Vittoria

29. Promise

"Tori."

"Vittoria, get up. Now."

A deep sigh leaves Theodore's mouth as he walks towards the windows.

Sunlight beams through the glass, landing on me, warming my face.

I blink a few times before my eyes adjust to the light. Theo is standing by the window glaring at me.

"Get up," he growls.

I lock eyes with him momentarily. Climbing across the bed, I sit with my body facing the other side of the room.

"Tori. I'm done with this. You've barely left this room since we got here." He sounds angry.

Good.

"You don't eat. You don't sleep. I'm not letting this go on any longer," he's in front of me once again.

Theodore places both hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at him.

"Get the fuck up." His voice low and dangerous.

I jerk my head away from him, instantly my hand flies up to his neck. My knife tight against his throat, "Get the fuck off of me."

He looks at me unsurprised, "Where did you get a knife?"

I don't respond, I only stare at him with anger pulsing through my veins.

"Get yourself together, we have things to do," is all he says.

I slowly drop my arm, my eyes never leaving his.

He takes a step back, his fists quickly clench then relax.

My eyes drop to the floor.

Theodore stands up, still watching me. "Vittoria I want you to get off of your fucking ass and pull it together. My men found something so we need to go meet them."

His words cause my head to fly up, "What? What did they find?" Theo begins walking towards the door then he stops and looks over his shoulder at me.

"You'll know when we get there. You have 15 minutes," is all he says before walking out.

"Fuck you!" I sigh.

I sit contemplating his words, my mind racing with possibilities. Have they located Gagliardi? Have they found my family? Are they even alive?

After some time, I stand slowly and make my way down the hall into the bathroom. I find myself unfamiliar once more with my reflection. I look defeated.

Fa la ninna, fa la nanna

I shake my head and push out that same stupid song that's been on an endless loop in my mind. I don't have time for this, whatever Theo's men have found will bring me one step closer to my family.

Quickly, I freshen up and throw on a random outfit before I walk downstairs and find Theodore sitting at the coffee table typing away at his phone.

"Let's go," is all he says as he stands and makes his way to the front door.

***

Theodore

I've spent the last three weeks watching Vittoria deteriorate. She had nightmares the first few nights, eventually she stopped trying to sleep at all. Exhaustion would force her to sleep, only to be cut off when she woke up screaming.

I've seen her eat no more than 5 times. I would bring her food just for her to throw it at my head. She's locked herself in that room and has only come out to use the bathroom.

I sit outside the bathroom door when she showers to make sure she doesn't do anything that can't be undone. Our third night here I found her unconscious in the bathtub. Skin almost completely cold, lips blue. I spent 3 minutes performing CPR before I got her breathing back.

She had taken a whole bottle of pills she found in the kitchen.

I had my doctor come and treat her, they pumped her stomach and gave her Evzio to counteract the medication she took.

She was stuck in bed for three days.

When I found her submerged in the bathtub, I felt...confused.

A feeling I've never felt before washed over my body, and panic began to take over.

She could have died, I would have been down the hall and she could have died.

I wouldn't have been able to save her.

First I couldn't protect her family, second would've been me not protecting her.

I will protect her with my life.

My men and I have been working nonstop searching for her family. Gagliardi is nowhere to be found, but we've managed to capture three of his men.

All three of them led us nowhere but I'm not stopping until I find him.

I'm not sure what it is exactly that makes me so inclined to protect the Abruzzos but I know that if I'm subjected to marry Vittoria then I have to treat them like my own family.

Watching Tori suffer at the hands of Gagliardi makes me angrier than I've ever been. I want him dead.

I will find Malin even if it kills me.