1. Uninvited Guests

Thunderclap broke the thick night sky of Naples, Italy. Raindrop roared, submerging the noise of night life glitter in a part of that city, Vomero district.

A tall lady with straight bob haircut could be seen slamming the table in Vomero’s well-known discotheque’s VIP room.

“You can’t do this to me! Don’t think I’m the same with stupid whores you’ve been sleeping with until now!” she yelled rudely.

A man whose face hidden by his black fedora could only giggle in response to the anger spilled by that woman.

“I am Vellina, sole daughter of Pacnozzi clan. Don’t take me for a fool! Do you think I can’t destroy you?” continued that woman named Vellina.

Half-hearted response given by that man really made her upset. Up until now, no man dared to underestimate her.

“Just you wait until I expose everything to my father! You will be finished! Do you hear me? You will be finished!” ended Vellina before finally she reached her small purse on top of the table and left.

Vellina slammed the door of that VIP room violently. Her wrath had reached the top of her head. She wouldn’t let any man to stomp on her dignity.

Just when Vellina entered her car she parked in the special parking area for the elite customer in that discotheque, her phone rang.

Vellina took a glimpse of the name on her phone’s screen before finally she picked up that phone call.

“What’s wrong?” Vellina asked, answering that call straight to the point.

She already knew from the name on her phone screen before, that the one who called was her husband, Diego.

“Where are you now? Arianna is looking for you!” said Diego with his high tone.

Vellina scoffed upset. Again, her husband kept pestering her just because their daughter was nosily looking for her mother.

“I’m busy. Just give that little brat a sleeping pill to stop her bawling!” ordered Vellina, clearly bothered.

Diego could be heard cursing at her on the other side.

“Just leave all of your business behind and come home at this very moment! Arianna is sick, she’s missing you!” commanded Diego, annoyed.

“I said I’m busy! Are you deaf? Just shut her up, no matter what it takes! Just leave her to die, if it’s necessary! It’s you who wanted a child, not me! So, take care of her!” scolded Vellina rudely.

“You animal! If you don’t come home at once, I will order Fabian to drag you by force, no matter where you are!” threatened Diego.

Vellina just scoffed for a while before finally she ended that phone call without the other side’s approval.

She threw that phone to her car’s backseat because she wanted to ignore the incoming phone call, which she knew would be heard a little while later.

Vellina was well aware of her husband’s characteristic. He wouldn’t want to lose an argument. Since the beginning, their marriage wasn’t something she wanted.

Diego was one of many subordinates of her father, the leader of a mafia clan in Naples.

Nobody knew how he did it, Diego successfully made Vellina’s father impressed so much that he was eager to take Diego as his son-in-law.

Of course, Vellina had attempted to refuse that matchmaking, but because there were so many benefits and advantages promised by her father, Vellina eventually was willing to become Diego’s wife.

In fact, at that time, Vellina’s heart already belonged to another man. Unfortunately, instead that man supported their marriage because he felt he wouldn’t be able to make Vellina happy with his current condition, a nobody at the time.

In the end, although Vellina married Diego, she still had a relationship with that man in secret.

Vellina slowly helped that man to become an influential figure so one day she could leave Diego and return to the embrace of the man whom she truly loved.

Her phone rang again for the umpteenth time. Vellina grumbled while gripping the steering wheel even tighter.

She regretted her decision to throw her phone to the car backseat, making her unable to reach it.

Upset, Vellina threw her small purse to the direction of that phone, whose ringing deafening her ears along with the time.

Meanwhile, Diego still hadn’t given up to connect with his wife’s phone. That sturdy-looking guy paced back and forth in his working room, with the phone on his ear.

Although Diego knew his call would be ignored by his wife, still he didn’t surrender yet. He would keep calling his wife’s phone until that lady was eager to pick it up.

Just when Diego was about to redial her wife’s number, Fabian, his trusted aide, came knocking on his half-opened office door.

“What?” asked Diego when he saw Fabian’s arrival.

“The owner of Pezcatores printing refused to return the money printing plate we lent them,” answered Fabian, giving out his report.

Diego’s eyebrow frowned upon hearing that report. Lately in these months, that printing company which had been designated for years as the site for money laundry and fake money printing for his clan, indeed was facing the downtrend performance, which was quite significant.

Fabian, whom he ordered to examine the place, had told him before that the cause of that performance reduction was because Enrico Pezcatores, the owner of the printing who worked under them, was in a chronic poor health condition.

Diego who was worried of their fake money production low achievement, finally decided to search another printing company they could squeeze and use, for the sake of the Pacnozzi clan.

The weird thing was, nobody knew why Enrico, the owner of that Pezcatores printing company now instead refused to return the money printing plate which had been entrusted to him for years.

“If you order me to take back that plate by force, I will execute it at once,” offered Fabian, waking Diego up from his train of thought.

“You don’t need to, let me see Enrico by myself. I have more important task for you,” answered Diego, with a slight tone of urge behind his words.

Fabian could only raised her eyebrows as his response. He was waiting for his boss to express the aforementioned task.

“Find my wife’s whereabouts and drag her by force at once! I want her here before 10 pm!” commanded Diego, disclosing the detail of the task he spoke before.

“Understood, Boss,” answered Fabian obediently before finally he took his leave to accomplish his

duty.

Diego himself now had finally given up the attempt to call his wife anymore.

Instead, he contacted another one of his subordinates to prepare themselves in two hours, in order to accompany him to Pezcatores residence that night.

Diego peeked at the clock in his office; its short hand pointed at 7. He sighed heavily.

Sluggishly, he stepeed toward the room of Arianna, his only daughter who was having a fever at the time.

For hours later, Diego could only sit beside Arianna’s bed while her daughter kept on calling the name of her mother in her sleep.

Diego couldn’t understand, why Arianna yearned so much for the affection of the woman who never loved her, even once.

In fact, if Arianna had asked for it, Diego wouldn’t have had a second thought to present the entire world for her.

That was how big the parental love of that man with purplish blue eyes and brown wavy hair, to his daughter.

Diego finally left Arianna alone with the two maids when his subordinates he contacted earlier had come.

Diego glimpsed at his watch. He was a little bit annoyed because Fabian hadn’t returned with Vellina yet. In fact, he expected Vellina to be already here to replace him watching over Arianna.

Diego was forced to leave his daughter behind. He wanted to clear the issue with Enrico as soon as possible and immediately return home so he could be on her daughter’s side again.

Along the way, Diego kept sending the messages to Fabian, asking him about the progress of his search. It was unusual for Fabian to take this long time to locate Vellina.

But even before he received the reply from Fabian, the car he was on had arrived in the residence of Pezcatores family.

Diego chose to visit Enrico’s house directly, because he knew one thing for sure, that there was no way for sickly Enrico to be in the printing building.

Three of his men who accompanied him swiftly got off the car and went before him, to ring the bell of the house for Diego.

A quite luxurious house compared to other houses in this housing complex. Of course, Diego thought Enrico was using the money from their dirty business to enjoy that extravagance.

A maid opened the door for them.

Without wasting any time, Diego’s henchmen entered just like that, without even explaining the intention of their arrival to that astonished maid.

Not only the maid, even a lady who seemed like she was the wife of the house owner, looked like she was in shock when those four uninvited guests broke through the living room.

“Who are you people?” she asked in panic.

“Where’s Enrico?” asked Diego loudly in response.

“My husband is currently not at home,” answered that lady; her lips trembling.

“Ah, you must be Mrs. Laura Pezcatores. Very good, nice to meet you. I am Diego Ludovicci, the Underboss of Pacnozzi clan,” Diego introduced himself in a relaxed way.

“Where did you know...,” Laura was choked on her words, unable to finish her sentence. Her face grew ghostly pale to hear the name of Pacnozzi clan being mentioned.

“It doesn’t matter where did I know your name from. Isn’t it a common sense for a good business partner to know each other? I know Enrico so well that knowing her wife’s name is also a given,” answered Diego while sitting casually on one of the armchairs in that room.

“Now, before I command my subordinates to search around your entire house, you better call Enrico to come before me,” continued Diego with a threatening voice.

He knew from Laura’s behavior that she lied about her husband’s whereabouts. When Diego mentioned Enrico’s name, that lady by reflex glanced on the upper floor defensively.

Laura now could be seen sneaking a peek to her maid, who nodded in fear. Her maid as if understood the intention of her master.

With a slight rush, that maid went on to the second floor of that house where the room of her master was located.

“A good house, certainly it needs a lot of money to build a home this luxurious,” commented Diego.

Laura could only froze in her place, without any response to the comment of the man in front of him. Her hand gripped hard the edge of her own plain blouse.

When finally her husband came down together with the maid who supported his steps, Laura could breathe in relief although a hint of panic was still dominating her face.

Diego wasted no time. Upon seeing Enrico, he snapped his finger as the sign for his henchmen to seize that old man immediately.

Laura and the maid spontaneously screamed to see those three vicious-looking man, grabbed the sickly old man violently.

Just when Diego was about to ask the whereabouts of his clan’s fake money plate, a loud voice of a woman took him by surprise.

“What the hell is going on here? Who are you people and what are you doing to my father?”

Diego turned around to see the source of that voice. He was unable to hide his surprise to see a figure of a lady who resembled her wife so much.