DianaThe neon lights of the gas station flicker on against the setting sun of the Montana sky, casting eerie shadows across the deserted parking lot.My heart races in my chest as I pull Frankie's Toyota Corolla to a stop near the pumps.Every light, sound and movement hits me like a solid rock being thrown in my direction.For what I'm about to do is gnawing at my chest.Once I go into this, there's no coming back."Okay, Diana, you can do this," I whisper to myself, gripping the steering wheel tightly.I glance around to make sure no one has followed me.Anthony would be furious if he knew I was going behind his back like this.I keep praying he's still busy researching on the computer, and not following me to town.If he notices me missing, he'd come looking, which is why I chose to drive a few towns over.The station is eerily quiet, as if the world has stopped turning just for this moment.My hands tremble as I step out of the car, adjusting the jacket I'd grabbed in haste from
It's a frame I can't ever forget.Familiar, threatening.He steps out of the SUV, his movements deliberate and calculated, and I find myself unable to tear my gaze away from him.This is Damon Atwell. The very name sends a chill through me."Stay calm," I tell myself, slowly stepping back into the aisle and taking cover.I watch as Damon strides towards the gas station entrance, his boots echoing ominously on the pavement.When he reaches the door, he glances around one last time before coming inside.He walks up to Mr. Patel as Mr. Patel introduces himself."Have you seen this girl?" he says, showing him a photo.I take a deep breath and crouch underneath.I can't see anything anymore.All I hear is Mr. Patel's voice."No," he says firmly."Please leave. The store is empty."I don't know why this stranger just protected me, but I began to breathe easy."Please just leave," I pray silently, trying to convince myself that this is just a coincidence.But deep down, I know that nothing is
AnthonyMy heart drops when I notice the white envelope propped against the crisp white pillows on her bed.The elegant penmanship spells out my name, "Anthony" in a way that sends a shiver down my spine.I hesitate for a moment before picking it up, already fearing the contents."Anthony," the note begins, "I saw it. The torture chamber in the basement. I can't pretend I didn't. I thought I could handle being a part of this world, but I was wrong."My chest tightens as I read her words, each one like a cold knife slicing through me.I feel the weight of her fear and the gravity of her decision."Please understand, I do love you. Since this is the last time we will be speaking, I am taking a leap of faith to give you the truth. The night before our wedding, I made promised myself that I would never fall in love with you. At most, I might bring myself to tolerate you. But, the last few weeks together revealed how wrong I was for I did the unthinkable. I fell in love with you, started d
DianaI gasp for breath, the icy water of the river threatening to swallow me whole.My limbs flail, desperate to keep me afloat as the current pulls me along with a merciless force.Every time my head bobs above the surface, I catch glimpses of the rocky shore, so close and yet agonizingly out of reach."Come on, Diana! You can do this!" I shout at myself, forcing my aching muscles to work harder.The thought of that hitman estill lurking nearby sends a shiver down my spine, fueling my determination to survive.Finally, I spot a stretch of shoreline without jagged rocks waiting to tear me apart.Summoning the last of my strength, I fight against the current, inching closer and closer to safety.With one final push, I reach the shore and drag myself out of the water, collapsing onto the muddy bank.My entire body trembles from exhaustion, cold, and fear. Lying there, I take a moment to assess the damage: scratches cover my arms and legs, evidence of my desperate struggle through the r
The sensation gnaws at me, like a nagging itch I can't quite reach.I try to push those feelings aside, reminding myself that this man is supposed to be my lifeline, my ticket to freedom from the Mafia.But I can't shake the feeling that there's more to this situation than meets the eye."Are you feeling alright, Diana?" Agent Miller asks, noticing my hesitation.I reply, forcing a smile onto my face. "I just... I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything.""Understandable," he says, his eyes searching mine for any sign of fear or doubt."But remember, you're safe now. You've made the right choice by coming to us.""Thank you," I whisper, trying to convince myself that I can trust him.As we step outside, the cool evening air wraps around me like a blanket, providing a small measure of comfort amidst the turmoil of my thoughts.As we head towards his car, I can't help but feel a sense of foreboding.My intuition has never steered me wrong before, and I know that I should listen
AnthonyWhen I reach home, I can't figure out a way to find Diana and so, I am reduced to calling my younger brother.I'm protective of him, and I wish there was any other alternative to calling him and bringing him into my mess, but there isn't.I dial Lorenzo's number, the anxiety and desperation gnawing at my insides."Brother," I say urgently when he picks up."It's Diana. She's gone. I need your help to find her.""Alright, calm down, Anthony." Lorenzo's voice is steady, but there's an edge to it that tells me he's worried too."I'll make some calls and see what I can find out. Just stay put for now.""Okay," I manage to choke out the word, my throat tight.The phone clicks as Lorenzo ends the call, leaving me alone with my thoughts.I pace back and forth in the kitchen, the room feeling empty without her presence.My thoughts begin to feel like reality, and panic sets in at visions of her dead body floating up a stream.Time seems to drag on endlessly as I wait for Lorenzo to cal
DianaMy heart pounds against my ribcage as I crawl out of the shattered windshield, cutting my palms on jagged shards of glass.I need to escape – every breath, every thought is consumed by this urge.The car wreck behind me smokes ominously, a reminder of the danger I am in.I try to run, but my leg is injured."Stop!" A voice bellows from behind me.FBI Agent Miller, the man who refuses to let me go, clambers out of the wreckage too.His eyes are dark and determined, his grip on his gun unyielding despite his injuries.He wants to capture me and take me to Atwell.Of that, I am certain.What awaits me there, I can only imagine."Leave me alone!" I shout back at him, fear and adrenaline fueling my defiance.My legs are shaky but my need to survive and fear for my baby is relentless as I try to sprint with my sprained ankle, toward the treeline, hoping to find some semblance of safety amongst the shadows.But Miller remains hot on my heels, refusing to relent."Damn it, Diana! You kn
His eyes flick between Atwell and me, but he remains silent, clearly not wanting to intervene.I can't help but feel betrayed – after all, wasn't he supposed to protect me?If I can't trust the law, who can I trust?Atwell turns back to face me, and I can see the hunger in his eyes.He's a monster, craving the thrill of inflicting pain and fear on others.Desperate, I search for something, anything, that could save me from the horrors awaiting me.But there's nothing – only darkness and despair."Please," I whisper, my voice hoarse from crying."I don't want to die.""Death is inevitable, Diana," Atwell says coldly."But if you're lucky, it'll come quickly."There's no mercy in his tone, only the cruel promise of agony."Anthony will find you," I warn him, trying to keep my voice steady as fear grips my heart."He won't let you get away with this.""Let him try," Atwell challenges, a sadistic grin spreading across his face."By the time he gets here, it'll be too late for you."My hea
AlexanderA year have passed since the end of the war between my family and the Saconne family. Everyone was at peace. The Romano family was prospering with the added territory of the Saconnes we had divided amongst the other three great families.We were in good times now. Aryana had given birth to our son and he was adorable. He had my gray eyes, which I had also gotten from my father and Aryana’s golden-brown hair. I can still remember the day she went into labor. I had been so afraid and uncertain of what to do. Give me a gun or a knife, and I could kill anyone you wanted to, but give me a pregnant Aryana who was in labor? I was lost.I could still remember the emotions that threatened to overflow when an exhausted but overjoyed Aryana placed our son in my arms for the first time. Despite how wrinkly skin, he was beautiful.After recuperating, Aryana completed her master’s degree in Psychology. It had been a little bit difficult to see her stress over completing projects before de
“I was unconscious for two weeks?” Alexander was astonished, but I ignored his question because I just needed to tell him about my feelings in case this was all temporary.“And seeing how you would never wake up, I was lonely and scared, and I thought about all the times we had spent together, and I realized that I had fallen in love with you, but I didn’t know why I couldn’t say it, and then I regretted it and-,”Dry lips blocked the rest of my words from coming out. I didn’t hesitate to kiss back. It was amazing! I didn’t care that his lips were parched or that he hadn’t brushed his teeth in two weeks. I only watched him kissing me back, something he could do because he was awake!We slowly drifted apart.“Hi,” I whispered, afraid I would start rambling again.“Hi.” He said back to me. We stared deeply at each other, cataloging our features as if afraid we would forget with time.“I missed you.”“I missed you too.”I smiled widely, the first smile I had given in two weeks, and leane
AryanaTwo weeks.Two weeks had passed since Tony and Marcelo returned with an unconscious Alexander, covered in his blood. It’s been two weeks since Alexander promised me everything would be all right, since he promised he would come back. Technically, he didn’t lie. He did come back. Just not the way I had expected. It’s been two weeks since I last heard his voice, Since Alexander was last conscious.I missed him. I missed his voice. I missed his smiles and his grins. I missed seeing his gray eyes. I forgot how warm his embrace was. I missed the feeling of his lips on my body. I missed everything.To think that his last words to me had been to reassure and comfort me, and I couldn’t even tell him that I loved him. That was right. In watching over his prone body for the past two weeks, I came to the realization that I did, in fact, love Alexander. I couldn’t believe it had taken him falling into a coma for me to realize my feelings.How had I been so blind? Why had I continued to dou
Having found out the truth, there was no point in delaying matters. The only reason why Tom had been so successful in beating us down was because of Alfonso. Without Alfonso, what power did Tom have? Tom was already in a tight corner, and seeing how desperate he was to have sent Alfonso to kidnap Aryana, I could sense the end of this pointless war coming to a head.“I should kill you for your betrayal and send you on your way to meet my father, where you will spend your afterlife begging him for forgiveness, but I won’t. Not yet. What you’re going to do now is, you are going to tell Tom that you have Aryana, and he should meet you where we tell you to say. Do you understand?”The resignation was written all over Alfonso’s face. He knew he was done for. He had sealed his fate the day he decided to betray my family.“Are you sure it’ll be fine?” Aryana pulled me aside and asked. “What if he-”“Nothing will happen, I promise you.” I comforted her. “This will be the end, and we’ll finally
AlexanderWhy? I couldn’t believe it. I almost hadn’t wanted to believe it when Felice had taunted the knowledge in my face while kneeling on my feet moments before his death. Seeing my enemy at my feet greatly irritated me, laughing like a mad person instead of cowering and begging like I had wanted him to.Nonetheless, the information struck me like a bolt of lightning. A traitor in our midst had supplied the Saconnes with information about our trade routes so they would know where to hit. The traitor was also responsible for reporting my father’s location. Because of him, my father died. I was filled with rage. We had welcomed that traitor into our midst and had treated him like our family, and he repaid us like this?What pained me the most was who the most likely suspect could be. Marcelo and Tony had discussed this when I told them. We went over different possibilities and clues we could have missed.For the traitor to be reporting my father’s whereabouts meant he was high up in
My eyes widened in surprise.Elio Saconne was one of the brothers of Tom Saconne, the Don of the Saconne family. Marcelo had explained a little about the dynamics of the mafia families. Tom Saconne was the oldest of three brothers. After him were his two younger brothers, Elio and Felice Saconne. Despite how impulsive Tom appeared, it was a known fact that he doted on his brothers though I had doubts on whether he actually doted on them or if it was simply that he let them do whatever they wanted, precisely because he didn’t care about them.Alexander killing Elio meant a ray of sunshine for the Romano family as the war finally turned in their favor. It also told that Alexander was proving himself to his family members. Killing Elio was equivalent to cutting off a limb of the Saconnes. It was good news. I allowed myself to drag my eyes over Alexander and observe his features, spotting no happiness or pride in his feat. It had been quite a long time since I last saw him.I barely see A
AryanaWatching how the men under the Romano family cheered for Alexander settled the unease that had appeared ever since Marcelo told me what was happening. I was aware that this didn’t mean that they had forgiven Alexander. It meant that they would give him a chance to prove himself. I wondered if we hadn’t slept together or if I had allowed him to go back to grab a condom from his car back then, would this have happened? There would have been no need for Alexander to go into hiding. He would have stayed here with his family. His father probably wouldn’t have died, and these men wouldn’t have doubted Alexander’s loyalty to his family.I wished they wouldn’t be harsh on Alexander as it hadn’t been his fault. It wasn’t as if he had wanted to leave. He had argued with his father, but in the end, he’d had no choice but to obey his father’s orders. But I knew that wasn’t how the mafia operated.I watched in curiosity as they went on to perform the ceremony that would mark Alexander as th
“How are your injuries? I heard they’re better.” I changed the topic. I didn’t want to immerse myself in my longing for my father.“It’s getting better. You need not worry.” He patted my shoulder.“I know you need time to think about handling what will happen in a few minutes. I’m sure Tony told you about the displeasure of our men.”My eyebrows slightly furrowed at the words ‘our men,’ but he continued speaking before I could contemplate it. I decided that it must have been a blunder. After all, he was an old family member who served on my father’s side. It must have been a blunder.“I only came to tell you that I am here. I watched you grow from a baby to the man you are. You have my support.”I smiled, thankful for his support. He again gripped my shoulder, momentarily tightening his hold on me before letting go with another smile, exiting the study, and leaving me back to my thoughts.I let my mind wander as the time the men under the Romano banner would arrive slowly grew closer.
AlexanderReturning to Manhattan filled me with so many emotions. Memories of my father slammed strain me with so much force that I stopped in my tracks, earning glances from Tony, Marcello, and Aryana. I waved their concern away and stepped into the building that once housed my father, and meters in arms had arrived this morning to drive Aryana and me back to Manhattan. The ride back had been tense and quiet. The atmosphere between Aryana and me was strained. Since I told her I loved her last night and she didn’t reply, we didn’t know how to act in each other's presence. Even though I said she didn’t need to say it back, it didn’t mean I hadn’t been hurt. I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t say it back.Didn’t she love me? Had I read her emotions wrong? It was clear that she had feelings for me. Was it that her feelings for me were not as deep as mine, or was it too early for her? I scoffed bitterly to myself. It didn’t matter what. I couldn’t force her to return her feelings for