The two switched mafia princesses.

Chapter 28

Luca slowly clicked onto a video saved from the lake house monitoring cameras in the entertainment room.

The video started playing, both Nicho and Luca eagerly watching.

The timestamp on the video indicated that the video was recorded some a month ago.  The month Rafael and Enzo were both in the hospital.

The video came to an end with Luca too stunned to speak, and tears streaming down his cheeks.

"She.... she abuses her..."Luca mumbled. "Her own fucking mother, abuses Val... she's been abusing her for years. And Valentina never said anything to anyone."

Nicho placed his trembling hand on Luca's shoulder trying to comfort him. "How could we have missed this?" Nicho whispered, his voice laced with guilt and disbelief. "We were right there, and we didn't see it."

Luca wiped the tears from his cheeks, his hands trembling. "Val was always so strong, so independent. She never wanted to be a burden to anyone. But this... this is beyond anything I could have imagined."

"There's a whole fucking folder of our mother abusing her." Luca said with tears streaming down his face scrolling through each video.

"Luca look at me," Nicho said turning Luca to face him. "Right now Valentina needs our help, okay. Let's concentrate on getting her and Adrian back first then we'll deal with this issue."

Luca nodded, trying to steady his breathing and focus on the task at hand. "You're right," he said, his voice still shaky. "We need to find Valentina and Adrian. We can deal with everything else later."

Nicho squeezed Luca's shoulder reassuringly. "We'll get through this together. We always do."

As they regrouped with the others, the weight of their newfound knowledge hung heavily in the air. The room was filled with a tense silence as everyone processed the gravity of the situation.

Luca and Nicho exchanged glances, a silent agreement passing between them. They needed to share what they had discovered, but they also needed to be careful, to ensure that their focus remained on finding Valentina and Adrian.

Luca cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the group. "We have some new information," he began, his voice steadier than he felt. "We discovered something on the lake house surveillance footage. It's... it's about Valentina."

The room seemed to hold its breath. Luca continued, "Our mother has been abusing Valentina for years. We have video evidence. But right now, our priority has to be finding Valentina and Adrian. We can deal with the rest once they're safe."

A murmur of shock and anger rippled through the group. Faces that had been filled with determination now showed a mix of disbelief and rage. Especially Valentine's brothers.

"What, this is a joke right?" Rafael said with worry in his eyes.

Luca shook his head, his expression somber. "I wish it were, Rafael. But it's not. We have the videos to prove it."

Rafael's face contorted with a mix of anger and sorrow. "I can't believe she hid this from us. Valentina... she always seemed so normal."

"I knew something was wrong." Dante said as he looked at Luca.

"I've seen Issabella come home filled with anger and would want to speak to Valentina. The next minute shewould be all smiles as if nothing happened. I should have known better," Dante said, his voice filled with regret. "I should have asked more questions, paid more attention."

Luca placed a hand on Dante's arm, trying to offer some comfort. "None of us knew, Dante. Valentina went out of her way to hide it from all of us. She didn't want to burden anyone with her pain."