About: Nene’s story is the portrayal of a powerful mafia family in which she experiences the perfect balance of shocking violence, dangerous betrayals and painful heartbreak.

It’s hard to tell these days whether one woman is just a stay-at-home wife or a frequent drug dealer for a mafia gang. However, over time this has changed due to the increase of crime committed by females and women being promoted into high ranks, and the reason WHY they do it is mostly to escape their violent husbands and provide a more stable future for their kids.

For nene, it was different.
She had no choice.

When her father died from an assassination attack carried out by a rival enemy boss, she vowed to protect her family from that day onward.

Nene had experienced a terrible childhood.

By the time she was 14, she knew all the gun training skills and how to shoot.

One of the most traumatic experiences she’s had to witness was one day when she was sitting with her uncle at a café, everything going seemingly fine, until a bullet went through the café glass window and landed in his skull.

When the glass shattered, it reminded nene of how her life was like. Broken glass pieces that used to be made whole.

Not long after the incident, the hitter responsible for her uncle’s death was murdered while in custody. Somebody stabbed him in the prison yard during lunch.

When the news was spread around about his death, nobody seemed to be surprised or even PRETEND to be. Nobody liked the guy and he wronged a lot of people. Served the prick right. No one ever identified the shooter though. He was masked up, never to be seen again.

At first, nene thought it must have been one of her uncle’s old friends that planned the execution. Though that was very unlikely as almost all his friends had moved on from the life of crime already, or joined up another crew.

So… that’s ONE of the things nene experienced. Violence among the mafia was escalating each day. She would come home to her siblings’ miserable faces. They would ask her “where did you go?” She would say “out and about”. But they already knew. Everyone knew. At the young and beautiful age of 20 she left home once her siblings were all grown up. They were all adults now and lived their own lives. Nene’s brother had a family now and she would often go see her nephew.

20 was also the age where she trained herself to work in the mafia. By the time she was 25, she had worked with all sorts of weapons already. Rifles, machine guns, handguns… you name it. One time she had to make a delivery, and all she could remember from that day was that packing all the weapons in the trunk felt like packing all her clothes for a holiday. It was crazy to think how far she had come from being too young to understand the dangers of the mafia.

But now, she had no fear of the world. OC’s felt like… rollercoaster rides.

Fast forward to now where she’s 30, the war between the rival families in New York was getting worse. Just last week, reports of various hit squads were popping up. During that year, she had also experienced another death in the family. Shot dead from a balcony.

Could nene catch a break? Probably not.

Times were hard now.

All she knew was violence. She LIVED for it. Born into it. Nene had learnt that it was the thing that made her who she was. It revived her.

Nene had been birthed at home, at the comfort of her parents’ kitchen table. She had come out of the womb in a stubborn manner as if to deny her existence in the world. The home birth also happened on the same table where Nene’s grandmother gave birth to ten kids. Nene’s mum didn’t have any complications during the delivery, thank goodness. It went smoothly. Nonna wasn’t used to that.

“Push harder! More!” She was helping with the pregnancy, though Nene’s mum wasn’t sure she was doing anything more than just yelling at her. While her mum was making so much fuss, Nene’s mother was dumbstruck. She was in her own little world. Her head was spinning. Sweat was dripping from her face like slime. The pregnancy took a little over thirteen hours.

“Come on Sandy, just push!”

Nene’s mum was named Sandy. And Sandy had enough of her mom’s yelling. Dad was all over the place with his head in his hands. Stressed. Everyone was riled up and panicking. One hell of a night. Everyone was trying to stay awake, but the effect of the coffee had already worn off.

But finally, Nene gave in. She was a healthy baby, full of life. Nonna went off to eat and acted unfazed all of a sudden by the past events. When Nene was out of the womb, she was immediately covered in a blanket in order to preserve the warmth. The blanket was gifted by one of her dad’s associates. Not surprising, seeing as though she literally was born into the mob life.

Yes. Nene was the product of a powerful mafia couple.

All those times where Nene’s mum didn’t have enough milk, she would get fed by her Nonna. Nene adored her. As time went on, the blanket that was given to her at birth became her favourite thing.

Nene liked to think that her life was like being a princess. Except there was no glass slipper. And no prince. And DEFINITELY no happy ending.

As nene grew up, she was introduced to the business of drugs and guns. Business was really booming at the time of her birth. When her parents were out busy, she would be cared for by her Nonna. Later on she discovered that her Nonna had once been marked as the most dangerous woman in New York.

When Nene went to school, which was for a very short time before she got pulled away to start home schooling, she would tell her classmates about the things she would witness in the mafia. One of her friends asked, “why don’t you leave?”

She thought about this very hard. “Leave? It’s the only thing I know.” Nene felt sad and ashamed to think it, but it was the truth. She had learnt of the power of violence. When to say and what to say. She would often rant to her friends about how gender biased the mafia was, too.

Then females started to take charge. There was a whole movement for it and nene was grateful that it happened. It’s how she got started. She witnessed how women could be both just a stay at home wife and involved in mafia at the same time.

PRESENT: 

The silver white cross necklace dangling from the rear-view mirror rocked back and forth as Nene hummed to a tune. The car in front of her was driving way too slow and she stepped on the gas pedal, embracing the power of her speed, leaving the slow driver behind like roadkill. “Yeah that’s right motherfucker!” Nene said to herself before she laughed. She thought of going even faster, but when she started to hear sirens in the background, she started panicking.

The sirens were getting even louder, like the annoying sound of sharp nails scratching against a blackboard. It gets even LOUDER- and in case Nene was deaf there were red dome lights on the car.

Fuck sake. Not again. She figured pulling over would be a wise idea than getting chased by them and getting in more trouble. When she parked her vehicle to the side, the cop strutted to her window. Nene didn’t look his way and kept her eyes focused on the road ahead of her.

“30km above the speed limit.”

“Oh wow, really?” Nene said, deadpan. Silence filled the space between her and the cop. Please leave me alone. Please leave me alone.

“Gonna need to see your license,” he said after three thousand years. And when Nene heard his question, she gulped. Fuck sake. It’s gonna be an issue. Nene knew she was in deep shit the moment she handed him her license. In fact, it wasn’t a real one. Okay, well. It WAS real. It just wasn’t hers.

“So… this isn’t your license and this isn’t your car,” the cop concluded. “And to top it all off, you were speeding.”

“You. Get out of the car,” he continued to say.

Nene flicked her middle finger at him. “Fuck. Off.” She hissed. This cop really thought he had her wrapped around his finger. Ha. Not today. “The fuck is wrong with you?” He asked.

“You.”

Nene and the cop went into a mini staring competition, thought it felt like it lasted hours. “Get out,” he said again before he started making silly gestures as if she didn’t speak English. Nene snorted, then handed him her ‘business’ card. “Sorry. Um, can you let me go now? I have somewhere to be. Charge me now. You can contact the place I work at later.”

He started to assess the card, then glances back at her in a surprised manner when he recognized the name of the organization. “Arachnida? Isn’t that-“ He stuttered. “Yes, it is. Watch your step,” those were her last words to him as she drove off in a hurry.

It was the day after the speeding incident that Nene first got suspicions about the dangers lurking around her. She wasn’t exactly surprised though. She was the family assassin and debt collector for Arachnida working under crime boss Skorpeon. Her suspicions were further confirmed when she was sitting in a steak restaurant beside two other wise guys from another family. She felt fine. There were no threats or anything out of the ordinary presented to her. But she did get a strange feeling in her stomach when they started talking about murder over dinner. Her appetite was gone. It was like a punch in the face. It made her think about her parents’ death and how much she wanted to avenge them.

Nene did have that in common with them though. The wise guys had experienced deaths in their family as well and wanted to avenge them. They would tell her about their efforts to find the true killers whether that was by contacting close contacts or even travelling to meet them in real life. They believed to be on their way to being the head of a family. Nene just sat looking unconvinced, peacefully eating her steak. Anyways, their names were Cole and Shane. They had no concern for people who didn’t mean anything to them. Yeah, brutal. Nene was used to it. As they continued to eat together, Cole clearly looked full. He patted his stomach and pushed his chair a little from the table. His beer belly was popping out of his shirt, the buttons threatening to rip. Then wiped a napkin on his mouth to erase the excess tomato sauce before shoving his finger between his gums to get out the small bits of meat.

“Time flies. It’s like only yesterday that one of my uncles was a part of a war between our family and the Sicilian mafia,” his tone was soft and nostalgic. His eyes danced around him just in case anyone was listening in on their conversation. “Couple of guys and me was told to go after them,” he said with a twinkle of joy in his eyes. “They owned this huge property in Sicily. There was some fuck ups at the start, but eventually we broke in and shot and killed every last one of their family, even the gattina laying on the couch.

For a quick moment there Nene thought he was bullshitting her. Then she looked up from her steak and looked at him with his shaggy hair and uncut beard. The deep eyebags under his eyes showed how tired he was with a hint of melancholy was something she had gotten used to over the years. Nene was used to bedtime stories about the mob when she was just a kid. This was NO tale though. The mindset she really had now was ‘kill or be killed.’ Cole told his story without any hint of feeling in his voice. As expected. Looked like he got off on it too.

He started explaining to Nene a little about his backstory with the mafia. But there was a sinister look on his face that she couldn’t ignore. He wanted something from her. She could sense it. Now the question was, is it a big or small favour? Something bothered her though and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Didn’t know why though. Nene was used to the bloody murder. As Cole and Shane’s close (girl)friend, she would do anything for them. But Nene had this ability to sense when something was about to go wrong. The alarm In her brain was ringing like crazy as if it was sending emergency signals. Before the night ended, Nene received the whole scoop. Basically, they wanted her to help them out on a murder plot. That was fine, Nene thought to herself. But THEN he told her who the target was. She raised a brow. “You’re talking about Dezzo Paculini? The Sicilian mob boss that moved here just a few months ago to open up more businesses?”

“Yes, nene. This job is for you, and it is going to be your priority now.”

She stared at her spaghetti, toying her fork in it. “You like it?”

“What, the spaghetti?” She looked up and titled her head.

“No, puta! The job we just told you about.”

She widened her eyes and laughed hysterically. “Oh!! Right, right. Yeah all good.” Nene had gotten jobs from them before, but he never labelled them as ‘priority’. This one must be very important.

As a mafia assassin, Nene had been through it all. Almost getting bombed to death, beaten, stabbed, chased after. She was rebellious. So, naturally she asked, “what’s the job this time? She crossed her arms looking curious. “And how much money do I get out of this?” They looked at her and nodded. That question was expected from Nene. She was an expensive assassin. “Five hundred thousand, all expenses are paid for. Everything is arranged already for you,” he answered in a precise manner. “Yeah, okay. But WHAT do I have to do?”

They make their answer straight to the point. No one was eating their steak anymore. It was all eyes on the prize. “Kill Paculini. That’s it,” he said. “We’ve got the location on this guy already. Your personal driver is already arranged. We’ve got your back, all you gotta do is -bang bang- and it’ll all be over. Then after that we’ll give you the money after the pig is dead.” The ‘pig’ he referred to, Dezzo Paculini, owned a big estate in New York that was heavily guarded 24/7, but Shane and Cole already said they had a plan. “Why can’t you use one of your guys for the job? Why me?” It was true anyway. Nene knew they had a lot of connections. That’s how they rose to the top. Then they looked at her like she was an idiot. “No… no. This is a secret between you and us. Nobody else can know about this job. We’re counting on you, Nene.”

Nene was a skilled assassin, but she was also an outsider. She didn’t really ‘belong’ to anyone even though she was working for Skorpeon. She had her own rules, too. “If I go over to his area, I’ll be spotted instantly. It’s obvious I’m not working for Paculini. Plus I’m a girl. Heard they’re harsh misogynists over there. That’s just great.” She had the ability to do the job no doubt, but the chance of survival was tiny. It was hundreds of guards against her. Then they started trying to comfort her by saying they had it all sorted. “It doesn’t work like that. Not everything goes your way, and trust me I learnt that the hard way,” she muttered as she looked out into the distance. They were trying to get her attention again, going on about the importance of keeping the job secret. Nene couldn’t get any help either. All on her own. Not like she wasn’t used to that, though.

For some reason though, that strange feeling in her stomach came back again. She had a voice in her head warning her that she’s not supposed to come out of this job alive. It’s as if Cole and Shane had set her up, wanting her to be taken out because she knew too much about their personal affairs.

Pfft.

Was Nene just being delusional?

She still wasn’t 100% sure on the job. As she twirled a strand of hair near her ear, she stared deep into Shane and Cole’s eyes like she could see whatever they were hiding from her behind those big eyes. After a long silence, she shrugged. “I’ll let you know either by tonight or the end of the week.”

“Alright Nene,” Shane gave a nod. “Think over it. And remember, five thousand.” Nene nodded. The more she thought about it the more she went over her conspiracy. What if… she accepted the job, and then when she goes to Paculini’s estate, she discovers that it’s all a set up for her to be killed on some back road or something. Or leave her beside Paculini’s body. Not exactly the way she’d like to go. Her guts were telling her something else, but the five hundred thousand was tempting indeed. As she thought about her past jobs, this one might just be the highest payout. She felt excited for a moment, but she still had to think wisely about this.

Few days later, Nene ended up learning that this Paculini murder plot was all part of a mafia leadership struggle in New York that had started from the early days of the mob. Cole’s brother in law was murdered over a power struggle, involving multiple mob bosses. Apparently Cole’s brother in law was able to make orders to people like Nene and beat up store owners to collect debt. He was pretty much… the muscle guy. Real brutal. The current power struggle in New York was crazy though that even some parts of the corporate world were bowing down to their feet. Actually, Nene remembered this one time where a new hotel just opened in New York. In less than a week of its official opening, it was bombed. New York mafia syndicates weren’t fond of outsiders taking up space in their area. The hotels that are still up are staying there only because they were built and funded by the mafia themselves. This was to ensure that the mafia had multiple income streams and not just grabbing the funds from drug deals and trafficking.

Nene had come to know over the years that the mafia didn’t like the concept of change. They are dedicated to the old money making ways. Nene already allowed herself enough time to think the job through, but when she met up with them to discuss further details, they had told her of the news.

“He’s dead.”

Apparently he died of a heart complication. Nene felt real stupid to stress over the job. As she sat across from Cole and Shane, she decided to think about cutting off her association with them, which was going to be a problem because she knew too much already. She wasn’t easily scared, but now she felt uneasy with them. Sure, the three had a long lasting friendship, but over time that seemed to change when they moved up in the ranks. There seemed to be only one way their friendship would end.

Either she would be killed by them on a set up, or she would kill them with her own two hands.