Elena Bertinelli, born in April of 1982, was the first daughter of Italian immigrants Mario and Gabriella Bertinelli. The couple had moved to Boston as soon as they turned 18 and were able to make quite a name for themselves. Mario was able to attend college and get a job in finance, while Gabriella opened an Italian restaurant with the help of her siblings.

Elena was joined by a younger brother, Romeo, four years later. The two bickered as any siblings would, but Elena was also very protective of her baby brother. She cut down anyone who tried to bully him, and people learned fast not to mess with either of them.

Their parents were doing well for themselves by the time Romeo was born, so they moved into a nicer, more lavish home, not long after Elena turned five. When it was time for her to start school, they enrolled her (and later her brother) in Catholic school. Elena's quick wit often got her into trouble with the headmaster, but she was an intelligent child, gifted especially in the literary arts, so her misdeeds were usually overlooked.

To make her parents happy, she took many different lessons and classes after school. She hated piano and detested choir, but she really found a passion in her karate and archery classes. Her hand-eye coordination made her a natural, and she eventually focused exclusively on those classes once her parents realized how much their daughter enjoyed them.

Things were going well for Elena. She had a promising future ahead of her and was planning to attend college in the city to become an English teacher. She started working part time at her mother's restaurant shortly after she turned sixteen as a lesson in hard work.

She had been accepted to a few universities upon graduating, and her plans were to attend Columbia University in the fall. That was not to be, as two days after her graduation, she was closing up her mother's restaurant when the call came in. Their home had been broken into, and both of her parents and her brother had been home at the time. Her parents were pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital, but her brother stayed in a coma for nearly two months before he succumbed to his brain injuries.

With her brother gone, and her parents too, Elena had nothing left in the city. She packed up her belongings in the night, took her inheritance, and flew to Europe. She eventually worked it out so that she could enroll at Greenwich University, and she decided to pursue a degree in criminology. Her goal was to make sure nothing like this happened to anyone else.

During the summers of her four years overseas, she spent time with her grandparents in Italy and learned everything she could about her parents and the family's history.

After finishing her studies, she reluctantly flew back to the United States to start searching for jobs. It wasn't long before she was called in to interview at Wallach Industries in her hometown of Boston. The CEO himself interviewed her, and it might have been the reason she won the job without more than five minutes of conversation.

She made herself at home in the city and began to learn that there was good in her life. She had friends and made a new family in the city of Boston. Elena eventually began to get over her fears and was able to commit to a serious relationship, one she had been dodging for years. Though she still has a lot of anger, she was able to let a lot of it go; what's left, she channeled into sparring at a martial arts gym and the city's roller derby.

In August of 2016, she discovered she was pregnant with her first child. It was at this point that she and her partner decided a change of scenery would be best. Not only did they decide to leave Boston, but they completely changed jobs. They had plenty of money in savings and were able to add more to it by selling Elena's townhome. And so they packed up and relocated to New Orleans, where they opened a private detective agency. It has been an adjustment, but it's not a change either of them regret. Elena has been through a lot in her life, but none of it seems as challenging as balancing work with raising a child, one that she never thought she would have.