A woman of dark hair and dark eyes and an even darker demeanor sits at a bar, looking wistfully into her glass of whiskey. Taking a long swig, she finishes off the glass and motions at the bartender.

"Check, please."

She pulls out her wallet from her coat pocket and slaps down the money and a generous holiday tip, and stands up to leave.

"Excuse me, I think you forgot something."

The bartender hands the woman a frayed, old picture. She must've accidentally pulled it out along with the money. The picture showed two young girls, one of which was obviously an adolescent version of the dark woman, only in the picture she was grinning ear to ear and had a happy abandon in her disposition. The other girl in the picture was similarly looking except for green eyes and had a much quieter bearing.

"Your sister?"

The woman smiled bitterly.

"She was."

- Flashback-

"Layla?" The green eyed girl tiredly rubbed her eyes. Layla was crouching at the bottom of the stairs, the top of her head poked over the edge. She turned to look at her sister and held a finger to her lips.

"Shh! You have to be quiet!"

Layla signaled her sister to tiptoe down. It was far past their bedtime, and they were eavesdropping on their parents. A few of their aunts and uncles were gathered around in the living room. This wasn't unusual, except Layla has never seen their relatives from both of their parents' sides together. It was mostly because Layla's mother was Italian, and father was Chinese- there was a definite divide between the two sides. Even at the age of twelve, Layla understood what racism and prejudice was. And for both sides of the family to be here tonight, something big was happening.

"The Triad wasn't pleased with your marriage, but now that the Mafia and Triad are... on different sides, something needs to be done about your situation."

Layla and Lieselotte, her green-eyed little sister, had known all their life that their parents were in the Triad and Mafia. It wasn't ever explicitly said in front of their faces, but even in their pubescence, it would take a dumbass not to figure it out.

"What can we do? We're just a family in the midst of a war; we shouldn't be punished for being a victim of circumstance," Layla's mother said bitterly.

"I don't think you understand. The dons... got together for a meeting," one of Layla's uncle said.

"What?" The expression on Layla's mother was evidently incredulous. The Triad and Mafia dons? Not just in the same room, but a meeting?

"Well, the consigliere and... whatever the equivalent of that is in the Triad," obviously an Italian uncle said off-handedly, "represented the dons."

"The vanguard," one of the Triad uncles elaborated with a dirty glance to the Mafia side of the room, "and the consigliere. I digress. Concerning this financial situation disagreement our sides seem to be having, we have come to decide that no more bloodshed should be wasted in the name of our petty disputes. After all, what do we really gain from fighting?"

Layla's mother nodded in agreement. "Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that our sides are finally at peace... but what does it have to do with us? I am but dead don's daughter, God bless his soul, and my husband's only an enforcer in the Triad."

One of Layla's Mafioso uncles smiled slowly. "Well. You should thank God for going through with this once tainted marriage between the Triad and Mafia. At first, we were all against it due to obvious reasons, but because you two weren't of much rank importance, we decided that we shouldn't dictate who you should or shouldn't marry since it wouldn't be of much consequence. However, the consigliere and vanguard have proposed a symbolic gesture to your family. The casino in which we were originally both vying for will be put into your family's hands. And that means, of course, that both you," he gestured at Layla's father, "will be promoted to a much higher rank the Triad. And, I'm sure you'll give the Triad and Mafia equally generous tributes."

Layla's parents blinked slowly, and then they both broke out into large smiles. They were evidently very happy and trying to keep their excitement under wraps.

"Oh yes, of course. Of course," Layla's father said with a newly charged energy.

"And we know that you don't have a son but two daughters," a Triad uncle added. "However, we all love Layla and Lieselotte as we do all our sworn brothers' children. And I'm sure your legacy should be carried on regardless of your situation. So in addition to the symbolic gesture of the casino, we'd like you both to know very well that our family will always have a place for those two. Despite their genders, they are both very smart."

"They have their grandfather's cunning," a Mafioso uncle said. "Be sure to train them well to do your names justice."

The next few weeks, Layla and Lieselotte had moved into a better part of the neighborhood and have been enrolled into a private school. Within the next few years, the sisters knew how to wield guns pretty efficiently due to regular hunting trips with their father, knew all of their relatives, blood-related or not, by name and position, and all their associates from conversation. They were known as the sisters, backed by both the Triad and Mafia.

It was a given, by when they were fully adults, that Layla and Lieselotte were going to be swear their lives to organized crime.

-