Chapter 1

                                    

                                          
I grew up in a manor. One surrounded by high bars that would send an electric shock to whoever tried to climb them. As a child, I asked my cousin Jason why this was.  He told me that it was to keep all the bad people from getting in. Now, as an adult, I realise it was actually to keep us children from getting out. 
Let me explain: I was no ordinary child and my family weren't in the slightest bit ordinary themselves. Growing up, I was taught the necessary skills that my family use to run their billion dollar business — thievery. The Ashton's have been known crooks since the dawn of time. I'm sure the family business started out small. My distant grandfather probably stole a loaf of bread or something. Then somehow, it  eventually grew to stealing things with a little more value — like paintings and jewels. 
None of us chose this line of work. This life was chosen for us. All the Ashtons grow up learning the same set of skills. Eventually, your unique interest and strongest skill will begin to reveal itself. That's when the family will assign you to a role that you will work until you either die or retire. No one ever leaves. 
What was my area? Forgeries. I stayed in a back room and painted a variety of different pieces. They also use to get me to examine other pieces to see if they were genuine or fakes. 
Who ran my family business, you may be wondering? My grandparents  first born — my uncle Nate. When he took over the business from his parents, he put together a list of rules for everyone to follow after witnessing the chaos of his siblings.
If someone were to tell me ten years ago that I, Taylorina Ashton would be the one to break every single rule in the book, I would have broken every bone in their body and they'll be forced to spend the rest of their lives eating food through a tube, praying for the sweet release of death. 
Ten years ago, I wouldn't have believed you but it was me who betrayed my family and left. 
It all started in 2007, I was eighteen years old, living in my family's manor and I knew my father was in trouble. I was never close to my father, he was always either in prison or out of the country. I was raised by his eight siblings, who pushed me harder then anyone else. 
The Ashton's rarely ever got into any trouble with the law, seeing as we never got caught. However, when one of us did get into trouble, it was safe to assume it was Daniel — My father. He wasn't sloppy, he was arrogant.
I know that it was hard for my uncle to accept, no matter how many people told him that he didn't fail my father. Maybe that's why Uncle Nate has spent the most time on me. The truth was, he had always had a soft spot for me since my mother was killed. She was flying her Jet when it was hijacked by fellow crime family, the Larrunzarios. Long story short, it blew up into a million pieces. Most of the plane disintegrated along with the body. I never thought about it too much, not until my father got mixed up with the Larrunzario's. 
I stood in front of the dirt strained drain pipe. It was three in the morning and everyone thought that I was asleep. I climbed up the pipe which lead straight to the hallway on the third floor. I was fast and silent, just like I was trained to be. The window was already opened which meant all I had to do was crawl through. Once I had, I took small steps down the pitch black hallway slowly. I made it as far as my bedroom door before I heard a familiar voice from down the hall. I placed my hand onto my golden doorknob just as the hallway lights turned on.
"Taylorina" I heard the voice greet.
I turned my head immediately and caught his glare. My uncle Nate stood with his metal cane. His greying hair combed perfectly back and his dull eyes unreadable. 
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" I question, releasing my hand the doorknob.
"Where did you come from?" He asked, but I don't respond. "Taylorina!" He limps towards me. 
I see his struggle, even though he has always insisted that he's no longer in any pain. The truth was, when my uncle got caught up in a heist gone wrong the day the twin towers fell, he never fully recovered. The only reason he lived was because he military crawled two miles away from the towers before passing out at the back of an abandoned car. 
"The Larrunzarios" I sighed, remembering the house that I had broken into hours earlier and the man I had met between those forbidden walls.
This is the day that I became disobedient, the day that I broke into the Larrunzarios and met Gabriello who would go on to change the course of my entire life.
"How many times do we have to tell you not to go there," Uncle Nate clenched his jaw, taking a few more steps towards me, "huh?"
"I wouldn't have gone if you had just told me the truth" I raised my voice. 
"The truth is none of your concern" he said. "....So what did you find?"
"Nothing" I lied. 
Uncle Nate could always tell when someone was lying to him. I'm not sure why I continued to do so when I knew very well that he was a human lie detector. 
"Tell me what you found." He firmed his gaze. 
It was not a question but merely a demand. That was the look that no one ever wanted to receive from my uncle Nate. In that moment, I saw my own ignorance. This situation was much more serious then I had thought. I remember wondering what exactly my father had gotten himself into. 
I rolled my eyes, pulling a small piece of paper from my back pocket and handing it to him. I have a photographic memory so taking it from me accomplished nothing and I think my uncle Nate knew that. Was it his way of asserting dominance? Feeling as though he had the situation controlled? 
"You know I have it memorized! Taking it from me will-" I cried. 
"Go to bed," he interrupted my rant, "Now!"
"I will find my father and get to the bottom of this," I assured.
I then enter my bedroom In anguish before walking over to the window and push open the drapes. I looked around the room to see my pregnant cousin Vanessa sleeping in her bed. Her husband John has been away on assignment for months and so has been sharing a room with me for the time being.
I grabbed a tube of sleeping pills from my pillowcase and slowly twisted off the cap. I took three pills and swallowed hard as sipping water from my drink bottle. I hid the tube back into my pillowcase. When I laid in bed, I looked up at the ceiling and began to think. I thought about my father who was on the run and I thought about Gabriello Larrunzario, the eighteen-year-old I had just met when I broke into his family's home that night. He could have killed me or called one of his crazed relatives but he didn't, he let me go. 
Why did he let me go?
I wondered what consequences my actions may have tomorrow. If uncle Nate were to tell the rest of the family, I'd never hear the end of it. My dad is one of eight kids. We all lived under one roof but never at the same time unless it was Christmas or a family emergency. I wondered if this situation with my father would progress into a family emergency, I shook off the thought, laughed at it. It was impossible. I couldn't help but think that my family were simultaneously both a blessing and a curse.