Vows Of Vengeance

"Don't you think that's a lot of sauce?" I playfully teased my father as he kept pouring it on his plate.

"There's no such thing as a lot of sauce, Bellezza," he winked at me.

My mother just rolled her eyes at him, and my brother remained silent.

It was a normal evening like every other in the De Luca's mansion.

With me teasing my father about his too much sauce, my mother just watching us with bright eyes, and my brother focused on his meal, ever the quiet one.

My brother suddenly stiffened, his eyes going wide.

"What's wrong, Mic–," my mother's voice was cut off by gunshots.

Bullets rained in through the windows, shattering them.

"Get down!" My brother shouted, shoving me down shielding me with his body as bullets whizzed past.

From where I lay, I could see figures dressed in black storming into our house.

"Where is it?" A harsh voice demanded, its owner concealed behind a ski mask.

One of the men dragged my father up from protecting my mother. "Where did you hide it?" The first man asked.

"You'll get nothing from me," my father spat at the masked man.

Enraged, the man smacked my father in the face.

My father staggered back. Before he could recover, the man was on him again.

"I'll ask you one more time. Where is it?!" The man shouted, but my father stayed silent.

"Grad his wife," the man instructed another masked man.

I wanted to scream, but my brother covered my mouth.

"Don't make a sound, Belle," he whispered.

The other man grabbed my mother, who was screaming and struggling, while two other men held my father.

"Don't you dare touch my wife!" My father kept shouting. "You have a problem with me, not my family! Take it out on me!"

The man ignored him and stripped my mother.

"No, please. No!" My mother kept screaming, trying to free herself from the man's grip but it was no use, the man held her firm.

"They didn't say anything about us not having fun while we carried out our operation, did they?" The man holding my mother remarked, and they all chuckled.

Tears streamed down my face as I witnessed the abuse.

"Please stop!" My father kept shouting. "Please I beg you!"

"We will end this if you give us what we came here for, Mr. De Luca," the first man said, and my father kept quiet.

I wanted to scream at him to give you what they wanted to stop this torture.

My brother wept silently as he watched our mother being mistreated, his hand still over my mouth.

"Please stop!" My mother kept pleading, blood running down her legs. "Please!"

But the men ignored her and continued.

My father just stared at his wife, feeling hopeless, with tears streaming down his face.

The man freed my bleeding mother, and the men holding my father let him go.

"Amore," my father whispered, tears flowing down his face as he embraced my mother. "I'm so sorry," he kissed her forehead.

"Francesco, give us what we want and we will end all this. No need for more harm. Think about your children," the man tried to persuade my father, who just cried holding his wife.

The man sounded like he didn't want to cause any more harm to us. He was trying to reason with father, but my father was dead set on not giving him what he wanted.

"Then so be it," the man said and turned.

Chaos erupted. Bullets flew from every direction.

I saw my father drop with a hole in his forehead, blood running down his face.

I screamed, the sound muffled by my brother's hand over my mouth and the gunfire.

"Close your eyes, Belle," my brother whispered. "It'll be over soon."

Next, my mother fell. A bullet through her chest, silencing her screams.

The bullets kept coming until I felt my brother jerked and went still.

I felt warm liquid on my face as my brother's lifeless body lay on me.

I held my scream, unmoving as the bullets finally ceased.

"Search the house!" The man shouted. "Make sure there are no survivors!"

I remained silent, drenched in my brother's blood.

"Clear, boss," the men reported.

"Burn it down, " the leader commanded.

The attackers doused the rooms with gasoline and set the house ablaze.

Flames erupted with a roar, consuming everything in their paths.

In the midst of the inferno, my numb mind seized upon one thought: vengeance.

With a strength born of fury and grief, I pulled myself free from beneath my brother's lifeless form.

I looked around, my vision blurry with tears. The fire was spreading fast but I didn't care.

I bent down and kissed my brother's forehead with tears streaming down my face.

"Thank you," I kept whispering.

I coughed, the smoke filling my lungs as I walked to my parents.

My father was still holding my mother, even in his dying moments.

I removed their blood soaked rings from their fingers and kissed them one last time.

The heat seared my lungs as I stumbled through smoke and flame, my heart pounding in time with the crackling destruction around me.

Gasping for breath, I emerged from the burning house.

The wind whipped at my face, carrying the acrid scent of burning wood and plastic.

I stood on the crest of the hill, a lone figure silhouetted against the fiery backdrop.

Below, the scene was a chaotic ballet of flashing lights and frantic movement.

Police officers cordoned off the area, while firefighters battled the inferno with hoses that seemed pitifully small against the raging flames.

The night sky glowed an unnatural orange, reflecting the inferno that consumed my family's legacy.

It was a beacon of loss, a searing reminder of the pain that gnawed at my soul.

But it was also a vow, a burning promise etched in the flames – retribution.

I stayed hidden in the shadows, a silent observer of the unfolding tragedy.

Whoever was behind my family's death, whoever had orchestrated this fiery destruction, they were out there, watching.

I would remain hidden, a ghost in the night, a phantom in the shadows.

The world could continue its oblivious dance, but I would be a silent predator, lurking in the darkness.

I would find them, each and every one of them.

I would track them down, expose their twisted motives, and then, with cold, calculated precision, I would make them pay.

They had taken everything from me, and now, they would pay the ultimate price.