Dinner with the Mafia ✔

Chapter 44

TW: Rape

"You are a big hot shot, aren't you?" Phoebe joked, dismissing what he said about our possible death like a pro, and I nodded at her nonchalance. She was resilient, and I did not blame her. She had been through hell five years ago, which shaped her into the strong-minded person she is today. I would not have this personality growth if I were in her place. 

I would have been broken beyond repair. 

"Well, he is the Mafia Don, after-" I stopped talking and walking altogether when I heard something that made me forget how to breathe for a second. I had goosebumps all over my body, and I felt sick to my core. "Do you hear that?" I looked around in fright, searching for the voice. 

Dario closed his eyes and listened closely, and Phoebe did the same. The screams were getting louder by the second, and my legs unconsciously led me to the source. I had a bad feeling about this. My nerves were on overdrive.

Please don't be what I think it is...

"This doesn't sound good," Phoebe commented quietly as she had a clear idea of what was happening beyond those walls.

"Stay behind me." Dario walked before us with his gun drawn, and I kept praying.

"No... G-get off me! Lasciami andare, per favore! No. No! H-elp!" A girl was hollering with all her might, and the scene before us made me lose control over my emotions and senses. I quickly glanced at Phoebe, and she was frozen.

It was all too familiar for her.

"Lasciala andare, bastardo!" Dario yelled at a man who was crushing a woman with his body.  Once she heard the demand, she looked at us pleadingly with very familiar eyes. I knew her. I fucking knew her.

Rage took over, and all I saw was red.

I lost control.

I grabbed Dario's gun and shot the motherfucking rapist in the shoulder, and his dirty blood splashed on my face and shirt. I wanted to kill him, but a single bullet to end his pathetic life was too merciful.

He must be tortured.

From the looks of it, he had already done his filthy job on the girl, and I suppressed my tears because I did not want to appear weak in front of him. 

Her innocence was forever gone.

Her soul was tarnished.

The grotesque son of a bitch fell back, revealing his private parts, crying in agony. Dario kicked his head hard, knocking him unconscious. He grabbed his phone and dialed a number, but I did not care enough to listen. The girl was my priority.

"Diana, look at me." As I said the girl's name, Dario and Phoebe crouched beside me with unreadable expressions. I knew Dario was furious, but Phoebe must be going through hell in her head... again.

When Diana refused to let go of her head, looking all broken and torn, I grabbed her arms gently and made her look at me. She flinched at the contact, but I did not show her my pain. She needed someone to strengthen her, and I had to be that someone since I failed Phoebe before. "Diana! You are safe now. We are with you. I am with you. Just breathe..."

"H-how do y-you know my n-name?" she asked weakly, eyes blurred from her tears, and she cried harder.

"It's me, Jolene." She gazed into my eyes. Facts, she needed facts. "We took a flight together a while back, and I sat next to you. You told me you were a 19-year-old student struggling with her degree. Computer science student, right?" I forced a smile and patted her head, trying to comb her disheveled hair. I wanted to distract her from what had just happened.

Phoebe held the girl's hand and patted her palm gently. Dario did not say anything, but his jaw clenched too hard for me not to notice.

Diana took a deep breath, then coughed and spat next to her. "I a-am 20 now and no longer s-struggling. I passed my second year with distinction, all thanks to your encouraging words," she replied with a faint smile and tried to get up from the dirty ground but could not move a muscle.

I tensed even more when I saw the blood down her legs. Her dress covered her private area, but it was drenched with heavy blood.

I wanted to cry.

I did not want to ask her, but I had to so we could take the proper procedures. "Diana, forgive me for asking, but were you a virgin?" The blood pouring out of her suggested she could be a virgin, but it was not necessarily true. He could have torn her tissues and inflicted irreparable physical damage.

She choked on her tears and nodded weakly. "It's okay, honey. We are with you. We have to take you to the hospital. Is that okay with you?" I asked.

"We won't leave you alone." Phoebe's statement was more to her younger self, and I wanted to embrace her but held back, seeing as Diana was the freshly traumatized victim.

"W-what about... him?" Diana asked as she looked at her attacker with pure terror. "The police will just let him go. I am just another statistic to them." She cried harder, running every bad scenario in her head.

"Who said anything about handing him to the police?" Dario stated coldly. I actually shivered from the intensity of his glare at the assaulter. "We will take care of him."

Diana looked confused for a second until her eyes widened with realization. "A-are you perhaps in the Mafia?" She was frightened. Again. Her body shivered with fear, and I rubbed her shoulders.

Before I could stop Dario from replying, Phoebe answered, "he is the Mafia, dear. However, they are good people and won't hurt you. Don't worry."

After contemplating, Diana nodded, and Dario grabbed her jacket that was tossed aside and covered her with it. He carried her gently, and as if on cue, two cars pulled over. Lazlo, Abramo, and Fabio exited the vehicles and froze at the sight before them. "Non dirmi che è quello che penso che sia!" Lazlo exclaimed, and Dario nodded firmly.

"We will take care of him," Abramo declared and glanced at me for a second, seeing as I was coated with blood, but did not comment. He looked at Phoebe, and I swear I saw his eyes twinkle for a second. Phoebe did not notice, as her full attention was on Diana.

Dario placed Diana in Lazlo's car, Phoebe sat beside her, and Fabio started the engine. I stood next to Dario, waiting for him to get inside the car as well. "Lazlo, Abramo, take the bastard to the basement of the mafia building, and we will take Diana to the hospital wing there. Tell Dr. Snow to be ready. The report must go to trustful authorities so she can take her full rights. We will hand the rapist to the police department after chatting with him." I knew that Mafia chatting involved blood and screams, and I did not care. I wanted to join them.

Whatever the son of a bitch gets, it will never be enough.

"Sì, Don!" They grabbed the rapist by the legs and dragged him to the trunk of the second car. Dario and I got into Fabio's car, and he drove off.

~~~

6/10/2023

Poor Diana, I felt bad writing this chapter!

What do you think Joe and Dario will do next?