Broken Bonds

Chapter 18

Alexander Romano

After the attack, I had decided that all of us will move to the safe house and had contacted Uncle Ezra and Aunt Giana about the situation. I had also sent Missus Dai back to her home until everything had settled. I had also contacted Francesco about the attack and he said that he would be here in a short while. 

Lorenzo, Axel and I had just stepped out of the basement after torturing the bastard. He sure was tight lipped and refused to reveal anything to us. We can't kill him yet until he spills whatever he knows. 

All of us had gathered at the meeting room while Mason and Aunt Giana were trying to make Ari calm down after we informed her that Avery was gone. She broke down in tears and Aunt Giana decided to bring her back to her room while Mason followed suit. He seemed especially pissed after the attack. 

We were all working on trying to retrieve the footage of whoever took Avery away but there were no improvements in our work. We were not able to locate Avery either because there was no tracker placed on her. 

Mateo Romano

The atmosphere in the room was very solemn and no one dared to make a move. I quietly stood up and left the room and headed for Ari's room. I could hear faint sobbing by standing outside of the door and I slowly pushed open the door.

Both Mason and Aunt Giana were nowhere to be found and Ari was just sitting against the wardrobe, with her knees pulled up to her chest. I silently took the empty spot beside her and we both sat in silence.

"She will be okay." I broke the silence between us, although it didn't sound convincing enough.

She sniffed twice before looking at me with puffy eyes and asked,"Do all of you really care for Eliz?" My gaze shot up to hers when I heard the question. I nodded, only after a good 10 seconds of hesitation. 

Ari chuckled drily as she wiped away the tear on her face,"That's one big lie here. If you all really did care for her, then why did none of you see the pain that she had been holding all these while? If you all really did, then why did all of you still blame her for what happened back then? Then why didn't you all blame me instead? I was there too, I watched as the bullets pierced through dad's chest, I watched as he fell limp onto the ground. Was it just because she had the gun in her hand? To assume that she was the one who pulled the trigger on dad? You all are pathetic, really."

Words couldn't form in my mouth and neither was my brain functioning after hearing her words. There was only one question that came into my mind and I shot out,"Avery wasn't the one who pulled the trigger?" Her eyes were brimmed red from the crying but it didn't stop her from throwing a glare at me,"Until now, you're still having doubts about it." She stood up and left the room, leaving me all alone to ponder about the things she had just said. 

A tight feeling in my chest made me fear for the worst. 

Avery Romano

"Have you ever heard of this saying? That revenge is a dish best served cold? I love how I got to witness the pain in his eyes before his last breath. And I love how I managed to fuck up his whole family. And now, I get to kill his youngest daughter here. It's a pity that I don't get to kill the other one." He laughed once again.

But I laughed with him as well and his eyes turned into slits and glared at me,"You're pathetic, so pathetic that even I pity you. Thinking that you've won by doing all these? Did you really win? I don't think so." His hands balled up into a fist and swung a punch right into my face as my head turned furiously the moment his fist came into contact. 

The warm metallic taste instantly started spreading in my mouth and I gritted my teeth to not let the pain get to me. I turned my head back to him and he was still panting heavily, clearly still affected by my words. 

But after a few moments, he calmed himself down and a malicious grin took over as he scrutinised my face again,"My gut is telling me that this isn't the meek and shy Ariana Romano here."

It was my turn to smirk back and replied,"Then you should always trust your gut, Felix Parker. Instead of the men you sent." Anger took over his face for a split second but he soon smiled again. I swear that he was definitely mentally unsound. 

"That's all right too, I still get to kill one of his precious daughter. Now, now, as an ex-best friend of his, I should treat his daughter dearest nicely before I send her off to him isn't it?" His laughter echoed throughout the corridor and two men entered the room. 

He must have ordered them to give me a good beating before he was going to get rid of me in his own sickening way. Fucking bastard. I hope he fucking rots in a place worse than hell. 

One of the two men stepped forward, swinging the first punch to my body. 

This was just the beginning. 

Vincenzo Ricasso

My heart thumped nervously in my chest when I heard the news. Avery was gone.

I wanted to follow my dad to the Romano's to find out more about the situation, but he forbade me to do so as I wasn't part of the mafia and he thinks that it's too risky for me to do so. But thankfully mum managed to convince him because she saw how anxious I was after hearing the news. So now we were on our way to the Romano's safe house.

Mason nodded stiffly at me when he noticed my presence in the room. His hair was disheveled and the usual goofy grin was long gone on his face. It was replaced with a murderous look instead and I can clearly understand why because the same look but less murderous was also etched onto my face. 

A man who seemed to be in his early twenties was frantically typing away on his laptop, whom I later came to learn that his name was Lucas. He was one of Avery's cousin, and also Mason's brother. 

A name snapped me out of my train of thoughts. "Ari." 

The girl who was pouring herself a cup of water turned back, looking exactly like Avery, just with slightly longer hair and a little shorter than Avery. She walked towards us with the cup of water in her hand and her gaze landed on me, her eyes shone a sudden realisation. 

She took a seat beside me, leaving an arm's length between us and she softly spoke,"You must be Vincenzo. Eliz had been telling me about you a lot, she even had a sketch of you in her room." I turned my head slightly and looked at her, realising that she had brown eyes while Avery had black ones. 

My eyes widened slightly at her words and asked,"Really? i would like to ask her for it when she gets back." Our eyes fell back onto our laps at the mention of it. She nodded her head lightly and replied softly,"Hmm, she will definitely return." 

Praying hard within my heart, I hoped that she will return safely back to us again.

Because I have yet to tell her that I like her, a lot. 

double update! ok I'm super tired right now so I'm going to turn in early for once since I have work tomorrow morning NjwnJSKNWKSMQK good night!

Happy reading! -7/9/2022