Chapter 3 Forged in hell

The drive to the remote house was long and silent.

Emily sat in the passenger seat of Victor Romano's sleek black car, staring out at the endless stretch of road. The city lights had long since disappeared, replaced by dark, towering trees that lined the winding path.

She hadn't asked where they were going.

She already knew.

She had made a deal with the devil himself. Now, it was time to become one.

Victor had made it clear that if she was going to infiltrate the Moretti Crime Family, she needed to be more than just a woman with a vendetta. She had to become one of them.

"Where are we?" she asked finally, breaking the silence as they pulled into a secluded property.

The house wasn't a mansion. It was isolated, reinforced, and meant for one thing training.

Victor parked and turned to her. "This is where you'll learn how to survive."

Emily exhaled slowly, gripping the door handle. There was no turning back now.

Inside, the house was spacious but cold, all business, no comfort. The furniture was minimal, the walls bare except for a massive map of the city marked with locations Emily didn't recognize.

She barely had time to take it all in before Victor tossed a file onto the table.

"Before you learn how to fight, you need to understand who you're dealing with."

Emily hesitated before picking up the file. The Moretti Family.

A Brief History of the Moretti Crime Family was boldly written on the cover.

The Morettis weren't just a mafia family they were a dynasty.

Founded in the 1940s by Alessandro Moretti, the family quickly rose to power in New York's underworld. At first, they were known for their control over illegal gambling rings and smuggling operations. But as the years passed, their influence expanded arms dealing, money laundering, extortion, assassinations.

By the time Don Carlo Moretti took over, they weren't just one of the most powerful families in the country they had global connections.

But power came at a cost.

Under Don Carlo's rule, the Morettis became more ruthless than ever. Betrayal was met with death. Loyalty was bought in blood.

And then, ten years ago, Lucas Moretti, her brother, had discovered something that threatened the entire foundation of the Moretti empire.

So they killed him.

Emily's grip tightened on the file.

Victor's voice pulled her back. "The Morettis are dangerous because they know how to survive. They adapt. They eliminate threats before those threats know they exist." He met her gaze. "If you want to bring them down, you have to become something they won't see coming."

Emily exhaled slowly. "And that means training."

Victor nodded. "Starting now."

For the next several weeks, Emily's life became a brutal routine of pain, exhaustion, and survival.

Victor brought in the best mercenaries, ex-assassins, former operatives each one an expert in something deadly.

Her first instructor was Dante, a former hitman who specialized in combat training.

Their first session ended with Evelyn flat on her back, her ribs aching, blood trickling from her lip.

"You're too slow," Dante said, standing over her. "You hesitate."

Emily wiped the blood away and stood back up. "Again."

She learned how to fight dirty, how to break bones, how to take a hit and keep moving, how to use her size and speed against men twice her weight.

Then came weapons training.

Victor himself taught her how to shoot. He was patient, methodical, ruthless.

"The first time you kill someone," he told her, handing her a loaded gun, "you hesitate. It's human nature." He met her eyes. "But the second you pull that trigger, you're no longer human."

Emily didn't hesitate. She fired.

The bullet hit the target's center mass, right where she had aimed.

Victor smirked. "You learn fast."

She learned how to use knives, how to kill quietly, how to make a body disappear.

But the hardest training was the psychological.

Victor pushed her to the edge, forcing her to strip away her emotions, to think like a Moretti.

"Loyalty doesn't exist in this world, Emily" he told her one night, after a particularly brutal session. "Everyone has a price."

Emily shook her head. "That's not true."

Victor studied her. "Then tell me, Emily how much did it cost for Don Carlo to kill your brother?"

She didn't answer.

Because she already knew.

Lucas had died because he believed in loyalty. And in the end, his family had put a price on his life.

She wouldn't make the same mistake.

Becoming Moretti

As the days blurred into weeks, Emily became something else.

The bruises healed. The pain became routine. She stopped hesitating.

She fought harder. Shot faster.

She learned how to lie without blinking.

By the time Victor deemed her ready, she wasn't just Emily Moretti anymore.

She was something deadlier.

And she was ready to go back to the family that had betrayed her