The Mafia's Princess

Chapter 44 - Punishment

Xander POV:
When I came two I wasn't in the cell, I frantically looked around and saw that I was chained to the ceiling, by my neck and arms. I saw I was in front of the cell, my sister crying alone in the cells corner.

"Ava!" This got her to look up, she quickly ran to the bars closest to me. "Ava! Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What did they do?" I asked frantically.

"T-t-they took my necklace then c-c-chained you up." She cried.

"That's it? Did they touch you or hurt you in any way?" She shook her head.

Thank god.

"T-t-they said you needed to be taught a lesson." Her lips quivered.

As if on queue a man and Romanov walked in. The man had a bag which looked to have a bunch of different weapons. "I see you're finally awake." I tried to wiggle in the chains. "You see, I think you need a punishment, my men didn't appreciate being stomped on." He looked over to the other man and nodded. "Let's begin."

The other man pulled out a whip, my eyes grew large. He waited a second before striking me.

The pain I felt was excruciating, nothing has ever hurt this much.

I screamed as did Ava. He continued to strike me, during the breaks of the whip I managed to get out "AVA. DONT. WATCH." She sobbed and turned around, still forced to hear my cries.

I was still screaming. After about a minute I was bleeding and they stopped whipping me. The man went to his bag and grabbed a knife.

Fuck.

He took the knife and slid it against my leg. "Please—please stop. Don't do this!" I cried.

To my surprise the man stopped. "You want me to stop torturing you?"

"YES! PLEASE!" I screamed.

"Very well then, Caleb, unchain him, replace him with the girl." Romanov directed.

My eyes lit up. "NO WAIT! I CAN TAKE IT! I CAN TAKE IT! JUST PLEASE DONT HURT HER!" I begged.

"Aw is big brother Xander protecting his little sister. How adorable. And weak. Continue." Romanov mocked and the man continued to torture me different ways until I barely could open my eyes.

After what felt like a eternity, I heard Romanov say "Okay, that's enough for today, put him back in the cell." I felt my body fall to the floor as I was unchanged and thrown in the cell. "His parents are going to love this." Romanov said as he took a picture of my beaten and bloody body.

As soon as they left, a sobbing Ava came up to me. "X-x-xandi!" She lifted my head onto her lap and cried. "Next time let them do it to me! You can't take any more!"

I used all my strength to open my eyes and talk. "No Ava, never. They aren't going to touch you okay?" She shook her head no as tears escaped and I grabbed her hand. "I can take it, but I would die if you did it to you okay?"

"But—"

"No buts Ava, I'm ur big brother, I'm gonna look out for you and protect you no matter what." Was the last thing I said before drifting off to sleep.

Avangaline POV:
I watched by brother fade out of consciousness, I was sobbing my butt off, how could I not? My brother was just beaten half to death! I needed him, he can't die. I couldn't sleep, not after what I just saw. His head was on my lap as I had my back against the wall, I was still holding his hand.

Some time later the door unlocked.

Oh no please not again.

But to my surprise relieved a young girl who looked to be the same age as Xander. She had dark brown hair and a scar over her eye. My breath hitched as she came in the cell and I pulled Xan closer trying to protect him from her.

When she saw this she put her hands up. "don't worry I'm here to help. I'm not going to hurt him." I wasn't convinced. She reached in her pockets and started pulling out bandaids, gauze, Neosporin, rubbing alcohol, etc.

"W-W-who are you." I whispered.

She didn't even look at me when she said "My name is Anastasia." She grabbed the Neosporin and started putting it on Xans small cuts, following with a bandaid. "This is gonna hurt, put this in his mouth so when he screams no one will know." She said handing me a stick.

"Wait what are you doing?" I demanded. I wasn't going to let her hurt my brother.

"I need to make sure the wound doesn't get infected." She stated as she poured the rubbing alcohol on his large cut. This woke him up as he screamed, which was muffled with the stick.

Anastasia quickly put gauze around the wound. "Shhhhh. Don't let them hear you!" She demanded.

Xander frantically tried to move away and block her from me. "No xander it's okay, she's here to help." I explained.

Xander slowed his breath— "who are you?"

"Anastasia." She replied still tending to some of his other cuts.

"Why are you helping me?"

She stopped what she was doing and looked at Xander. "Because I know what it feels like to be hurt my Romanov."

As if understanding Xander said "is that where you got that scar from?"

"And many others." She looked away then at her watch. "Crap I need to go! They can't know I came down here so take the head bandage off when they come back, the others should be hidden by your clothes." She said running out of the cell.

Xander and I just looked confused at one another.