Page 104 of Kadra: The Unfeeling

What I didn’t know was that he’d left his mark on my soul and showed me what peace was like in a world I’ve only known war, then he’d stolen away everything like a thief in the night.

Nothing was ever the same after him.

Not me.

Not life.

Certainly not my heart.

Chapter 31

KADRA

DREAM COME TRUE

“She was bigger than the whole sky.” – V

Kadra 14 - Vitali 24

My sister Arianna hates funerals. We’ve been to a couple. Mostly people we don’t know but Gabriele makes us come as a family to present a united front or some shit like that. We all know the truth he tries so hard to hide. Our family is a joke. The man is so obsessed with power that he’s willing to live a lie for the rest of his life if it means he gets all he has always wanted.

Money, power, and well… his title of boss.

But today is different.

Today we are not pretending. At least me and my sister aren’t.

Today the sky looks as depressed as we feel as we watch the casket being lowered to the ground. Inside is not one of Gabriele’s soldiers or business associates.

No.

There in that white and gold casket is the woman who showed my sisters and me there’s more to life than what we see and experience inside the cage we were born into. More than the Parisi name and Detroit.

Our Nonna.

A silent sob sounded from next to me and I turned to watch my sister, Arianna looking as lovely and cold as ever dressed in all black with her eyes shut tight.

The organ in my chest aches when I notice a tear fall from her eyes.

She’s in pain.

Nonna loved us all but I know her bond with Arianna ran deep. I’m glad she at least had her when mom failed to be the maternal figure both my sisters needed.

I, on the other hand, loved Nonna as much as I could but I never had the chance to be as close with her as my sisters were. I was so busy trying to survive that I didn’t have the opportunity to form a stronger bond with her. That doesn’t mean I’m not hurting. I am because the one person that genuinely cared for us left us and what’s worse, my baby sister Mila wasn’t allowed to come and say her goodbye.

Once again Gabriele excludes her as if she means nothing. As if she doesn’t exist to him.

I vow one day to make him regret all he’s done to Mila. One day he’ll be forgotten as if he never existed. I’ll make him feel what Mila feels every single day that she’s hidden away like a dirty secret.

Thunder breaks above as if the sky is in tune with the war inside me. Looking up, I catch the instant a black crow flies above me and gets lost in the dark clouds. At times I wonder how it would feel to be free as a bird. Everything is better than the chains I was shackled with from birth.

Feeling eyes on me, I look away from my sister and when I do my eyes find a dark figure standing all the way in the back. I squint my eyes trying to get a better view but from this far it is impossible to know for certain who the dark figure is.

The feeling of familiarity spreads through me as if I’ve seen the person before.

Black on black. That’s all I can see.

Then the image of a tall man with a handsome face and enchanting eyes flashes through my mind.

---