Live For It

|9|

"Do you have anything to eat?" Zhara whispered to her friend sitting near her. Flynn held back wanting to slap his forehead in disbelief as he turned to face her. The room was silent, so everyone heard what she had requested. 

"No, now be quiet," he replied, tapping her hand again like he did before. Xavier and Liam were biting back laughs as Zion sat up straighter in his seat at the head of the table. 

Of course he would place himself there, she thought. 

"Since you will be working with most of the people here, we decided it would be best if you met them beforehand," Zion gritted out, trying to be as civil as possible. He was slightly relieved she didn't look like her father, because if she did, he would have an even harder time trying not to slit her throat. 

"I've already met a few," she smirks, looking over at the man who stabbed her and then dragged her away like a rag doll. Her glare was burning into Xavier's head, and he was honestly trying not to look like an idiot as he tore his gaze away from her. 

"Ren Coste," Zion points to the man seated across from Xavier, a typical Italian-looking man. Except for the glasses that somehow made him look more superior. The man nodded at Zhara, and she liked his mutual respect. 

We shouldn't have a problem, she humored herself. 

"Isaiah Bianco," Zion points to the man sitting next to Ren, and Zhara immediately recognized the name. Number two in topped rank assassins, just below her rank. 

She gleamed sourly at the tan, brown-haired man, knowing he wasn't only Italian...maybe Hispanic due to the first name...Middle Eastern, maybe, she assumed. 

Her lips quirked into an evil closed-lipped grin, watching the man's bright eyes darken when she was teasing him with her own. 

"Inan Riccardo, Xavier Kahandi, and Liam Russo," Zion adds to the already existing members she knew about, except for the name of the guy at the bar. She held back a frown as she labeled him as Inan, the name fitting him well. 

"Liam," Zion says, nodding towards him as Zhara stares in interest. Liam pulls out a file and places it on the table. 

"Prepare yourself," he mumbles to Zhara before sliding the file over to her. She raises an eyebrow and opens the file, not caught off guard at all unlike they had predicted. 

They thought she would react the same way most react to pictures like those, vomiting, passing out, sickness of some sort, but she showed no difference as she stared at the picture. 

The picture of a mutilated body that almost resembled one like her own. There cuts and bruises that made the body slightly unrecognizable. 

She did react in a certain way, though, and it slightly frightened everyone at the table as a grin spread on her face. 

She picked up the printed picture and held it to the light, trying to get a better look at the bloodied mess. She looked back down at the file and saw the picture that almost made her jump out of her seat in joy. 

It was a very interesting picture of her father passed out in an alleyway. He was practically beat to a pulp, and Zhara almost kissed the photo. 

"Can I get this framed?" she asks, holding up the picture of her parent, causing Ren to stifle a laugh. She winked at him before placing the photos to the side and picking up the paper that was under the pictures. 

Zhara Beltran Gwendolyn Di Maggio

Oh, that's just fantastic, Zhara groaned inwardly at her full name.