Chapter 1-
Boom.
The sound of the bullet hitting its target caused the loud noise that most people would run and hide from. But I didn’t. This was the sound that filled my ears since I had learned to crawl; it was practically the soundtrack to my life. I shot the small gun again and after another deafening noise, I looked to see where it had landed. Bull’s-eye.
I put down my weapon and wiggled my fingers. They were sore from shooting for nearly an hour, only taking breaks to reload. Dad would be proud of my results, hitting the inner rings of the target nearly every time. Not that I told him about my achievements in fighting anymore; he wouldn’t have the time to listen. Not that I cared. I knew I was doing well, better than the other kids training. They were basically my brothers, but I have to admit I kicked their asses in just about anything that had to do with business.
But, business for us isn’t like a job for other people. My occupation is merciless- killing people to get what we need or to prove a point. It is a family game, as my mother calls it. My father, Vincent Donovan, started a gang when he was fourteen. It was with two of his friends, Tony Ramirez and Marco D’Angelo. They quickly grew in numbers and by the time they were eighteen, they were so large that even the cops feared them. However, unlike most gangs, they did not die out or even replace their leaders.
To this day Vincent is still the leader of the fear-inspiring gang, the Donovans. He believes that crime truly is a family business, and he wants to pass on the entire organization to his only child, Dakota. Of course, he expects them to be the most talented in training, the most ruthless in battle and the most efficient on assignments. Luckily for him, she is a complete badass and practically already leads the youth section of the gang. You guessed it, I am Dakota Donovan.
When the Donovans were at an all-time high back in the late 1980’s and my dad was twenty, he and his boys went out to sell some drugs for extra cash. They arranged to meet with their clients at a strip club downtown. When my dad walked in, he saw my mom and couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was only sixteen at the time and was working there illegally. My dad offered to pay her for a night, and she politely refused. By politely, I mean she poured her drink on him. He ended up seeing her again a few nights later and asked her to go out, and she agreed. After three and a half months of dating, they got married and have run the company together ever since.
I came along a few years later and essentially started my training before I learned to walk. As the future leader of one of the most recognizable gangs in Chicago, I had to be the best at everything. My competitive attitude made that easy. That’s all that my dad’s worried about. My mother, on the other hand, wants me to focus on boys and make sure I find a guy who will help me run the gang well. I could have just about any guy from the gang that I wanted; they all wanted a chance to be the next leader. None of them seemed to care that then they would have to spend more time with my annoying ass self; and I could be a real bitch when I wanted to.
I grabbed my iPod and plugged in my earbuds. I blared Spacebound by Eninem and put my all-time favorite artist on loop. I took off jogging and started to make my way around the neighborhood. It wasn’t a good area to run in, but I could handle myself fine. I was used to gang battles and shootouts and could spot trouble faster than I could knock someone out, which was pretty damn fast. Luckily, nothing out of the ordinary happened and I was back at the headquarters in no time.
“Koda!” I heard a voice scream behind me. I turned around to see Max Ramirez, the son of Tony Ramirez and one of his six ex-wives, and my best friend, running towards me, followed by Rob D’Angelo, my other closest companion.
I had known these two fools since I was little and we’ve basically been the three musketeers ever since. Our friendship came naturally, considering the fact that they were the only guys around my age in the whole organization that weren’t worried about making a good impression so that they could one day run the gang with me. Honestly, if it was up to me, I would never get married. The whole idea seemed stupid and almost everyone got divorced anyways. I was strong enough to work alone.
I snapped out of my train of thought and asked Max and Robby, “What’s up?”
Rob answered back immediately. “Well, kitten, you see, there’s a deal going down and we need a little element of surprise, if you know what I mean.”
I groaned knowing full well what that meant. “Fine. How long do I have to get ready?”
“Twenty minutes,” Max answered. I rolled my eyes. Did they really expect me to look the way I needed in twenty minutes when I was a sweaty hot mess right now?
“I’ll meet you down here after I get ready,” I told them, already sprinting to my room. I had rooms all over the place- here at the training facility, one in every one of my families many homes, and some in other gang member’s houses. My room here was spacious, like most of the others and colored mostly black and white, simple, defined, like me. I rushed towards the table where I kept makeup and hair supplies.
I applied one of the messiest smoky-eyes that I had ever seen, and carefully smudged olive foundation all over my olive toned face. I finished off the look with red lipstick, the final sexy touch. I plugged the flat iron in for a last attempt at fixing my ponytail-bumped hair, and while it warmed up, I walked to my closet. I quickly put together the most revealing outfit I had, a tight, leather, mini-skirt that practically went up my ass, a crop tank top that looked more like a bra you would find in the Victoria’s Secret lingerie department, and a sky-high pair of black heels that increased my usual height of 5’5 to 5’11. I added some black fishnets to really overdo it and went to straighten my hair. When I figured it was good enough, I ran back out to where the boys were.
“Damn, Koda. Ready with two minutes to spare, I’m impressed,” Rob said and I resisted the urge to flip him off.
“Well dressing as a low class hooker isn’t really that difficult,” I replied. You see, being one of the only girls in the gang, one of an even smaller amount of teen girls and the smallest number of girls who could hold their own, had more disadvantages than I could count. I had to go with a lot of guys to pretend to be their bitches or a prostitute. Unfortunately, I was the only one young enough who could fight if something did happen.
Rob responded to my hooker comment by saying, “Well you look like you just came from a client. That’s a good thing.” I blushed ferociously and was glad my foundation was on thick enough that he couldn’t tell. I had always had a little thing for him; he was everything I could want- funny, sexy, intelligent, and he took me seriously, both as a gang member and a person.
“Well, let’s go, Angel,” Max said, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the exit and to his car. It was a pretty nice ride, a Mercedes with upgrades lie bullet-proof glass and hidden compartments.
We got in and drove for ten minutes to an area that would definitely be classified as the hood, and parked behind an old warehouse. I watched Max get out and was about to climb out from the backseat when Rob handed me something. I looked at a small black gun and he said, “In case something goes wrong.” He then proceeded to step out, leaving me awkwardly trying to conceal the gun in my skirt.
When I finally managed to, I got out and locked arms with the boys, walking towards the alley between buildings. When we got to the narrow street, I noticed two figures standing against a wall. Once we got closer, I saw tattoos on their biceps that signaled that they were Drags, or Dragons, one of our rival gangs.
I walked up confidently with the boy’s arms still looped around mine, and stood facing the boys directly. One of them asked with a thick Spanish accent, “I thought there was only going to be two. Who’s the slut?”
I kept my cool and answered, “I have some business with these two later.” I looked at both the boys seductively and managed to take a nibble on Rob’s ear. “They said we needed to run a quick errand.”
“Aye, who cares? They bring their bitch with them, it’s not like she can do anything,” the other guy said, who had pants sagging so low they were practically on the ground.
I took this opportunity to overplay my role. “I can be your bitch too; I’ll give you my fees if you want ‘em, boys.” I bit my lip seductively and gyrated my hips and I felt my skirt roll up. Shit, the gun.
Max obviously noticed too, and I felt him tense as he said, “Can we have it now. As you can see, I have some unfinished business,” he looked down at me and I bit my bottom lip while looking up at him.
The first guy fished something out of his pockets and handed it to Max. I recognized the white grainy drug as cocaine, and I was ready to get out of there.
I was about to turn around when sagging guy stopped and pointed at my crotch. “Shit! What is that? Is that a gun?”
Oh great, doesn’t this day just get better and better.
