Watching the plane land I had never felt so excited and nervous at all the same time. It came to a stop a mere thirty meters away from us and I couldn't help but bounce on the balls of my feet as I thought about what awaited me.

"Look there's Reagan." Said Emilia as she tugged on the sleeve of my hoody.

Looking down at her I could see that she was both happy and sad at the same time. I couldn't blame her. She was excited to see Reagan again but in turn she was about to lose her sister for a while.

Emilia started to make her way towards Reagan as he walked down the steps and naturally I started to follow her.

"Hello little sister." Greeted Reagan as his feet touched the ground. Emilia instantly wrapped herself in our older brothers arms. You could've sworn she would never let go.

Reagan looked at me over the top of our sisters head, a knowing look in his eyes. He nodded his head in greeting, not speaking the words out loud but I got them all the same.

He was telling me to be careful.

A car could be heard pulling up and we both turned around to see dads car. He got out of the drivers side while mom got out of the passenger one. She was on her phone talking to someone, it also looked serious as she had a slight frown on her forehead. It was the middle of the day so I was surprised she was able to be here to see me off or greet Reagan at all.

Then again our parents always put us first.

"Look just deal with it, I'm busy." Moms voice was loud and clear and it even made dad look at her with a raised eyebrow.

Something told me that conversation had nothing to do with the business world.

"Not like you to lose your cool like that, mom" Greeted Reagan as he released our sister to walk over to mom who held out her arms to her oldest son.

"Sometimes they just need to deal with shit on their own."

For the first time in my life I could see that my mom was lying.

She was nervous.

It was in her small actions like how she fiddled with her phone in one hand as she gripped my brothers shirt with the other. To anyone else she would've just looked like she was giving my brother a tight hug. I on the other hand was starting to read between the lines.

Lines that I had never known where there before.

Mom released my brother and gave him a warm smile before she started to make her way over to me. Reagan went over to dad who greeted him just as warmly as mom had.

"Can I talk to your sister for a minute, Emilia."

Emilia nodded before mom even finished her sentence getting the hint loud and clear. She started to make her way over to Reagan and dad who were laughing about something.

"Make sure you have your brain switched on over there." Moms words were instant and cutting. The tone of her voice told me that what ever she was about to say she was serious about. "I won't be watching over you over there."

For the first time in my life I suddenly felt bare. I felt like I had been left open in this world that I was so used to be protected in.

"What?" It was all I could say as I tried to wrap her words around my head.

"I told you that you would be doing this yourself. You want to prove yourself? Then do it. You spent your whole life knowing that if you truly got into shit your dad or me would be able to get you out of it. Even if you didn't say it out loud yourself or know it, your subconscious did."

Mom was right of course. Even if I never admitted it myself I knew that if I truly needed them my parents would be their to pick up the pieces.

Then my moms features softened and I could see that doing this was actually killing her more. She had spent her whole life watching over us and now she was sending me out to something on my own with no help from her in the background at all.

For someone who was always in control this was something that was going to harder for her than it was for me.

"Just promise me that you'll be smart over there. That you won't take shit and that you'll play these guys at there own game."

Mom was legit going against everything she stood for to let me have this opportunity. She was stepping back from a world that she felt like she had to control, in order for me to feel like I could do this by myself.

"I promise." I said reaching out and giving my mom a hug.

One that I knew I was going to miss.

"Prove Xavier wrong." Her voice was nothing more than a whisper in my ear but I froze all the same. "Prove them all wrong."

She knew that I had ran into him.

Of course she did.

"Your mom isn't normally wrong about anything but I think she might be wrong about this."

Xavier was talking about me. I remembered how mom had told Davis that I would become something even more deadly than her. Of course I didn't believe her but now I seen it.

I seen that mom truly believed in those words that she spoke.

There was no way I could let the world see that my mom was wrong about anything more so when she was putting her faith in me.

She knew what I was capable off, so it was about time that I see that myself.

"Trust me, I plan on it."

As we stepped away from each other dad made his way over.

"You better stay safe over there." Commented my dad as he gave me a warm hug. It made me think about what mom had to say to him to let me go so freely like this.

More so knowing that she wasn't going to be watching over me.

"When have I ever gotten in trouble?" It was a joke and we both knew it.

I was always in the heart of trouble.

"Was scared you'd say that." Responded dad with a roll of his eyes.

"Well I do take after the best."

"Miss Kennedy." One of the flight attendants were standing at the top of the steps. "We're ready to take off."

"We'll see you soon." Mom said hugging me for the final time before I turned around.

With my back to my family I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I closed my eyes for a second.

Slowly I made my way up the steps looking over at my family one last time. Then finally I was inside taking my seat.

"Can I get you anything?" Asked the flight attendant and shook my head.

"No, thank you." She gave me a warm smile and for some reason I felt like she knew that I was going through a range of emotions at the moment.

"Let me know if you change your mind." With that she left me to it.

Looking back out the window I sent my family a wave as the plane started to move and before I knew it they were out of sight as the plane made its way to the run way.

I was happy for once that Levi wasn't there. Me and him had said our goodbyes before I left the house. He said he couldn't face seeing me off. Not when he didn't know when I would be back.

I didn't mind after all we all dealt with things different ways. We were twins anyway I knew how much I meant to him. There was no reason for words to be spoken between the both of us.

What I really missed was that me and River never got to say goodbye. In fact me and River hadn't seen each other since that day in the garage near a week ago. The rest of his family had come around to see me before I left but there was no sign of him. Even his mom Kate had cursed him for not being there and said he was going to hear about this when she next seen him.

I told her that it was fine. I had lied and said that he had already been around earlier and said his goodbyes. If there was one thing I did know it was that I was probably going to miss River the most.

Being partners in crime since you were born was going to do that to you.

As the plane took off and started to turn I seen something then.

River.

He was past the gates of the airport on his bike. No one else would know that he was there. His helmet was still on but I could always spot him from a mile away. After a few seconds he seemed to reeve the engine and took off in the opposite direction.

I couldn't help but let a smile cross my features as I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

Everything was going to be ok.

What ever happened in Italy I knew I would always have the support of my family back home.

They believed that I could do this.

River believed I could do this.

I believed that I could do this.

After a few minutes when the plane settled I called the flight attendant back over. She greeted me with the same warm smile she greeted me with the first time.

My parents always looked after their employees and it was clear that this woman was no different. She looked happy in her job which is basically the minimum of what anyone could ask for.

"Yes?"

"Is there a laptop or tablet I could borrow?"

This is my moms plane, I knew that there would be something floating about. She often flew to London on business meeting or frankly anywhere around the world that would benefit her or our city.

"Of course. give me a minute."

After a few moments she returned with a tablet in hand.

"Your brother told me you'd be wanting this."

"My brother?" I questioned taking the tablet from her and she just gave me a warm smile as she turned on her heel and left me to it.

Turning on the tablet a message popped up on the screen.

'I thought you'd want this, make sure to study it.'

My brother had left me what ever details about Italy he could. He had left be notes on the shipments that had been coming in and out and the main people that were in charge over there. It wasn't a lot but he had given me enough to know so that I wouldn't be walking in their completely blind.

I couldn't help but smile to myself as I flipped through the documents that had been saved on the tablet. Each one of them telling just the minimum, but still enough to give me a ruff idea of what was going on.

Frankly it looked like Italy was a mess after dad had tore through Luca work on the country.

A mess that I was now left to clean up.

Getting more comfortable I started from the start taking the twelve hour flight to my advantage to study as much as I could. I wanted to have the basics of knowing what I was walking into.

Mom never went into something blind and neither should I.

For the next three hours I studied everything that my brother had left me. My mind was spinning with every piece of information that I could possibly think off. After that I then started me own research.

I started to look up the areas around where I was going. Common news about the state of the country from their politicians to their known criminal bosses. I looked up everything and anything that I needed to, to know more about the country. If I was going to turn this around I needed to know about everything, from how the people thought to how economy was standing.

Everything played a part in how my parents ran their business back home and this would be no different.

The more I studied the more I realised that I actually knew more than I had first thought. My brain actually knew the answers and what I needed to do. Without even knowing it I had learnt a lot more from my parents than I had first thought.

Mom was right. The only way I was going to know what I was capable off was by stepping away from their shadow.

With everything I read I become more confident with what I was doing. My brain started to think about what needed done first, what it was that I needed to do to make sure what I was going to do over here thrived.

Then it came to me just as easily as anything else. The answer was pretty obvious.

With my brain spinning I looked at the time and I knew I needed to get a good nights sleep before I got there. There was going to be a lot waiting for me and I needed to be well rested to take it on.

As the rest of the flight flew by it wasn't long before I was told that we were getting ready to land.

Within twenty minutes my feet touched the ground in Italy.

Keeping my head high I started to make my way down the steps. There was people standing all around me waiting for me to make my way down. Most of the faces I didn't recognise until it fell on one.

"Well, well if it isn't little Layla Kennedy."

My eyes met Elijah's who was leaning against his car with his arms crossed. He looked every bit like his brothers. With the same strong features and sharp jaw. His eyes were a deep brown colour, almost black just like his dads. It had been so long since I last since Elijah that it had almost taken me back.

He was the oldest out of us all at twenty-one and was well experienced in this world. He and Reagan were close growing up but they didn't get that close until they both threw themselves into this world.

If there was someone who could rival my brother it was Elijah.

Soon I was planning to be on the top of that list as well.

"I haven't seen you since you were fourteen." Commented Elijah as he took me in.

"Well you have been gone for years." I responded looking around taking in the men standing around us. Some of them were my fathers men from back home but most of them were Italian.

"I know and now look at you." Elijah opened the passenger side door for me and I took it as an opportunity to get out of the sight of these men.

I didn't trust most of them and I didn't want them to see or hear more about me than was needed.

Just because they claimed to work for my family know didn't mean they trust us the same way we didn't trust them.

Respect came with time and time was something that hadn't happened yet.

Elijah got into the car and his playful manner became serious as he looked around at the same people I was. His car was blacked out so I had no fear as I took each one of them in.

All of them were watching the car, some of them with narrowed gazes others with confusion.

"You need to watch."

"Oh I know, don't worry." I commented knowing where Elijah was going with this. "I don't trust any of them."

"Good." Elijah agreed starting up the car. "Some of them are just waiting for an opportunity to take control themselves."

"Take me to the base first." I knew that Elijah would take me to where I would be staying first but that wasn't what I wanted.

I needed to plant myself firmly in this world and there was no way better to do than to show my face the second I landed.

"You sure?"

Waving my tablet as I point I showed Elijah. "Reagan has already left me some tips about the people in this country. He said that a man named Antonio is one of the bigger threat within our own ranks. I want to met him."

Elijah looked at me from the corner of his eyes carefully before a grin took over his face. "You really do want to make your mark here don't you."

"I'm sure you already know mom and dad have left me here to try and work it out for myself."

"Oh trust me I know." Scoffed Elijah with a roll of his eyes. "River has already given me the full lowdown. Along with some threats. Which reminds me I'll need to head home some point to remind him who's boss."

"What do you think of Antonio?" I asked completely ignoring the topic of River. I wanted to try and stay away from talking about home for a while.

"He's young, ambitious and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him." Elijah remarked but his tone told me he didn't really see him as a big threat. "One second you would think he's doing things for our world but the next he would do something that would give you cause to wonder why we even keep him around."

"Well before we do anything with shipments and dealings I want to work out the ranking over here. Reagan said the structure still isn't sorted and if I want to get anything done over here I need to work out who can be trusted and those who can't."

"You're right." Said Elijah sounding mildly impressed.

If I was going to make this work I needed to find people that I could trust. After reading up on Antonio I understood why my brother didn't trust him but he was powerful.

His men liked him and he was well respected because of his family name. If I want to try and get these Italians to respect us then I needed someone who was already on their side to respect me.