Rodrigo’s Pov “I’ll talk, I'll talk,” Enzo yelled. Good. I knew he wouldn't keep quiet about it for long. Enzo didn't look like someone who enjoyed pain, it was one thing I'd picked about him immediately after we met. "Rodrigo, you think you know everything, don't you?" Enzo started, his voice dripping with sarcasm. I clenched my fists trying to keep my composure instead of killing him then and there. I had a bad feeling about where this conversation was headed. "What are you talking about, Raphael or Enzo or whatever?" I asked, my voice steady, but inside, I was a whirlwind of emotions. Enzo leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "You have no idea, do you?" he said, shaking his head. "The higher-ups hired Tanya to investigate you. They are already threatening her, torturing her even, to get information about you." My heart skipped a beat. They did what? Investigating me? It didn't make any sense. Tanya and I had been close, or so I thought. I felt
DANTE'S POV As I trudged down the narrow corridor of the old, crumbling building, the sounds of muffled cries and distant screams echoed through the air, each one a testament to the unspeakable horrors that occurred within these walls. The air was thick with the scent of fear and desperation, which I had become all too familiar with. I had been in this business for more years than I cared to remember, and the things I'd witnessed had long since hardened my heart. I didn't care about any of the people in these cells. I trained myself not to trust anyone else. They'd be used against me—even family. Yet, something about Tanya stirred a long-forgotten feeling deep within me. As I approached her cell, her voice reached my ears. She was screaming, her voice loud and filled with pain. She had been subjected to the most brutal of tortures, yet she refused to talk. I admired that about her; it wasn't easy for anyone not to break with these tortures, but she managed not to break. He
DANTE'S POV Jack entered my office a few days after I had been expecting him. The anticipation had been gnawing at me for days, and I was eager to hear what he had uncovered about Tanya. She had been on my mind since the last time we met, but I didn't want to do anything rash, so I avoided her cell for the past few days. When he finally walked into my office, I could see the weariness in his eyes. He handed me a thin folder, and I could tell right away that it wasn't bursting with the kind of information I wanted. My heart sank a little, but I tried to remain hopeful. "Well, what did you find?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. He sighed and opened the folder, revealing a few sparse documents. "Tanya finished her studies at a small community college on the outskirts of town. She's twenty-two years old, and her mother is listed as Maria Lopez. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything else about Maria, and there's no other information about her." I took the papers from
DANTE'S POV When the call came from the hospital, I was sitting in my study, the heavy scent of cigar smoke hanging in the air. The room was dimly lit, with only the soft glow from the desk lamp illuminating the stacks of paperwork and the glass of bourbon I had been nursing. The phone rang, its sharp tone cutting through the silence. I hesitated momentarily before picking it up, steeling myself for what I might hear. "Mr. Dante, we have some news regarding the girl," the voice on the other end said. My heart pounded in my chest, a sensation I hadn't felt in years. "Go on," I urged, my voice steady but my mind racing. "She's your granddaughter, Mr. Dante. The daughter of your late son." The news from the hospital had hit me like a fast train. She was my granddaughter. Tanya, the girl we had kept locked up in that dingy cell, was the daughter of my late son. I could hardly believe it. My mind raced, trying to piece together the fragments of my past and the cruel twist of f
TANYA'S POV “Why don’t I start from the beginning?” Dante suggested. I stared at him, the man who called himself my grandfather, the man who had let me suffer for so long in this place. He had watched those people torture me, and now he wanted to fix everything. Impossible. I felt a lot of emotions at that moment: anger, betrayal, confusion. My parents had never told me about any other father, and I didn't even know Henry wasn't my birth father until he said it before he was killed. Yet, despite everything happening inside of me, I said nothing, allowing him to speak. I wanted to hear his part of the story. I wanted to know if he deserved forgiveness; he didn't deserve it, but I wanted to know what he had to say. “My son's name is Damien. He is your father, sorry was your father. Damien died a few years ago, and he never told me about you. I am sure he doesn't know you exist, mostly because your mother hid you, and we never thought of it. If I had known about you, I would hav
TANYA'S POV Sitting quietly after Dante left, I turned around and willed myself to go back to sleep. Less than an hour later, Dante and some guards burst into my room, dragging me out. “What is going on?” I asked. Of course, they didn't answer me. “Tie her hands so she doesn't escape,” Dante ordered one of the bodyguards with a scar above his upper lip. Scarface moved closer to me, grabbing my hands and twisting them back painfully before tying them. “Are you going to tell me what is going on?” I asked again as I was being dragged forward. Dante didn't reply and kept looking around wildly as his bodyguards shielded us, guiding us outside. “I guess not.” Walking outside, I realised I hadn't been out in a while. I looked around to see where we were, but only thick bushes surrounded us; it was hard to see anything other than the bushes. How did I even get here? I could have sworn we were in the city before. One of the guards grabbed my arm painfully, hurrying me tow
RODRIGO’S POV My car sped quickly to the place where Tanya was being held. The location was deep within the forest, far from any signs of civilisation. I hadn't seen anyone throughout my journey here. I pushed the pedal to the floor, ignoring traffic lights and speed limits. The urgency of the situation left no room for caution. My mind raced as fast as the car, each passing second amplifying my fear for Tanya's safety. My phone buzzed beside me. Picking it up, I answered it without checking the caller, “What is it?” “Sir, we are right behind you.” My bodyguard said. Looking through my mirror, I noticed four cars following behind me. “Okay, good.” Without waiting for his response, I hung up and threw my phone on the passenger seat. Dave had managed to find a video from a security camera that showed her being taken there. Every time I replayed it, my heart twisted in pain. Mi Cariño. The short footage showed Tanya and her father being dragged into a van, her eyes wide wit
RODRIGO'S POV "No!" Tanya's voice ripped through the air, distracting me from what was happening. She sprinted out of the car, her steps frantic and unsteady, like a bird with clipped wings. Her face was hurt, and she was probably in a lot of pain, but it seemed like she was hell-bent on stopping me. The way her breath hitched as she closed the distance between us made me almost laugh. She held her hand up as she bent down to steady her breathing, "You can't…. Oh my god, I think I'm going to puke…okay…you can't kill him!" she screamed, her voice cracking as she yelled, she bent over and clutched her knees again, trying to catch her breath. She didn't even run that far. Wait a minute, I shouldn't kill him? “You can't kill him, Rodrigo. Please don't. For me, please don't kill him. Please just don't kill him; you can't. Just put the gun down so we can talk about this, please.” She begged. Something was going on. Dante turned, his eyes narrowing as he took in the sight of her.
Rodrigo POV I had to admit she was one of the strongest I had ever met. For some reason, she could keep up and pace with me, and that was also because she was pregnant. I felt happy knowing we had many more rounds like that to come in our lifetime. If that was the only compensation for the loss accumulated throughout the last couple of weeks, it was worth it. I got up from the bed, finally. After such a long time, I had been determined to leave her as soon as possible, but somehow, she had convinced me to stay. And stay I did, throughout the night, over to the following day, and even now. I didn't want to leave. Even though we didn't have sex throughout the entire night, the kisses and hugs we lovingly gave each other were enough to keep me excited all the way. She made a sleepy sound as I slipped away carefully, not wanting her to know I was going. Who knew how long I would stay back if she wanted me to? After all, I couldn't resist once, and most likely, I wouldn't be able t
Tanya's Pov By the time I met Dante, I found that he was making some phone calls. I had a sudden feeling that they were preemptory ones because he was planning something. I observed his expression for a moment, and upon seeing the grim expression on his face, I realised that he intended to leave. "Don't tell me..." I said once he was done with the call. He looked at me before managing a smile. "We are not safe anymore, not even me. I should have thought about it earlier. It's rather annoying that I had to figure it out from Rodrigo." I looked at him in surprise. I could vaguely remember Rodrigo telling me to tell him about this. Did that not mean he was not supposed to know about it yet, as I had not told him yet? "I asked him about where he was off to when I saw him acting all weird and uptight," he told me with a roll of his eyes. "Honestly, things don't always need a serious cryptic explanation." "Where is he now?" I asked, feeling like I was being left behind. I
Tanya's POV It took me a lot of serious searching to find him. Once or twice, I thought he was in the house and that Dante was bluffing. But after remembering the severe expression on his face, I decided to make sure that Rodrigo wasn't here before I went over to accuse Dante of lying. I found him eventually in a secluded room, staring into space despondently as if he were depressed by something. "Hey, Rodrigo," I said, my voice becoming very soft as I stepped in. Something told me he didn't want anybody to enter at this time; he wanted the moment of silence to himself. But I found myself intruding anyway. It had been so long since I had seen him, and I wanted to ensure he was well. He glanced my way, but suddenly, a light entered his eyes. He didn't look angry—wasn't angry like I thought he would be at my sudden appearance. Instead, he seemed happy. It made me smile, knowing that I still brought joy to him despite everything that had happened. The light in his eyes faded
Rodrigo's POV I didn’t protest anymore, deciding to hope for the best and let everything play out by itself. Tanya wouldn’t die; I knew it, and as long as she was alive, everything was fine despite everything I had lost and would lose. I had no other option than to let the driver take the car over to my mansion. I was shocked when he was granted access. It seemed that Tanya and Dante had modified the security system while I was gone. “It’s all well,” I thought to myself as I entered my room immediately after getting out of the car. I didn’t want to talk to anybody—though there was nobody for me to speak to in the first place. I needed some time to myself, time to meditate on everything that had happened so suddenly, and also some time to figure out what the next course of action should be. I was before my laptop, typing furiously as if my life depended on it because it probably did. I wouldn’t let the same situation repeat itself in my life more than once. But then again, it
Rodrigo's POV It took me quite a while before I realised that it was an ally standing in front of me. It wasn’t just any random person; it was Dante. “What are you doing here?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow. There was a good chance that he was here to help, but he could also have his motives. I wasn’t foolish enough to think that we were friends. We weren’t. “What does it look like I’m doing here?” he asked. “Saving you.” He went behind me, and with one swift motion, I felt the ropes on my hands slack. He had cut me loose. I looked at him again, realising that he wasn’t bluffing. It started to make sense now; he most likely had taken out all the men guarding me, one after the other, though they thought it was some accident. “Follow me,” he said. “I’ll get you out of here.” I didn’t want to accept his help, but I had no choice in the current situation. Since he had been able to manoeuvre his way through the many criminals with guns, there was a good chance he could do
Rodrigo's POV They were closing in on me. What's more, I knew it when I saw how everyone fighting around me kept an eye on me. I knew that it would be tough for me to escape. It didn't stop me from trying to free myself, though. Constantly, while they were fighting, I tried my best to loosen the ropes. I knew I would have a better chance of survival if I could utilise every skill at my disposal, and I couldn't do that if I were tied up. I was almost there; I could feel it already. All the ropes were nearly gone, and I was secure enough from the bullets flying across the place like rain. If I kept my cool and continued the process diligently, I would easily succeed in freeing myself. Then, I could either join the fight or escape entirely. Suddenly, I saw a man beside me, pointing a gun right at my head. "Don't move anymore," he said. "Do you think you can escape now?" I froze, realising that he wasn't bluffing; he would shoot me if I did anything funny. "Look here," I sta
Tanya's POV The leader I was to meet turned out to be Diego himself. Well, what did I expect? Seeing him, all the rage and frustration I felt as a result of how things had turned out came rushing back. After all the threats and everything, the man decided to kill me anyway. What, then, was the point of making me give him the flash disc? If he would fight to get me out of there, why didn't he do that from the start? I glared at him in annoyance as I opened my mouth to speak. From the look in his eyes, he already knew what kind of reaction to expect from me after what had happened. I only hoped he had a reasonable explanation awaiting. "Why?" I asked finally. It was only one word, but it carried the weight of all the emotions raging through me. I wanted to scream at him, to fight him—a couple of punches from me to him would release some of the anger and frustration. But somehow, I didn't move. "It's hard to explain and even harder to understand," he told me in a small voice. "But
Tanya's pov I couldn't understand why he would want me to hand it over to him if he had the power to threaten him. He made it seem as though he could keep him in check, but if he could, then why did I have to give him the document? Why couldn't he just break the both of us out of here so we could forget about the entire incident? All those questions were bubbling in my head, wanting desperately to burst out, but I kept them in. I knew when to speak and stay silent, and now was the typical time to remain silent. I couldn't precisely question him when he showed up out of nowhere to save my sorry ass. "Do we have a deal?" Diego asked him. From the amount of time he was spending to think about it alone, I knew that he had no intentions whatsoever to let me go out of here alive in the first place. The realisation made me even more glad of Dante's intervention, though I could not still understand many things about his actions and why he was doing them that way. Maybe it was not so
Tanya's POV The shooting started unexpectedly. I was still thinking when he finished counting down, and his men automatically started firing at us. The man named John took cover immediately, narrowly missing getting shot himself. His men took arms as well, and it was a free-for-all. I tried to find Rodrigo in the commotion. It was a perfect chance for me to escape with him and forget all that was happening. But suddenly, I felt a hand cover my mouth. I struggled, but to no avail. The person holding me was too strong for me to resist. Finally, when I stopped struggling, I felt his grip relax a little as he turned me to him. I already knew it was not Rodrigo before I saw his face, and when I didn't recognise him, I got my confirmation. He put a finger to his lips, indicating that I shouldn't scream. If I had known what was going to happen next, I would have because suddenly, he brought out some ropes and tied my hands behind me. I attempted to scream now, but it was too