I flicker my eyes open as I try to look around. I am tied to a chair. The room is big and damp, and the only thing that gives light to the room was a hole in the roof. I heard rats and cockroaches run around the room. I felt my air subside and I had a feeling they would need to bring me my inhaler soon. Just as I was looking around, I saw someone else, completely motionless in the corner. He or she was tied to a chair just like me, with their head hanging down, and drops of their blood decreasing with every passing second. My air was running out and at this point I was wheezing like an idiot.
"He....help." I tried to say, amidst my wheezing. Just then, a man rushed and put his cold hands around me, puffing my inhaler twice inside my mouth and nose and my chest opens up.
"Well, of you want me dead, then not cleaning up this room is one way to do it." I say.
"Get up and clean it then princess." the man says mockingly.
"Oh, why didn't I think of that?" I ask sarcastically signaling to my tied hands and legs. He scoffs and walks in with a mop.
"Mahn, the boss will have to pay me for this." he says as he cleans up.
In the process, he brought the guy who was in the corner right in front of me. I saw him and immediately, I was filled with horror. The finger nails of his thumbs had been pulled out . He had a gorged out eye and he had tatters for clothes. Bruises filled his body and his fresh wounds were so bad, they gave me shivers. If I didn't know better,I would have thought that they ran him over with a tractor. His hair was filled with blood. But he was breathing. He was breathing still.
"Hey. Are you okay?" I ask him, even though I had the obvious answer.
"Iris? Is that you?" he said and I recognize that voice immediately.
"Oh no, Papi. I'm sorry it's because of me that they did this to you...I'm so sorry Stefano. But don't worry. Raul will find us no matter what." I tell him, trying to touch his hand. He peered at me through his bloody hair, with his ocean eye. It was all my fault. I breakdown crying and the man who was cleaning just laughs as he leaves the room.
"Shhhhhh. They had betrayed me even before you were born Iris. You are just the one who opened my eyes and exposed them." He says, to comfort me.
"Promise me you will stay alive long enough to see your grand daughter and teach her archery. And you will watch as your grandson, named after you, takes over and become the greatest capo of all time. Promise me Papi." I tell Stefano, finally reaching his hand. He smiles at me and I see a determination in his eye that sparks a fire in him.
"Wow, what a saddening father daughter reunion. I wish this was under better circumstances. Oh wait, these are the best." a filthy Scottish accent spits.
"And to think I was going to name my grandson after you. How could you do this to me? Did I really deserve to be the monkey in the middle in your little revenge game?" I ask with a sincere sadness.
"Well, welcome to the mafia family. This is how we work here Iris. You were his wife. You had to get involved in this." he responds arrogantly.
"Correction. I AM his wife. I never signed those divorce papers. Did all of you think I am illiterate? I read papers before I sign them. So go ahead and tell Wallace, that I do not belong to him." I say, mustering all the energy and courage I had.
"I heard it for myself Princess. And I do not accept. You are mine, you will always be mine from the day we met till the day our very souls will disappear. You will be mine even when the world ends. You will forever be mine. I don't care about what I have to loose, I don't give a damn about anything else if not our relationship Iris." Wallace says, looking straight into my eyes as his fingers claimed my entire body once more, but this time I felt a rush of disgust everywhere he placed his fingers on me.
"If you loved me so much, why didn't you take
a stand for me against Raul? Why would you play with my mind?" I ask now crying as I feel as if I have been strong for too long. "Did I deserve to be manipulated and used badly? Did I deserve mind games and being lied to? Did I deserve to be separated from my family and the love of my life? Did I deserve to have my heart diverted? If that is the case, then I must have been one of the worst human beings in the while world then." I said as I looked Wallace straight in the eye.
"No. No princess, don't say that. You know that you deserve heaven in all it's glory. But Raul, he doesn't deserve happiness. Do you know how many people he has tortured to death? Do you know what he does to his wives? He is a second King Henry the 8th. He has killed his wife and if you were to stay there you would have followed suite. How comes he gets such an innocent lovely angel like you? I was the first one to see you at the church and I was the first one to lay my eyes on you. Why should he have you? The moment he set his eyes in you, I immediately saw what I feared in his eyes. His next obsession. You were his next obsession after Katarina. It broke me. I was going to live my whole life in his shadow, yet I was the one protecting him back in childhood. I had always had his back. But not this time. When the rogue Seth appeared, that was my chance. So I took it. And as much as I have planned this for years, I can't lose you under any circumstances." he replies, running his hand through my hair. He was so lost in it, I was able to slip inside his pocket and take out a dagger without him noticing.
"Do you know, Raul considered you his anchor. He said that you were more than just a brother to him. He has always loved you and never saw you as a rival. He told me he would readily give up his syndicate for you. He trusted you even more than he trusted his own father. Yet here you are. This in the ultimate betrayal. Even for me. How could you be so cruel Wallace." I ask him, as I passed the dagger to Papi after weakening my ropes.
"If he loves me then he will understand." he says.
"Well I don't. Kindly explain." I say to him. Just then, we hear gunshots and I know immediately that Raul has arrived. Wallace and Drew then take is on gun point then pull us out to the light, where I see Raul, with blood allover him and a golden pistol in his hand.
"Oh well, welcome brother." Wallace tells Raul.
"Porchè? Perchè fai ancora di nouvo e ancora?" Raul spits out in pain.
"Well, you trust too much brother. Now put the gun down." Wallace threatens.
Raul puts the gun down while staring into my eyes.