Ask Serena Moretti about her father and she has a list of preferred answers to give people: he was a nameless sperm donor at a clinic, her mother never got his name and fell pregnant, or a varied list of causes of death that include but are not limited to a motorcycle accident, cancer, a heart attack, and anything else that Serena can think of at the time. Because in all honesty, Serena would rather her father be six feet underground than have to deal with the truth.

The truth is that Serena Moretti was actually born Serena Bruno and she lived with her mother and father in a nice quaint town in Texas. The kind where people went to church every Sunday in their best clothes and left their doors unlocked. Everything was idyllic as could be for the middle class family with a father who worked at the local factory and a mother who volunteered at the library. Serena fumbled through dance classes and bruised her knees trying to climb trees. She was spoiled and vivacious, always with a glint of mischief in her eye and remarks on her report card saying "if Serena used the same amount of effort in her school work that she does socializing, then she would be a top tier student". Everyone by all accounts was happy.

Except her father. The thing was that Geraldo had a wandering eye. He was known around town as being quite the charmer. He was gregarious and likable. He was so likable in fact that a younger woman took a shine to him. His wife and daughter were clueless to the fact that when they went to Sunday church that Geraldo's eyes linger a little too long on the pastor's daughter who happened to help with Sunday services and taught Sunday school. Oh, and for the record, the pastor's daughter was only seventeen at the time which added to the scandal brewing. Until it went from scandal to being a national news story. The poor old pastor's daughter went missing only to be found murdered and mutilated outside of city limits three days later.

It was revealed to the world that not only was the pastor's daughter pregnant but that the father of her baby was none other than Geraldo Bruno. As the story goes, the young girl wanted to have the baby and she wanted Geraldo involved. She was going to tell his wife who thought that his nights out were because of working overtime or joining the bowling league and Geraldo had no choice but to "protect" his family by slaughtering the young girl. Geraldo sits on death row in Texas waiting to be executed and Serena and her mother were run out of town after the trial and her mother divorcing her father. Good riddance.

The mother and daughter pair moved from Texas to live with relatives in New Jersey and went as far as changing their last names to escape from the infamy that followed them. Serena's aunt was a strict Catholic who thought that religion would help both mother and daughter find solace in it. It seemed to work for Rosa but for Serena, it was another story. Serena hated every minute of Catholic school; the rules, the uniforms, the scripture, the punishment she got for even questioning the existence of God.

For the sake of her mother who was trying her best to get on her own two feet, Serena at least tried to bring home good report cards and not get herself expelled. Serena's aunt insisted that her mother was too "soft" on the girl and enabled her unruly behavior. It was obvious that Serena had a chip on her shoulder from being run out of her hometown and being burdened with knowing what her father was capable of. The only light at the end of the tunnel was that college allowed Serena freedom and she dropped the moody broody bit, pulled herself up, and got herself a one way ticket to NYU. As much as Serena detested her aunt, she still remained close with her mother who had gone to college and become an elementary school teacher.

Serena got lost in the throng of people at NYU. Between the years that had gone by and the name change, no one knew that she was the daughter of an infamous murderer. Still not seeing the world through rose colored glasses, Serena took an interest in both computers and criminology. During her teen years, Serena had gone "underground" and taught herself basic hacking skills which didn't amount to much other than trolling her fellow classmates by posting their exploits online and airing their dirty laundry. But after being an insolent teenager, Serena wanted to do something good with her particular skill set. So Serena came out of NYU with degrees in computer engineering and sociology and stayed in the city for a little while.

Unfortunately Serena found herself as a victim of a violent mugging and attempted sexual assault when she came home from work at a computer repair shop. To this day, Serena wonders what would have happened if a car alarm hadn't scared the perpetrator away. (Her aunt claims this was divine intervention, Serena claims her aunt has a few screws loose). The vague description she had given cops hadn't amounted to much and the perp was never caught. Not wanting to be a sitting duck, Serena got the hell out of dodge once she landed a job offer in Boston and decided to start anew once again.

Serena started talking self defense classes the minute she got to Boston. She'd given up her karate lessons when she was younger after the move to New Jersey due to her aunt considering them "unladylike" and they had been encouraged by her father. But things started really looking up for Serena when she landed her dream job: a position at the cyber crimes division of the Boston Police department. Serena also became a certified self defense instructor and teaches classes on the weekends as her way to help make sure no woman is ever hurt at the hands of a man again.