Chapter One

Luciano.

My heart was racing as pain surged through every limb in my body. I groaned loudly and attempted to sit up, only to curse and fall back on the cold damp floor. My palms pressed against the cold concrete as I closed my eyes grimacing in pain.

I wanted to cry but quickly kicked against the idea as soon as it came. Crying would mean every single one of those fuckers has won, crying would mean I am weak and weakness isn’t something I want to show any of them.

“Brother.” I craned my neck to the other side of the room, opening my eyes and trying to adjust to the darkness in the room.

One would think I must have gotten used to it after staying here for years.

My brother.

He’s the only thing that is keeping me sane in these four cold empty walls. He’s the only thing that makes me look forward to seeing the day; to plan our escape.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his voice shaking slightly due to how cold the room was.

I grind my teeth together and let out a sigh.

“I’m fine. Just a slight pain.” I answered, biting my tongue so I wouldn’t make a sound.

“You sure? The torture took more time today.” He added and I couldn’t help but agree.

Those fuckers thought punishing me more longer would get me to talk—I mean, what do they expect me to say to them when I have no idea what they were asking about?

He let out a low grumble, “You should have let them take me…..” I cut in ignoring the pains in my ribs.

“Shut your fucking mouth, Adriano,” I snapped. Luckily for him, he got the memo to keep his mouth shut.

I would rather take all the punishment than let them hurt my brother, Adriano, after all this was all my fucking fault.

“When are we leaving this place?” He asked, pulling closer as much as his own chains could let him.

We were both handcuffed and chained to the other sides of each wall, but if I moved forward we could touch each other in the middle of the room.

“Soon, Adriano, soon.” And I meant that.

I couldn’t wait to leave this fucking hell hole and take revenge on everyone who had a hand in this.

I closed my eyes again taking in more air—even though it felt like a fucking war.

Very soon we will be leaving this place.

*****

“Brother.”

It was time. I stared at the knife in my hand and then at the prison guards standing outside our cell.

I wouldn’t hesitate to use this on one of them if need be, my blood boiled as I looked at my brother who was getting on his feet.

My brother. He’s only here with me because of my foolishness. Fuck! We wouldn’t have been in this fucking prison if only I was smart and taken out the fucking rat from our lives.

I ground my teeth as I got up on my feet too, Adriano walked to the middle of the room with his hands and legs handcuffed like a fucking animal.

I won’t think twice before raining hell on the man who did this to me, to us.

He should have left my brother out of this.

“It’s time.” He said, his eyes bloodshot.

He was mad as much as I am, he has every right to be after being put in here without doing what we were accused of.

I held the weapon tighter in my hand knowing it was the only thing I could trust except my brother. People tend to come into your life only to take everything from you and leave you when you’re at your lowest.

I find more comfort in weapons than I do in people—they are nothing but backstabbing assholes.

Every single one of them.

As soon as we met in the middle of the room, I helped him take his handcuffs off with the knife. Adriano stood still without blinking as he stared at it, he took the knife from me and did the same thing, freeing my handcuff and letting it go until it touched the ground with a loud sound.

Adriano was out of his cuffs before I knew it and I did the same, releasing my legs even though it was a hassle from the pain in my ribs.

The noise from the metal touching the door grabbed the attention of the two guards standing at the gate.

They both turned and glanced at us through their shoulders, none of them said anything until the bigger one opened his mouth.

“Inmates. What are you doing? You shouldn’t be walking about, stay in your cell quietly.” He snapped, his eyes narrowing at me before moving to my brother.

The bastard.

I squeezed the knife tightly as I stalked over to the door, I held the iron gate with my hands as they both watched me. Adriano appeared behind me as he snarled at the guards.

“I think it’s time to open this gate.” He said, causing the bigger one to frown.

The smaller one shared a look with the bigger one and that’s all I need to know how scared he was.

“We….haven’t been given the orders to—“

“Open this fucking cell,” I ordered, my voice calm but anyone could hear the fucking rage in it.

“We have served our term which I believe ended twenty minutes ago. You should open this cell if you don’t want any trouble.” Adriano said, looking at the two of them dead in the eye.

The smaller one stared at the bigger one for what I assumed was an order before stepping forward. Adriano took that time to also come forward, his eyes looked starved and they'd be able to scare any man who saw him.

“Adriano,” I called without taking my eyes off the guard trying to unlock our door.

“What? I’m not going to do anything.” He denied and I snorted.

“Yeah, like I don’t know you’re about to have this man pinned to the fucking wall.” The smaller guard's hands paused as he slowly brought his head up, staring at me and then at Adriano with his face pale.

“Now look, you’ve scared my friend.” He teased.

“Open the gate.” I barked angrily.

He was taking my damn time being so scared, the more time I spend in here the more I crave the blood of the man who put me and my brother in here.

His hands wouldn’t stop shaking as he finally opened the door, I didn’t even blink before Adriano moved past me and held the smaller guards at his neck, he squeezed his throat and then held his hand.

“Since you aren’t going to use them properly, I thought I might help you make it worthless.” He sneered as the guard stared at him with wide eyes.

A loud scream followed as he bent the guard's hand at an awkward angle. The sound of his bone-breaking filled the air and I placed my hand on the bigger guard chest when he wanted to intervene.

“If you don’t want the same thing to happen to you then you should fucking stay still,” I growled.