Jacopo Nicolo..."Have you forgotten that I've put you in charge of my biggest casino?" Dante asked, annoyance evident in his voice.Dante had the right to be upset with me. Yes, I had a job to do back at the casino, and no, I was not doing the job I needed to do back at the casino.I have been too busy trying to get the flash out of Ezabella Vipers grip, while also proving to myself that I was not as sick and twisted as I thought I had become.I was also neglecting the mission Dante had given Cane and I to find out what the heck was going on with Alex Fimbar and the case the detectives were trying to build against him.Cane never called me. I assumed he was always the kind to work solo better, but Dante was not as optimistic as Cane and I were no longer working together."I have been busy," I replied."Busy doing what?" Dante snapped back. "Busy rotting away in your apartment when you have important things to do and a case to fix?"I let out another sigh."Listen Nicolo, I have be
Ezabella Viper...I watched as Jacopo Nicolo walked away from the bed and stood across from me, his back pressed against the drape-covered window."Go ahead," he commented.I placed a laptop on my lap and waited for it to finish powering up. Anticipation was making my guts twist, that along with the fear of finding something horrible.I truly didn't know what to expect and why my father kept the flash close to himself.But I was going to find out very soon. I plugged the flash in, and within seconds, it automatically opened.I narrowed my eyes and leaned closer, trying to see what it was.There was a single video, one that was seven hours long.Goodness, why the heck was my father carrying around a video seven hours long? To what end?Confusion clouded my head as I pointed the arrow in the video and double-clicked it, ready to see the secret my father was wearing around his neck and my husband was desperate to find out about.The video started, and the first thing I heard was the
Jacopo Nicolo...I stood in the dark hall, just silently staring at the woman sitting behind the drapes, softly sobbing.She was pulling a certain string in my cold heart.Her reaction to what was on the flash took me aback. It was not at all what I had expected from her.I recalled the terrified look on her face. She looked traumatized, like she was looking at something she had never expected to see before.I was curious as to what the flash contained. I was surprised when she went back on her words and offered to return the things I gave her in my home office. I had seen the fire blazing in her eyes when I gave her the things she had previously wanted, but I'd also seen them die down when she returned them back to me.Instead of reaching for the laptop, I walked after her, taking in a full reaction, wondering why she was suddenly breaking down.I didn't know what to do. A small part of me was telling me to return to the bedroom, so I would be able to retrieve the laptop and se
I sat in my office for seven hours without living a muscle, just watching the video without taking my eyes off of it.Victor Viper was not joking when he promised Eliot Williamson that he was going to make him cry like a little boy, make him piss and soil his pants. Victor Viper tortured the man who had tried to take his city and legacy away from him, along with his only daughter.I'd heard on the day Dante offered this marriage alliance to me, that Victor Viper's daughter was kidnapped by the enemy who took the Vipers away from him. I knew she was in the hands of a horrible man. I just didn't know the extent of what he must have done to her to earn this much torture at the hands of Victor Viper.It would be an understatement to say that Victor didn't hold back. He used every single tool he had at his disposal, every single item that would fall into his hands to torture the freaking life out of Eliot Willamson. He kept his promise by making Eliot cry and begging for a quicker death.
The torture when on and Eliot ended up hanging on a lot longer than I thought he would.Victor had said that he should have started recording a while ago, which made me realize that the torture was a lot longer than seven hours.I sat through it all, watching and listening, learning and hating every last second of the video.My mind was exhausted by the time I was done. I have to say, I admired how adamant Victor Viper was when he took revenge for what had happened to his daughter. When the video was over and the laptop shut down on its own due to a lower battery, I stayed still, looking at my reflection through the dark screen.Watching that video made me doubt everything I thought I knew. Among the few things I have come to understand is that Victor Viper truly loved and cared about his daughter. That torture was not a matter of pride or anger due to the short-term loss of his power as the leader of the Vipers. It was all because of his failure to protect his only daughter.She wa
Ezabella Viper...I stayed hidden behind the curtains even after I calmed down. I couldn't get myself to stand up. I couldn't get myself to leave the safety of the thick drapes. I stayed there even after the sun started setting, casting an orange glow on the sky.I stayed there even after the sky darkened, the flash still hanging from my hand.When I finally got myself to look down at the flash, I let out a tired sigh.My head hurt. My eyes hurt.My back and knee hurt.Every part of my body hurt.I slipped the string over my head and returned it under my hood before I finally forced myself to rise to my feet.I let out a soft hiss at the pain that shot up my knee, traveling all the way up to my right hip.I gently massaged my hip, hoping it would relieve the pain. I limped out from behind the drapes and came to a stop when I spotted Jacopo standing in the open kitchen, a bottle of water in his hand, his head tilted back as he drowned it whole.I walked over to the couch before h
Jacopo Nicolo...I stood in the darkness of the bedroom, staring out into the darker hall. Despite how dark it was because I had turned the bedroom light off, I could still see her slowly limping towards the hall.My gaze was focused on her right leg, recalling one of the things Victor Viper mentioned what Eliot Williamson did to his daughter in that torture video.Victor had claimed to have seen a video of Eliot smashing Ezabella's leg with a metal bat, making her knee his main target. Victor Viper had tortured Eliot in the same way the other man had tortured his daughter, and a metal bat to both knees was something that he had to endure as payment for how he destroyed Ezabella's leg.I couldn't believe I was stupid enough to believe that she was faking it, making herself look more vulnerable by limping around. I thought it was to make herself look less vulnerable.Oh, how wrong I was to think that.I lifted my eyes to her face, seeing the slight excitement in her as she reache
I drove to the address Dante had sent me the previous day. I needed to find out what that address contained before I gave Dante a call.I bet he was furious with me for rejecting his call and then refusing to answer when he kept calling me.I needed to have something good to tell him when I finally do call him back just so he would be distracted enough not to shoot me dead, or worse, kick me off of the web.The address was a five-minute drive outside the city, and I wondered what connection this might have with Alex or the web.I arrived at the address and stopped my car in front of a large fence, the gates closed off from the rest of the world.I cut the engine and hopped out of my car. After closing the door, I walked closer to the gate that was strangled by the overgrown vine plants.I looked past the gate and the first thing that caught my attention was the many motorcycles parked in front of a large house.There was a single soul outside, but it was obvious that this might have b
Three days.Ezabella Viper has not left her room for three days. I felt lost. That night, the night we went to the Smith mansion for the dinner party, had been a disaster on both of our ends.My night was ruined by the things some of the members of the web thought about my wife and by the bet Elijah and Dante set on me taking Dante's offer or not.Ezabella's night was ruined by someone sending a video of her torture to the group chat of the women of the web.That's right. Ella Smith told me everything in great detail about what happened that night in the living room while I was in the home office of Elijah Smith. Someone had the nerves to do that to my wife, to send a video of her torture for everyone to see.Ella said she had tried to delete the video since she was the creator of the group chat, but that unknown number kept sending the video back over and over again until she was forced to delete the group chapf in whole. She said she had taken a screenshot of the number before she
Jacopo Nicolo...I stood outside the door, my eyes still thrown into Cilvia's bedroom, silently listening to the conversation they were having.From the looks on the remaining women in the living room with Ella, I knew something bad must have happened. I just didn't know it was this bad, bad enough for Cilvia to speak to Ezabella this way and force her to hold her hand even when I hadn't held her hand yet.They were talking about a video just seconds ago. What Video?I had several burning questions I needed to ask, and I wasn't sure how I was going to ask them.Suddenly, I was no longer upset with Ezabella for departing from Ella and running off alone. At least the crazy woman was keeping her company.Their conversation seemed to end with Cilvia confessing about her baby sister's murder, even though she failed to mention that she was the one who murdered her own sister, using the same poison I had tried to make Ezabella drink on the night of our wedding.I stepped closer to the do
I limped out of the living room, not knowing where I was going to go and hiding before I broke down into pieces."To the stairs." A woman's voice came from behind me, and I glanced over my left shoulder to see that it was Cilvia."Go up the stairs." She said again, nodding towards the stairs.I turned towards the stairs and limped forward, hearing Cilvia's heels echo after me.I climbed up, tears burning my eyes and a huge lump stuffed in my throat.My own scream was ringing in my ears as I climbed the stairs, pain radiating from my knee up to my hip, making my limp ten times worse."Turn left." Cilvia ordered once I reached the top of the stairs, still closely following me from being but giving me enough space to breathe.I followed her directions, hoping she would lead me to a place that wouldn't have any witnesses to see me break down after what had just happened.Cilvia continued to lead me around until I reached the door. All the while, my cheeks were flooded with tears, and my
Ezabella Viper...The dinner was nice, not the tense silence but the delicious food.It was nice to enjoy a meal even though I felt awkward sitting with so many strangers. Call me delusional, but I felt like I was being watched by some of them, as if they were predators trying to figure out the weakness of their prey, who happened to be an injured prey who can't even defend herself from the majority of them.I silently enjoyed the dinner presented in front of me until Dante stood up and walked away, calling for the rest of the members of the web.I wasn't sure if I should stop eating, since a lot of them were gone, or if I should just silently continue to enjoy my meal.I finally glanced around the dining table and saw that the women were still eating their dinner, so I continued to do so until someone said we had had enough, or until my belly was too full for me to even move.The first month of marriage had taught me not to take food for granted, so I was determined to clean my
I let out a sigh."I'm working on it." I replied, and the two men looked at me as if I had suddenly frowned three extra heads right before their eyes."Wait?" Elijah said, forgetting the fact that he passed just seconds ago. "What do you mean you're working on it? Are you accepting his offer?" He asked.I remained silent, and that was enough for both of them to understand that it was a yes."Well, I'll be damned. I never thought you would easily cave in." Dante said, leaning back in his seat.I stupidly felt insulted at that."I will fulfill my end of the bargain, and after that, you will never even consider me for an alliance with another party." I commented, and Dante nodded his head."Of course. All you have to do is wait until the child is born, and then you are free." He confirmed.Heaviness weighed in my body, as if someone had cut me open, filled my insides with cobblestones, and threw me down to sink into a deep, bottomless ocean.Admitting what I had planned to do out loud fe
I was the last to enter Elijah Smith's home office, the familiarity making my skin crawl.Elijah was sitting behind his desk as he would when the meetings were at his house, Dante taking another seat at the side, while the rest stood around.There were a few people who I was more familiar with than the rest, including Elijah and Dante, Harvey, who is Dante's shadow, and Cane, who always stands with his back pressed against the bookshelf, his eyes looking left and right as if they were surveillance cameras.I looked at the empty chair left across from Elijah and I reached up to gently tug at my collar, remembering how I was sitting in it over a year ago, fresh burn wounds all over my body, when Dante suggested the marriage to Ezabella Viper."Now that we are all here, there are a few things we need to discuss..." Dante commented, looking at each and every single one of us."To begin on a lighter note, it has come to my attention that we are currently dealing with another opponent who c
Jacopo Nicolo...The scene was quiet and awkward. The only noise that filled the room was that of metal utensils clinking against plates as everyone focused their attention on the plates in front of them.I glanced around the table, taking note of everyone present and everyone missing from the so-called dinner party. There were a few empty seats, which was weird, considering there would usually be extra seats pushed in to fit everyone in. Missing the meeting for the last month was not the smartest decision I have ever made since I joined the Web, especially seeing how different the vibe of the group was.There was more tension than I remembered, and I wondered why.I glanced towards Elijah first, seeing how he was more focused on his food and his wife, who was sitting on the chair next to him, than on the tension in the room. I glanced at Dante next, and I wanted to roll my eyes at how unbothered he looked, enjoying his dinner like no other person sitting around the dining table.My
Jacopo knocked on the door of my room exactly an hour and a half after he had left me to rest. I was in the middle of a deep sleep when he came to get me, successfully waking me up with excitement at the memory of where he said we were going."I'll wait for you in the living room." He'd commented, once again looking bothered at the sight of my room before he closed the door and walked away.I got up and took a super quick hot shower, washing the sweat of the exciting evening away, before quickly drying myself and limping towards the walk-in closet. I found the bags Jacopo left in there and aimed for the one I was sure contained the long, purple dress.I put my underwear on before slipping into the fitting dress, already feeling better about myself than I had in the last year while glancing at my reflection in the mirror.I slid my feet into the purple flats we got to match my dress, my cheeks once again heating up at the memory of how gentle the man I married turned out to be.I grab
I saw in the passenger seat of the car, comfort humming between us. The items we purchased were in the backseat of the car.It would be an understatement to say that I genuinely had fun. From shopping for books to the last store we walked in to get me a bag. It was nothing like I expected it to be.Jacopo didn't leave my side even once, even when he himself was having an internal battle with people's gazes.It brought us closer to each other in some sort of way.I let out a soft sigh of content, already imagining the next week I would spend curled up with a book. Bye-bye, boredom."Do you like the things you got?" Jacopo asked, breaking the silence."I do." I replied with a nod, remembering how he had helped me put the purple flats on, the way he responded with such gentle words pushed by an even gentler voice.I glanced at him, feeling an odd flutter in my chest.The moment was broken when his phone rang, splitting the silence in the car.Jacopo answered the phone, putting it on a l