Chapter One

I was sitting beside my mothers bedside in the hospital, I knew that she didn't have much longer. I didn't want her to have much longer. She was in agonizing pain, although she wouldn't admit it. I take a glance at her pale, beautiful skin. We didn't look anything alike, her hair was blonde, mine was dark brown. Her eyes were blue as the ocean, mine were brown. She was around 5'2, I was 5'9. In truth, I have no idea who my father is, but I assume he wasn't a good man, my mother not once mentioned him in my 18 years of living. "What are you thinking about, my love?" her groggy and hoarse voice asked.

"Don't worry about it, Mom," I said, in an attempt to not worry her.

"I don't have much time left, if you want to talk to me, then talk to me. You weren't here for the past week. I need you to stay with me, you're all I have, Faye," I tried to say something, but she cut me off, "You need to stay out of trouble, I was trying to save you from ever being in danger. Clearly, you seek adventure, danger doesn't follow you, you follow the danger. When you get home, go up into the attic. Just go look around, if you find anything that interests you, come back to me with questions."

This was strange, simply because my mother never let me go into the attic. And I respected that. I had a hit that took all of last week, they were targeting my best friends son. "Mom, I had work all of last week-" I started.

"Faye, I don't even know what your job is. You come home with bruises, cuts, blood and don't think that I haven't noticed the sneaking in and out of the house almost every night. I'm not as gullible as you think. I know that I will never be able to stop you from seeking danger, that's why I put you in all of those self defense classes when you were so young. I knew that there was no stopping your drive for danger, so I embraced it."

I knew that she knew that I was sneaking out at night, I knew that she noticed the minor bruises and cuts, I gave her all the pieces that she needed to put the pieces together. My mother was not gullible, she is correct. I planted all of the evidence so that she could piece together what I do. "You're doing something, you know I disapprove of. I know what you do, Faye."

Internally, I was grateful that she knew, but in the moment, I wanted to get the hell out of the room that my dying mother was in. "Goodnight Mom, I'm going to home." I stated, walking out of the room.

"Stay out of trouble!" I just chuckled and kept walking, I was curious to see what was is in the attic.

I close the car door to my beat up Toyota Prius, although I could afford an expensive car, I never felt the need to buy one. I'm not one for fancy cars. I walk into our house, immediately feeling the warmth of the inside of my home. My first instinct is to go into the attic, I was curious, there was no hiding it. I walk up to the attic hatch and pull the string, releasing the ladder that leads up to the attic. I take a step onto the creaky, dry-rotted wood, once I put all of my weight onto the step, I could hear it cracking. I quickly darted up the steps, not staying on a step for too long. I throw myself up onto the floor of the attic. It was nothing special, boxes everywhere, covered up furniture, an old air conditioning unit. There was really nothing that caught my eye, I decided that I would go through the old cardboard boxes.

I rip open a box to find a bunch of my moms old cloths, they looked expensive. There was Gucci, Prada, Burberry, and some other expensive brands. We were never rich, and could never afford big brand clothing. So how could she afford this? What confused me most was that she never mentioned anything about having a lot of money in the past. I would definitely have to ask her about this tomorrow.

I continued ripping through the boxes, finding random things. I get to the last box, it seemed to be in the best shape of them all. I open the box to find letters upon letters. It was filled to the brim with letters, some older than others. I pick up one of the letters, it was a newer one. It was from a woman named Giana, it read;

Dear Aria,

You're going to have to tell her soon. You don't have much time left and what is Faye going to do when you pass? She's not going to have any family. She needs to know that her father is here, and I'm sure that if he knew he had a daughter he would love and cherish her. You know that he would take care of her, just give him the chance.

He hasn't stopped looking for you, and I know that you miss him. You were completely and utterly in love with him. You need to tough it out and let Faye come to Italy to meet her family. She needs the support, and she needs the safety. She has no idea what kind of danger that she is really in. Just keep thinking about it, it's for her own safety.

Sincerely, Giana

(202)-(555)-(0853)

So, my father didn't leave us. He doesn't even know that I exist, I need to meet him. I need to talk to my mother about this, how could she lie to me like this? My thoughts were interrupted by my phone ringing. I picked it up and answered, "Hello?"

"Is this Faye Jensen?" a woman asked from the other end of the phone.

"This is she. What do you want?" I ask, already aggravated that my mother would lie about my dad.

"I hate to be the one to tell you, especially over the phone, I am so sorry but your mother passed away about thirty minutes ago."