Just like any normal Friday night, Analise was watching the unfolding events in the famous CSI television program. Instead of enjoying the entertainment alongside her family, Ana was left alone in the rather extravagant suburban household. Her parents were attending a dinner party with the most prestige personnel from her father’s office and her younger siblings were spending the night at the family’s vineyard estate, outside Vernon Hill, with their grandparents  Nonna and Nonno.
         The family had a well-known title within the state because her father was the current Attorney General of Illinois and her grandparents continued the winery business in the United States from Italy, which produced an abundant amount of success since the official opening in the 1920’s. However, since she was left alone with the enormous house to herself, it was only probable to take time to relax in the peaceful silence with the quaint sound of a storm moving in from the east. After gathering her snacks, blankets, and a few magazines, she proceeded to watch a new episode of CSI. The new episode involved the case of investigating the deaths of multiple people in the Chicago and New York areas. The cause of these murders was unknown and was under investigation by the CSI as well as the FBI. After watching about a half hour of the newly released episode that contained the death of a man who was choked by wire in the front seat of a Cadillac, Ana drifted to sleep on the soft cushioned couch.
At about eleven thirty at night, after an hour and a half of sleeping, Ana groggily awoke to the surprise that neither of her parents had returned home, when they were suppose to arrive around ten o’clock, this was odd because they were usually very punctual. Besides her parents mysterious absence, she started to hear a faint scratching sound on the large wooden door as she passed through the foyer. This was very peculiar considering the house was tucked in the woods a fair distance and had an electronic gate guarding the entrance into the driveway. She decided to ignore the eerie disturbance and continued into the kitchen to fill a glass with cold water to refresh her senses after the deep slumber. After all, she could just be imagining the sound out of a small sense of paranoia that had drastically overcome her. She decided to venture into the family den that held the detailed fireplace and an extensive family library. After exploring the book collection she discovered an old, crinkled paperback book that looked to contain a list of detailed plans, names, and numbers. Ana, however was not able to decipher most of the writing because it was in Italian with poor penmanship. 
Then, she heard the scratching again, but this time louder and fiercer. Even though this commotion startled her, she was putting an end to the nonsense that kept her from enjoying the night in peace. She stomped towards the foyer and whipped the door open with such force the door could have been ripped off the hinges. To her surprise however, she found a golden retriever that was scruffy and drenched from the now pouring rain. She looked around to see if there were any onlookers and after realizing they were alone, proceeded to welcome the dog into the house. “Now let’s see what your name is cutie,” she said as she reached for his ID tag on what looked to be a piece of cloth as a collar. As she continually looked for a name, all she saw was the engraving reading,“If you find this cat, call this number immediately.” That was odd, she thought, this is not a feline species and that number did not even have an area code from around the Chicago area. As she questioned the appearance of this mysterious animal that appeared to her residence, she decided to call the provided number out of morality, because this very well could be a small child’s pet that was lost while the family traveled through the Windy City.
The phone rang only once and was then answered by a man who was older, perhaps in his mid fifties, and had a deep raspy voice. “Annalise Fiona Luciano, darling, I have anticipated this moment for eighteen long years,” he said as Ana took a moment to grasp the idea that this stranger, most likely from out of state, knew her name and more importantly, where she lived. He continued as she listened in shock, “Now, listen to me extremely closely my dear, they are coming for you and you do not have much time! Get into your car and drive as quickly as you can to the following address, ready to write it down?” She was hesitant to even write the address down but decided that if “they” were coming, she had no other plan. She started to speak after retrieving the address but was interrupted by whomever this mystery man was, “Not now, drive first and ask questions later. See you in a short moment darling,” and that was the end of the call, the conversation had ended and when she dialed the number again, the number became invalid.
She took her time gathering a few necessary items while pondering the event that had just happened, then the dog started barking and pulling at her pant leg. At that moment, she heard car doors slam and peered out her window hoping to find her parents and explain the absurdity that she just lived through. Unfortunately, she did not see her parents, but instead four men stepping out of their car and making their way towards her house! She swiftly grabbed her small duffle bag that she quickly packed and rushed down the back stairway toward the garage. Frantically she looked for the dog that started this entire dilemma, as she whistled, the mutt trotted from the den with the paperback book Ana was pondering over earlier. She had no time to place it back on the library shelves, so she shoved it into her bag and dashed toward the garage. Quickly, she assisted the dog into the car and then climbed into the driver’s seat. She swiftly raced past the men, who had now broken into her home, and drove the twenty minutes to the address provided.
Upon arriving, she noticed the complex was a large manor hidden behind an elaborate gate system. As she pulled up to the guard station, with one glance, they opened the gates for her to drive onward toward the mansion. After being helped out of her vehicle, she was led into the mansion and then into a security guarded office. She waited patiently on a black leather chair with the dog at her side, almost two minutes after her arrival the mysterious man on the phone appeared, escorted by two guards.
“Oh honey, you have made it! And look, you brought Fernando as well!” said a tall, tan, muscular man, with hair dark as night and enough facial hair that made him look impeccable for a man older than fifty.
“Ummm, I am not exactly sure,” she was interrupted by this still strange man.
He did however begin to explain the events that unraveled before her that evening. The mysterious man was her Uncle Sebastian, whom she has not once met in her life and seemed skeptic about this relation to her, but he was now in charge of an organization he was not able to reveal to her at the moment, he did however, explain further details of her experience. He explained that there were men who were after the important information of their family history and information her father has access to as Attorney General. After that brief explanation of the  events, Uncle Sebastian told her other gut wrenching news. The enemies of the family had uncovered the location of the summary of the family’s past actions and had to be seized before the information was released. This meant someone who was unknown to this dirty business had to complete the mission, that person was Annaliese. She was the only one that had been hidden from the cruel world of this danger, at first she declined but then began to realize, her family needed her assistance and you always help family in desperate times.
After she was changed into an entire black outfit, boots, and armed for defense, she was then transported to a building that appeared to be the abandoned Manteno State Hospital that was closed after numerous deaths of psychiatric patients. She steadily walked toward the door and was about to knock on the rusted metal entrance frame, when all of a sudden, the door opened on its own and welcomed her to the ghostly structure. Taking a few steps forward, the door slammed behind her leaving the halls mostly dark except for the light that crept through the broken windows that left shattered glass below her feet as she walked. She was not certain of where to explore but had a sense from her soul of the direction she was suppose to adhere to. After wandering the halls for almost ten minutes, she came upon a long, winding stairwell that descended to the basement of the building.
After she followed the stairwell to the understructure, she discovered there was a bright light at the end of the narrow passageway. Upon approaching the room that was illuminated, she peered through the glass window built into the door and realized there were two people lying in the middle of the floor. Ana pulled open the door and rushed over to the two immobile bodies, as she approached the unfortunate souls she realized they were murdered, but more importantly she noticed that she recognized these people, they were her parents. She fell to the cold, hard concrete floor with such a force it was like the shock had pushed her to the ground and she clutched onto the decaying bodies. For forty-five minutes she did nothing besides weep over the loss of her parents, holding them close to her chest as if her falling tears would have enough power to revive the bodies and the souls still trapped inside. Ana thought of all the moments she had created with her parents and all the moments she would not have with them, including her graduation, her wedding, and the birth of their grandchild. As she grieved over the hole that was created in her heart, she heard a voice coming from some place inside the room. It was a voice of evil, crime, and ruthlessness. She turned to adjust her vision of the figure approaching her from a dark corner of the room, but before she could even ask a question, the man, who became known as Edward Moran, grandson of deceased Irish Mafia leader, began to tell her of her deep, dark family history.
Her great grandfather was the infamous Lucky Luciano and her family had played, and still plays, a major role in the Italian Mafia. Until recently all was at peace, and the mafias would continue their regular organized crime without interference from any rivals or the government, that all changed after Ana’s father became the Attorney General. He pledged to end the corruption of the Irish Mafia, but the one thing he forgot to mention was that ending the Irish Mafia, would create more success for his own party, the Italian Mafia. Ana was overwhelmed with the news she had just been informed of and was infuriated by the action taken by Edward, she then proceeded to stand from the corpses she was mourning next to, and reached into her back pocket.
“Well, then I believe you may want this,” she flashed the paperback of the family mafia records at the villainous human,
“That is precisely what I was after, and with that book, I will be able to put your family behind the rustiest of bars,” Edward scowled at Ana.
Just as he was about to snatch the book from Ana’s grip, when she pulled a revolver from her hip belt and shot Edward in the foot and again in the thigh. After he was unable to move she tied him to a pole in the middle of the room with the silk scarf her mother had worn around her neck before she became lifeless. Ana then proceed to dial her uncle’s number to assist her with the dirty buisness she had become involved in.
Her uncle and his entourage had arrived in less than fifteen minutes and began conducting the proper removal of the deceased family members. The drive to the manor was silent and uncomfortable, it was the type of silence that you could reach out and touch, but not one person dare say a word in front of the new member who had already lost more than one hopes to gamble. As they pulled under the entranceway, Sebastian withheld Ana from leaving the car and spoke to her in a stern but calm voice,
“Analise, I too understand the pain this profession can bring, but at the end of the day, you must remember that our ancestors began this organization and it is our job to carry it onward, do you understand?” she nodded faintly but understood her position and role in the family business. “I realize it may be a hard decision for you to make at the moment, but-” he was stopped by the sharpness Ana answered with, “No, I belong right next to all my other family members, after all blood runs thicker than water.”