but she was mean and hated me.

“She thinks she can do whatever she wants since Daddy dearest is the chief." Another agent scoffed.

My eyes scanned the meeting room first, and I was a little relieved to see that my dad wasn’t in the room, but now I had to decide if that was a good thing or not.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come late. I woke up late and...” Miro squeezed my hand with a groan to tell me to shut up, but it was too late. Their eyes had narrowed into slits, and they were ready to strike.

“Oh my god, did you guys hear that? Little Miss Important was late because she was getting her beauty sleep.” Anita called out and began clapping.

“You are such a despicable persona and don’t deserve to be here." Anita had managed to come close to me and was poking at me with every word she said.

“You better take a fucking step back.” Miro got a hold of her hand and threw it off me.

“What’s happening here?” A voice thundered behind me, and I felt the hair on my skin raise in alarm as my father stepped into the room.

His eyes eyed me with disgust as I pathetically hid behind Miro. Everyone scurried to their seats, and Miro pulled me with him to our seats.

The projector before us lit up, and Nathan, the deputy service chief, took the floor. “Good day, agents. As you are all aware, a new assignment has been issued, and we are here to be briefed on everything we have so far." He took a pause and clicked on his laptop, and the word “Project Zero” appeared on the screen.

“We have information that makes us believe this is the right time to infiltrate the Italian mafia family and eradicate crime in the country. We know they are responsible for the huge weapons and drug distribution across Italy, the United States, and other countries. We also believe they are involved in money laundering and have deep roots in the current government, so this is a serious case.” He took a slight pause and looked around the room to make sure everyone was paying attention.

“We have picked our best agent, Anita Rivers, to carry out this assignment, but she wouldn’t work alone. Everyone on the team would need to be on alert to carry out impromptu tasks for the assignment,” he added.

Anita had a smug smile on her face. She always got the best assignments, and I hated that I was never given an opportunity to show my skills. I know I would do just as well as she does.

The briefing ended after an hour. I found myself raising my hand before I could stop myself. Everyone turned to me with raised brows, wondering why I had suddenly interrupted Nathan, who was closing the meeting.

“Yes, Kayla?” Nathan looked at me with surprise.

“I want to be directly involved in the assignment. I also want to go to Italy. I can be of help to Anita, and I promise not to obstruct her,” I found myself saying.

Anita’s sinister laughter rang through the room, and I grated my teeth in humiliation. “She is incompetent, and yet she wants to be part of such an important assignment?”

“That’s because I’ve never been given a chance to prove myself. I know I can do it.”

“Maybe next time but it’s been decided that this one is for Anita,” Nathan replied, and I bit my lips but said nothing. It’s useless to argue.

“The meeting is over. Further information would be passed on to you." My father spoke stiffly, and everyone scrambled to leave the room. I stood up as well and was about to escape when his voice stopped me.

“Kayle, see me in my office now,” he demanded, and my legs gave out as I dropped to my seat.

Miro threw me a sympathetic look but stayed behind with me while my father left.

“He is going to kill me this time.” I gulped. My heart was beating widely in my chest.

“That’s unlikely to happen, but he will definitely say some malicious things,” Miro said, and I groaned.

I dragged my feet as I made my way to the floor above mine, where my father’s office was located. I was taking my time because I was terrified. Yes, I was pathetic. Yes, I couldn’t be the daughter he wanted. Yes, I was a failure.

“I can’t believe I’m already crying before I get there,” I muttered. The intimidating nameplate on the door only added to the nerves that were pooling in my belly.

I took a deep breath before I knocked twice on the door.

“Come in” The gruff voice called from inside, and I gently opened the door and entered. I locked the door behind me but kept myself plastered to it, not daring to move an inch. I looked at my father, who had his back to me.

“Sometimes I look back at my past actions and wonder if I ever did something abominable." He began, and I shuffled with unease at how calm his voice was. This was the worst stage of his anger. The calm stage.

“I think long and hard about why the universe would punish me with an abomination like you.” I sucked in a harsh breath at the cruel words, but I braced myself because this was only the beginning.

“Why are you so insistent on making me angry, Kayla? You do this on purpose, don’t you? You want to see how mad I can get, so you push my limit?” He turned away from the window to face me, and I gulped in fear.

“Why are you so quiet? I asked you a question." He pressed.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, dad,” I stammered.

“Don’t call me your dad. I am your superior, and you will address me appropriately,” he thundered, and I jumped in fear at the sudden increase in his voice.

“I’m sorry, sir.” I apologised quickly.

“Why are your eyes on the floor? Jesus, how did I father such a disgrace?” He rubbed his hands all over his face, and I just stood there with my legs quivering in fright. “You can’t even face me, and yet you want to infiltrate the Italian mafia. With what guts?” He mocked.

“I can do it,” I whispered.

“How, Kayla? Enlighten me, please." He shouted, and I flinched.

“You flinch when I yell at you, and you think you can infiltrate a place like that where worse things happen?” He taunted, and I could feel all the confidence I had before slipping away like water.

“I can do it, sir. Just give me one chance. I’ll make you proud.” I wanted to make him proud. It didn’t matter the number of times he insulted me. He was the only family I had.

“Get out. I don’t want to see your face. It disgusts me. I don’t even know why I called out here in the first place." He shooed me away, but I didn’t mind.

I was out of the door before he decided he wasn’t done with me. I was lucky that the words weren’t as harsh as they got on some days. He let me off with just a few words, so it felt like Christmas.

“How was it?” Miro asked, meeting me halfway on the ground floor.

I gave him a sad smile and shrugged. “Better than most days. He let me off with just a few words."

Miro pulled me into a hug. “Why would you want to go for that assignment? It’s a death sentence. Everyone knows what those mafia families do to spies,” Miro scolded, pulling back.

“I just want a chance to prove myself. I know I can do it this time if I am given the chance. I feel it, Miro. This is the chance I could have used, but I just must keep trying. He would see me one day,” I mumbled.

“When Kay? When you are dead? Because that’s what would happen if you continued like this,” he snapped.

“There is no need to be worried. I’m not going anymore. I will clean the office while everyone is assigned to duties again,” I said with a defeated sigh.

We went to the diner just around the corner. It was our usual spot when we wanted to get away from the drama in the office. We sat there and talked for a while when our phone dinged.

"Kayla,” Miro whispered in shock. He was looking at me with a mix of fear, happiness, and worry.

“What happened?” I asked. I had yet to open the agents chat to see why he was behaving like this, but when I did, I understood.

Anita had an accident when she left the office earlier, and the assignment had been transferred to me.

“I’m going undercover."