Humans are animals. They have base instincts to submit, dominate or remain neutral. Every human is one of the three. Similar to Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics in wolf packs, humans have Dominant/Neutral/Submissive dynamics. When they go through puberty, they present. Its linked back to the Theory of Evolution. They teach kids about it in school, but it was never interesting enough for Sloan Bellomo to learn more about. Growing up in the mafia, she was taught to only care about one thing. Money. Whatever made them the most money mattered. Philosophy and Evolution theory be damned.

Most mafia members had completed school by the time they joined. She –being born into the family - was not given with such a luxury. Sloan had to go to school as well as follow the orders of her father, Liborio Bellomo. Orders that eventually led to the shutdown of her elementary school the month after she graduated from 5thgrade. Apparently releasing toxic gas in the vents to force a spy out of hiding puts children at risk as well.

She was a risk after that – although Liborio firmly believes she was always a risk -. A risk in every public school in the entire state of New York. So, Liborio paid top-dollar for an onsite teacher to keep his daughter well informed and exceptionally educated. The lady was nice enough. She enjoyed Sloan's company about as much as Sloan enjoyed hers. She had never asked Sloan about her life. She simply would show up, teach the girl her studies, accept payment, and then she'd be on her way. Sloan was almost positive she knew what was going on. It wasn't like her father was trying very hard to hide his power. Something that Sloan wondered would eventually be his demise.

During the middle of her 7th-grade year, she presented. Not in a "science fair project" type of way either. When Sloan hit puberty at 13, like every other boy and girl her age, she stood before a tribune of well-paid doctors and went through a series of tests, both medical and educational, before they determined her role in society's hierarchy.

Her determined role was submissive.

Before she presented, everyone thought she was a born and bred dominant, or at the very least neutral with dominant leanings. Her father had already begun grooming her to be a Street Boss, 4 years prior to her Presentation Date so by the time Sloan was 13 she was trained in MMA, street fighting, knife throwing, sting operations, torture, lying, and theft. Sloan Bellomo became the youngest underboss in the history of all 5 families. So the other 4 families struck a deal with her father.

And what a deal it was

One month out of every year she was passed off to the bosses of each of the four families. Each family was allowed a week with her and suffered the risk of never seeing her again if they tried to take more time than their share. She did whatever she was asked in exchange for her ability to request favors later on. When Sloan presented as submissive, however, the deal was null and void.

This was allowed to happen because no family wanted a submissive - nevermind a submissive woman - telling neutrals and dominants what to do. Similar to how children aren't supposed to parent their parents, the four families believed if a submissive was in charge, they would lose respect as a big player in the crime world.

Again, like it was stated before, Liborio Bellomo was no idiot. He knew the risk of outing Sloan to the families as soon as her name showed up next to the Submissive assignment on the medical sheet. So he did what any desperate, power-hungry father would've done. He killed the Presenting Specialists and forged official government documentation so that Sloan would legally be a Dominant.

She was registered as a Dominant on all her High School transcripts. She took Dominant based classes and studied Dominant based careers. She researched Dominant based college campuses and made sure to register for all the Advanced Placement Dominant Classes. As far as the world was concerned, Sloan Bellomo was a Dominant. Psychologically, however, she was still a Submissive.

And that began to pose some problems for the Genovese Family.

When Sloan was 17, she woke up to her fingertips throbbing. She thought her father had gotten angry with her and chopped them off in her sleep (because that's a legitimate worry to have when you live with the Mafia). However, the real answer to her pained fingertips was far more terrifying than their possible removal, which is saying something.

Sloan reached out blindly, to wake up whatever boy she was sleeping with at the time but pulled away quickly after his screams filled the air. When the light came on and she was more awake, but the sight before made her wonder if she was dreaming.

The screams were emanating from the boy, who was now writhing on the ground. His upper torso was charred black like a human marshmallow. His neck and face seemed unharmed, as well as his stomach and everything below it, but his chest –where she had placed her hand – was ruined.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She couldn't even feel the throbbing in her fingertips anymore. Sloan could only see the horror she had caused. The person she had harmed.

Her father and his henchmen came in soon after the screaming stopped. She didn't even check to see if the boy was alive before the henchmen carried him away, because she was certain he was not. As his screams died, so had he.

Liborio sat next to his daughter on her bed, noting Sloan's pale face. His own face was guarded. His eyes were swimming with an unknown emotion. His hands were clutched into white-knuckled fists.

"What…was that." His voice was gruff.

He asked a question she didn't know the answer to.

Sloan shoved her hands towards him, palms up and let him stare at the new marks on her fingertips. The once peach-colored flesh was charred an opaque black, contrasting with the light skin color on the rest of her fingers. It stood out to her like rot on a peach. Liborio was both terrified and excited for his daughter's development as he believed he had just unlocked his source for unlimited power. However, he only chose to show Sloan the fear. Ruining her.

My own father is afraid of me.

After that Liborio only saw her as a weapon. A weapon he was fearful of, but a weapon all the same. He kept her in a room with no windows or doors. There was a light switch, a metal bed, a box with her clothes and a journal. He fed her enough so that he wouldn't feel guilty about it later on. He did the bare minimum of parenting and never sent her to a doctor if she injured herself on one of his missions. Sloan became the most in-disposable, disposable assassin he'd ever worked with. She was his most valuable asset. She was used for recon. She was used for heists. She was used as an interrogation method if/when the suppliers didn't 'supply' enough. She became the Mafia's own black-fingered assassin. She was cloaked in black and given a muzzle to enforce her place. She was to be seen and not heard. She became Nightingale, the promise of death, or as her father called her: Usignolo.

Sloan lived 5 years of her life like this. A submissive turned-dominant assassin with serious daddy issues. She was the least normal of the 4 Bellomo children her father had raised. Her other siblings were all boys, all doing the grunt work for Liborio's tasks. None of them were as smart as her (Liborio made school an option for them). None of them were as cunning or manipulative as her. They were all sub-par compared to the level of expectation she had been expected to reach. Yet Liborio treated them all as kings while she was shunned in a room with an iron door and concrete walls.

Her 3 other siblings barely remembered Sloan when she saw them again.

Working for and with the Mafia strips you of all job security. Unless you're a weapon of destruction. Liborio kept Sloan around even after all three of her siblings were thrown out in disgrace. They had been selling secrets to the police and their most important deals had been raided in the past couple months. After her siblings were disgraced, Sloan was the last of the Bellomo children to keep Liborio's legacy. He realized this (because he's not an idiot, just an asshole) and for once in Sloan's 5 years of life after she presented, she was set free.

The very next day Sloan disappeared into the night. Nightingale was never to be seen again.