Theodore had been waiting earnestly for the arrival of his brothers. Vincenzo had made a fuss when Theodore informed him of Riccardo's attitude towards Adriana. That wasn't the promise Riccardo made to him, since Riccardo had decided not to do the right thing, then he {Vincenzo} will do that.
Amongst the four brothers, Vincenzo was the ruthless one. He was supposed to be the next Boss in line of the "Cosa nostra" , one of the crime families in Italy. But, he had given that post to Riccardo while he remained as the Underboss.
Presently, they had arrived at the clan. Theodore directed them to Riccardo's room where Adriana was and there they were.
Adriana stood rooted to the spot as her gaze landed on them. Having an encounter with them was her greatest fear but she knew she couldn't hide forever. They were bound to meet again.
And they met again. But, they weren't smiling. Their eyes were dark. Cold. It sent shivers down her spine.
"Vin… Vincenzo," she whispered as fear and shock warred within her. This was her greatest fear all along. She knew them for the love they had for each other and her leaving Riccardo shattered, would have made them furious.
And she was right. Because they weren't smiling at all, their glares were murderous.
"Get her!" Vincenzo shouted, and the other brothers nodded in agreement. Adriana felt a surge of panic as she saw them coming towards her, their faces hard and expressionless. She took a step back, her mind racing, trying to think of what to do. She could try to run, but they were blocking her only escape route. She looked around, trying to find something that could help her, but there was nothing.
Her heart pounded in her chest when Antonio and Theodore grabbed her by both arms. She was trapped, there was no way to escape from their menacing glares. Her gaze darted around the room, her mind racing, desperately searching for an escape. But no matter how hard she looked, there was no way out.
"What are you doing? Let go of me!!" She screamed. Vincenzo smirked darkly. He walked closer to them and gripped her chin tightly, shooting pain down Adriana's veins.
He accessed her features before landing a hot slap on her face. Adriana's face fell to the other side. Her cheek stings and she could swear that she saw stars. The slap was hot.
Her lips bursted instantly, her face imprinted with his palms. Her lips quivered as tears threatened to tear out of her lips.
"You know what you did," he said. He faced his brothers.
"Take her ," he left the room and both Theodore and Antonio dragged her with them.
As they dragged her away, Adriana was terrified. She doesn't know what's about to happen to her. She's trying to keep calm, but her mind is racing with questions. Where are they taking her? What do they intend to do with her? Can she escape? Her thoughts are going a mile a minute, and she's struggling to stay focused.
When they got outside, Bruno, who was having a discussion with a few of the mobsters, saw them hurling Adriana away. He excused himself and went after them.
"What's going on here? Theodore!" He walked to their front, stopping them from taking any further movement. Vincenzo glared at him but he wasn't shaken.
"Get out of my way!" Vincenzo barked. Bruno immediately stepped away when the impending loom of his actions dawned on him. He could get killed if he wasn't careful.
"This is not something for you to butt in, just stay out of it," Theodore spoke. Antonio only stood quiet as he stared at Adriana whose hair was disheveled. She was quiet but he could see traces of tears in her eyes.
Bruno watched as they took Adriana away. Agata, who had been watching the whole scene, walked to him. She touched his shoulder and he turned to meet her gaze.
"What's going on?" She asked in a low whisper. Bruno shook his head with a sigh.
"I don't know," he muttered. Riccardo was away and then his brothers came and took away the woman Riccardo brought to the clan. He might not know the relationship between them but he knew Riccardo treasured her {Adriana} greatly.
"I don't know if Don is aware of this, I'll just find out," he walked away, leaving Agata who was still deep in thought.
•••••••
Adriana was aware of her surroundings when they kept dragging her towards the hidden cave, her worst nightmare. It reminded her of the day Riccardo had beheaded a man right in her presence. She shuddered at the thoughts.
Vincenzo opened the door and she was brought in. Her eyes took in the sights of the dangerous weapons before her and she almost peed on her pants. Were they going to use these on her?
They took her deeper into the room, ignoring her pleas. Vincenzo steps forward and says, "You betrayed us," his voice was icy and harsh.
Adriana felt her knees going weak as she struggled to remain standing. "I didn't mean to do that, I never wanted to hurt him," she says, but Vincenzo only shook his head.
"Your words are meaningless now. It's too late for that," his words send chills down Adriana's spine. She looked at Theodore and Antonio but they are just as impassive as their brother.
"You know…" Vincenzo begins as he walks to where the dangerous weapons are. He brought out a long whip and walked back to them.
"If breaking Riccardo's heart was the only crime you committed, then I wouldn't have hated you this way. But… you killed our Mother!" He yelled and Adriana heard a loud bang in her head immediately.
"What?" Her voice was barely audible. Vincenzo walked to her and forcefully dragged her by her throat.
"Do you even know what we went through all because of you? We pleaded with you! We did everything we could just so you could take your words back, but what did you do? You left. You never turned back," he roared.
Adriana's face was filled with tears. Not for the fear of him choking her to death, but because of the truth she had just discovered. Their Mother was dead? They came after her life even after she had done everything they asked her to?
When they chained her hands with a strong iron and began hitting her with the whip, she never bothered to fight back. Maybe this was the punishment for her wrong deeds.
•••••••
It's been three days, yet the brothers aren't ready to let Adriana go. Three days of torture for Adriana. Her body was covered in scars, her face full of blood. She was barely breathing.
Her hands were still chained with her head bent low. She hasn't tasted a drop of water for the past three days, she was dehydrated.
The door opened and she felt someone approaching where she was. When the person got closer, she realized it was a female from the shoes since her head was bent low.
"How does it feel here?" She recognized the voice immediately. It belongs to Ambra.
"You shouldn't have even thought of coming back here. I told you, you're of no use to Riccardo anymore. Even after asking you to clean the entire hallway, that wasn't enough. He even asked his brothers to torture you to death while he was done, such a pity," Ambra shook her head. Her face was beginning to get back to normal from the excess treatment she had received.
When Adriana heard those words, she raised her head up. Ambra stifled a laugh when her eyes took in Adriana's state. Her face was pale and drawn, her once tanned skin looked stricken as she was a shadow of herself.
"Oh, you poor little thing, you look so horrible," Ambra shook her head, faking pity but suddenly burst into laughter.
Adriana wasn't even bothered with that. Her thoughts were on her words. Did Riccardo really asked his brothers to torture her while he was gone? Was that why he didn't inform her of his so-called trip?
Ambra walked to the table and picked up the whip and knife. She kissed the tip of the knife gently before walking back to Adriana.
"I've always wanted to get back to you for that day, here's my chance I guess," she smirked. She raised the whip and the next thing Adriana knew was her hitting the whip on her stomach.
•••••••
Haunter paced around Theodore's doorstep. She was restless. Seeing Adriana being tortured every single day brought tears to her eyes. She wished she had the power to stop them, but sadly she had none.
Theodore came out of the room and she instantly rushed to him. "Can you just stop all this you're doing? It's been three days!" She pleaded. Theodore only walked past her but she wasn't giving up. She went after him and held his hand.
"Fucking let go of me, Haunter! And keep that mouth of yours shut if you don't have a thing to say!" He pushed her hand away from his roughly and Haunter stared at him in disbelief.
"Is this the kind of person you are?" She asked, slightly stepping away from him.
She shook her head. "I must have been insane to fall in love with someone like you. You're a monster, a heartless monster," she casted a last glance at him before running off.
Just when she got outside, she met Bruno, Bullet and Poison who were expecting feedback from her.
"How did it go? Did he agree to set her free?" Bruno spoke up. Haunter shook her head as she wiped the tears off her face.
"They're all monsters," were the words that came out of her lips before she ran off.
"This is really driving me crazy. And his number ain't even going through!" Bullet groaned in frustration. They had been trying Riccardo's number to no avail and little did they know that Riccardo had purposely left his phone in the drawer.
••••••••
Adriana's scream filled the whole room as Ambra whipped her mercilessly. Her face wasn't excluded, it was full of blood.
Ambra let her hands down when she was satisfied. She threw the long whip to the floor and raised the knife to Adriana's eyes.
"I'll be careful, okay? I just need one eye, that's all," she smirked. Adriana whimpered when she brought the knife to her eyes. She was helpless at the moment. Would she ever see her kids again?
Just as Ambra was about to take a move, the door opened and Vincenzo walked in, followed by Antonio and Theodore.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Theodore barked and Ambra spun around in fear. Words failed to come out of her lips as they walked to her.
"I… I just came to check up on her and… she insulted me!" She lied.
"I only taught her a lesson, that's all," she whispered in the last part. Vincenzo eyed her before walking closer to Adriana.
"Why don't we just end this once and for all?" He whispered. Antonio immediately walked up to him and held his shoulder.
"That wasn't our agreement," he spoke gently.
"But I want her DEAD!" Vincenzo barked. He faced Adriana who was almost losing her consciousness.
"I hate the fact that she's still alive and breathing, I want to kill her!" He roared.
"Don't stop me, Antonio or you won't like what I'm gonna do next," he pushed Antonio's hand off his shoulder and grabbed Adriana's hair.
Before he could do a single thing, the door was opened with force and a loud dark voice was heard.
"Don't you dare touch a strand of her hair!" Riccardo growled as he made an entry.
Hearing the voice she wanted to hear the most at that moment, Adriana smiled. Even though he might have a hand in this, she still felt relieved that he was here. For her.
"I already told you I won't spare her alive!" Vincenzo thundered.
"If you dare touch the mother of my kids then forget about me being your brother!" Silence hung in the air as soon as Riccardo said those words. The knife fell from Ambra's hand as she stared at Riccardo in shock.
Riccardo stared at Adriana whose eyes were filled with tears. In a flash, he rushed to her and caught her in his arms just when she lost consciousness.
"Wh…" Vincenzo never had the time to complete his statement when two identical figures rushed into the room. No one needed to tell them what was going on as they're the exact replica of Riccardo.
As soon as the twins' eyes settled on their mother who was already unconscious with her body full of blood, they screamed out.
"Mommy!!!!" With their body burning with anger, they rushed to Vincenzo who was still gripping Adriana's hair.
"Let go of our Mommy, you monster!!" The next thing Vincenzo felt was two tiny teeth digging into his skin.
The little devils had just bitten him!