“Perhaps Miss Melina is feeling ashamed to be seen naked in front of you after so long.” This is the tenth reason Leo has come up with in the past hour.Thomas just told Leo what happened last night. He didn’t want to tell him, but he felt if he wanted Leo’s help in figuring out what went wrong, he needed to know what had happened.“That’s impossible. I have fucking seen, kissed, and worshiped every inch of her body. That is the most illogical reason you have come up with.”“I know, but….”“But what?” Thomas barks, irritated.“Please don’t kill me for what I am about to say, sir.”“Speak.”“Miss Melina may be a beautiful woman, but she has been severely tortured. I’m sure her body is covered in new scars, and someone like her would be ashamed to show her body to anyone.”“Hmm,” Thomas
Melina screams Franky’s name for the umpteenth time tonight into the walls of Thomas’ mansion and receives no response. Tears stream down her cheeks as she stands in the middle of the foyer, looking left to right for her sister. Melina can’t find Franky anywhere. It’s like she vanished into thin air. She has checked every single room in the mansion, and she still can’t find her. Melina even asked the ladies to help her look around the compound but still no trace of Franky.Melina rushes to the door as Linda steps inside.“Did you find her?” Melina asks, and Linda shakes her head.“Oh my goodness!” Melina exclaims, running her hand through her messy hair. She has run her hands through them a lot tonight. “Where in God’s name could she be right now?” Melina asks no one in particular.“I don’t know, dear, but we will keep searching. Have you called Thomas?” Linda asks, and Melina mentally face palms.“Oh my God! I can’t believe I forgot to call him. Please call him and inform him of the
Melina steps out of the car and follows Thomas into a warehouse. He leads her into a room that appears to be a shooting range. Why did Thomas bring us here?"Why are we here?" Melina voices the question she just asked herself, but he doesn't answer; instead, Thomas places something in her hand. Her eyes widen as she sees the gun in her hand. Melina quickly gives it back to him, but Thomas forces it back into her hand. He moves behind Melina, places his hand over her shoulder, and aims forward."What are…?" Melina is cut off by a piercing scream.She doesn't know where it's coming from, but she can hear it clearly. Tears pool in her eyes as she recognizes the scream. Melina knows how she sounds, even when she screams. She sees the target board pulling up as Thomas moves from behind her. He walks to the target board and places something on it. Thomas moves out of the way, and Melina sees what he has placed on it, and something in her shifts; it&rsq
Melina awakens as she feels someone stroking her hair. She opens her eyes and locks gazes with a pair of piercing blue orbs that lights up once they lock with hers."I was worried for a minute you were never going to wake up," Thomas says, smiling at Melina as he continues to stroke her hair."Is something wrong?" The bedside clock reads 5:00 a.m., implying it's still very early in the morning, so she wonders why he’s waking her."It's time for training.""Isn't it too early to train?""The main training is later in the day, but we need to warm up our bodies first.""Oh, but why do we have to warm up so early in the morning?" Melina asks, yawning."It's the best time for jogging.""You want us to go for a jog?" Melina hates exercising. She can't believe he wants them to go for a jog so early in the morning."I know you hate working out, but this is good for you. It will get your body warmed up nicely before we star
THOMASThomas looks at Melina while eating breakfast the following day. She has barely touched her food, and Thomas knows why. Melina worries about her sister, and Thomas hates the toll it's taking on her. Melina has lost weight as a result of it in recent days. He recalls how small she felt against him during their training yesterday. Every second, he fears Melina will try to trade in herself for her sister. Thomas will lose it if he loses her again. I must find her sister as soon as possible. Thomas' train of thought is interrupted when Leo walks over to him and whispers that the car is ready. He gets out of his chair and walks over to Melina. His lips linger a little longer than they should as he pecks her forehead before stepping outside to meet Leo. Melina isn't coming with him to work today as she is spending the day with his mother. He doesn't like them apart, but he trusts his mother to keep Melina safe.At the office, Thomas is unable to conce
THOMASHis eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. Why the fuck did Rafael bring Franky like this? Thomas becomes enraged as he looks down at Melina. Her beautiful face is flushed and stained with tears. Her body quivers against his as she wails. This is not why I fucking allowed Rafael to return to New York City. I want Melina to feel better about her sister’s abduction, not fucking worse. I need to do something to fix this. My plan couldn’t fail after everything I did to make this happen.“What the fuck, Rafael? Why does she have a collar around her neck and on her hands and legs?” Thomas barks at him.“Because she is my pet,” Rafael says, caressing Franky’s hair.“Are you fucking nuts? She’s a human being. Take the damn collar off her now!”“If you’re not satisfied with how I’ve presented my pet, you’ll have to pay more to have her the way you want.”Thomas now understands why the bastard did this. He clenches his fists, trying to control his anger. He badly wants to smash Raf
Melina walks to the main mansion the following morning to see Kat. On her way, she feels an ache in her lower abdomen and realizes her period is approaching. Melina couldn’t help but recall the last time she thought her period was coming. Tears fill up her eyes as she remembers the loss of her baby. She misses her child every day. She wipes her eyes, sniffing as she enters the family house. Melina hopes Kat doesn’t notice she was about to cry as she walks to the kitchen to meet her. Kat is usually in the kitchen at this time in the morning.“Hello dear,” Kat says as Melina walks in.“Morning Kat, how are you doing?” Melina asks, walking up to her by the stove. She pecks her cheeks before sitting on one of the kitchen stools.“I’m good, dear. How are you?”“Good.”“That’s nice to hear. Have you had breakfast?”“No, I haven’t.”“H
The doctor arrives in a record of time and treats Thomas’ shoulder. Melina’s heart raced the entire time and only stopped when the doctor said Thomas would be fine.She holds Thomas’ hand right now as he sleeps on his office couch. She needs to feel the warmth of his hand against her skin to remind her that he’s alive. Thomas refused to go home and rest, saying an hour nap was all he needed. Melina wishes she could drag him home and put him in bed to sleep.“What the fuck happened?” someone says as they storm into the office. Melina lets go of Thomas’ hands and shh the person.“He's sleeping,” she tells Stefano, who walked in with his mother. Leo must have informed them about what happened.“Mel, dear, what happened?” Kat asks, sniffing. Melina could tell she had just finished crying as her face was red and her cheeks were stained with tears.“James shot Thomas.”&
CHAPTER ONEFranky's PVOFranky slowly opens her eyes but shuts them the second she feels a shooting pain at the back of her head. She gently lifts her hand to touch it and feels a wound with dried blood. She opens her eyes and tries to recall how she got the injury and where she was. Her eyes widen in terror, seeing her environment. She’s in a cell. Oh my God! What am I doing here? How did I even get here? Franky racks her brain, trying to remember anything that can explain why she’s here. Her heartbeat quickens as everything starts to come back to her. She recalls two men sneaking into her room and grabbing her. She can’t believe she got abducted again. Melina must be worried sick about me. Franky wonders if she knows and has started looking for her. Most likely, she believes.Franky whips her head to the cell door as she hears it squeak open. Her heart beats faster against her ribcage as someone approaches her. She wraps her trembling hands around her body and waits at the end of t
Months laterMELINAMelina stirs awake in her sleep and gets out of bed. She doesn’t bother putting on her slippers before going downstairs to the kitchen. She opens the freezer and takes out the chocolate mint ice cream. She hates it, but the little one growing inside her loves it.Melina is pregnant and is in her second trimester. So far, everything is great for her. That’s excluding the morning sickness and the weird craving she has lately, but other than that, it’s been wonderful. She’s excited to be a parent, and so is Thomas.Melina remembered the day she found out she was pregnant. Words couldn’t describe the joy she felt that day. Her heart soared to the highest point the moment the doctor said,“Congrats, you’re pregnant.”Melina believed she saw the brightest smile on Thomas’ face that day. She also couldn’t stop smiling the whole day. They are re
Present TimeMELINAMelina steps out of the car once they arrive at the beach house on the island. They touched land a few minutes ago and drove straight here. Thomas links his hand with Melina’s and leads them into the house. She is awed the second they step inside. The place is beautifully decorated with rose petals all over the living room. It has couches that have brown armrests and white pillows on them. To the left is a sliding door that leads outside, and right in front of it is a swing chair. The sun is setting, and the only light illuminating the place, adding to its allure.Melina walks inside, to the bedroom, following the trail of the rose petals. It has a king-sized bed with white covers and a carpet of the same color in front of it. Walking further in, she is blown away by the beautiful view of the beach. The sun casts a shadow on the beach’s crystal-clear blue waters and white sand. The sunset looks so stunning from here
THOMASHe looks at Melina as she settles into her chair. He’s relieved she didn’t question him about why he took so long at the warehouse. It wasn’t something he couldn’t tell Melina; he just didn’t want to bother her with it. Thomas smiles as he thinks about it. He looks at his lighter, and the smile on his face broadens. He couldn’t think of a better way to send the bastard to hell.A few hours agoThomas enters the container where James is being held. The room has buckets, a chair, a table with blades, a blow torch, pliers, and a whip. Rafael was quick to deliver him while Thomas was in the hospital. Thomas wouldn’t have had to deal with him today if he wasn’t on his way to his island with Melina. She deserves the time away after what they’ve been through.Thomas removes his Burberry suit jacket and drapes it over the chair. He unbuttons his sleeves, rolls them up, and re
Two Weeks LaterMELINA“Thomas, I might not know much of Sicily, but at least I know the surrounding area on the way home,” Melina says, looking out the window. They are on their way home. Thomas just got discharged from the hospital. Melina is so happy as he is almost fully recovered.“I know,principessa. I need to make a quick stop at one of the warehouses before we go home.”“You just got discharged. How could you already be working?” Melina asks, concerned he might be stressing himself.“Don’t worry. I’m not doing anything strenuous.”
THOMASHe scrolls through his phone to pass the time while waiting for Melina to return. She stepped out to get him some food as he hated the hospital food. Thomas couldn’t believe she forgave him for everything he did. He really thought she would never forgive him and would always blame him for all her sorrows. He is truly happy she did and intends to spend the rest of their lives making sure she never regrets it.The door swings open, and Thomas lifts his head up from his phone, shocked but happy that Melina is already back. The smile on his face quickly changes into a frown when he sees it isn’t Melina.The unwanted guest causally strolls into his room like he owns the place and walks to stand at the foot of Thomas’ bed. Thomas quickly replaces his phone with the gun his father put u
A few hours have gone by since Thomas was shot. The whole family is in the hospital. Melina fears every second, the doctors will just come out and confirm Thomas is dead.Hopefully, that won’t happen.She snaps out of her reverie when someone calls her.“Melina,” someone says, barging into the room. Melina turns her head to the door, and her eyes widen in shock.“Franky!” Melina jolts out of her seat and runs to her sister.“Hello, Mel,” Franky says, smiling.“Oh, my God! Franky, it’s really you,” Melina says, pulling her in for a hug.“Yes, it’s me.” “I’m so sorry for what happened to Thomas,” Franky says, pulling from their embrace.“I don’t know what I will do, Franky, if he dies. I didn’t even tell him I forgave him before he closed his eyes,” Melina says, as fresh tears sting the back of her eyes.
“Mel,” someone calls from behind her. She turns and sees it’s Leo.“Thomas is dead! He’s dead, Leo,” Melina says, sobbing and showing him her hands filled with Thomas’ blood.“I know, Mel, but do you know something else?” Leo asks calmly.She responds by shaking her head.“Until a doctor fucking calls the time of death, Sotto capo is alive. Do you hear me?”She nods her head, agreeing with him.Thomas could still be alive and just unconscious from blood loss.“He isn’t dead until a doctor says so,” she whispers, looking at his chest. She stares at it, waiting to see it move, but it doesn’t. The little glimpse of hope of him being alive dies. She snaps out of staring at his chest when Leo bends down to her on the floor.“Can you apply pressure to his wounds while we carry him to the car?” he asks, taking off his shi
Unfortunately, this doesn’t help Melina because James surprisingly kicks the bucket off her hands and backs her into a wall. He wraps his hands around her neck, restricting her airflow.“Fuck having your body; I’ll just fucking kill you.” He digs his nails into her skin and draws blood as he strangles her. Her face darkens as the veins around her face appear ready to burst at any moment. Melina places her hands above his to free them from her neck. She scratches his hand, drawing blood, but he doesn’t budge. Melina can’t believe this is how she dies. I have to do something.She checks her surroundings for anything that might be of help. Nothing is within her grasp because everything is on the floor. As he squeezes her neck tighter and presses her head deeper into the wall behind her, the wound behind her head burns. Her eyes become heavy. Melina could feel her soul slipping out of her body.I must act now.