Chapter - 1 ( Considerate Enemy)

The raven haired girl looked around cautiously exiting the rundown apartment. She barely held back the gasp coming from her mouth as the wooden floor squeaked beneath her. 

Taking a deep breath and tightening the grip on the strap of her brown backpack. She tip toed until she reach the stairs and she dashed, running quickly, a smile pressed upon her natural red lips as she reached the exit. She was hell bent on running away before she could get another encounter with that witch which was haunting her for the past days.

“Miss. Claudia!” A gruff voice called and her feet halted in the same way as the tyres of car screeched upon applying sudden brake.

“Hell!” mumbling a curse beneath her breath, she pressed her lips in thin line before she turned around with a sweetest smile she could muster.

“There is the witch” she thought groaning inside.

“Good morning Mr. Smith!” She greeted cheerily but was met with a poker face of Mr. Smith. 

Mr. Alferdo Smith was a man in late 50’s and he had an intimidating personality and with specs resting on his nose and his black eyes glaring at Claudia’s form it was more intimidating. Slowly her lips titled downwards receiving no response from him.

“I think you said that you will pay your rent of 4 months by the end of this week.” He questioned pressing his specs up his nose and crossed his arms.

“I got a job; I will pay the rent for one month by the weekend.” Claudia replied crossing her fingers in hope behind her back.

She was an orphan and growing up alone all by her has been always a hard task. Her bad temper and uncontrollable hatred for mans who thought of themselves as her superior was her greatest enemy or weakness as she had to do job at places where she often get stumbled upon  those type of people. Since, her education was not so bright so, she was relying on part time jobs and usually they will last for a month or so. Alferdo Smith was humble man and he let her stay though she never paid her rent on time but this time she was four months behind.

“Please! Please! I promise you! Please!” she begged putting the best puppy face she could make looking at him hopefully as he sighed through his nose.

“Fine!” He finally said and she jumped in joy trying to hug the older man but he held an arm maintaining a distance between them.

“But if you don’t pay, you will be sleeping on the streets. None of your tricks will work this time.”  He warned her before walking away.

“Argh!” She cried out in frustration holding her hairs.

“No! No!” She quickly set her hair back, realizing she was on her way to job that she had to look presentable.

Not so far away from here other person was also struggling with his life. Though the situation was very different. Claudia could survive at least for sometime even if she let her guards down but this man could not.

“How many are there?” the thick Italian accented voice asked the question sitting inside the brand new BMW, anyone would have seen him could not guess even in their dream that he was being attacked right now.

“10-12…” the man sitting beside him answered as he nodded in reply, loading the bullets.

“Capo, I think we should call for backup, our two cars are blasted –” the man cut himself off as the piercing blue eyes glared at him, the drop of blood was on the verge of falling from his brows from the small cut at his forehead.

“So, do you want more people die?” his curt, icy voice making the man gulp down the lump. 

The deadly silence was broken by the ringtone. Blue eyes flickered towards the screen on which ' my son' was blinking. 

" How old is your son?" Damiano asked, folding his sleeves up, as another bullet was shot at his car. 

" 6."  Confused Luke  beside him answered and a long sigh escaped Damiano's lips. 

" Drive and get backup as fast as you can, I will handle this." He ordered, his finger latching on the door opening the car. 

The men outside altered at his move hiding in the shadows.

" But capo I can't-" the man cut himself off as Damiano glared at him. 

" Now." He gritted out furiously, and before his foot touched the ground, his bullet hit one of the man outside. 

The chaos outside give him enough time to hide behind the damaged car. Luke didn't wasted a single breath and sped up the car, now his enemies were more confused. 

Damiano shot the next bullet and it hit perfectly the other one in between the eyes. He was gaining more control over the situation but a bullet hit his chest, staggering him. He shot the culprit taking his revenge but another bullet  stuck in his leg. 

" F*ck." Damiano cursed panting heavily, as his body fell down. 

Taking a shaky breath, he rested his back on the car, his blue orbs looked down at his white shirt which was turning red with his blood. 

His ears perked up,as he heard footsteps approaching him. Tightening his grip on the trigger, he slowly peeked out from his hiding spot. He pushed the trigger aiming at one of them but only click sound resonated in deadly silence. 

" Great, f*cking great!!" He chuckled humourlessly at his state. 

Resting his head on the cold metal of the car, he closed his eyes. Quietly hearing the footsteps approaching him.

The footsteps stopped he could sense someone crouching down in front of him. 

He snapped his blue eyes open only to be met with a void black ones staring at him curiously. 

" You look like your father." The heavy voice of the black eyed man filled Damiano's ear, as he kicked his brow. 

" Tsk, tsk. Out of bullet. Shot. Bleeding. How unfortunate." The man tsked out, mocking sympathy present in his baritone voice. 

" Thanks for informing me or I wouldn't have known." Damiano bit back, sarcasm dripping in his tone like the blood from his body. 

Surprisingly, the man in front of him chuckled at his reply. Damiano narrowed his eyes trying to figure where he had seen him before but his mind was blank. 

" Got humour from your mother I see."  Mysterious man whispered, leaning slighlty towards Damiano. 

The darkness around before didn't let Damiano see the scar which was running from his left eye ending near his chin, but it was visible now. 

It was ugly burn scar. 

" Who the f*ck are you?" Damiano gritted out and the man tsksd, shaking his head in disappointment. 

He stuck his hand, turning Damiano head to the side in response making him growl. 

" Kids, these days have no etiquette at all. Your mother didn't teach you manners. " The man mumbled standing up, towering over Damiano's hissing frame. 

Daminano kicked and it landed perfectly on his enemy's shin making him stumble. Within a second, a lots of guns were pointing at him because of the disrespect he has shown to their leader. 

" My mother taught me how to deal with b*stard like you."  Blue eyes darkened as he spitted out the words and the mysterious man lips curled up in a smirk.

" Ah! Your mother... She will pay heavily for all the mistake she had done." Daminano's hissed inwardly as he tried to move, the blood loss was making his vision blurry. 

" To make your parents pay, you are the perfect pawn for me." The man muttered resting his eyes on the young man who scoffed at his words. 

Pawn? Him? Never. .

" Don't you worry, they will avenge my death." Damiano informed calmly as if death was not knocking at his door, calling out his name. 

" I am not going to kill you. I mean I will eventually but not that easily. As we are talking an ambulance is on its way. " This shocked Damiano but he is Edna's son, perfect in hiding his emotion. 

He raised a perfect brow at the elder man, who tilted his head to the side trying to gauge out his reaction but found none. 

" You wanted to know who I am." One hand dipped in his front pocket as he leaned towards Damiano's bloody form. 

" I am Pietro's Ruination." With that he walked away, his men following him. 

Damiano's confused eyes trailed after that man, who give him a tiny mysterious wink before getting in his car. 

The grunt with a series of curse left his lips as soon as the cars zoomed away. With much difficulty he pulled out his phone. 

Shaking his head to get his vision clear which was getting blurrier by the passing seconds, he tapped the name of one person which he trusted more than his own life. 

After two rings the call was answered. Ignoring the burning in his body, Damiano grunted out the words..

" Theodore, I want to tell you my all passwords."