STOLEN || 18+ (Monsters #3)

.89. Priority

"We don't even ask for happiness, just a little less pain."

- Charles Bukowski

. . .

Fabiano Valentino

Dante paced in the room. Olivia stood in a corner, face solemn. Giovanni sat beside me, knuckles white around his knife. The Creeds sat across from us.

"All we can do is wait for the call," Ashton said.

"I know," Giovanni bit out, not bothering to restrain his fury anymore. Ashton didn't give him a reaction.

I looked down at my hands. "You can't think of any other place they'd take her?"

"No," Xerxes said. "We turned the city upside down, Fabi. I don't think they are in the city."

Dante was pure violence as he paused, looking at me and then at the Creeds. "What about the state?"

"Our people are combing through it," Zavier said. "We'll find them."

I walked out of the room. "I am not sitting on my ass." We had been looking day and night. One whole day had passed but there was no sign of her. Of them.

My fists clenched. Carla.

It had been her the whole time - biding her time till she could take her revenge.

Revenge for all that had happened to her. Did she know we had tried to find her? That we had ripped the world apart for her, chasing every tiny evidence till it was nothing?

. . .

Leyla Campbell

The darkness of the cell seemed to seep into me as I sat there for hours. I didn't have the courage to even scream - the fear that Testa could come back kept my mouth sealed.

When the door opened, the light burnt my eyes.

It was a woman standing at the door. A familiar woman.

She flicked some switch on from the outside which flooded yellow light in the small room. Her bright green eyes looked at me, all over me, face holding nothing. "Bring her."

A frail body was thrown into the cell by Cassian. It didn't take me a single moment to realize who it was. Rosa.

Rosa instantly pressed herself in a corner, face stained with tears. She looked at me, her panic increasing. "Leyla-"

"You can have your reunion later," Carla said, voice smooth and words stretched out. She crouched down to my level, looking me in the eye. How had I not recognised her? I could still hear Cameron's voice in my head. Little Birdie. It was obvious she had gotten some work done on her face but those eyes had not changed a bit - they screamed Valentino. She seemed to have madness which exceeded Giovanni's.

"I hold nothing against you both," She said. "Just..." She sighed. "The wrong men fell in love with you, hm?" She gave me a smile - filled with so much pity it made my blood boil. "They'll be here soon."

She stood up.

"They tried to find you," I said. "That was why they took me. All they wanted to do was find you. Ever since Igor let them go."

She looked at me. "Do you know who gave me away to that trafficker, Leyla?'

I shook my head.

She looked at Rosa. "It was Dante. He thought he was doing it to keep me safe from our mother." She let out a laugh, putting a hand in her trench coat, heartbreakingly beautiful face covered which a cruel smile.

"He realized that later," Rosa whispered. "Your mother tricked him. He tried to get you. His brothers tried to get you but your mother didn't let them." Rosa's beautiful eyes were filled with pain. "He hates himself for it, Carla."

Carla maintained that twisted smile on her face. "Does it change a thing, Rosa?" She asked quietly. "Does it change one single thing about anything that happened?" She sighed, running one hand through her hair. She tilted her head. "I will clean the Valentino name. There will be one capo again, as it always should have been." She stepped out of the room. "I wish you both could have seen the glory I'll bring to my mafia. But sadly..." Her smile fell. "You will be dead." She looked at Testa. "You can take Leyla, Cassian. Not much time is left."

Testa smirked and my heart fell. I forced myself to breathe.

You have been through it a million times. It's nothing. It's nothing. It won't hurt anymore. It won't hurt. It won't hurt. It won't hurt. It won't hurt-

He picked me up. I closed my eyes, tears spilling out. I didn't struggle. They hurt more if I struggled. It won't hurt.

He walked somewhere. The wind hit me. I kept my eyes closed. Didn't want to see his face. But I...I needed to know where I was.

I forced my ey open, tearing through the panic.

The building was broken - shattered. Half of it stood, the other half didn't. Vines crawled up the broken walls. It had been a mansion - now it was wrecked. Where was I?

"Do you know where you are?"

I didn't.

He looked down at me as he opened the door of an unshattered room.

He didn't tell me.

The bed was ruffled. I breathed through the panic. It won't hurt. It's nothing.

I was nothing.

He sat me down on the bed. I huddled against the headboard, eyes burning.

He looked at me. He kept looking at me.

"Bombed Creed's mansion." He put his hands in the pockets of his trousers. "You are shaking, Leyla." A smirk came on his lips. "You have let me touch you before. Would it be too bad now?"

"She is going to kill us," I whispered. "And you helped her. Yes, It'd be too bad now."

He walked closer. "I cared for you."

"All you are is a liar."

"Bold words for someone bound." He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his jaw. He looked so much like Ryder and at the same time he did not. "You remember the poem you were reading the day we met? You said it was your favourite for the day."

"I hate it now." I had no idea which poem I had been reading.

He chuckled, glancing at me. "'The place where the sidewalk ends'," He muttered. "You said it was basic yet brilliant."

I didn't know what he was getting at.

"You always had a way with words," He said. "I found that fascinating about you."

I stayed silent. Was this somehow supposed to ease me?

He looked at me, beautiful and horrible. "Luca," He said. "He was in Camorra. Did he ever tell you that?"

He hadn't. I didn't say anything, watching him.

"Your mafia saved him from his father. Luca joined your mafia." He stood up, sighing. "He is my half brother. The only one camorra will listen to after my father is dead." He paused. "After I am dead."

"What?"

He gave me a smile. This one was familiar. "I, as you used to say a million times when we were together, am a stupid fool," He said softly. "This may end badly."

"Ryder-"

"They'll be here soon." He loosened my ropes. "When I say run, you run like hell."

"Rosa?"

His lips pressed in a thin line. "Can't save everyone."

"She is my friend."

He kept looking at me. "I will try. But my priority is you."

. . .