Norah wakes up disoriented and confused. It’s dark and a little humid in the room and her clothes are sticking to her. There’s a weird smell in the room, almost moldy, and she makes a note that she needs to deep clean her house today. Contemplating if she’s actually hungover, she groans as she realizes her head is throbbing, but she doesn’t remember drinking last night. Retracing her steps from yesterday in her mind, she recalls waking up to the sound of the city streaming in from her rented apartment window, strolling to the coffee shop around the corner and spending most of her morning replying to emails. One of those emails was an errand her boss wanted her to run- pick up a package from Steven at the pawn shop in the nearby town. The subject was flagged as URGENT. Annoyed, she closed her laptop. This is not what she gets paid for. “I’m not your personal assistant”, she thought. Norah rushed to her apartment to gather her normal work essentials: clothes that seem normal enough, but can hide her weapon of choice- knives.

She sees Steven’s Pawn shop and decides right away that it a sketchy place. Not that people are typically picky when they are desperate enough to sell there most expensive items in hopes of a quick buck, but there was no one around. The past 2 blocks had been empty as she walked here without a person in sight. That is unusual for Bellini Street. She approached the door with caution, notating that the sign said Open, yet the blinds were closed. She entered into the dim lit store, walked to the counter, and realized Steven wasn’t at the counter so she took it upon herself to slip into the back room to check things out. Steven was sitting at his desk. Sitting as still as a statue and didn’t respond when she said his name. She slowly spun him around and saw he was blue. No signs of harm, but he had obviously been dead for at least 2 days. “Fuck”, she thought. She could search the place but the package, but how was she supposed to know what it was. Her boss gave her zero information on why she was here or what the mystery item was for. She walked to the front of the store again ready to call her boss when a deep voice reached from across the room and said: “Hello darling, maybe you can help me”.

That’s the last thing she remembers. What happened after that? Who’s voice was that? Realizing that something isn’t right, she strains her eyes to look around and realizes that she’s not at home. This is some type of basement or cellar. Sweat starts dripping from her head and her heart starts racing. How could she be so stupid to get in this situation? That deep voice she heard earlier in Steven’s store carried from cell hallway. Deep and annoyed, he said: “Finally, you are awake. I’m going to be blunt with you. I know you were there looking for what was mine. Who sent you and why do you want it? This isn’t going to end great for you either way, so let’s not waste time”.

Furious. That is what she felt. Furious that she got captured, furious that she doesn’t even know what the package was, and furious that he thinks she is going to easily give up any information. What he doesn’t know is that she is a highly trained assassin, who happens to work for one of the most dangerous mafia bosses in the city. “Unfortunately for you”, Norah said, “I won’t be giving up any of that information”. He enters the room and she sees his face, what she can in this dim light, and thinks that if he wasn’t the prick who kidnapped her- she might actually be very attracted to him. He grips her wrists and demands in that low sultry voice for her name. “Norah is what they call me.. and your first mistake was putting your hands on me”, she said as she twist out of his grip and uses her knife hair pin to stab him in the neck. He drops to the ground as she sprints out the cell door looking for a way out. “I am not afraid. I am in control”, she repeats to herself. She would get out of this and find out why and what her boss got her involved in.