The Woman Who Rules The Shadows

Synopsis

My father was the biggest arms dealer in the Delta, straddling both legal and illegal worlds, yet he bowed only to my mother. He lost his left ear. It was said that he shielded my mom from a bullet to save her back then. The night I was born, all deals were put on hold; gunshots turned into celebratory fireworks. Everyone was rejoicing because the land had welcomed its little master. When I was three, a curvaceous woman moved into the house across from us. She held me close, letting me touch the tattoo on her wrist that matched my father's. She sneered, "You will soon be thrown out. Don't think you can stick around, little brat. "My son in my belly will be the true heir." I wriggled free and ran back home, knowing that my mother hated anyone touching her things. I told her what the woman said while she was cleaning a silver pistol. That night, fireworks lit up the sky over the house across the way, lasting well into the early hours. The woman's cries were scattered by the wind. My mother nuzzled my forehead with her cheek, her voice languid. She asked, "Scarlett, do you like the fireworks show?"