Chapter 1 PROLOGUE

"Where are you going, Mom?" a young Roxy asked, with tears in her eyes. "That bad man killed Dad. Will he kill us, too?"

Melissa cleaned the tears away from her daughter's face. "You'll be fine, honey. Just stay in here and I'll come to get you. Don't come out until I come to get you. Do you understand, Roxy?" She asked, her tears flowing freely.

Roxy nodded. "Yes. I promise to stay here. I won't even make a sound. Just come back safely. Do you promise?"

Melinda chuckled. "Of course, cupcake. I'll come back to you. I'll always come back for you."

She gave her daughter one last smile before closing the trapdoor and setting the carpet over it. Even as she left, she knew she wouldn't be able to fulfill the promise she made to her daughter, but she hoped her daughter would be safe.

Slipping into her husband's study, she scribbled down furiously on a piece of paper. She had just tucked it inside the drawer when the door flew open.

"I've come for you, Mel. It's time to say bye to every single thing you love," the man said with a cruel smirk.

"I hate you," Melissa spat with hatred in her eyes.

"Love you, sugar," the man said before pulling the trigger.

**********

"Mommy, where are you? Mommy!" Roxy called out as she walked down the corridor in search of her mother.

She came to a halt when she saw the door to her father's study slightly ajar. Roxy pushed it open, only to find a pool of blood on the pristine floor with no sight of her mother.

She walked closer to the blood and found her mother's necklace in the middle of it. Picking it up, she let out a scream as tears ran down her face. They had killed her mother, just like her father. She had no one. Sitting in a corner, she rocked herself as she continued to stare at the blood. She made a promise to herself as she tightened her hand around the necklace.

She would make the people pay for taking her parents away even though it was the last thing she accomplished.

She barely noticed that the time flew by. She didn't even have any awareness of her surroundings or hear feet pounding on the floorboards until the door to her father's study was yanked open.

"Shit. She's in here. I found her."

A man crouched down in front of her.

"Are you okay, honey? I'm your Uncle Rocco. What happened to you?"

"They killed them," she said as fresh tears flowed down her face.

"Shh. I'll take care of you. No harm will come to you ever again. You'll have a new family," the man said, patting her head.

"Everything will be fine from now on. You'll be safe and cared for."

"Why did they kill my parents, Uncle? They were friendly people."

Rocco cleaned her tears. "I don't know, sweetheart. I just know you'll be fine now. I'll take care of you." He lifted her into his arms.

"There's one thing I want you to know. Your parents were wonderful people, and they loved you until their dying breath."

"I'll make them pay," she said before exhaustion claimed her, and she fell unconscious.