Evelina

(x)

Dante

The moment Eve rejected us, the room felt like it had been drained of all warmth. My brothers and I sat there, powerless, the sting of her words sinking deeper with each passing second. The silence that followed was suffocating, and it only amplified the sense of loss that hung over us.

"Dad, how could you force her to marry him?" I demanded, unable to keep the frustration from my voice.

"She has no choice. It is her or the mafia," Dad responded, his tone firm, yet there was an undeniable sadness in his eyes.

"I'd always choose her," I muttered, my words tinged with a mix of anger and despair. "This is the second time, Dad. You're pushing her away from us."

Dad's expression softened, the weight of his decisions clearly taking a toll on him. "I don't want to push her away. I don't know how to treat her, and unlike her, your mother accepted me for who I am. She never did anything against me. Even when Eve ran away, she consoled me, telling me Eve would come back."

"Maybe you should listen, Dad," Lucian interjected, his voice calm but insistent. "Listen to what she has to say. It hurt me when she spoke better about the Italian Mafia. It hurt me that she got married without us being there. It hurts me that she cares about Vincenzo more than us. Everything she does hurts me. When we were younger, she used to look up to me when I came back from school. Now, all I get are glares. Something broke her, Dad. We can't break her even more."

Dad looked down, the weight of Lucian's words pressing on him. He seemed lost, realizing the truth in what Lucian had said—his actions were driving Eve further away.

Lucian continued, his tone softening. "After we help save Vincenzo, we'll try to come up with something. We can't let things stay like this. She's our sister, Dad. We need to find a way to fix this before it's too late."

Dad nodded slowly, as if he had finally accepted the gravity of the situation. "Alright then, boys. Let's find out some more from our traitor."

With that, we headed down to the basement, where the man spilled every last detail. The interrogation ended with a bullet between his eyes, and afterward, I took a long, hot shower, trying to wash away the lingering tension. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

When I woke up the next morning, the house was unusually quiet. Apart from a few men, Blaze, Eve, and I were the only ones around. I thought maybe we could spend some time reconnecting, but as I approached Eve, she suddenly got up and sprinted upstairs. Blaze and I followed her and found her typing furiously on her laptop.

"What's wrong, Eve?" I asked, concerned by the intensity in her eyes.

"Ho una brutta sensazione," she replied, her voice tight with anxiety. (I have a bad feeling.)

"You know, Eve, some of us don't speak Italian," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

She looked up, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Nothing. I'm just bored. I miss fighting."

I raised an eyebrow. "You know, you were once an innocent little girl who couldn't even watch a hurt bird. What happened to you?"

"I had a reality check," she replied, her smile fading.

"I want the truth, Eve," I insisted, sensing there was more she wasn't telling me.

Eve's smile turned half-hearted, and she finally began to open up. "After I ran away, I missed Mom, so I was coming back when I got kidnapped. At first, the men treated me like a princess, and I thought that maybe they weren't like Mr. Draven Morrigan. I thought they wouldn't ask me to kill anyone. But a few months later, a man came and told the master I was ripe. I didn't know what it meant until the next day. The master came to my room and dragged me out. He locked me in a cellar, and if I pleaded, he'd hit me. He told me the only thing I was allowed to do was bark. So I barked. After he thought my bark was good enough, he took it to another level. He beat me every time I stood or sat like a human. He told me he'd stop beating me only if I crawled like a dog or sat like a dog. The beating stopped when I sat, ate, or barked like a dog. Then one day, they put a leash on me and tied me to a tree. They told me that I would be going to a new home with better stuff if I behaved like a proper dog. I did everything they said, but no one wanted me. Rejected. That's how I felt. A week later, me and a couple more girls were the only ones left, and all the buyers had gone, so we were moved. To kennels. Soundproof kennels outside the house. It was cold, monitored, and soundproof. I couldn't shout. If I shouted, no one would've heard my screams, and they would've hurt me because dogs don't shout. So, unlike the other girls, I didn't shout. I don't know how long I was there, but then they came."

"Who?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"Them," she said, smirking as she pointed behind me.

I turned around and saw 'the deck of cards'. A chill ran down my spine as I tried to process what I was seeing. But before I could react, everything went black.