Alceo
As soon as the party was over, I was flung back into the basement I was once picked out from. My body came in contact with the untitled floor, I whined in pain and helped myself to the wall, resting my back on it.Santo's head popped through the door, our eyes becoming 4."You should be glad that my daughter is in love with you or else you would be dining with Satan in hell already."I chuckled, wiping the blood at the corner of my lips. "You think you scare me, Santo Del Vecchio?"I guess it was the first in a long time someone had called him by his full name. The shock in his face was evident, his brows creased and his lips twitched to the other side."You don't know who you are dealing with, you this old scared little man. I know everything about you, I know your secret," I continued."Let's see how you would get out of here alive, I'll make sure to kill every form of love in my daughter's heart.""Not even the devil himself can make that happen," I said and the blood in his face dried up like he just saw a ghost.Without a word, he shut the door and locked it up. I carefully laid on the floor, thinking about how tomorrow would go. Oh heavens, it was really going to be messed up, still I couldn't wait for the night to go away so swiftly.As I imagined the pain on Marianna's face when the truth came to light, my heart pumped blood faster. Her father just had to ruin everything today. What a piece of shit, claiming to be a lion when all he is, is a cat.I tried to find a comfortable position to pass the night but every part I shifted to came in contact with my bruised skin. Knowing how badly bruised I was, a certain person was going to be livid tomorrow. From my knowledge, Marianna was still in the house and I just wanted to hold her in my arms and rock her to sleep.Her beautiful smiling face made it all easy for me to finally close my eyes and let sleep take over.The next dayStill a little bit conscious of my environment, my blurry sight caught the attention of the opening door. I laid there, immobile, waiting for the next thing that would happen.The boot of a guard repeatedly hit my arm. "Get up, you have a visitor.""If you do that again, you would regret coming to wake me up," I said in a gruffly hoarse sleepy voice.The corner of my eyes caught his boot coming closer again, before it could reach me, I moved away as fast as I could and dragged his feet, making him fall hard on his butt.His wail alerted the other guard who stood outside, he rushed in and forced me up, seeing his partner on the floor.I was shoved out of the basement, as we made our way to the living room, I saw Marianna, coming down the flight of stairs, still in her pajamas. Her eyes were red and swollen. I assumed right, she had cried herself to sleep the night before. She gave me a weak smile and walked behind us to the sitting room.I saw a tall big man standing with a scowl on his face and a younger version of him standing beside him. The guards threw me to the floor beside Santo, I heard him growl, his eyes ready to shoot flares of torches but he kept quiet without saying a word.Marianna assumed a seat at the far end of the long couch, Javier was also present including Santo."What pleasure do I owe the Romanovs in my home?" Santo crossed his leg, acting like he was the king of the jungle.The man desperately tried to keep his cool, he closed his eyes and mastered his breath."I hate it so much that you waste my time, take him away," Santo told one of the guards."I wouldn't do that if I were you," he finally spoke up."I said take him away," Santo shouted. As soon as the guard touched me, a bullet flew right into his skull. The man had removed his gun so fast that it was so fast to miss.At that moment, everyone became alert. Santo jumped from his seat, breathing with so much anger."How dare you kill one of mine, Isiak? You come into my home, threatening me. Are you crazy?" Santo blared out."How dare you touch my son?" He asked."What?" Different voices said simultaneously, I dropped my head to the floor, not knowing how to face Marianna.She dragged her feet to my front and helped me stand up, raising my head to meet her eyes. "You are a Russian, Al?""I'm so sorry baby, I really wanted to tell you yesterday but your father ruined everything," I tried holding her but she avoided my touch like it was a plague."You lied to me, everything we had, was it even true?" Her voice broke beyond measure, I felt weak knowing that I was the cause of her pain."Pretty, I swear, everything we had was real and true. I did not do any of these to get information from you. I loved you ever since I saw you the first time on campus and all I wanted was just to be with you. Please baby, believe me," I finally cupped her cheeks. She sobbed into my hands for a moment before turning away."I don't believe you," she rushed up the flight of stairs, with her sobs tormenting me.I faced my father and my twin brother. "Great entrance, you just had to ruin my relationship. Can we now please go home?"I dragged my feet on the floor and stopped right in front of a bewildered Santo. "Don't think this is over, I don't care how many people you marry her to, she will always be mine."As soon as I turned my back to him, Uri, my brother reached out to me and helped me walk. The sound of a bullet tearing into my skin was the next thing I heard.Santo had shot me in the chest, I fell backwards meeting the man with the gun."Nooooo, Al," Marianna's voice and her footsteps running down the stairs was the last thing I heard before my eyes went shut.Alceo Sir Bezzio and his wife came around upon hearing the news. The least thing we could do was let them name the baby. Mila, that was the name given. The surprising thing, our families had called us and given us back our titles. The Italian families didn't mind us being together once they knew the truth of what caused our enmity. They apologised and gave Marianna back her rightful seat. Uri and my brothers spoke with the elders of our place too and power was transferred back to me; this time only it was permanent.I stared at the ring in my hand. I wanted to seal everything and live with my family. The DNA result came back positive that Mila was my child. Marianna insisted on having one, which made us know that she was already pregnant before she was kidnapped by Javier. “Do you think she'll like it?” I turned to Aleksi. “Trust me, she will. Now I just need you to go in there and do the needful. Uri and the boys have prepared the other things we need for the celebration. It does
Alceo It took almost a month of dedicated effort to get Marianna out of her current state. Acting like her professor and escorting her to classes before she could recognise who she currently was. Seeing her stomach bulged out, her emotions conflicted with one another again.“What if the baby is for Javier?” She said to me one morning. “Would it be fair to keep it?“Then we'll raise him together like our child. Rid yourself of anything going on in your head. You need to understand that it isn't the baby's fault for coming into this world. We would love him/her like ours. Everyone would love him/her.”“Of course.”After a prolonged silence, she said: “Take me to see the bastard.”My head went up immediately, I suspended the thing I was doing at that moment. Staring at her like she just spoke Russian. “Are you sure?”“Yes I am. I want to see him.”“Fine, as your ladyship pleases,” I picked the shirt laying around aimlessly and led the way. The house had revived itself ever since she got
AlceoIt's been over 2 months since we rescued Marianna. My days were spent in the room with her, watching her as she let herself loose. The insanity was diminishing day by day and I desperately prayed for her recovery. Steve invited his colleagues that he could trust to come treat her; a mental doctor and a gynecologist who monitored her pregnancy.Her pregnancy bump kept shoving itself in my face as well but that was something that didn't bother me as much as I needed her back. Javier was still in the torture room, I had no plans for him yet. The men made sure to keep him alive even after all the beatings he had to go through every day.I sat beside her bed as usual, holding her hands in mine and gently squeezing them. This action of mine continued for a while, making her open her eyes. With her voice so calm and serene, she said: “where am I and who are you?”“Pretty, it's me. It's me Alceo.”I was praying for a recovery and now she's fine again, only for her to forget who I was.
Alceo“Take me to see her,” he said to me once we stepped outside. “It's the least thing I can do right now.”I pondered on my choices, whether I'd like for him to see her in her current state. I was starting to warm up to him, that was something that would have never happened, if Santo was still alive. He might as well, asked for his head. But we all knew that things were going to take a much different turn from the current situation.“She's not in the best frame of mind but I'll let you watch her from a distance.”“Thank you son.”We made our way around the house and straight into my bedroom. Uri and the boys sat downstairs, watching a soap opera but said their greetings to us as we passed. Rosco stood outside the door, not going in, his whole attention focused on something. Sir Bezzio and I joined him at what he was staring at. Marianna was clothed in a little piece of cloth as usual, she always did that no matter how much we wore something full for her, she ended up tearing them u
AlceoThe torture room was always kept with a single lamp acting as the only source of lightening. The air inside was stoic, everything screamed of what it had been named. Several equipment and instruments were arranged neatly by their level of importance. The chair he was kept on was welded to the floor, in the middle of the room, while everything else stood miles apart from him.I ripped the cloth away from his face, switching on the main light of the place. I desperately wanted to see the fear smack all over his face, no matter how he tried to act tough, his fear felt like a fragrance to me. I pulled the cloth obstructing his speech.“Are you here to kill me?” He asked, his words coming amidst huffs of breaths. “Make it quick.”A short laugh escaped from my mouth. “Do you think you deserve to die a quick death? You don't even deserve death. All you should be getting for the rest of your days should be torture.”A single strand of tear fell from his head down to his face. I dragged
AlceoThe door was pushed open for me and I ran straight for the stairs, carrying Marianna to my room. She was still asleep, her heartbeat very faint but enough for us to know that she was alive. I placed her in the bathtub, removing the jacket I used to cover her and also the piece of cloth on her body. I turned on the heater and mixed it with a cold one. Aleksi bursted through the door. “I've called Steve, he'll be here in a minute. And also Javier has been taken to the torture room, the men are waiting for your orders.”All I did was nod my head absentmindedly. Deep down all my attention was on her, how I was going to help her figure it all out.Seeiñg that I was preoccupied with my thoughts, he left. The water turned brown immediately I started washing her. Her hair was glued together and the smell reaching my nose was worse. Maybe the only way she could have survived was losing herself. I wondered how Javier managed to lay with her even in her present state; it only showed how m