It had been hours and they still weren't tired. I was tired, way too tired. I didn't have the energy to keep my eyes open anymore but couldn't close them. If I did they would scream at me, and slap me around.My eyelids felt heavy, I felt dizzy, and I could not hold my eyes open. I just couldn't... Slowly my eyes closed of their own accord. I tried, I tried so hard to keep them open but couldn't."OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES, BITCH"A stinging slap against my swollen, bloodied cheek. My teeth hurt, my jaw hurt, my ears were ringing, and every part of my body felt tender, it was bruised, busted, and bleeding. I have never experienced this much pain in my life before."I don't h-have the k-key..." I whispered on the verge of passing out.Another slap to my face.And then another."You don't get to pass out on us!" he snarled.His voice turned heavier, I tried to keep my eyes open but in the end, I lost the battle and succumbed to the darkness.I woke up and saw the empty cell. The men had fi
ALESSANDRO’S POVThe gunshot rang out the entire dining room. Everyone glanced at me and then diverted their gazes back to their meals not questioning me or my authority. The Russells seemed wary of my decision to kill my own men off.The truth is he had pissed me off two months ago and since then I have been trying to get my revenge. He had shown a desire to marryNatalya and that for some reason pissed me the fuck off.Leaning back, I rested a forearm on the table. Anger burned in my chest, I had to keep it in check so, I won't kill every single fucking person in here. And I really wanted to put a bullet in Paul Russell's head.Hellen's mother showed her distaste by glaring directly at me. Apparently, she did not like the idea of blood while she was peacefully eating her dinner. Why the fuck was she married to a Don then? I'm pretty sure Paul had done some pretty fucked shit in front of his family. It was the reason Hellen turned out to be a fucking walking disaster.In all honestly
"I'm not bedding you before our wedding."She grinned. "When have you turned so old-fashioned?""Since my father wants me to give you the respect you deserve as my wife," I told her, glaring at her, letting her know that her presence wasn't fucking needed here.Her shoulders sagged, she tucked her hair behind her ears from both sides and sighed. "Do you not like me, Alessandro"I let out a breath, not this again. "I'm marrying you, aren't I?"She crossed her arms over her chest. "Not by choice! You're marrying me because it is expected of us.""Hellen, I'm in no mood to have this conversation with you right now. I just want to get some fucking rest."She glared at me and then stomped out of the room like a fucking brat she was. I sat down on my bed and held my head in my hands. My cell phone vibrated, I grabbed it and stared at the screen for a few minutes Evangeline.I picked up the call faster than I should have."Natalya?"I didn't hear her voice in return but a muffled sobbing. It
NATALYA'S POVThey had taken me out of that cell for some reason.I was now in a bedroom with no windows and dim lighting. They hadn't tortured or beat me up for two days now but that did nothing to the pain and swelling all over my face and body.I pulled the covers closer to me and tried to snuggle more under the sheets. I wanted to disappear and reappear somewhere else. I just wanted this torture to end.The bedroom door opened and a woman walked in.She offered me two pills and a bottle of water. I looked between the pills and her."For the pain," she said dryly like she wanted to be anywhere but here.I slowly got up and took the pills from her. I don't know what it was, these pills could be anything but painkillers. I wasn't going to swallow them. She kept staring at me, waiting for me to put them in my mouth. So, I did, I placed the pills under my tongue and took a sip of water.The woman took the bottle of water back from me and left the room. Once she was gone, I got up and l
"Let me clean the blood and tears off her face and try again..." Leo suggested, Ignacio threw me in his direction and Leo gently cleaned my face with a handkerchief."I'm scared..." I whispered, crying harder."Everything is going to be alright, just a little longer, Nat..."Ignacio pulled me back from him and again scanned my face. The rays then turned green this time and the system beeped. "Access Granted" The steel door opened in a spiral."It worked!" Ignacio laughed like a maniac, "It fucking worked!" he pushed me towards the door. "You will walk in first"With trembling legs, I walked inside first and I could hear the men following behind me. The room illuminated, Ignacio then walked past me and glared at the door."Another door?! It needs a fucking key, Leo. A real fucking key!" he yelled out aggressively.Leo was beside me in a flash. He gripped my shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. "Natalya, I want you to remember, think hard if your father ever told you anything about a ke
ALESSANDRO’S POVI gripped the weapon in my hands as I gestured for my men to stay back. The dirty old building stood in the middle of nowhere. This is the location that Mark Leopold had sent me. It could be a trap and here I fucking was.It looked like something Ignacio Reyes would own. He was a fucking scum. He didn't belong to any of the mafia's family, he was more of a small-town gangster that had made big and decided to cross me after I had put a bullet in his father's head. I had more men, more wealth, and more power than him but that didn't stop him. He was hellbent on destroying me. Someone gotta teach the fucker that no one gets away after crossing Alessandro Costello.A few of the men were out patrolling the area. They were unaware of our presence. Putting the silencer on our guns, I aimed at one of their heads. A bullet shot out of the barrel of my gun; piercing his skull. One bullet, that's all it took before he slumped on the ground like a puppet released from his strings
I got out of her room and went to my study to get a drink. I couldn't stay in that room any longer as the doctors inspected her body like she wasn't even alive anymore.After having a single drink, I stopped. Drinking made me irrational, and monstrous. I went to the bathroom and took a shower washing her blood off my body. This was the first time, I hated the sight of blood covering my hands. It belonged to her. It was her innocent blood.After six fucking hours or so, our family's doctor knocked on my study and told me that she had mild cranial trauma, two broken ribs, a nose injury, and a dislocated jaw. They had sedated her heavily and she won't be waking up in the next twelve hours.And I was going to return all these injuries to the fuckers who hurt her and I will make it a thousand times worse.I went back to her room and stilled in the doorway. She looked so fucking pale, fragile, and weak. She didn't look like herself. She didn't look like my stupid little Natalya.What I was
I opened my eyes to a familiar ceiling. A ceiling I hadn't seen in more than a month ago. The last thing I remember is Ignacio hovering over me. I have no idea what happened after that. How I ended up here.I couldn't believe I was here. I was in Alessandro’s home.I couldn't believe that I was in this bedroom. At first, I thought it was a figment of my imagination but then I tried to touch things around me and they felt so real.They were real.I was no longer in Ignacio's captivity. I was no longer in that dingy, dirty cell. I was no longer in Ignacio's bed, tears pooled in my eyes as I thought about what Ignacio might have done to me.I lost consciousness, I don't remember anything. I tried to fight him but he was stronger, he hit me in the head. I looked down at my clothes, they were just simple PJs, not the kind of revealing clothes that he had made me wear.Did he force himself on me? Did he assault me? I didn't feel different. How do you know if you have been assaulted?I sat u
I showered up, getting rid of the soreness of my muscles. I had never worked out in my life before and exerting my body so much in a single day has taken its toll. I had cramps everywhere.I heard some voices coming from downstairs. I couldn't recognize them. I mulled over the fact that I should go and check it out because it could be Nikolai's business partner. His business partners were not the kind of people you want to make a conversation with.But then I heard a shrill female voice.I went out of the door and stood at the top of the stairwell. Still, all I heard were the voices. I went downstairs and saw a tall, lean middle-aged man with a young blonde woman standing beside him. I could only see their side profiles. The woman turned and I sucked in a sharp breath.It was Grace Russell, Nikolai's wife-to-be. I know because I had attended their engagement. Her face was engraved at the back of my mind, the sight when Nikolai had slipped the ring on her finger replayed in my head on
"Have you ever worked out before?" he asked.I looked around with wide eyes. "Does running around in the gardens count?""No,""Then no, I have not""Come on, let's do a little warm-up first then I'll teach you how to box."My mouth hung open. "Box? As in boxing?"He heaved a sigh. "I want you to learn how to defend yourself, Natalya."I thought for a while before I nodded. Turns out, I don't even know what warm-up is, he had to tell me everything. The thing that annoyed me the most was his tone, he was speaking to me like I was a child and repeating his words so, that I'd understand clearly.Another thing that annoyed me was his toned muscles, and his stupid sculpted chest.When it was time to step into the boxing ring, Alessandro handed me a pair of boxing gloves. I was about to put them on but he came to me and put them on me himself as if I don't know how to put the stupid gloves on.I rolled my eyes and out of nowhere Alessandro gently smacked the back of my head. "Roll your eyes
Someone pounded on my bedroom door waking me up from my deep slumber. I groaned and stuffed my face back into the pillow to block out the sound coming from the door. The knocking intensified, whoever it was, didn't really have much patience.I sat up and glanced at the wall clock. It was only six o'clock in the morning. I rubbed my eyes to rid of the grogginess, tossed the duvet aside, got to my feet, and headed for the door. I opened it and was met with an unknown face. She was wearing the uniform the household help used to wear."What?" I asked."Don Alessandro had requested you to freshen up and wear this before you come downstairs."Frowning, I took the clothes from her and noticed that they were gym clothes. I heaved a sigh, I liked it better when I could say no to him but I dug my own grave when I promised him that I'd listen to him and follow his rules but that's all there was to it.I'm not the same girl who had a massive crush on him.I closed the bedroom door and glanced at
"I'll make sure to do everything he did to you... but his torture will be a hundred times worse," he whispered softly.His one hand was in my hair while the other was on my cheek caressing it with his knuckles. I leaned into his touch, feeling the security and comfort I used to feel when I first met him."They all took turns in beating me up, they laughed whenever I screamed in pain," I said as tears rolled down my cheeks and dripped down to the ground.His hand left my hair as he cupped my face with both of his hands. He tugged me closer. "I will make their death an object of ridicule."I looked into his eyes. "Promise?"He let out a deep breath with a hint of a smile."Promise," he declared. "Do you want to see it happen?"I considered it and then shook my head. I don't think I have the stomach for that much violence. "No...""Do you want to go home now?"I looked up at him. It's hard to forget what Alessandro did to me too and the fact that he was engaged was the hardest pill I eve
I had my headphones on as I continuously flipped the pages of the book that was before me. I hadn't read a word, the music blasted in my ears blocking out all the other sounds.I slammed the book shut and got off my bed. Alessandro had called Sabrina earlier, I knew that he did because Sabrina and I hadn't talked after his whole engagement fiasco.I pretended to be asleep while Sabrina waited for me.I didn't wake up until she finally gave up and left the house.I got to my feet, straightened out my dress, and headed downstairs. His house was crawling with his soldiers, they all tried to avoid making eye contact with me.They were moving some stuff into the house, some furniture, suitcases, and whatnot. Was Alessandro redecorating?I hopped onto the couch and put on the TV at full volume. Someone grabbed the remote out of my hand and turned the volume down.I huffed and looked up to see Alessandro looking down at me. He placed both of his hands on the headrest of the couch and dipped
She turned her back towards us and went into the kitchen. Probably to cook breakfast for herself, she didn't know how to cook shit."I'll be right back," I said to Scott, who nodded still clenching his hands like he wanted to punch something or someone. It won't be Natalya, I will fucking break his hand off before he does that.I followed her into the kitchen and saw her using her cell phone while she placed some of the ingredients on the counter. It looked like she wanted to make pancakes. She played a video and placed it before her while she followed whatever the lady in the video was narrating."Do you remember the rules?"She stopped whatever she was doing and glanced at me, her facial expression was bored, uninterested."I remember" she answered and before I could say anything she added. "But I could care less for them"Rage coursed through my veins. She was testing me, trying hard for me to slip up so she could hold it against me."Natalya, don't disrespect my men. I won't toler
I'm weak.Too fucking weak.I let her get too close to me.Until recently, I only ever really loved one woman in my life. My mother, I respected her, loved her.Anastasia Costello.I thought she was the only one who really knew me, the only one that can tear down my walls. I thought my ability to love ended with her, and I was fine with that.I've watched her writhing in pain, struggling to breathe, tears leaking out of her eyes but she couldn't move. My mother fought long and hard with the disease before she lost that battle. I thought that was it. My only weakness, the only woman I ever loved is dead and now I'm fucking invincible.But then she happened.The morning Nikolai Martinez died, I didn't fucking know what I was getting myself into when I brought his daughter into my home. I hadn't given it a second thought, I didn't even know what I was going to do with her.The men in my circle had many ideas about what I should do with her, but I didn't fucking agree with them. I thought
"I'm sorry, Angel, I'm sorry I let them take you, I'm sorry I wasn't there," his voice was so low that I barely heard it even though his mouth was right next to my ear."No! You are not sorry!" I choked out through my sobs. "I know I don't matter to you, I know I don't mean anything to anyone, least of all you!""Shh... I'll make it alright, I promise,"I tried to shake my head. "You can't! You can't""I will, I need you to trust me, okay?" he placed soft kisses on my temple."I hate you!""I know, I'll fix it""Nothing can fix this, nothing can fix me!""I will, Angel, I promise you.""I hate you so much.""I know.""I mean nothing to you.""That's a lie.""I don't want this, Alessandro.""I know.""You scare me too.""I know, Angel, I will make it alright""I don't want this, Alessandro. I don't want to be here.""I'm not letting you leave ever again."I cried harder. "Why?""I just don't want to," he answered softly."I don't want to get abducted again.""I won't let that happen."
Another day...Another morning...Still, it did nothing to calm the turmoil I felt inside of me. Everything around me was just the same but I didn't feel the way I used to. I feel hateful all the time, anger is the only emotion coursing through my veins right now.Ten days, I spent ten days in that cell but it felt like a year. It felt as if that cell didn't belong in this world, time passed by slowly there.I looked out of the window and felt nothing... this view always brought me comfort but now it did nothing to me. Nothing to calm the storm brewing inside of me.I remember looking out of this window and dreaming of a life outside these four walls. I thought it'd be a fairy tale. I thought my parents were wrong and the world out there was anything but evil."The world is a dangerous place and you are easy prey, Natalya. You are innocent and naive and you lack physical strength. This world will chew you alive."My dad wasn't wrong. He wasn't wrong at all but he betrayed me too. He l