(Four months later)

My fist connect with the punching bag in rapid succession. The bag swings in the air and rattles the chains holding it up. My mind is clear of all distractions and as I punch I imagine every time it connects my fist goes through the bag. I imagine punching a gaping hole in the middle of the bag, and watching the sand spill out of the busted open material.

I connect one more punch before I no longer have to imagine splitting open the bag. I watch in astonishment as sand spills out the bag and onto the gym mat.

"How many punching bags have you broken this month? Two- well now three?" I hear someone say from the shadows of the spectator corner.

I don't look to see who spoke and just focus on the piles of sand in front of my feet. I get the urge to kick the sand but turn away before I could do so. I don't want to create a bigger mess for the clean up crew.

I shrug my shoulder innocently,"I think the bags you guys buy are defective."

Damien steps out of the shadows with his infamous goofy smile on his lips. He shakes his head at me in mock disappointment as he walks over to me. Once he reaches me he reaches his hand up and I meet it in a high five.

I grin up at him, and my pride must be oozing off of me because he says the following sentence.

"Want to spar?"

I narrow my eyes at the challenge and my lips turn upwards into a cunning smile, "you know I'm going to win so why try?" I taunt, walking backwards towards the sparring ring.

Damien shrugs his shoulders as he walks towards the other side of the ring. "I want to see how much you've improved. You know when you first started training I didn't expect that you'd one day be able to punch holes into the punching bags."

I barked out a laugh in agreement as I unwind my shoulders and try to keep my jaw unclenched. I started training four months ago to join the boys in the mafia. I had never seen myself joining the workforce and working a regular boring job. I had always wanted to be something dangerous, something cool and adventurous. So when the boys said they wanted to work on becoming friends, the girls and I took it as an opportunity to join them.

We wanted to train to kill all the men who had the audacity to hurt those they deemed weaker than them. We would get revenge for their victims that couldn't do it themselves.

I hear the gym room doors open and a bunch of footsteps coming towards us before I see Sage and Novah arguing while Luca and Ace walk quietly behind them. Sage and Novah catch sight of me and Damien in the sparring ring and rush over. Both the girls flock to my side of the ring and Damien flashes Sage a look of hurt.

Sage just sticks her tongue out at him before looking at me. "I'm guessing you killed that punching bag over there."

I grin and nod my head, proudly owning up.

Novah's smile widens and she throws her arms around my shoulder and pulls me to her chest. "That's ma' girl!" She cheers, ruffling up my hair.

"Knock em dead Stell!" Sage cheers.

"I will" I promise, turning away from them to face Damien.

I watch Ace look at both of us, contemplating on whose side to stand on. Damien is jumping on the balls of his feet shadow punching and I just unwind my tense joints, watching Ace.

Ace looks at me and gives me a wide smile as he walks over to my side.

Damien stops shadow punching and throws his arms up with disbelief "are you serious? Wow such a good best friend you are!" Damien yells out to Ace.

Ace shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, "sorry man but my girl is gonna' wipe the floor with you."

Luca steps onto the mat and nods to the both of us, letting us know he'll be the referee for this match.

"Go!" Luca shouts and I immediately lunge into action.

I loved agilely around Damien, sneaking in punches where I saw openings. He threw a few lucky punches that connected with my jaws and other openings. After he lands another punch to my jaw I jump away from him to spit on the mat, no blood that's good. I glance back at Damien and find him lunging towards me. I meet him with a right hook and he stumbles back a few steps giving me room to swing my foot up and kick him in the right knee. Right as he hunches down I bring my knee up and knee him right above his groin.

I lower my leg before sweeping it underneath him, and I smirk in triumph when he hits the mat. I quickly shove my foot into his chest, the toe of my trainers almost touching his solar plexus. I can tell he feels the pressure of the toe of my shoe by his wide eyes.

"Stella is the winner!"

I pull my foot off his chest and reach out my hand for him to grab. He does and I pull him up like the good component I am.

"Good match." I say, patting his back.

"You wiped the floor with me. I barely got any hits in." Damien whines, pouting like a child.

"Told you I'd win." I gloat, sticking my chin up proudly.

"I knew you would!" Ace says, wrapping his arms around my waist. I squeal as he lifts me up and spins me around.

"My little fighter! You look so hot when you kick ass baby." Ace says as he sets me down on my own to feet.

"Oh for real?" I mutter, pulling his face down close to mine.

"Mhm" He hums, his eyes focused on my lips.

"Ewww get a room!" Sage yells at us before fake gagging.

I flip her off without looking away from Ace.

These past few months have been good. Instead of taking us back to America they took us to their house in Italy. Me and the girls obviously didn't object to living in a new country, America got boring quick.

Our relationship with the boys started out a little bit slow. We knew we could trust them not to hurt us, but we were still weary of them. Ace worked extra hard to prove to me that he would never put me in a position like that again. He'd never kidnap me or let anyone else kidnap me. He promised to support all the decisions I made, and urged me to find a place of my own.

"I want you to know that if you decide you don't want to have a relationship with me, I'll respect that. I want you to be happy and if you can't see yourself happy with me then that's okay." He told me as he helped me move into my apartment.

We started out as friends and honestly I loved having him around as one. He's funny and he knows how to make me laugh so hard I can't breathe. He was there for me when I was paranoid Jenna was somehow still out there. And he killed every single spider that I found in my apartment for me.

I learned a lot about him, and being friends really gave me some insight on who he was as a person.

It didn't take long for me to start liking him romantically.

And now we're here.

We weren't perfect and we fight occasionally, but our relationship was the best I've ever been in. And I don't want to let that go.