Chapter 17

Alice walked out with her suitcase toward the man standing in the middle of the lobby. She stopped next to the director.

“Alice. This is Mr. Adriano Bernardi. You will go with him.”

The director could not bear to look Alice in her eyes. She felt a lump in her throat. She could not bear sending Alice with this man, but she had no choice.

Alice watch as the director walked and enter her office closing the door behind her and leaving Alice alone with this man. She looked at Adriano who was looking her up and down. He turned around and walked out without uttering a word. Alice had to hold back the tears that wanted to escape. As she exited the building she noticed strange men, standing outside. She almost bumped into Adriano when he stopped next to a man. Adriano glared back at her and then looked sternly at the man,

“Get rid of all her information. Make sure there is nothing left and nothing to trace.” Adriano said, then walked toward the car.

Alice frowned as she heard his words. She watched the man motioning with his hand toward the other men and they followed behind him into the orphanage. ‘Why are they going back, what information, and who is this person they are talking about? Were these men not supposed to go back with her and Adriano?’ She asked herself

Alice heard a scream. She froze. ‘What is going on?’ She thought as her head jerked back and forth between the man and the orphanage. Her blood turned cold when she heard gunshots following one after the other. Children screamed and pleaded as they cried for help. The sound was soul-wrenching. Horrified her eyes darted around. She felt her feet automatically running toward the orphanage, fearing what she would find. She wanted to help them, but she only made it to the steps, when someone grabbed her from behind and threw her over their shoulder. She cried, shouted, and pounded at his back while kicking to get out of his hold, but it was useless. He threw her in the back of the car. As she landed on the backseat, she leaped toward the door, but it was slammed in her face and automatically locked.

“Let me out!” Let me out!” She screamed as she banged on the window. She heard the door to the other side open, and as she turned to the person, she felt a hard punch to the side of her head and lost consciousness.

 

The dark room.

Alice awakened to being surrounded by darkness. She blinked her eyes a few times, thinking that something was wrong with them. Overwhelmed with fear. She felt the coldness of the cement floor numbing her fingers. Alice jerked her head around. Her heartbeat started pounding with every passing second.

“Plink - plink - plink”

"Hello? Is anyone there?” she called out,

Silence. Only the unknown sound echoed through the room. With widened eyes, she swept her hands on the floor in front of her and started crawling forward. Her fingers bumped into something hard. She curled her hand around the object. It felt like a boot. She instantly jerked her hand back and crawled backward until her back hit a wall. Alice felt a wetness on her hand. She hesitantly lifted it to her nose and smelled blood. Alice wiped her hands on her clothes to get rid of it. She closed her eyes and tightly held onto her legs that she had pressed against her chest. Alice held onto them for dear life. No one came for her that day. After hell knows how long. Her mind started playing tricks on her. She started hearing strange noises echoing through the room.

“Go away! Go away! Leave me alone!” She shouted as she covered her ears, praying that it would stop.

Alice squinted her eyes at the faded light that entered the room. Boots echoed toward her.

“Get up and follow me.” The man said.

Alice tried standing but collapse. She was so scared the door would close behind him leaving her trapped inside the room that when her legs did not want to comply, she crawled after him.

He pushed a door open.

“This will be your room. Your food is next to your bed. Eat.” Then he walked away.

 

This was Alice’s life. She was beaten and given little food to survive on. No one talked to her or even gave her a reason why she was getting beaten and thrown back into that dark room. She only saw the man who adopted her once and never again. Was life playing a joke on her? To let her parents abandon her. Her finding a family in Kevin and then he also gets taken away from her. And now this? What is the reason for living when there is none? The only glimpse of hope she had left, was Kevin’s promise. But on that day as she was barely holding on. Khan told her Kevin was dead and even showed her the pictures. At that moment she lost the will to live. How could life be this cruel? She wanted to die and be rid of this earth and life forever. As she looked up at Khan, who was telling her not to die and to avenge Kevin, something changed inside of her. From that day on, that was her reason for living. Khan did half of what he promised. He still needed to tell her who killed Kevin. Every time she asked him who, he kept telling her the same thing. “You are not ready. I will tell you when the time comes.” But besides that, Khan treated her well. He was always by her side. He trained her and showed her everything she needed to know. Alice looked at Khan as the only person she could trust, he never gave her a reason not to. When she was in trouble, he protected her. But unfortunately, Alice did not look at the bigger picture. Khan manipulated her and made her blind to the truth.

Adriano kept her hidden so no one outside the clan knew about her. When Alice turned sixteen, she was taken to Adriano. He told her to call him father and life after that was one big blur to her.

“The real me had been taken over by pain and exhaustion day by day until there were none left to be taken.”