Angel in disguise (Angelo sotto copertura)

Thirty One.

I'm not sure how I managed to survive, but I did and I fucking hate it.

I was beaten up black, blue and red by my father's men till long after sunrise. Being used as a punching bag and a target to throw knives at, is not fun at all. For the first few hours, I was on the ground and each men had 5 minutes to show off their attack skills by hands. There were around 30 men. After that, my father decided that it would be fun to torture me a little more- emphasize on the little. Everyone had another 5 minutes to show their blade skills while my father peacefully judged them with popcorn in his hands. After getting around 10 knife wounds from only 4 men, I stopped counting as I realized I'll be getting too many to count each and every one of them. I wasn't wrong. My body was way too numb to even feel what had happened to it, not that I mind it being numb. Somewhere towards the end of the training, I ended up fainting probably due to the loss of blood. Now, I'm awake and staring at the ceiling filled with spider's webs, wondering why I'm alive. At this point, I really wish to die, but the cocky side of me wants to stay alive to take revenge from my father.

I glanced out the tiny window to see that the sun had already set, which meant that my father will be here soon around midnight for the training. I took a shaky breath, letting a single tear escape my eyes and closing my eyes for a dreamless slumber; my only escape from reality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xavier Alaric DeSantio

'Pacing around the room while drinking liquor and vaping won't bring her back, or stop the shit she's going through.' Even though the last part was barely audible, I still heard it. My strides slowed down as I starting walking towards my brother, picking up my handguns, and shooting aimlessly. 'That won't help either, Xavier,' he screamed over the train of bullets charged towards him.

'What the fuck do you want me to do then, Elijah!' I screamed, my voice booming in the trashed office room as I threw my guns across the room. Yes. Yes, I was losing my goddamn mind and them questioning my every action at every instance was pissing me off more than I already am. It's been almost 48 hours since we last saw Felicity, and we still haven't been able to come up with a proper plan. I look around my office room. Kyle was still typing furiously on his computers, Mason was busy making phone calls and Theo was nowhere in sight. All of us having one thing in common; stress and eyebags visible on our faces.

'Start with calming your ass down. Your angry self will make countless number of illogical decisions which will cost us a lot. So for fucks sake, calm the fuck down.' Mason spoke for the first time from the past few hours. I plopped on my office chair, tugging on my black locks.

'Where's Theo?'

'Don't know. He disappeared as soon as we entered the house.'

'Remind me why we can't kill the motherfucker at his house with all our men?'

'One wrong move, we lose Felicity.' I already knew that, but for how long are we going to wait for the right moment to strike? At this rate, I'm afraid we might lose her. Even the thought of that makes me want to kill someone.

Theodore, who we haven't seen in almost 2 days as well, took the duty of coming up with a plan. Keeping in mind that he has been keeping an eye on Marcello longer than I have, I granted his request. However, given the time he has taken, I am slowly losing my patience and regretting my decision. The door to my office room creaked open, revealing my baby sister.

'Is Ms. Felicity ever going to come back?' My jaw clenched as she asked, while sitting on my lap.

'We will bring her back no matter what, princess.'

'Promise?' She said, holding out her tiny pinky finger towards me.

'Promise. I promise,' I repeated to myself. giving reassurance not only to her but to myself as well. 'Why don't you go play with Aunt Mary?'

'If you wanted me to leave so that you could work, you can just say it unno.' She got up from my lap and walked out of the room.

'Yup, definitely Viviana's daughter.' My eyes widened at the mention of my mother. Cazzo! I haven't talked to her after the kidnapping. 'We already informed her that her kids are okay, don't worry.' I let out a sight of relief at Mason's words. After another dreadful 10 minutes, I lost it.

'That's it! We're leaving. I don't care what and how we're going to bring her back, but we will and it's happening right fucking now.' I stood up from my seat, grabbing my pistols and placing them in my waistband.

'What part of "one wrong move, and we lose her" do you not get, huh?' Kyle's raging figure stormed in front of me. 'We care about her as much as you do-. No, scratch that. We care about her more than you do and more than you ever will. You treated her like crap during her stay with us; played with her emotions and feelings, mistreated her love and care for your family, exploited her love for you, and now. Now, because of your irrational behavior, we're yet again putting her life in danger. So shut the fuck up and wait for Theodore to come up with a sensible scheme.' Before I could stop myself, I punched Kyle. My anger got the best of me as I grabbed him by his collar and shoved him in the wall.

'No one will care for her as much as I do. I did not take advantage of her love for me, and I never will. What I did was wrong, but you all are well aware of the reason. Maybe you should stop crushing on her and look around as well.' I shove him away.

'Watch it Xavier. She's like a fucking sister to me.'

'A sister huh? Maybe-,'

'Enough!' I turned around to see a fuming Theo standing in the doorway. 'Stop acting like kids. Xavier what the fuck is wrong with you? Since when did you start thinking so irrationally? We're all worried as fuck; instead of going at each other, stick together as a familia. How the fuck will we be able to solve other problems when we can't solve our own? Keep fighting like children and we'll never get her back. Now hug.'

'Shut up.' Kyle and I groaned together, but still gave into Theo's glare.

'Jeez, even Alessia would be more mature than you guys.' Mason snorted and I glared at a smiling Theo.

'Do we have a plan?' I asked Theo with a hopeful mind.

'Yes we do. We're leaving in a few hours.'