Chapter 1

My heart was pounding. The room I'm standing in was filled with a low hum, and my palms felt sweaty as soon as I took slow steps towards the limelight at the center of this hall filled with people dressed in black.

"Relax, princess!" Cavin caught hold of my hand and walked beside me.

"Shut up, Cavin!" I whispered through gritted teeth and glared at him while still trying to calm my racing pulse.

"It's your birthday!" he chuckled softly. "You should enjoy the party!"

And before I could answer or even say another word, Cavin pulled me forward to the stage, and all hell broke loose once we stepped onto it.

"SHIT!" I gasped as I finally got a grasp of the situation.

"Run, princess!" Cavin yelled as he pulled out a gun from his side pockets and shot a man.

A horrifying grimace came over my face. My hands started shaking, and I felt like puking as the realization hit me that I was actually being dragged into the middle of all these bullets that were flying around us. I could only watch them pass right by.

I didn't even hear the screams coming from the other guests anymore.

I started running for my life as fast as I could in this crowd of people wearing dark clothes; most were armed with guns and had some sort of weapon strapped to their bodies.

"Cavin!" I called to one of my colleagues, whom I grew up with through training from the organization.

"Go on! It's what we planned, right? I'll stay here, and you go chase a different life!" I saw him smile bitterly.

I nodded and ran away, taking random paths and trying hard not to get lost in the sea of people surrounding me.

There seemed to be no end to them. They were everywhere, and they kept shooting.

I just turned seventeen, and I had to make my first kill for this bloodthirsty organization my father had led for his entire life just to make a bounty of money.

What a birthday!

"Heureu!" I heard my father's muffled voice from afar.

I halted and took a sharp turn before swinging open the door, and I ran outside of this shitty place.

I needed a new life. Not like this!

Outside, the rain was pouring hard, and lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating everything with its white light.

I stood there for a second, breathing heavily, before turning in the direction of the bus stop.

I could feel every puddle below my feet soaking my sneakers, but I hardly noticed the cold.

"Stop, Heureu!" I heard my father call to me once again.

Behind him, five men were running.

"Oh my! I just want a different life!" I exclaimed between my sobs as I desperately ran away from them.

"You know you can't just leave and turn your back to us!" my father sounded angry and frustrated.

Suddenly, the sound of a car approaching made me smile bitterly.

"Then I'll just go somewhere where you cannot find me!" I yelled before making a hard turn and running towards the car.

I could not think of anything but to end it here if I could not get a better life. I was tired of living like a fugitive, like a criminal. There has to be something better.

The rain poured down harder and faster than ever. My tears and the rain had already fogged my vision. I couldn't see sh*t.

Suddenly, I tripped over my feet and fell flat on my face.

"Heureu!" I heard my father say, but my mind went blank as I saw that this car was really going to hit me.

The blurry, blinding light coming from the car took all my hopes away, and there I awaited my end.

If it's the better life I've been wanting, then I'll take it.

Suddenly, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over me.

My legs went numb, and I started trembling uncontrollably.

A pair of arms reached out and grabbed me, and in the next second, I found myself lying in someone's arms.

"Dad! I gasped as I saw blood pooling out of him. "Dad, are you okay?" I asked worriedly, heaving deeply as I took in what just happened.

"Yes...," my father answered weakly, his breath rattling against my skin as he held onto me.

The five men carried us and took us to the hospital, but more terror struck me when it registered how much blood my father was losing and no one in the hospital paid us attention because we were one of the common people outside our organization.

"Why is no one? Help!" I cried, but still no one dared to come near us.

I am trembling in dismay.

"This is life!" One of the men touched my shoulder and spoke lowly.

"You have to promise me to take care of the organization! No one can know about it!" my father barely said.

"No! Stop! You'll get better!" I held on to his hand before approaching some nurses.

"My father! He needs help!" I cried to them.

They only looked at me before one said, "Have you made a down payment? All doctors are busy, but if you can pay, we can make him a priority!"

I fell into a great shock!

How could this life be so unfair to the poor?

"I..."

One of the men stopped me from blurting out that I could pay all the doctors here just to save my father.

"Your father is being treated!" the man whispered, and I left the nurses with heavy steps.

After hours of waiting, the doctor came out with the good news that my father was already stable and needed some rest.

I sighed in relief just as a highly-looking man came to me and handed over a huge envelope.

"I trust that this is enough for you to be silent and let all this be set aside since your father has survived. We paid all his treatment!" The old man said and left me stupefied.

"That's it?" I stared at the envelope in my hand in disbelief.

My father and my life are just this envelope of money.

He just said that without remorse for how our lives could have been lost.

I gasped in despair. Oh, how things turned out!

"Now I know why my father thought I was hard on life!" I gritted my teeth and threw away the envelope.

The next morning, I found myself lost in guilt as I saw my father in a wheelchair without legs.

"Dad?" I gasped.

He looked at me with his pale eyes.

"You can leave! I asked my secretary to take care of things for you. I transferred enough money for you to start a new life. I can register your death, so go!" My father sounded tough, but inside, his heart was broken and hurt.

So many thoughts flew through my head at once, and I had to take a step forward.

I knelt down and bowed to him, saying, "I want to kill!"

The only words I said in rage as the thought of what happened last night rushed through me.

My father smiled, and all I knew was that I was in an arena, soaking in my blood as I trained to be one of the top assassins.

"Kill, princess!" I heard Cavin call to me with extreme delight in his eyes.

"My pleasure!"