Underworld
Prologue
G iggling under the silk covers on my bed, my stepsister, Natalie, and I look at the hottest fashion magazines. Laughing at the different outfits we think look absolutely ridiculous, or the ones we want to circle to go shopping for soon as Father okays it.
“I am not a fan of the bows.” Natalie says and I grin, “No? They would be beautiful on you.” I assure her.
I am all she has ever known. Our parents married when I was young. My mother died during labor, so I never truly knew her but when my father met Natalie’s mother, Alessandra, Natalie was only two years old. I was nine when they married, and we all moved into this house together.
I will be getting married in a few months, to the heir of the Underworld, Enzo Ricci. So, every chance I get, I try to spend as much time with my sister as I can.
“I am going to miss you, Anastasia.” She whispers to me, and I fight back the tears creeping up the corner of my eyes.
“You know you will always have a place in our home, Nat. Come over whenever you want to get away from Father and Mother.”
She grins, “You are going to be honeymooning and spending time with Mr. Ricci; I do not want to get in the way.”
I grab her hand, “Nonsense. Enzo knows me and you are a package deal. He can get over it or I just won't marry him.” I wink at her.
She giggles, “I love you, Ana.”
I pull her into a big bear hug. “I love you more, kiddo. Now, we need to get some sleep.”
Pulling out from the covers, I place the magazine on the nightstand before turning and heading into my room.
***
A LOUD NOISE WAKES me from a dead sleep. Turning over to glance at my clock, I notice it is well past midnight; Natalie and I went to bed hours ago.
BANG.
The popping noise makes me jump again and then I hear someone scream the most God-awful, blood curdling scream.
Jumping out of bed, I grab my housecoat and pull it over me. Opening my bedroom door, I stop dead in my tracks with eyes as big as saucers looking at my stepmother’s dead body on the floor of our hallway.
Two men come out of my parent's bedroom, holding my father at gun point; he looks like a lion ready to pounce.
“Ana,” his voice hoarse, “RUN!”
I take off down the hall and run into my sister’s bedroom. She is crying with her cell phone to her ear, “ENZO HURRY!!!”
I grab her hands, “We have to go Nat. Come on!”
A shot from a gun is heard and I shut my eyes tightly praying it was not my father.
Grabbing the phone out of Natalie’s shaking hands I yell, “Enzo please. Hurry. Mother is dead and I believe Father is too.”
“Get to the bunker, Ana. We are on the way.”
I grab my sister’s shoulders and look her in the eye. “Natalie, you must get it together. Stop crying and follow me.”
She takes a deep breath and runs her hand over her nose that is pouring snot. “But Mother is dead.”
“And we will be, too, if we don’t listen to Enzo and get to the bunker.”
She nods wiping her nose. “Okay.”
“I love you, Natalie. We can make it.”
“I love you too, Ana.”
“Come out, come out wherever you are.” A deep evil voice calls from the hallway, making my heart hammer in my chest. “Your parents are dead. Now be a good little girl and come with us or you’ll be next.”
I remember there is a secret passage to the bunker from our closets. Father put one in both of our rooms just for a time as this. Pulling Natalie with me, I lock the door to her bedroom and take us to her closet. Pushing back all her clothes, I find the small latch that leads us out and pull it.
The door springs open and we make it inside shutting the door behind us just in time to hear one of the men kick down her bedroom door.
Natalie whimpers making me put my hand over her mouth, “Natalie, keep it together.”
She nods and we both crawl on our hands and knees through the passageway.
Getting to the bunker felt like a century as we crawled through the dust and cobwebs. Finally, inside, I felt a sense of relief and calm.
Turning on the security footage from the television screens in the bunker, the front door blasts open with force and Enzo, Alan, and his team all run inside, guns raised, ready for a fight.
“Find them!” Enzo screams at Alan, the new rookie in his security, and the men take off like a Seal team in formation up our grand stairs.
A few moments later, Enzo disappears from our view and a knock is heard at the bunker’s secret door from the outside.
Father has shown him all the security things for our home since he was about to be his son-in-law.
I’m too timid to open the door when the knock comes again; instead, I place my ear to the wall and listen. “Ana, its Enzo. Let me in.”
Flinging the door open, I run into his arms and tears explode down my cheek. “Father and Mother are dead!” I cry into his chest.
He rocks me, “Shhh. I am so sorry. You both will come back to my home with me.”
Looking over to Natalie I realize she is gone. “Nat?” I say, looking around. Panic suddenly takes over my lungs.
“Enzo . . . where is she?” I plead.
He walks around the room, gun drawn, and that’s when we hear it, a car driving off and my sister’s screams.
“No. How did they get in here?” I yell, running out the front door and onto the lawn.
Alan and his men come running out about the same time, “Sir, they found the hidden passage in their rooms.”
Enzo hits his fist on the front door, “I’ll get her back, Ana.”
My knees fall harshly to the ground, and my screams are the sounds that could wake the entire world.