CHAPTER 4: THE RUSSIANS

Alceo

As soon as the party was over, I was flung back into the basement I was once picked out from. My body came in contact with the untitled floor, I whined in pain and helped myself to the wall, resting my back on it.

Santo's head popped through the door, our eyes becoming 4.

"You should be glad that my daughter is in love with you or else you would be dining with Satan in hell already."

I chuckled, wiping the blood at the corner of my lips. "You think you scare me, Santo Del Vecchio?"

I guess it was the first in a long time someone had called him by his full name. The shock in his face was evident, his brows creased and his lips twitched to the other side.

"You don't know who you are dealing with, you this old scared little man. I know everything about you, I know your secret," I continued.

"Let's see how you would get out of here alive, I'll make sure to kill every form of love in my daughter's heart."

"Not even the devil himself can make that happen," I said and the blood in his face dried up like he just saw a ghost.

Without a word, he shut the door and locked it up. I carefully laid on the floor, thinking about how tomorrow would go. Oh heavens, it was really going to be messed up, still I couldn't wait for the night to go away so swiftly.

As I imagined the pain on Marianna's face when the truth came to light, my heart pumped blood faster. Her father just had to ruin everything today. What a piece of shit, claiming to be a lion when all he is, is a cat.

I tried to find a comfortable position to pass the night but every part I shifted to came in contact with my bruised skin. Knowing how badly bruised I was, a certain person was going to be livid tomorrow. From my knowledge, Marianna was still in the house and I just wanted to hold her in my arms and rock her to sleep.

Her beautiful smiling face made it all easy for me to finally close my eyes and let sleep take over.

The next day

Still a little bit conscious of my environment, my blurry sight caught the attention of the opening door. I laid there, immobile, waiting for the next thing that would happen.

The boot of a guard repeatedly hit my arm. "Get up, you have a visitor."

"If you do that again, you would regret coming to wake me up," I said in a gruffly hoarse sleepy voice.

The corner of my eyes caught his boot coming closer again, before it could reach me, I moved away as fast as I could and dragged his feet, making him fall hard on his butt.

His wail alerted the other guard who stood outside, he rushed in and forced me up, seeing his partner on the floor.

I was shoved out of the basement, as we made our way to the living room, I saw Marianna, coming down the flight of stairs, still in her pajamas. Her eyes were red and swollen. I assumed right, she had cried herself to sleep the night before. She gave me a weak smile and walked behind us to the sitting room.

I saw a tall big man standing with a scowl on his face and a younger version of him standing beside him. The guards threw me to the floor beside Santo, I heard him growl, his eyes ready to shoot flares of torches but he kept quiet without saying a word.

Marianna assumed a seat at the far end of the long couch, Javier was also present including Santo.

"What pleasure do I owe the Romanovs in my home?" Santo crossed his leg, acting like he was the king of the jungle.

The man desperately tried to keep his cool, he closed his eyes and mastered his breath.

"I hate it so much that you waste my time, take him away," Santo told one of the guards.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he finally spoke up.

"I said take him away," Santo shouted. As soon as the guard touched me, a bullet flew right into his skull. The man had removed his gun so fast that it was so fast to miss.

At that moment, everyone became alert. Santo jumped from his seat, breathing with so much anger.

"How dare you kill one of mine, Isiak? You come into my home, threatening me. Are you crazy?" Santo blared out.

"How dare you touch my son?" He asked.

"What?" Different voices said simultaneously, I dropped my head to the floor, not knowing how to face Marianna.

She dragged her feet to my front and helped me stand up, raising my head to meet her eyes. "You are a Russian, Al?"

"I'm so sorry baby, I really wanted to tell you yesterday but your father ruined everything," I tried holding her but she avoided my touch like it was a plague.

"You lied to me, everything we had, was it even true?" Her voice broke beyond measure, I felt weak knowing that I was the cause of her pain.

"Pretty, I swear, everything we had was real and true. I did not do any of these to get information from you. I loved you ever since I saw you the first time on campus and all I wanted was just to be with you. Please baby, believe me," I finally cupped her cheeks. She sobbed into my hands for a moment before turning away.

"I don't believe you," she rushed up the flight of stairs, with her sobs tormenting me.

I faced my father and my twin brother. "Great entrance, you just had to ruin my relationship. Can we now please go home?"

I dragged my feet on the floor and stopped right in front of a bewildered Santo. "Don't think this is over, I don't care how many people you marry her to, she will always be mine."

As soon as I turned my back to him, Uri, my brother reached out to me and helped me walk. The sound of a bullet tearing into my skin was the next thing I heard.

Santo had shot me in the chest, I fell backwards meeting the man with the gun.

"Nooooo, Al," Marianna's voice and her footsteps running down the stairs was the last thing I heard before my eyes went shut.