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3~ then and now

Penulis: Ahsia Risan
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-02-27 03:36:43

Rafael’s POV

I leaned back in the leather chair my fingers drumming against the armrest as I stared at the screen in front of me. It was the club’s security footage played in real time, every camera feeding into the private VIP suite where I sat. It was a habit I had developed over the years of watching, controlling and ensuring nothing happened in my domain without my knowledge.

The last thing I cared about at this stage of my life is how a club I own is going. I have so many of them and this one isn’t even the best I’ve got. I barely spend time here watching this. But tonight was different in every shape and form. I hadn’t expected to see her here.

The woman I once loved with every fucking feelings I have been hiding. The same woman I worshipped the literal ground she walks on. The woman who had ripped my heart out and left me to bleed for her own selfish benefit. She never turned back to see how I was faring after she had left.

She moved across the stage with hesitant moves, her red hair cascading down her back and her body wrapped in nothing but scraps of lace that barely covered her curves. She’s become more curvier since those years ago. She was nervous and I could see it in the way she gripped the pole and in the stiffness of her movements.

But that didn’t matter at this moment. What mattered was that she was here and she was fucking stripping to those worthless men. Not that she is also worth a dime now. She isn’t. My jaw clenched so hard it ached and my teeth are grinding. They might turn to dust in no time.

I had been keeping tabs on her since her pathetic excuse of a husband divorced her, waiting for the right moment to make my move because i have been planning this revenge before i dropped out of highschool after she had turned me into a laughing stock in the school. Marco is my first target before I come back for her but things are moving better and faster for me.

I let her think she had escaped me, let her struggle and let her fall. But this? This wasn’t part of the plan. I allowed her to get a job here when she came begging Vince to help her and to keep her closer, I agreed. But a bartender was one thing and a stripper was unacceptable.

The moment she stepped on that stage, every fucking man in the room thought they had the right to look at her. To touch her as if she belong to herself. Vince should have fucking told me before he allowed her on that stage. I might shot the fucker between the eyes if he is not careful.

“Get her off the stage. Now." I shot him a look from across the room that made him jump on his feet. For a smug guy, he is so fucking trrrified of me and I don’t blame him. I’ve been rumored to be a bit hotheaded.

“Boss I..uh.,” Vince hesitated, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans and he was really lucky I wasn’t in the mood today or he’d be dead for daring to argue with me. .

I raised a single brow sipping on my whiskey and he quickly started acting. He nodded and reached for his earpiece, muttering something to security but it was already too late. The moment I turned back to the screen, I saw it.

A man had pulled her into his lap, his filthy hands gripping her waist and holding her there like she fucking belonged to him. Adriana didn’t fight it, she fucking wanted it if her expression is anything to go by. She didn’t push him away. She let it happen like the fucking whore she has turned into. It makes me feel no guilt (something I haven’t felt ever) for what I have planned for her.

My blood turned to ice as I continued to stare at the screen. She was enjoying this. The anger that had been simmering inside me erupted into something dark and something uncontrollable. I stood, adjusting my cufflinks with a calculated calmness that masked the storm inside me.

"Bring him up." I ordered one of my guards or more like my freaking shadow, Nathan.

Nathan didn’t even blink and he was already walking out of the room. He never argues with me and knows exactly what I want before I could even say it. Nathan is the closest thing I have to a friend in this dark world I have found myself in. He just likes to keep our relationship professional.

My eyes flicked back to the screen, watching as Adriana scrambled off the man’s lap and then she proceeded to grab a few bills before disappearing off the stage. Was that a smile on her face as she held those notes? But I didn’t care about her right now. I cared about the bastard who thought he could put his hands on something that didn’t belong to him.

The door to the VIP suite opened and my men dragged the old fucker inside with his face red with indignation. He was still adjusting his belt, the sick fuck. I planned to just break a few of his fingers and maybe shot his both thighs that touched Adriana but for this action, he won’t be leaving this room alive.

"You dared to touch what’s mine." I said, voice calm but he shouldn’t have been delusional to think I am anything but that. Any man that has touched her will meet a bad end. Marco is next but I’ll take my time with that.

“Yours? She’s a fucking stripper, man. If you don’t want her touched, don’t put her on a goddamn stage.” The man scoffed, shaking his head completely unaware of the mistake he had just made. Hasn’t he seen the guns?

“Wrong answer.” I exhaled slowly while rolling my shoulders back as I cracked my knuckles, the sharp sound slicing through the silence of the VIP suite. The bastard had no idea who he was dealing with.

I turned to Nathan and without having to say a word, he started action. The first punch landed square against his jaw snapping his head to the side. Blood splattered onto the white floor a sharp contrast to the sleek luxury of the room. He barely had time to groan before another hit struck his gut, knocking the air from his lungs.

I stepped back watching as my men did exactly what they were trained to do. Fists crashed against bone, the wet crunch of cartilage breaking filled the air. The bastard tried to scream but one of my men grabbed him by the throat squeezing just enough to cut off the sound.

No one touched what was mine. No one disrespected me and goes away like that. I’m glad Vince is watching by the side and looks like he is about to fucking throw up. Next time he argues with me, I might not even give him the grace of getting punched. He’d just get a bullet straight.

His body went limp with blood dripping from his split lips and his nose broken at an unnatural angle. His suit that is expensive and tailored was now stained crimson and torn from where he had tried and failed to shield himself. Fucking Pathetic.

I pulled out my gun, sliding off the safety with a quiet click. The sound alone was enough to send a shiver of awareness through the room. Nathan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes flicking to me for permission to continue.

“Hold him up.”

My men obeyed, dragging his half-conscious body upright so he could face me. His swollen eyes barely opened with blood bubbling at the corner of his lips as he gasped, struggling to stay awake. I should have let him bleed out on the floor. But that wasn’t enough.

I wanted her to see what happens to any man she allowed to fucking touch her again. I had given her freedom for years but it’s time for her to pay for all she’s made me go through. I gestured toward the door and within seconds, Adriana was pushed into the room. Vince should not have done that either. Only I have the right to hurt her.

She stumbled forward, her red hair wild as usual with her lips parted as she took in the scene. Her wide eyes darted from me (it lingered as shock went through her) to the bloody mess of a man in front of her then up to me again. Tears pooled in her lashes and I almost smirked at that.

I didn’t look away because I wanted her to understand what was going on. She wasn’t just some worthless stripper. She wasn’t a forgotten woman trying to survive because I never forgot her. She was mine whether she fucking liked it or not.

She took a shaky step back her breath hitching in fear. I tilted my head, letting the weight of my next words settle in the room. And then without breaking eye contact with her, I lifted my gun and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed deafening in the enclosed space.

The bastard’s body jerked once before going completely still with blood splattering across the marble floor and onto my shoes and onto her dress. Adriana gasped, a strangled noise escaping her throat as she clutched at her stomach horror painting her face.

I threw my gun back on the table stepping toward her. She flinched and this time around I couldn’t stop myself so I smirked. I’m not sure what reaction is better. The shock from seeing me after so many years or the look on her face after I killed a man that tried to touch her? I’ll take both for now.

“Now you remember, don’t you Adriana? You were mine then. And you’re still mine now.” I murmured, my voice low as I held her jaw tightly in place despite the tinge I felt where our skin was connected.

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  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   4~ jealousy

    Adriana’s POVThe gunshot still rang in my ears. It was a sharp and deafening sound that didn’t just echo through the club but through my entire body. My knees buckled before I could stop them sending me crashing to the floor in a gracelesd heap. But I barely felt the impact. All I could do was stare. The body lay crumpled and lifeless. Blood seeped across the marble floor all dark and damning and the scent thick in the air. I swallowed hard as bile rise in my throat. He had a family. A wife and kids maybe. Someone who would wait for him to come home tonight. Someone who wouldn’t know that his last moments were spent groping me which he died for. . And Rafael had killed him just like that. Like he didn’t mean anything to the world. My Rafael. Except he wasn’t mine. Not anymore. The boy I once knew and the one who used to whisper my name like it was the most sacred thing in the world, the one who held me like I was something precious and fragile. That Rafael was gone. And in his

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  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   5~ Luce Mia

    Rafael’s POVAdriana knelt in the middle of the room shivering. her once vibrant eyes were now hollow and distant. Her cheeks were streaked with dried tears but there was no emotion left in them. Nothing. She just stared unblinking as the strippers’ hands roamed over me with their touch meant to entice, to seduce and yet none of it mattered. Not to me. Not to her. She was empty. A shell of the girl I once knew. The Adriana I remembered was always full of life and was always wearing that radiant smile., always laughing and always promising me things that never meant a damn thing. But now? Now, she was lifeless and cold, a ghost of the woman she used to be. And it wasn’t hard to guess why. Being married to Marco Marcini did that to a person. I almost pitied her. And the key word here is fucking almost. Then I remembered everything like a scene that wouldn’t leave my head. It keeps replaying time and again. I remembered how she had walked away from me without a second glance. How sh

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  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   6~ Blindfolded

    Adriana’s POV The room felt eerily silent after the strippers left leaving the lingering scent of cheap perfume and sweat clinging to the air like an unwanted memory. My eyes followed them as they strutted out with their hips swaying in exaggerated movements all traces of their earlier hostility (of course towards me) disappearing the moment the guard slipped them their payment. They giggled whilst whispering to each other as they disappeared through the door not sparing me another glance. Just another job for them, another night of easy money. Something I wanted to try but didn’t have the confidence to go through. I, however, couldn’t move from the floor. My body refused to cooperate. I remained kneeling in the middle of the cold floor with my hands clenched so tightly in my lap that my knuckles had turned ghostly white. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there staring down at my trembling fingers but the weight in my chest grew heavier with every passing second. I guess The shock

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  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   7~ No choice

    Adriana’s POVThe guard's grip on my wrist was unforgiving with his fingers digging into my skin as he dragged me forward without a word. He didn’t spare me a glance or acknowledge the way my legs stumbled to keep up with his brutal pace. There was no hesitation and no care just relentless force like I was nothing more than cargo being transported. The hallway blurred past me, my mind racing as I struggled to make sense of why they wouldn’t even let me see where I was being taken. What the hell is Rafael playing at? What kind of game is this? I wasn’t told about any of this. The muffled pulse of the club’s music faded and then we wree swallowed by eerie silence. The further we walked, the more the world I knew disappeared and is replaced by something darker and shadier than I’d expected. Was this not just about revenge? Was I not just an old wound he wanted to reopen for the sake of making me suffer? Because this felt like something else entirely. Then suddenly the dragging stopped

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    Adriana’s POVThe grip on my wrist was merciless as if the guard was dragging along something less than human. He didn’t look at me and didn’t acknowledge the way my feet stumbled against the polished marble floors. He simply moved forward knowing I had no choice but to follow. His silence was unsettling. No threats, no taunts just a firm hand that refused to let me go while guiding me deeper into a world I had no business being in. As we stepped inside the grand estate I felt the shift immediately. This wasn’t just a house. It was a darn fucking fortress. A kingdom where Rafael ruled with an iron fist from the looks of thinsg. The air itself seemed heavier and thick with something unseen but deeply felt. The guards stationed around the entryway barely flicked their eyes toward the one leading me but they acknowledged him in small ways by straightening their backs or nodding in respect or stepping aside with silent obedience. They didn’t just respect him but they knew him. He was

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  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   9~ Past memories

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  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   10~ Destroying secret

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  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   11~ Shipment

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    Rafael’s POVShe had finally fallen asleep tangled in my sheets, bare beneath the thick comforter witj lips parted and lashes resting softly on flushed cheeks. She looked innocent there almost too innocent for what we’d done hours ago and how wanton she had looked. Like the whore I had made her years agop. I stood at the edge of the bed for far too long whilke watching the slow rise and fall of her chest and her scent still clinging to my skin. My cock still ached to be buried in her again. But I forced myself to tuck the covers around her and smooth the hair from her temple and leave.Duty called and I’d ignored it long enough. Since Adriana was shot, I’d stepped back from everything. The Brotherhood and the meetings and the responsibilities. Romano didn’t complain, not openly because he knew why I’d gone dark but everyone knew he was preparing to hand over the reins now. The old bastard was throwing a ball. A final, dramatic gesture before he stepped down and left the throne wide

  • The Vengeful Mafia Kings’ Property   87: Let him

    Adriana’s POVThe room was silent. His arm was still draped heavy around my waist With one leg thrown possessively over mine like even in his sleep, he needed to pin me down and keep me in place. But hid breathing was slow now as I waited. Waited until the moonlight faded into a pale wash of early dawnuntil I could feel the faintest tug of morning air through the cracked window. My body ached. My thighs were sticky, my core sore and every inch of me used and branded by him. And I couldn’t stay even for one second longer. I needed water all over me. I needed space from him. And I needed to scrub his scent off my skin even though i already knew it wouldn’t come out. This is the last step I shouldn’t have taken but here we are. Holding my breath, I peeled his arm off me inch by inch while wincing when he shifted but didn’t wake. I slid out from under him, my feet hitting the cold floor as I rose slowly with my muscles trembling with exhaustion and overuse. I grabbed the oversized

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