20. Adriana

Chapter twenty

Adriana

My breath hitches as I feel fingers around my throat. I can't breathe and he's holding me tighter. He doesn't budge an inch as I throw jabs at him. My eyes widen with pressure building in my head. I'm losing my consciousness. He squeezes harder and I hold onto the muscles of his arm, digging my fingernails into them. It does nothing to stop his grip on me.

" Vai a dormire (Go to sleep)," he whispers.

My eyes quiver as my hands grow weak. I flinch for a second after feeling a splatter of blood on my face.

"Ahh!" I yell, afraid, squeezing my eyes shut. My heart skips a beat.

He falls to the ground dead with a bullet stuck in his head. I cough heavily as his grip disappears. I'm in shock, staring at the dead body in front of me.

"Adriana."

My fingers instinctively touch my face, feeling his blood on my lips.

"We have to leave Adriana," Beatrice says again.

I blink repeatedly, slowly coming out of the shock.

Beatrice holds my shoulder and shakes me gently. Gabriele has his back to us. He is holding out a gun and exchanging glances between both sides of the alley.

The dead man had lured me here after I had left Daniel's house. I noticed him following me down the street as I called Beatrice to come pick me up. It was a few minutes after he attacked me that I made a turn into a lonely alley. My head hurts from the hit on my face.

"Let's go, Beatrice." Gabriele steals a glance at us and returns his gaze to the street. Beatrice holds my hand and pulls me along with her.

"H–how did you find me?" The smell of a metallic tang sifts through my nostrils. It's fresh blood. I can almost taste it.

"Your phone. It fell by the corner, and we just followed the path." She holds my hand tighter and looks at me. The sound of the blood splatter replays in my head.

Beatrice has furrowed brows, and her blue eyes are full of worry. "I was so worried, Adriana."

I swallow hard, desperately wanting to get the smell of blood off my face. Gabriele opens the back door of his car for us. I enter first, with Beatrice next.

Gabriele hands a towel to me as he slips into the driver's seat. "Your face."

Nodding a thank you, I clean my face with it.

"What happened with Alessandro?" Beatrice asks.

My eyes sting. I let the man who killed my mother take my virginity.

Gabriele starts the car and zooms off.

I wait a little longer before I respond, cleaning my face with the towel. "He killed Mother."

Beatrice gasps, and her jaw drops. She's staring at me in disbelief while I'm also trying hard not to believe it myself. But I'm damn sure Daniel wasn't joking when he blurted it out. The fucking asshole didn't even deny Daniel's claims.

" Madre ," Beatrice breathes. Her eyes are getting teary as she covers her mouth with her hand.

"I couldn't even fucking shoot him, Beatrice."

A tear rolls down my cheek.

Beatrice pulls me into a hug, and I let myself break down in her arms.

I really wish I had killed Alessandro. He doesn't get to live when he made Beatrice and I lose our mother. She would have never allowed Father to send me off to our enemies for a fucking deal. And Father? He knew what he was getting me into. He knew they killed Mother and yet agreed to the fucking deal.

Beatrice holds me in her arms for a while. She runs her fingers through my hair, whispering comforting words in Italian into my ears.

I break the hug the moment the road gets bumpy. The car wobbles as Gabriele drives through a gravel road. It doesn't look familiar with the tall bushes surrounding the path.

"Where are we going?"

I look outside the window, staring at the path.

"Somewhere safe," Gabriele replies. His eyes meet mine through the rearview mirror.

I get uneasy with nothing in view but bushes.

"You can trust him, Adriana," Beatrice says in a low voice, looking into my eyes.

He makes a turn that leads to a black swing gate. Two men with guns hanging on their shoulders are standing by the gate. They hold each side and open it for Gabriele to drive through. Several other men are by the building as we drive in, and Gabriele brings the car to a stop in an open space.

Beatrice opens the door, coming out of the car first. I step out to see a building with armed men around. Three trucks are parked at the side. It looks like their warehouse for storing the drugs. Gabriele joins us outside and leads the way to the building.

"No one's going to find you here," he says reassuringly.

A shiver runs through me upon hearing his statement. A large part of me is disturbed and doesn't believe his words. He has no idea what my father is capable of.

***

It's been three days since Gabriele brought me here, my room next to his. Beatrice has been around here with me since the day we both arrived. I've been able to rest more and my wound is healing. Gabriele called in a doctor to check on me. The doctor told me I was lucky it was just a graze and it wasn't deep enough to damage any organs. Even with my luck it would still need a couple of weeks, at most, to heal.

I can hear the sound of people's voices and a truck outside. A delivery must have arrived.

I stare at the ceiling, unable to wrap my head around a thought. I'm fighting my own mind and questioning myself about why I didn't kill Alessandro when I had the chance.

Deep down, I refuse to accept the change. I've resented him ever since I found out who he was at the bar. But lately, my vagina has been making all the decisions, allowing Alessandro to have sex with me whenever he wanted.

I almost hate myself for being in the same bed as him. Having him stick his tongue in my mouth and fucking begging him to fuck me. Mother would have a disappointed look at me, watching me now. I groan, kicking my feet into the bed.

The sound coming from outside grows louder. I slip out of bed and look out the window. There's a very little view of the front yard from here but a sound catches my ears.

Gunshots. And then curses in Italian.

Just as quickly as I opened the curtain, I pull it closed to shut the window, and my heart begins to beat faster as I let out heavy breaths.

"It can't be. I hope it's not."

I jump as the room's door opens wide. Beatrice walks in frantically.

"You fucking scared me, Beatrice."

"Father's men are here."

I clasp my mouth tight. Beatrice holds my hand and drags me to the bathroom door.

"I need you to hide," she whispers.

How did they fucking find me?

"They have no idea you're here. Just some misunderstanding with Gabriele's men. I'll come back to let you know when it's safer outside."

"Alright."

She gently opens the door and I slip into the bathroom.

The noise from outside grows fainter in here. I hear a thud as Beatrice leaves.

My heart's pounding so loudly that I can hear its beat. Beatrice would be in danger if Father found out she hid me here. I'd hate watching her suffer because of me. She's done enough for the past few years.

I cover my ears when the gunshot sounds draw closer. It sounds like it's coming from inside now. My palms pressed on my ears do nothing much to suppress the yells. I'm disturbed by the number of shots I hear close by. I recognize a voice.

Beatrice.

I barge out of the bathroom, hearing her screaming. I'm not letting her do anything stupid just to protect me. The door slams shut as I hurriedly run out of the room. My eyes spot a dead body by the passageway. His blood spills on the tiled floor.

Ah fuck!

"Beatrice?"

Another yell comes from inside. I walk in the direction of the sound to find Beatrice and Gabriele held at gunpoint by one of my father's men. Dead bodies fill the space.

"Beatrice!"

She turns to me, shaking her head when she sees me. A man is holding her hands behind her back.

"No, Adriana."

"Look who we have here. Boss would be so happy we finally found you."

The man talking doesn't have a stain on his well-ironed white shirt and gray pants.

"Leave them alone. It's me you want."

Beatrice's eyes are swollen from crying. Gabriele is stained with blood from wounds on his face. It looks like they beat him up. Father has no fucking empathy, even for his own son-in-law.

"Take her."

A short man with a pistol and knife sheathed on his pants walks to grab me.

"It's not you they want," Beatrice yells.

Shit .

I push my shoulders forward, fighting myself free from his grip but it's too tight.

"Now where were we, Gabriele?"

"Leave both of them out of this, fica (pussy)."

My father's man hits Gabriele in the head with the back of his gun. Gabriele's head swings in the air as the men hold his arms tighter. Beatrice screams while watching her husband get beaten.

The hatred in me towards Father propels to a higher level, seeing how much less he cares about us. About the people I love. If I had the chance to kill him, I wouldn't hesitate.

"My men and I won't help you strike the Malgeri. They've done nothing wrong to us," Gabriele says. Blood drips from the corner of his mouth.

"You are of no use to us then." He points his gun at Gabriele and pulls the trigger.

I can't hear my screams as they are overshadowed by Beatrice's. But I can tell I'm yelling.

Gabriele's body goes numb and falls to the ground. A bullet in his chest. I'm struggling to believe the sight before me. Beatrice's voice is in my head. I quiver with my eyes bulging out.

"No… no… no… no."

Beatrice is screaming his name, punching herself free from the man that is holding her. He lets go of her wrists and she runs to kneel beside her husband's body. He is sputtering blood with widened brown eyes, struggling to breathe.

"Gabriele, Gabriele, please stay with me."

I can hear the tears in her voice. I'm still stunned in disbelief. Father didn't just kill Gabriele. I don't want to believe any of this. I can't believe any of this.

Beatrice has her palm pressed on Gabriele's chest. He continues to struggle for breath for a few more seconds until we hear him go mute. His eyes are static, with no life in them.

"Gabriele! Gabriele!"

I'm crying hard, trying to run to Beatrice. The man holding me doesn't let go of my hands. Two men begin to drag a devastated Beatrice from Gabriele's body. Her hands are stained with his blood. She is screaming his name to wake him up.

"Your father would be glad to have both his brats back home. Take them to the car."

"Leave me the fuck alone," I growl at the men. I'd rather have them kill me here than return me to that fucking hell hole with that monster.

Beatrice is fighting them to run back to Gabriele. One of the men punches her hard in the face. Her lips are busted and start to bleed.

"You'll have to fucking kill me before I go with you," Beatrice threatens before kicking one of the men in front of her in the groin.

"Bitch!" the man grunts, covering his balls.

I scream as one of the men sends Beatrice to the ground, violently hitting her head with a gun. "Beatrice!"

She falls unconscious from the hit, her hair sprawled over her face.

I ignore the loud ruckus outside as the shots draw closer to us; I struggle to go closer to my sister.

The men are alert, with their guns pointed towards the door.

I finally get myself free and run to meet Beatrice. Her breaths are slow. Another cut is by the side of her head, with a swollen wound. I cower beside her body as bullets begin to fly in the room. The bodies of my father's men start falling to the ground with blood everywhere.

I'm crying, begging Beatrice to wake up. I don't fucking care about me anymore.

"Just kill me already because there's no fucking way I'm leaving."

A hand holds my shoulder hard.

"You're coming with us, Adriana."

I recognize the tattoo on his wrist as I peek through the corner of my eye. It's the same as Alessandro's.

These are his men.