Chapter 5

Donato DeLuca gently cupped my face in his hands and studied me carefully. Tears streamed down his weathered face.

"All these years, you must have suffered so much."

My mind went completely blank. I stared at him in confusion. "You're my father?"

Don DeLuca's voice was hoarse. "I know you have many questions, and I will explain everything, but right now I need to handle some urgent matters first."

He pulled out a black and gold card with the family crest embossed in the center. He pressed the card into my hand, his movements urgent.

"Go to the lounge at the bow of the ship and wait for me. No one will dare to disturb you there. Papa will come for you very soon."

He draped his white suit jacket over my shoulders and turned to leave. I walked toward the lounge, still bewildered by everything.

"Stop right there! Who said you could wander around?"

Just as I rounded a corner, a sharp female voice cut through the air.

Luna appeared with two guards, arms crossed and looking thoroughly annoyed as she blocked my path.

"A client specifically requested you and your sister together. Get moving and don't waste any more time."

I remembered Drew's screams and cries from earlier. A chill ran down my spine.

"You better not touch me! I'm Donato DeLuca's daughter!"

I did not care about anything else. I decided to use my identity as a mafia Principessa to scare her off.

"Don DeLuca, my father, told me to go to the lounge."

"Bullsh*t!"

Luna slapped me across the face. "Don't try your tricks on me! Someone like you doesn't deserve to even mention the DeLuca name!"

Then she burst out laughing. "Ha! Your parents are waiting for you downstairs."

She ordered the guards to take me away. I tried to resist, but the weakness I felt from my allergic reaction meant that I was no match for two grown men.

Luna stepped forward and grabbed my chin roughly, sneering. "You're going to regret this."

I was dragged violently down the hall. Luna roughly shoved me into a cabin, and I crashed to the floor.

This was the same room Drew had been in earlier, but it had transformed into a scene from hell. The air reeked of blood and the sour stench of vomit.

Drew was curled up naked in the corner on the carpet, covered head to toe in bruises and welts. Blood pooled between her legs as she sobbed quietly in despair.

My adoptive mother Carmen Moretti was not much better off. Her dress was torn to shreds. A brutish man with a cruel face had his foot planted on her back while she whimpered in humiliation.

My adoptive father Raphael Romano was being used as a chair by a man in a black tank top who sat on his back.

When they saw me thrown into the room, their eyes blazed with desperate hope.

"Tina, you're finally here! Go take my place with them!" Drew crawled forward frantically, her voice hoarse and ragged.

"If you please them, they'll let us go!"

When I did not respond, Carmen struggled to lunge at me but was pinned down by the man. She could only scream at me with pure hatred.

"This is all your fault! You did this to us! If you hadn't tricked us into smoking those damn cigars, we wouldn't be here!"

Raphael, crushed beneath the other man's weight, mustered all his strength to shout. "Tina! You ungrateful brat! If it weren't for you, Drew would be set for life!"

They blamed me for the consequences of their own greed.

"Shut your mouth! Don't move!"

The man in the black tank top cracked a whip across Raphael's back, cursing under his breath.

Raphael immediately cowered in terror, trembling violently. The man in the black tank top slowly stood up.

He looked me up and down with lecherous eyes, licking his lips. His gaze was filled with undisguised hunger.

He turned to Luna. "This one looks good."

Then he crooked his finger at Drew.

"Both of you. Come here and serve me."

"No! No!" Drew froze. Her eyes went wide with terror.

Her already pale face drained of what little color remained. She instinctively tried to back away, but the man grabbed both her legs, and she whimpered in pain.

"Please, no more! I'm begging you, please!"

Drew sobbed and pleaded. The man ignored her completely. With one brutal yank, he forced himself inside her.