The life of a Mafia princess

• t h i r t y f i v e •

Third PoV

Beep.

The notification signal of the oldest brothers' phone puts all remaining brothers on high alert. Santino's hand picks up the phone and he is met with a nauseating sight.

The picture that fills his screen is Elena's almost fully naked body, tied to a chair in a dark room. Due to the flash the picture was taken with, he can see the blood splatters and various knives and other devices he would rather not see together with her in the room.

The anger within him flares up at the picture once again. He's vaguely aware of his brothers calling his name, demanding to see what is on his phone. Threatening him again with physical harm if he doesn't show them but he can't get himself to move the phone or even himself.

He's stuck where he is while his eyes desperately look for a clue about her location on the picture. He's searching for everything that could be helpful and internally screaming at himself to ignore the most obvious thing.

Her almost naked body.

He's overcome with the urge to throw up. To throw his phone against the wall and eliminate every proof of his sister in such a compromising situation. He's even considering to bang his head against the wall with the hope that it will make him forget about the sight on his phone.

And if it won't make him forget, maybe he will at least be lucky enough to be able to ignore it. After all, this is all he is hoping for currently.

All hope of finding his brothers alive is pushed aside in order for the more threatening situation - because this picture really is worse than whatever position his brothers might be in - to take up his mind, filling it with scenarios he wishes he never would have to think of.

Beep. Beep.

He startles momentarily, closing the picture and opening the conversation on his phone.

I have something of yours.

His anger spikes up, again. Santino's hand tightens around the phone and his brothers voices fade further into the distance. But their annoyed expressions continue to bore themselves into his mind through the back of his head.

He takes a deep breath in, willing himself to calm down and not lash out at his younger brothers. His eyes move to the second text.

Again.

His phone collides with the wall. Simultaneously Marcello decides that he has enough of being ignored and his fist collides with Santino's face.

Giovanni rolls his eyes at his twin's antics but can't suppress the smirk on his face. Santino turns to glare at Marcello, raising his hand to strike back but letting it fall to his side at the last moment before it comes in contact with the cheek.

"What was on the phone?" Gio asks, preventing Marcello from throwing a tantrum.

"A picture."

"A picture?" Giovanni asks, prying for more information about a picture that rounded Santino up enough to destroy his phone with the picture on it.

"Yes." Santino curtly replies, beginning to walk out of his office. He hears Matteo's voice at the end of the hallway, together with Tommaso's and suddenly he sees red. He walks over to them with quick strides and grabs Matteo. Tommaso is pushed out of the way, mere millimeters away from falling down the stairs.