CHAPTER FOUR

Rafael

The words of Alex echoed in my memory.

Maybe a little maiming would indeed go a long way.

But she didn't need to be hurt more. I knew that well, she wasn't just thinking right, I guess.

"Hey, hey hey" I said to the still thrashing woman. Enzo was still trying to hold her in place.

"Shhhhh" I said, hushing her as I inched closer to her and placed my finger on her lips. "No one's coming to save you" I looked into her eyes and they were full of anger and rage but for a split second, her eyes softened like on the day of the wedding.

"So you best behave". I finished.

She inched her face closer to mine even when her hands were held at her back.

"Screw......you" she said in my face and in between clenched teeth. So close, I could feel every syllable of those words. She didn't at all sound like the calm and kind person I saw in those eyes.

I stepped back, refusing any confrontation. It wouldn't be worth it.

"Call in" I said to Enzo, still looking at Elena

"You gonna hold her?" Enzo asked rhetorically. 

I obliged and held her while he made the call informing Alex that we had caught her.

"So much for saving my life" I heard her mumble.

I remained silent. Not bothering to comment or give her words a thought.

I could feel her glare at me, obviously waiting for a response.

"You know I'm not some slave, I'm the Don's wife, you shouldn't...."

"Then act like it", I retorted.

"Well, that's if your Don is willing to treat me like one." She snapped back.

I paused before I gave her a reply.

"It was my duty to save you," I said quietly.

She scoffed.

"They're coming." Enzo informed us, disrupting our little squabble, if I could call it that.

She continued to glare at me for almost ten minutes before the car arrived.

When the black SUV pulled up before us in the alley, she began to slightly struggle again. Like it would do her any good.

Luckily, the men brought some rope and tape. As soon as we forced her thrashing body into the car, Andre, who was inside the car, taped her mouth shut.

Enzo entered the front seat of the car while I sat to secure her at the back with Andre.

The drive back to the manor was silent, but I could feel her glares at me from time to time. Almost as if she wanted me to say something. But I couldn't. I had seen her at the wedding, I knew she wasn't happy. But it didn't concern me and I wasn't about to make it my business anytime soon.

The massive gates opened us up to the even more massive compound before us. The car drove in, passing rows of trees as we went deeper into the compound.

It would be a full two minutes until we got to the house yet I could see the dread in her eyes. She started to fidget, looking at nothing through the tinted glass windows.

I slowly edged closer to her and removed the tape from her mouth, earning a stare from her.

She shuddered as the car pulled up in front of the manor. It'd been a few days since I had slept in my apartment. As Alex's consigliere and one of the closest people to him, I had a room here even when I had my own apartment.

Elena stepped onto the tiled foyer and into the house, flanked by Enzo and I.

“You can go”, Alex said looking at Enzo as he stood in the middle of the hall.

Enzo obeyed and left.

“I'll be with you at the office in a minute”,Alex said, an indication that he needed quiet time with his wife. I could hear her shuffling her feet to her room while he followed her and slammed the door furiously behind them.

I assumed he wouldn't take it easy on her for trying to escape, so I just headed to the office quietly.

The silence in the manor was stifling. Despite all the guards crawling around.

On entering the office, I noticed the cigar Alex was smoking. It was his favorite, dumped in the ashtray. 

I took off my jacket and placed it on the sofa.

Picking up the box on the table, I took out a cigar and lit it. I seldom smoked, but after everything that happened today, I needed a pull.

I stared out at the window wondering what he would do to her. Would he beat her, maim her, maybe leave her to be tortured by one of us, or maybe me?. Maybe he would be different to her, she wasn't just his sidepiece like the others. 

I didn't know what to think. I usually didn't care. Alex always did whatever he wanted and it was never in my place to interfere, especially when it had to do with his women. 

But with her, I did care. She was forced into this marriage of sorts, not like the others who willingly dealt with Alex even when they knew who he was. I mean there is a good reason Alex wasn't married until now…

The door opened and Alex came in, interrupting my chain of thoughts.

“Thank you for bringing her back” Alex said 

“My pleasure”, I said casually

“How will you punish her?”I asked, knowing that Alex liked to punish his women who disobeyed him. And for some reason, I wanted to know what he would do to her.

“Don't worry, I'll handle that. I wonder what she was thinking anyway? running away like that, she would have never been able to survive alone,” He scoffed, worsening the wrinkles on his face.

“Huh” I chuckled faintly, not really finding his assertion funny.

“So”, he said, sitting down and lighting another cigar. “Any news?”

“No, we still don't know who ordered the hit at the wedding”, I sat on the arm of the sofa opposite him. “It was Adalfieri's man, Loras at the hall but the man that attacked me outside, wasn't anyone I can identify” 

“Hmmmm, so we think Adalfieri's behind this?”

“I don't know what to think, he's too cowardly to try this”, I paused thinking for a moment “or maybe, maybe he pretends to be cowardly”, I said pondering on my own words. “We'll have to call him up” I decided.

“And if he's the one? Don't you think it will put him on edge? Make him run away or try something stupid?” 

“Well then, that's exactly what we want, to put him on edge. If he's the one, we want him scared. Scared people make mistakes and they get caught”, I said, dropping my cigar in the ash tray.

“And if he's not the one, he has to explain why Loras attacked us”.

“Well, get to it then”, he said standing up.

“Oh” I recalled “I found his phone, maybe there's something, we just have to unlock it”

“Loras?”

“Yeah”

“Good, take care of it”, Alex said leaving the room.

Before he left the office I said one last thing to him, as his friend or at least I thought of myself as one.

“Hey, take it easy on her.”

“As if”, he scoffed and shut the door behind him.

I sighed, picked up my jacket and left the office, shutting the door behind me, immediately, another door opposite the study slammed shut.

Someone closed it and I knew it was her.

I started walking away, but then turned around and started walking to her room. 

I stopped in my tracks and walked away again. I wanted to know what happened to her, what Alex did to her. I shouldn't want to know, but I did.

I walked back to her door and lifted my hands to knock but she opened right before I knocked, leaving my hand hanging in the air in front of her.

And I saw it, the bruised lip and the marks of a palm on her face. Flustered, she immediately closed the door in my face.

Well, I saw what I needed to see there and I couldn't get my mind off it. Leaving the manor, all I could think about was the way her eye twitched when she saw me, her plump lips that

were now bruised, her red face and the way her eyes glistened, most likely because of tears.

I didn't know why but it made my heart burn.