But before I’m judged for cheating on my fiancé, I need to start from the very beginning and explain the events that led us here.
New Bern, North Carolina
September 2016
Gulping from the bottle of whiskey in my left hand, my right pressed the repeat button on the computer to start playing the video again.
Rosa lay down on the floor as Alfonso’s men punched her in the face. Their knuckles made a familiar cracking, breaking sound, while their laughter echoed in the room. One of them took off his belt and slapped her hard on the cheek with the metal buckle. “Such a beautiful girl. Too bad we have to destroy her.” Another man kicked her legs harder as she cried out in pain. “Beg us to stop,” he asked, then paused. But when no reply came from her, he leaned down, grabbed her hair painfully, lifted her face up, and squeezed her face between his fingers, the pressure leaving red bruises on her beautiful, tan-kissed skin. “You’ll die with your pride.” He leaned back, almost ready to spit on her face, when he was interrupted by an excited voice.
“Enough, Bob,” Alfonso said, emerging from the dark corner and finally allowing the camera to capture him. “I need to be inside her.” He palmed his dick and licked his lips. “Waited long enough.” Rosa placed her palms on the floor, rose up on them, but immediately collapsed from weakness. She rested her back against the wall, her eyes huge with fear and disgust, but she still held her chin high. Blood dripped from her nose, and she bit her lips, not wanting to make a sound.
“A Cosa Nostra’s princess and the pakhan’s woman,” Alfonso proclaimed greedily. “Never thought I’d fuck one of those.” He licked his knuckles, tasting her blood, while groaning in pleasure. His constantly shifting eyes scanned her body and clothes, or rather, what was left of them. The fuckers ripped them off, leaving her in panties and a stained white cloth, which used to be her dress. She did her best to cover her breasts with it, even in this situation keeping her modesty. “I’ll enjoy tasting their little Rose.” Slowly, he started to take his clothes off, piece by piece, and his disgusting skin covered in various scars, which looked like nail scratches, came to light. He had a huge dragon tattoo located right in the middle of his chest. With their guns retrieved from the nearby table pointed at her and a hint of lust in their gazes for Rosa, his two men chuckled.
“You will regret touching me,” she warned with a shaky voice, trying one more time to jerk the chains off her hands, but they wouldn't budge. “Dominic will kill you for laying a hand on me.”
Alfonso smirked, inhaled his cigarette one more time, and threw it on the floor. “Doubtful, but by the time the precious daddy and boyfriend come, you’ll already be acquainted with my dick a few times.” He palmed his appendage and moaned in pleasure. “Yes, it will be exquisite torture for both of them. Serves them right. I became collateral damage in their war for you. Now, I’ll get the spoils.” With those words, he lunged for her, her scream of terror echoing through the basement.
The video cut off, leaving my reflection staring back at me from the pitch-black screen.
My index finger pressed the enter button, so I could watch it again.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Until the two bottles of whiskey by my side were finished. With a roar, I threw them at the wall while hitting the machine with my fists.
Dominic will kill you.
Dominic will save me.
Dominic.
I didn't save my girl. I failed to come in time and stop this one man’s madness.
She became collateral damage in the war I had no idea who had started and why!
Once my palms and knuckles bled, at least stirring some emotion inside me, I got up, stepping on all the broken glass, welcoming the sting it provided to my bruised skin. I scanned Alfonso’s basement for the millionth time, searching for any clue so I could inflict unbearable pain on everyone involved in the organization operating behind this madman.
No fucker could do this on his own, and he wasn't a bright one to begin with.
The FBI found everything they could: videos, various torture devices, fingerprints, and bodily fluids with ultraviolet lights. Clothes, lube, condoms, and even some fucked-up child porn, which gave me flashbacks to my time in the cell. They took it all away, including his notes, folders, boards with all the mafia members of both houses, and his huge-ass PC.
What escaped their notice was his laptop that Vitya sneaked outside under my order, and I spent weeks in this fucking place, trying to find a clue in the stupid files, but I only had the videos from the USB drive.
The loud beep snapped me out of my thoughts, as a small disc appeared from the disk drive in the side of the computer. Didn't those die out in recent years? Who the fuck used them nowadays? Picking it up, I read the text, which consisted of a nine-digit code and signed,For her.
Closing the lid, I turned the thing off, but some gut feeling insisted I open the battery compartment and sure as fuck, there was a small key.
And just like that, the picture became clear.
A safety deposit box.
Two Days Later
I sat on a chair near a white table in the bank’s private room. My hands rested on the silver box, which hopefully held answers to all my prayers. Getting inside was no hardship; the code and key matched their existing box, so all I had to do was fake the identity Honey provided for me. She was also the one who got the information for the major banks and surveyed their cameras so we could find his bank, as no names were given. While her focus was on the United States, she decided without telling me to check out Italy’s too.
