The life of a Mafia princess

• t w e n t y •

Third PoV:

Within less than a minute, all the Mancini brothers are out of their rooms with guns in their hands. Their instincts scream at them to protect their youngest, to make sure that she is safe but right now, they're all stuck.

Stuck standing in the hallway, in front of the partly opened door to Elena's room. They're all staring at it with the alarm still blasting in the background but none of them notice it anymore. They haven't noticed it since their world stopped turning and time just seemed to stand still.

The oldest is the first one that breaks out of the trance. His hand shoots out from where he's standing and he slams the door open.

The sound of the door banging against the wall breaks the other Mancini men out of their trance too. But their world is still not turning. Because all that can be seen is Elena's empty bed and her crumpled sheets.

"Fuck!" Ivano yells, punches the wall and runs down the stairs. Santino and Cedro follow him. The twins are still standing in the door way and staring at the empty bed. Neither of them can move their eyes away from it. They, just like their brother, swore to never let Elena get taken again and yet here they are.

"Not again." Giovanni brokenly whispers and shakes his head. His twin looks up at him and suddenly Marcello is even more determined to find their sister. For her sake but also for Gio's sake. He can't stand by and watch his brother be hurt.

"I'll find her." Marcello tells him and rushes into Santino's office. Once there, he opens the security camera footage and can see his brothers outside searching for his sister. He rewinds the tape and watches the events that took place.

Meanwhile outside, the three oldest Mancini brothers are running around, looking for Elena or whoever broke into their home. They spend mere minutes looking before Cedro stumbles across something that lets his blood run cold.

"Santino!" He yells, knowing his younger brother will also follow his scream and seconds later they're both at his side, staring at the ground.

Cedro bends down to pick up Elena's stuffed dinosaur animal and the picture next to it. The picture shows Elena's bed with her laying in it, clutching the dinosaur that Cedro is clutching now as if his life depends on it. And maybe it does.

In bold red letters right over Elena's sleeping body is written 'You can't keep her safe'.

"That wasn't today." Santino notes and looks around for any other clue they might have.

"Obviously!" Ivano yells at him and storms off. He can't be around them right now.

"They got to her." Cedro solemnly says.

"We'll find her." Santino says and goes back inside to go to his office. Wherever Elena may be, he will find her. No matter how long or what it takes. He won't fail her again. And once she's back with him, he'll never leave her out of his sight again. He will keep her safe. Even if it's the last thing he'll ever do.

"Did you find anything?" Santino asks the twins who are already in his office, watching the footage.

"Not yet." Giovanni grumbles.

"Nothing suspicious?"

The twins exchange a look, "do you know where Dante and Emiliano are?". Santino snaps his head up with narrowed eyes. "No." He grunts out, gripping the table hard enough that if it would be a poorer quality, it surely would have broken by now.