Aria
The whole house is three times what my dad's house was, that is, before those cruel men broke in and trashed the place. There was so much blood everywhere. I can't even understand how this became my reality. My mum, dad and brother, they're all gone. Andy was just lying there, lifeless. I screamed so loudly when I saw him. Daddy said to stay in cellar, but I couldn't act like I wasn't hearing the gunshots, or the screams. My little brother whom I hadn't seen in over ten years, was gone. Yes, we were two years apart, but he was still my little brother. The only time we ever talked was on the phone. Video calls, voice calls... Even if we weren't in the same city, or country, it was fine. As far as I could see his face, I was fine. Yesterday, I turned twenty. I just couldn't stand being apart from my family, even if daddy had told me never to come back home except he sent for me. He said the whole family was moving to Switzerland so we could be together, but I couldn't wait. I thought he'd be happy to see me, to see his Principessa (Princess). He was so upset when he saw me yesterday. I felt like I wasn't wanted. Maybe he sent me away all those years ago, and hid me from the public because he hated me. Last night, when I got here, daddy took me to the secret room behind the wine cellar. That used to be my room before he sent me abroad. The room had changed a lot. It looked like a panic room built for criminals. The walls were lined with arms and different ammunition. The place was sound proof like some sort of war bunker. When the shooting began, I did as Daddy had told me. “Principessa, if you hear anything, anything at all, run to the cellar.” As if he knew something like this would happen. Right now, I know no one is trust worthy. With the air of authority Lucky walks with, I think he's the leader of this gang. What I can't figure out is what they want with me. I don't know what to do. All I'm certain off is that he needs to die, and it has to be by my hands. He needs to trust me if I want to get close to him. Close enough to put a bullet in his skull. I started gun lessons when I was only five years old. It was obvious daddy was into shady stuff. That was the only reason a twelve year old could be a certified black belt. After sitting in the room for a while, I walk to the window where is see armed men pacing the whole estate. There's no way I'm leaving this place with my body parts intact. But I have to escape. To give my parents a proper burial at least. There was no way those bad men had cleared out all those bodies. My parents should be there, Andy should be there... I felt helpless. Fear crept over me as I realized I could meet the same fate as them. Maybe I should have stayed quiet, hidden in the vault like daddy had said. While I tried to organize my thoughts, I heard a knock at the door. When I opened the door, I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. She was stunning with sparkling emerald eyes like precious gems. She had the most luscious lashes and the face of an angel. She smiled, revealing such perfect dentition, "My name is Camilla. You must me Aria." I nodded absently. Her eyes scanned my body slowly. She was accessing me. My cheeks heated up a little. Before I could open my mouth to ask anything, she closed the door behind her. “You have to look presentable. Aria, the Don can't see you covered in blood.” Shoot! I've been covered in blood for hours. After I left the vault, I spent some time flipping the bodies outside over trying to find my brother. When I got into the house, I caught that bastard taking a picture of him. “I'll get you anything you need! Name it! You need to take a shower and change into some clean clothes.” Camilla said with a fake squeaky voice. It seemed like she was trying to cheer me up. Her voice tinged with sincerity. Tears welled up in my eyes. “Anything?” I asked her? “Anything.” She affirmed, looking at me with such pitiful eyes that I started to feel bad for myself. “Can you get me my Andy back? My parents too. Can you bring them back please?” My voice broke as I made such an impossible request. Just then, reality had started to hit. Yesterday, I was a college student with friends and a family. A family I knew saw, but still, a family. Now, I was an orphan at the mercy of her parent's killer. Camilla pulled me into a warm embrace. “I'm sorry,” she said, "I lied to you mama. Ask for anything else. I promise, I'll give it to you!" She broke into a sob. I just stood there with this stranger, crying my eyes out. She seemed to understand what I was feeling. Or at least, she felt something. But no one could be trusted. Daddy was right, the world was a bad place filled with really bad, and horrible people. But for now, I want to hug this stranger, I want to feel the warmth I could never get. Even just for a moment. We stood there for over thirty minutes. Camilla held my shoulders softly, pulling me away from her body. “Sorry.” I apologized, knowing I put her in an uncomfortable position. “It's fine Ari, just take a shower quickly. Don Castello would want to see you when he comes back.” She wiped the tears off my face, leaving the one on her's to drip down. I nodded. She left the room for a moment. It took her some time to return with the hygiene stuff she went to get. I took the opportunity to carefully place the knife I had swiped from my parent's house under the mattress. She returned then walked me to the bathroom, like I needed help showering. Maybe she thought I'd kill myself if she left me alone. In as much as that was an option I was considering, I couldn't do that till my family's murdered was deeper than six feet. Don Castello will feel my wrath. Camilla opened the shower as I lowered myself into the tub. The blood flowed into the drain and I couldn't help but think about my next move. Right now, there can be no room for weakness. I wiped the tears that threatened to roll down my cheek. Camilla poured soap on my body and scrubbed me, inch by inch. This was the first time anyone was showing me love this way. It felt nice, but there no way I'd let myself be comfortable in this hell hole. When she was done, she brought me an immaculate towel. I wrapped myself up and entered into the bedroom. She had set some clothes aside for me. There was also a tray of food on the night stand. The sight seemed to make me nauseous. Right after I put the clothes on, I heard a soft knock on the door. It was the rude guy that took my pistol. He asked Camilla how I was doing in Italian. I scoffed softly. The idiot didn't know that was my fucking first language. I was going to use that to my advantage, somehow. They think I'm a stupid little girl, that's where they're wrong. ‘Your savoir’ my ass. “The don wants her.” Camilla looked down at me with pity filling her eyes. She walked me in front of a tall maple door I assumed led to the bastard's office. She knocked first then led me inside. In a flash, she was gone. The room was poorly lit. How can such an influential man not afford light bulb? “Come closer!” His voice was chilling. Goosebumps spread across my body. My legs moved themselves to the front of his huge table. “Open it!” There was something unhinged about the look in his eyes. Those were the eyes of a man who had seen blood one too many times to be fazed. He was dangerous, and so was I. He folded his sleeves up, squaring his shoulders. He had a full sleeve of tattoos on both hands. I did as he said and opened the mini heirloom chest that sat on the desk. What I saw left me in shock. A severed hand covered in blood. I felt nauseous. Immediately, I shut the chest. He cleared his throat. “That, was the gift I received this evening.” Why did he show me that? How was I connected to his ‘gift’. “Guess who it was from?” He asked like I was supposed to know. When I thought it couldn't get worse, his expression became more grimaced. “Wait that's not all, there was fucking note attached.” He had the worst smile on his face. The kind of smile only a deranged person would wear. He opened his drawer and revealed a note. After scanning my expression, he read the note out loud, "Release Ariana by tomorrow, if not, that will be you. You know I don't bluff. Love AL." I know those initials all too well. How the fuck is this happening right now? Why? “Now I want to know Ariana, what the fuck do you and Arturo Lopez have?” In that moment, my mouth couldn't move. It was as if I was frozen in time.Xavier Ariana stood there, looking at me like she had suddenly forgotten how to speak English. I knew there was something peculiar her the moment I set my eyes on her. The mere thought of her being connected to that bastard made my blood boil. She looked so innocent to be tainted by such a fucking veil person. My patience was running out. My fists pounded on the desk. “How are you connected to Arturo? Are you here spying for him? What do you have with him?”The last question was highly unnecessary. But I felt like I needed to know. She flinched everything I shouted. Her fear just made my desire for her double. “He is my friend!” She blurted out. I scoffed, ”Your friend? You expect me to believe that? You think I'm stupid.’’ I leave my seat and in a second I'm inches away from her. She takes a step back, holding her eyes shut. “Please believe me. We've been friends since we were kids.”My hand found her hair. I tugged on it lightly like she was going to break if I did it any hard
Aria The next morning, Camilla called me into Lucky's office. It seemed like he was a man of his word. It turned out the only person I trusted was the daughter of the consigliere and a bloody good lawyer. I signed the contract then headed back to my room. Every single part of it was just wrong. It said the man practically owned me. He could do whatever the hell he wanted, specifically, have me whenever he wanted. Some part of me wanted to go silent on Camilla but I didn't balme her. This was the life she was born into. Her job was just to deliver the contract it wasn't like she drew it up. The knife I kept under the mattress was the first thing reached for when I got into my room. I paced the floor of the room clinging tightly to my blade. I didn't want anything to catch me off guard. What did Lucky mean by pet? Was he really going to touch me funny? The hand in the chest, why did Arturo send it? How was I going to get out of here? Playing this sick game of his wasn't going to wo
XavierIt's been a week since I had seen Ariana. I've been too damn busy planning my revenge on Arturo. Since he sent that message threatening me to release Ari, he's gone silent. It was obvious that he was planning something. I couldn't be caught off guard. It was hard to concentrate with her damn face flashing through my mind all day long. I was going insane over the enemy's daughter. This girl would soon be the death of me. The way she said my name made me loose my shit completely. I had absolutely no composure. Keeping her here was the best decision I ever made. Knowing I had something Arturo wanted and couldn't access turned me the fuck on. I hear a knock on the door. I know the only person who would knock so damn softly was Camilla. “Come in!” “Boss, she's ready.” Camilla had been reporting to me daily. I couldn't just let Ariana be by herself for too long, she'd go crazy. Camilla said she didn't eat much. I suspected that It was because of the environment change. Or t
Aria “I hesitated! I had him and I hesitated!” My lower teeth sunk into my lips as he grabbed my cheeks. It hurt, a lot. “I'm sorry, please let me go.” No matter how loud I screamed he didn't listen. “That's all for today!” He said before pulling me in the direction of the others. Today is the day I take my last breath, I'm sure of it. “Boss, what happened? Are you okay?” Lorenzo saw the blood flowing from his arm. Xavier bit back a curse, ”I'm fine. You guys can have your fun, we're going home!”I thought he was going tell to them what happened and have me killed, but he didn't. Instead, he drove us home. Xavier got into his study and didn't come out for a long time. My whole body was shaking. I wondered what he was going to do to me. “Shit, shit, shit!”Why didn't I kill him? Why on earth did I hesitate? That man killed my whole family, he gloats about it every moment he gets! This wasn't my last chance to kill him. I have other chances, that's, if he lets me live. The fir
Aria He tucked his gun behind his belt looking down at me with desire in his eyes. Xavier walked closer to me, goosebumps spread throughout my whole body. “No, I'm not taking off my clothes in here. This is a dressing room.”He swept his tongue across his lower lips, his eyes didn't leave my body for a second, “Ari, baby, I didn't ask for your opinion. It wasn't a fucking request. And yes, this is a dressing room, so get fucking undressed.”The way his voice came through was cold and stiff, this was not negotiable. “On the count of three, I want everything gone. If you can summon the courage to shoot me in the fucking arm, then you can do the only thing I'm keeping you alive for.”His words cut through like a sword. I can't believe that this is what I've been reduced to, a sex doll. “One.” I hear his voice barge into my thoughts. Before he can say anything, I pull off my top leaving only my bra. “Two,” his voice is louder this time. My hand moved to the buttons on my pants. I un
Xavier“Everything is ready, sir. Should I take care of it? Or do you--” I shot my head up at the direction of my underboss, Enzo. “No, I want to have some fun with this one, Enzo. My face should be the last thing that he sees.”Those words hurt me to say, but I have to exert my dominance. Being weak is not an option. No one crosses Xavier Castello and gets away with it. Honor and loyalty are two words we hold dear in Cosa Nostra. I can tolerate just about anything, but betrayal is definitely not one of them. If I let go of everyone who crossed me because of sentiments, I would be a dead man. I didn't get my title as don from being a weak little bitch. “Let's go!” I ordered, getting up from my swivel chair and shutting the door to my study. Our convoy moved with speed and stopped right outside the estate of one of my father's most trusted men, Benicio Morales. I walked into his room where he and his wife Beatrice, were sleeping soundly. How could the damn bastard sleep after stea
XavierThe ride back to the estate was excruciatingly painful with that little bitch kicking and screaming like a toddler. Enzo kept giving her death glares but she didn't seem to get the memo. We pulled up in front of the mansion and the cars filed up in order. I turned back to catch her staring daggers at me. No one looked me in the eyes, absolutely no one. But this girl, there was something about how she looked at me. “Stop it!” Enzo ordered. She ignored him completely. Her audacity was unmatched. She obviously didn't know who she was messing with. I didn't blame her. “You look fascinated,” Lorenzo said as I made my way out of the car. “Wipe that smile of your fucking face you bastard!” He was right, but he didn't have to know that. I turned my attention to Mateo who was walking towards me, ”Sir, she's being difficult.“ “You're telling me that you can't handle a little girl” I barked out in irritation. Lorenzo's eyes moved to my hand. I followed it and found his eyes resti