Once again, I was helpless to the bone. He ignored my words, hunched in front of me, and only my bent knees separated us as he gently caressed my cheek. I shifted my head, disgusted at the sight of him. His blue eyes sparkled even more. “My wild Rose. You’ll see.” With that, he left, closed the cell behind him, turned off the light, and complete darkness surrounded me.
20 hours later
Dominic
“Dom, calm down,” Connor advised, while I strolled back and forth in Damian’s office.
Turning around swiftly, I grabbed his throat and pushed him to the wall. He grunted, and Frankie and Sapphire, along with Juanita, gasped. “Do not tell me to calm down when my woman is in danger.”
He struggled from my hold, shouting, “Maybe she just left you!” Punching him in the face, right into his recently healed nose, satisfaction ran through me as blood dripped to the floor from it. “Fuck, not my nose again!” he shouted.
“She’d never do this to me. Never disappear without a word.”
Vitya entered the room, along with Luke. They had been searching for any kind of information, cameras, any hint, anything.
“Any news?”
We shared a look as Vitya extend the file in his hand to Don and me. “According to a maid who saw her going to the beach, she left around seven in the morning. Then she was seen in the lobby, rushing through the door and jumping in a car.”
My eyes scanned the report with pictures, and something just wasn't adding up. “Who drives a black Hummer?”
Don frowned, taking the file from me and cursing. “Alfonso came to the wedding with me. With Lorenzo out of commission, he is my next trustworthy person.”
“Call him.” He dialed his phone, but apparently no one answered, because he threw it on the table and his jaw ticked with tension. “What do you know about him?” Finding my brother with his bride on his lap, I demanded, “You were supposed to do an investigation. What did you find? You said it was safe to come here!”
I didn't give a flying fuck about ruining his moment anymore. They all failed to keep my woman safe. Had we been in Russia, this would have never happened. He rose, facing me with a grim expression on his face. “The bombing traces led us to his brother, Romeo. He abused his woman and hated everything that had to do with the mafia. Also, he was absent on that day from the house. Connor and I took care of him.’’ He didn’t elaborate on what exactly they did. “Alfonso wasn't even on our radar.”
A fitful breath came from the door, as a female’s voice said, “And that was your mistake.” We all turned to notice Bianca in the threshold, holding an envelope to her chest. “Romeo never abused me. It was Alfonso all along. He… likes to inflict pain, kill people, chop them.” Fuck, chop? He was a crazy motherfucker. “Here is the evidence,” she addressed Connor, handing him the envelope. “All I could gather.” Then she focused her attention on me. “He wants to do the same to her, dreamed about it for months. He has a board full of your pictures. All of you.”
“But why?” Don asked, agony filling the depths of his eyes.
She shrugged, rubbing her bruised arms. “He never told me.” Then she took out a gun from her purse, pressed it to her temple, and said, “My duty is done here.” Then she fired, committing suicide right in front of our eyes.
Rosa
I stirred from sleep as a female sob echoed in the otherwise quiet basement. My muscles were numb from being in the same position. Alfonso only came once yesterday, so I could pee while he listened. Humiliating as it was, my bladder couldn't have stood another second without relieving myself. He gave me a dirty plate containing leftover pizza with cheese that had seen better days. No matter how much my stomach grumbled, I wouldn't touch it. The glass filled with sink water was my only source of hydration. Why did he come back?
The bright light blinded me. I winced, holding my bound hands up to block it as slowly a young girl around seventeen years old, kneeled completely naked as Alfonso stood behind her, running his hand over her neck with awe. Even from a distance, I could see her trembling lips and the tears sliding down her cheeks.
“Rosa, I thought I’d show you rather than tell you what I’ll do to you.” With that, he removed the belt from his pants and wrapped it tight around her while she choked on it, trying to get it away from him, but he wouldn't let her. Instead, he spun her to his front, lowered his zipper, took out his hard dick, and dangled it in her face. “Lila, let me fuck your mouth.” He pushed inside her throat as she gagged on it, but he didn't care. My horrified gasp only made him smile wider, and I couldn't believe there was nothing to do to help her.
What kind of monster did that?
Thoroughly enjoying her, he slapped her hard on the cheek and then stepped back. Picking up the pliers, he grinned. Pressing on her lower lip, exposing her tongue and teeth, he said to me happily, “Watch now.”
5 hours later
Dominic
Twenty-five hours. My woman had been gone for twenty-five hours, in the hands of a sociopath whose sole desire was to inflict pain on her. Roaring loudly, I squeezed the hot iron bars of the balcony even harder, but the pain didn't even register in my mind.
“Dominic.” Damian’s voice only infuriated the already raging inferno in my heart.
“You promised me protection. Promised me you’d take care of it. I trusted you. And you failed me,” I said, with menace and fury I hadn't expected from myself. Ignoring the sharp intake of breath behind me, I continued, “Now my woman is in danger. And I fucking blame you.”
“Dominic—”
Spinning around, I gazed at my brother, who was my rock and strength in the darkest times of my life. My protector. My best friend. My only family. But we weren't those boys anymore, and the resentment building inside me through all the years yearned to rise and destroy everything in its wake.
