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53. Come And Take It
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2023-12-31 16:18:09
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ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 54. Don't Just Stand There
[LIZZY] Since I woke up this morning, Iโve had this awful gut feeling. Itโs hard to explain, but itโs like something really bad is about to go down. I even taste this weird bitterness in my mouth. Could just be a sign of an impending sickness, but I trust my body and instincts. I know somethingโs off. Maybe itโs also the fear of getting caught. I know for a fact that Vector is on a relentless search for me and Joey. Heโs going all out, leaving no stone unturned. I can imagine. The only comfort I have is that heโd never in a million years expect me to be anywhere near the Galante estate. That thought wouldnโt even cross his mind. Or so I think. Or hope. Or pray. God, I canโt even fathom what heโd do if he got his hands on us. I donโt want to entertain the idea that heโd hurt either me or Joey, but I know the extent of his rage and how cruel he can be if he chooses to. Honestly, I donโt even know why I went through with it. I didnโt have a plan or any rational thinking behind my act
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 55. A Different Plan
โYou have grown soft, Vector,โ Trevor aka Tony Jones chuckled, a thin trail of blood racing down the corner of his mouth. He tried to lick the blood off the cut on the lips but he was too late to soothe the damage already done. โWe might not have worked together but I heard a lot about you. And let me be fucking honest, what I heard is nowhere near what Iโm seeing right now.โVector tilted his head and leaned forward. The two of them sat in the basement of one of Perazzoโs Casinos. Vector appeared unaffected and bored, while Trevor was bound to a wooden chair, bruised and beaten. The boss hadnโt even laid a finger on him, yet Trevor already seemed on the verge of fainting. The bruises on his face were becoming increasingly prominent. Marcus had certainly done a number on him.โI have just one question, Jones,โ Vector spoke, his voice as calm and menacing as ever. โWhy did you do it?โTony spat blood to the side and shifted his gaze back to Vector. โWhy do you even care?โโI donโt care
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 56. Ace Up Their Sleeve
[LAURA]โUgh!โ I grunt, forcefully pushing everything off the table, and it all ends up scattered on the floor, creating a huge mess. But I couldnโt care less. Iโd do it again without a second thought. And again. And again.With frustration boiling over, I angrily toss the lamp from the side table, watching it crash to the floor as well.โSeriously, just stop it, Jorden,โ Cooper says, standing at the door and frowning at me.Gasping for breath, I feel a surge of anger and a complete loss of control. โHe canโt be dead,โ I growl, clutching my hair while kneeling on the floor. The broken pieces of glass pierce my pants and skin, but nothing matters compared to the pain welling up in my chest.I canโt believe the bastard is dead. Vector Alfonso is dead. How could he?I did everything in my power to ensure I was the one facing him, looking into his eyes, and pulling the trigger, causing his brains to splatter everywhere. It was my moment, but someone else beat me to it. I was so close, so
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 57. Terrified Cry
[LIZZY]โYou must have met Uncle Diego,โ Hazel says after I share a somewhat vague account of what I stumbled upon last night. Guilt gnaws at me for invading their privacy like that. If only I had knownโฆโThat makes sense,โ I sigh, trying to distract myself by running my fingers through Joeyโs soft, dark hair, which has grown long enough to be tied in a small ponytail.I canโt help but think about Laura, who used to take him for hair trims regularly, always ensuring he looked neat and tidy. She loved him dearly. But now sheโs gone, and Iโm left to care for this little boy all on my own.I love Joey, thereโs no doubt about that. I adore him with all my heart and soul. Heโs probably the only person for whom Iโd do anything, the one who never makes me feel useless or burdensome. But the weight of responsibility weighs heavily on me. Can I truly take care of him for the rest of my life? Am I capable enough? Can I provide him with the life he deserves? What if I fail to be the parent he ne
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 58. Let The Game Begin
[TREVOR]Something weird is going on here, and by weird, I mean, these people look scared as shit.Itโs been hours since Vector left after banging up my face, leaving me tied up in this stupid chair, locked in this shitty room that has no decent view for my bored eyes. All I can see are bad, stinky walls; all I can hear are footsteps pounding outside the room, including a few curse words that his asshole men bark out from time to time.A few minutes ago, I shouted for someone to get me some water.A tall, bulky man showed up, wearing a frown that made me want to punch him in the face. But I ainโt stupid. For these people to trust me, I must play nice. Once I find Lizzy and get my plan in motion, then and only then, Iโll show them my real face.I know Vector is wary. I could see that on his face when he came downstairs to question me. It was an interesting conversation, to say the least.To be honest, if I were in his place, I would be wary, too. I am an outcastโa pariah who made them
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 59. All Over
[CRISTIANA]When the car pulls up in front of the church, thatโs when I realize this is actually happening. My heart starts pounding as if itโs about to crash and burn, and my legs tremble.โGet out!โ the man driving the car grumbles as he opens the door on my side. The man sitting next to me, with his gun pointed at me, nudges its mouth to my upper arm, urging me to obey.I canโt escape from this situation; thereโs no way around it that I can see. After hearing about the explosion from Timmy, I knew what was coming next.Ducio Giangrasso. The bane of my existence. The man who is obsessed with me. Or at least thatโs what he claims. Who knows what his real intentions are?I canโt fathom what my father was thinking when he wagered and lost me in a poker game. He was never reliable, especially in front of my mother, but he was still my father. How could he betray me like this? Iโm his own daughter, his flesh and blood, yet he treated me like an object, discarding me like nothing in a car
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 60. Fate Was Sealed
[TREVOR]โHolyshit!โ Tim, or Timmy, or whatever the hell his name is, shouted as I aimed straight for that assholeโs head. The asshole named Ducio Giangrasso, head of the Giangrasso famiglia.Donโt even get me started on how the last two hours played out.After Vladimir told me about the job and hung up without giving any head or tail about the situation, I handed back the phone, only to realize the guy in front of me was a Perazzo. Timmy, Carlo Perazzoโs only son. He definitely reminded me of Vladimir earlier, they looked alike in many ways. But it was pretty obvious that Timmy was still learning the ropesโa total newbie.What didnโt make any damn sense to me was why Vladimir was trusting me with this task so soon. What was his plan? What was he up to? My gut was screaming at me that he knew way more than he was letting on. But I shouldnโt be surprised. Heโs the boss, the head of the biggest criminal organization in all of Europe, and then some. If anyone knows whatโs going down on h
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 61. Black Rose
[LIZZY]If thereโs anything worse than waking up in a dark room, feeling frightened and alone, itโs opening your eyes to blinding brightness and scorching heat, with someone poking at you like youโre some sort of lab experiment.โHey, wake up!โ the same voice that has been slashing through my sleep, faintly at first and now loud enough to make me want to crawl back to cool slumber, arrives again and jolts me out of my skull.โGod, how much did they doze you with? This is getting boring.โ The voice continued.I try to blink, but my eyelashes refuse to cooperate. They feel like theyโve been glued together, making me dread the idea of forcing them open and potentially losing my sight. Or worse, the dread that someone could have actually glued my lashes together just to mess with me. I canโt imagine someone being that heartless.โPlease, donโt be so heartless,โ I murmur to myself, my voice barely audible even to me.โWhat?โ the voice asks again, sounding irritated. โWhat did you say?โI w
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2023-12-31
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ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย Epilogue
[VECTOR] I never thought this day would ever come. Not before I met Lizzy Jones. Itโs all been a whirlwind, my life, that is. From the day I was born to the day I lost everything, I lived a greater part of my life in absolute fear. Fear of not being trusted, fear of not being enough, fear of not being there for my sister when she went through the same painful incidents before she even understood the word pain. Lizzy says that what happened in the past was hardly my fault. That the fact I couldnโt protect my family was not my burden to bear. After all, wasnโt I a child myself? How would I have known what Sofia had planned for that night? What possibly could I have done to stop her and her freak boyfriend? The answer: Nothing. I couldnโt have done anything. Literally. But then why do I feel responsible? Is it just survivorโs guilt? Or is this a way for my brain to tell me that I was equally accountable for not being prepared for what I knew might happen if Sofia wasnโt stopped?
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 93. Promise For Sure
[LIZZY]โThis is awkward,โ Laura mumbles under her breath, but maybe not so quietly to herself because I end up hearing every single word of it.โYou donโt say,โ I shrug, and I watch as the corner of her mouth twitches.She looks away and sighs, as if what weโre doing seems to be physically affecting her. I canโt really blame her, can I? When Xavier and Hazel showed up this morning, wanting Joey and me to come with them so they could see off this woman who pretended to have our best interests for five long years, I didnโt have many noble thoughts about it. Definitely not kind enough to think she deserved a heartfelt goodbye.But that would be the mean and hurtful side of me talking. Because if it werenโt for her, Joey would still be wandering around, scratching his head and trying to figure out how Vector suddenly turned out to be his fatherโthe man he couldnโt share me with at all, the man he wanted to punish for making me cry alone.โI didnโt mean any of the things I said to you, if
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 92. Being Addictive
[LIZZY]โThis is nice,โ I say as Tony and I sit outside one of the street cafes near the stream after a very silent and awkward dinner.I have no idea what I was thinking when I agreed to come with him. Maybe I assumed he would want to talk about things that he should have a long time agoโall those days he remained absent in our livesโthat he would like to give an explanation for it. That he would finally reveal the big reason for him to walk away from our lives the way he did. That I would truly know, for the first time, what drove him away and turned him so cold and crude towards me when I came to see him all the way from Venice to the US.Too bad, I have got nothing so far.During the entire dinner, all we talked about was food, Joey, and his weird obsession with fire. And now that the dinner is finished, and he has run out of all the random conversation starters, we find ourselves back to quietly sweeping our gazes around.I take another long and loud sip of my coffee, wondering w
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 91. Job Done
[VECTOR]โWhat the fuck are you doing here?โ Marcus looks stunned to see me, his brows furrowed deeply, flaring his nostrils as if heโs this close to grabbing a gun and aiming for my good knee.Well, maybe I do deserve that. Lizzy did warn me this was a bad idea.Not that I regret it one bit.Marcus and I have worked together for a very long time. We were even together that night, the night that boat exploded, and left us with the kind of scars that would take long to healโhis longer than mine. While I busted a knee and got several burns on the back, Marcus lost his right arm and got half of his face fucked up, including one eye.Letโs just say, I feel slightly responsible for what happenedโfelt obligated to pay him a visit despite everyone telling me to stay in the room and rest for long hours.Itโs not like Iโm trying to be difficult, or I donโt respect the care Iโm getting even though I have done very little to deserve it. But after Lizzy asked me, with those doe eyes of hers, if w
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 90. Smart Boy
[LIZZY]I wring my hands for the hundredth time, trying to shake off the nervous jitters.After a week of contemplation, Vector and I finally agreed on how to reveal the truth to Joey about his real parentage.Honestly, I canโt believe I allowed my life to become so complicated. What was I even thinking? What was I so damn afraid of? Looking back at everything that happened in the past few months, itโs obvious I have been worrying for literally nothing. Vector never did any of the things I imagined he would once he got a hold of me. He didnโt hurt me, make me suffer, or punish me in any way. In fact, if thereโs anything he did, it was to love me more intensely and passionately. Never did he ever try to hurt me, at least not purposefully. He did express his anger in the beginning, but now that I think of it, more than anger, it was hurt that he tried to mask as temper.I was terrified to even think about what he would do if he learned I kept such a huge secret from him. That I had been
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 89. Forget & Forgive
[One Week Later][LAURA/ERICA]โWhat are you doing here?โ I ask, bored, although for this tough exterior that Iโm putting on so fucking gracefully, I should get a damn Oscar for it.Then again, even if I did get nominated for an award, and had to choose between kicking some butts and wearing a sparkly, twinkly or some sort of shimmery thing ever over myself, I would rather just stick with what I do best, and we all know what that is.Except for my last encounter with the Perazzo brothers didnโt go as well as I planned.But, most of the time, they rarely do. Thatโs why this job is so darn tough and risky because, most of the time, the bad guys are one step ahead. They usually are. You canโt expect them to be playing poker when we storm their hideout. Nope, theyโre always ready for the worst. And when the cops do catch them off guard, we donโt get a warm welcome with tea and cookies. No, they rain a hail of bullets on us.Perhaps thatโs the reason thereโs a saying about the best-laid pl
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 88. Only Mine
[VECTOR]I was ten when my sister Emma was born. She was this small, delicate thing that I was too scared to even touch. Her big doe eyes were like pools of laughter and innocence that spilled from her mouth every time she giggled and thrashed her little arms around, wanting attention, wanting someone to hold her, carry her around, keep her squeezed against their touch.She used to love it when our mother used to talk to her, holding a long and silly conversation while little Emma babbled away, God knows what. But that hardly mattered when I was too busy wiping sweat off my palms, wondering if I would finally get to hold her.Mom wanted me to not shy away, always telling me that I was supposed to protect her. Dad, however, seemed a little unsure. He sincerely believed that I needed to grow up a little more if I wanted that kind of responsibility. And I always believed he was right. That I needed to grow not only physically but mentally. That I needed to make myself capable, just like
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 87. Ridiculously Crazy
[LIZZY]When I wake up next time, my body aches like hell. Itโs as if a terrible weight has been thrown over me, pinning me down, and I canโt summon the strength to get up.I snap my eyes open and practically groan when sunlight cuts through my eyelids like a laser, and irritates me and my skin like hell.Damn Vector. All this time, he has been cocooned in dark with doors fucking shut and curtains tightly drawn, and now that Iโm the one who desperately needs darkness and a lot more sleep, he has flung the windows wide open. Ugh. Iโm going to kill him, I swear.A voice in my head warns me against going back to sleep, but my body seems to have different plans entirely. In seconds, I grab the duvet and pull them back up over my head, rolling on the bed like a cinnamon roll to escape the heated rays. However, I barely settle into a comfortable spot when something suddenly clicks.My eyes snap back open.Joey.โShit shit shit!โ The happenings of the previous night smack me in the face and
ENTRAPPED BY THE DEVILย ย ย 86. No Matter What
[LIZZY]โYouโre leaving?โ I blurt out, eyes wide as saucers, my heart sinking deep into my stomach.The dark night stretches overhead, filled with scattered stars that twinkle like precious diamonds. The wind blows stronger, making my hair flutter all over my face.Zarina walks toward me, gracefully brushing the dark brown strands out of her face, her peaceful eyes briefly trailing over a sleeping Joey, whoโs still tightly clutched to my chest.I had just walked out of the plane, only to find Zarina stepping out of the car. Theo, one of the caretakers of the Island, carries her bags, and Chiara is holding the baby, flashing me a cheerful smile as they pass one by one, heading up the airstairs.My heart sinks even more with her confirmation. โWhy?โ I ask, my eyes starting to well up.โBecause itโs time,โ she says and gently runs her long fingers over Joeyโs back. โMir is taking over the business, and although he told me to stay here as long as I want, I know he hates being away from hi
