With the Valentine’s Day assailants nicknamed V4 for Valentine’s Day 4 by the media still on the loose, people continued to go about their daily lives, refusing to live in fear. Francesca Giordano was no exception as she strutted through a maze of restaurant tables filled with patrons wearing her all-occasion look of combat boots, black mini skirt, and leather jacket while holding a black bag. As she stepped up to the table positioned in the heart of the room, her sister Mimi, a girlie girl, looked up at her and smiled.  Thanks to the military, it had been three years since they had seen each other. But finally, Francesca was home from her last tour, and Mimi’s birthday was her priority.

As Francesca sat down, Mimi joked about her being late, which Francesca ignored as if only a sibling could.  Mimi stared at the black bag with excitement. Relenting, Francesca reached into the bag, pulled out a little box, and handed it to Mimi, who beamed joyfully. Mimi gently opened the box and stared at the gift. She held up the silver bracelet and read the inscription – I am strong. I am worthy. I am loved. I am enough. With tears in her eyes, she hugged Francesca.  Not one to succumb to her emotions, Francesca reminded Mimi of how she was a sympathetic crier and didn’t feel like crying. They laughed. Francesca and Mimi’s sisterhood was strong, which made that moment when  Francesca found Mimi naked and tortured the next morning that much more devastating. Francesca rushed Mimi to the hospital. After examining Mimi, the doctor presented Francesca with the news.  Her sister Mimi had become the most recent victim of the Valentine’s Day 4.

Although two of the city’s finest detectives, Mills and Patterson, were working the case, after talking with them, Francesca knew that they didn’t have her military training and that she was the only one who could do what needed to be done. Armed with that information and a love for her sister, Francesca decided to make sure that the Valentine’s Day 4 would never harm another woman again. 

One year later, on Valentine’s Day eve, Francesca Giordano awoke from a drug-induced state to find she was alone in the dark, on top of what felt like a gurney. She called out hello. No answer. She stepped off the gurney and groped in the darkness for a door. Suddenly, she heard the crackle of a walkie-talkie, and then a voice uttered the words, “Are you scared?” She replied, “Who is this?” Jay Griffin took his time to respond, standing alongside his buddies Xavier, Johnny, Tommy, and Heath, hoping to heighten Francesca’s fear. After what felt like an eternity, he hissed, “We’re going to break you.” At that moment, Francesca knew the opportunity to fulfill her promise to Mimi had come. Trapped in an abandoned asylum with no way out and pursued by V4, she silenced each V4 member permanently, ending each one of them more viciously than the last. They thought they were hunting her. She was hunting them.

Some people don’t forgive, and others don’t forget.  Francesca was both.