She's a fifteen-year-old girl who killed her "father" in self-defense and lied about it to the police. She thinks she has no other family members and now she has nowhere to live but the police tell her she was kidnapped from her real family when sh...
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LORENZO RUSSO:
I guide Artemis through the base and downstairs to the basement. Artemis is a young girl, but strong. She's been in our mafia for a while, she's one of our greatest assassins.
We all have our backstory to how we got into this lifestyle, but Artemis claims she doesn't have a reason. We all do. But she keeps to her word, she's loyal and protective. It's good to know that Athena has a friend who will protect her. Although she wasn't able to this time and it won't happen again.
We walk down the hallway full of cells. I halt at one specific cell and unlock it and push the door open for Artemis.
Now I don't hurt women and my brothers don't either. But it doesn't mean I can't get a woman to do the job for me. I step into the room and see the one and only Bianca Roberts tied up to a chair, unconscious.
"Don't kill her just have some fun with her for a while," I say, eyeing Artemis carefully. Artemis can go a little but too far at times, I'm just praying she doesn't accidentally kill Bianca.
"Oh, trust me. I'm going to have so much fun," she smirks.
Yeah, I think it's time to get out of here.
I leave the room and clench my jaw, recalling how Athena looked that day.
I'm fucking pissed. Pissed that someone touched my sister. If it wasn't a girl I would've tortured them with my bare hands.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and ring Marcello. He answers immediately, "Yes?"
"How is she doing?" I ask as I go upstairs.
"The doctors said she's fine. She just needs to stay there for a week before she can be discharged. He also mentioned something else though."
I enter my office and sit down at my desk. Anger pumps through my veins. I've had enough of her doctor. He's accused us of being the ones that hurt her. "What did he say now?"
"He said he saw bruises and scars all over her body."
I freeze.
"No. That can't be right."
He sighs, "Elijah tried asking her about it. She's not speaking anymore. She refuses to speak or eat. She's getting worse. Lorenzo, she looks like a corpse."
I rub my jaw and think for a moment before responding, "Okay. I'll be there in an hour." I hang up and throw my phone at the wall. It smashes and falls to the ground.
Fucking idiots.
I lean back in my chair and loosen my tie. I open my desk drawer and grab a spare phone. I unlock it and text one of my men saying I want files on Athena by the end of tonight. I turn my phone off and place it on my desk.
No wonder why she flinched that day. No wonder why she's always on edge. She's been hurt. Someone hurt her.
I grab my gun and stand up, I need to go kill some people before going to the hospital.
✩ ✩ ✩
I enter the hospital and walk to the elevator. Once people see me they immediately cower away and move out of my way.
They know who I am. They do. I own this city, I own everything. They should be scared of me.
I get in the elevator and press the ninth floor. The doors close and I sigh. I place my hands in my pockets and lean against the wall.
A mafia boss, who holds countless kills over his head, walks into a hospital and people are everywhere trying to save lives. I shouldn't be here. I'm the complete opposite of these people here.
I've got files and records of Athena. Grew up in London. Which I should've done before. She's got no medical reports. Went to school, and her report was good but what caught my attention was her report with the police. She would end up there every week. She would get arrested for street races, stealing, and more amateur stuff. She doesn't seem like the type to do that.
Darren is—was the name of the bastard that she lived with all these years. He had a friend who worked at the police station, Dave who would help him get Athena out of the police's custody every time she got arrested.
I exit the elevator once it reaches the ninth floor. I go to Athena's room and open the door. I see Elijah and Marcello sitting beside her bed.
They both look up at me and l gesture for them to leave. I open the door wide open for them as they get up and leave. I shut the door and close the blinds. I turn around and see her watching me.
I sit down next to her. She doesn't say anything, she looks away and stares at the wall. "Want to play games on my phone?" I ask, holding out my phone. She shakes her head but she still doesn't look at me. I sigh and put my phone away.
She just continues to stare at the wall, she won't look at me.
"Bianca is being dealt with right now so you don't need to worry about her anymore," I tell her.
No response.
The only thing I can hear is her breathing and that stupid monitor, which keeps track of her heartbeat, that keeps beeping.
"I'm going to need you to tell me who's hurt you. Before you came here."
No response.
"I just need a name. That's all. Just a name."
No response.
God, it isn't that hard to just open your mouth and say a name.
I rub my jaw as I watch her. It's like I'm talking to a corpse. "Do you want to write it?" She lifts her dominant hand up and shows me the cast on her wrist, clearly meaning she can't write.
"Right. Then I'm going to need you to speak."
She shakes her head, again.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Athena," I say slowly. "Just a name," I remind her, "Then I'll leave."
She finally looks at me. That's it. Tell me. So I can find them. So I can torture them. So I can kill them. Tell me. I've already plotted over fifty ways of how I'm going to kill them. She stares at me for a moment, debating if she should say who it is.
You can. You can tell me. You can tell me anything. Come on.
Tell. Me.
But when she opens her mouth and the words that come out shock me and it wasn't anything I expected.
