Chapter Thirteen

Serafino

I touched the bed next to me. Empty. I frowned, a strange emptiness filling me from the inside out. What the hell was wrong with me, of course I was alone. I might come from a big family but I'd never fitted in. Loner should have been my middle name.

"Stop! No . Don't do this Lorenzo. Please...think of our children."

My breath shortened as my lungs squeezed tight, my legs swinging off the bed and my bare feet hitting the floor before I was even fully cognizant. I hurried out of my bedroom, my tread soundless as I left the bedroom door open behind me and hid next to the banister of the marble staircase.

My eyes widened at seeing two of my dad's soldiers dragging my mother to the front door, my dad following them with a vacant face even as she begged him to listen to reason.

"I'm not sick anymore, I feel fine. Please Lorenzo, I just need some rest, that's all. I'm—"

"You'll get all the rest you need where you're going," he interjected dispassionately.

She shook her head. "Our children need me!"

"You spoil them and make them weak. They're better off without you. I need them to grow up, to immerse themselves in the mafia empire."

"But their j-just children! I-I'm their mother."

"You were their incubator, your job is done."

My knuckles gripped the banister so tight I wondered how it didn't crumble under my hands. And though my mind screamed for them to stop, my throat had closed up. I couldn't even whisper for them to leave my mom alone. I couldn't utter a single word.

The men dragged her out the front door and into a waiting car before I released my grip and fell onto my knees. Then grabbing a handful of my hair, I tugged and tugged until my scalp was on fire.

I was vaguely aware of my father's heavy tread coming up the stairs, but I was too stricken to care. I was already battling the screams inside my head when he paused and asked, "What the fuck are you doing out of bed, boy?"

I didn't look up. I burned with hate for him.

"Answer me!" he grated, his voice cold. When I pulled even harder at my hair, a hunk tearing free, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the bedroom. "Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson you won't soon forget."

My bedroom door clicked shut and my dad pulled free his belt. When his first strike cut through the air and slammed against my back, I didn't cry out. My sobs joined my mental screams.

Didn't he realize? Nothing could ever hurt more than seeing my mother dragged from me...away from her children and her home.

The second strike hit harder than the first.

I didn't even flinch.

He wanted me to beg for mercy, to apologize for catching him red-handed. He wanted to assault me into submission.

All he did was make me retreat further into myself.

All he did was feed the monster inside that promised retribution.

All he did was make me more alone than I'd ever been before.

I woke with a start, my screams still echoing inside my skull. My breathing was heavy and harsh, my skin damp.

My eyelashes fluttered and it took me a good minute to realize my dream had just been that...a dream that had forced me to relive my past.

It was only when I rolled over and reached for Delilah that I comprehended she wasn't there. "No!"

But this time my voice broke free from my throat.

This time I wouldn't stand back and watch somebody I adored leave me.