Reds' Mafia Leader ✔

Chapter 36 - Caught

Days passed and the bruisings on my body carried on increasing. My neck was the worst of all. Alistair had a thing for grabbing me by my neck and tossing me a few feet away from him. He didn't care and I think he thrived from my pain.

I was in another 'training' session. I was cursing the day I agreed to accompany Luciano DuVitto down here. I clenched my fists and landed seven consecutive punches on his face which seemed to enrage him.

"You seem to be manning up." He said gritting his teeth as he blocked my punch and brought his fist up and punched me in the jaw.

"Yes." I said as I tried to stop the tears from falling.

He carried on with offensive while I carried on with defensive. I got a little more confident when I could feel myself having the ability to predict his next moves and block them. He followed a pattern, two aimed for the face and two aimed for the gut and then one at the face and one at the gut, he just carried on becoming more predictable as the days went by.

Alistair carried on getting more aggressive. He remained throwing punches at me. The punches came at lightning speed, hurtling towards my abdominal cavity and that was when I collapsed. I couldn't breathe and I was dizzy.

"Man up." Alistair said before he kicked me in the side with his combat boot. I grunted at the impact and remained on the floor.

Never in my life had I felt so useless and so helpless. I remained staring at the ceiling and didn't even register the sound of Alistair leaving the room. I was dazed, I could not think straight and my vision was blurry. My head was pounding. My heart was beating erratically. I couldn't seem to form coherent thoughts. My body didn't even bother to register the cold floor it was sprawled out on. I didn't even remember when I had passed out.

"Arianna!" I heard someone whisper as I tried to open my eyes, but it felt as though they had been glued together.

"Mm."

"Let me help you up," The man said with a gentle tone and I immediately knew who it was - Vinchenzo's implant.

"Okay." I said as I managed to pry open my eyes.

Alessandro picked me up. His green eyes showed me how conflicted he felt as he walked towards my room carefully in order to not jolt me. I was still in pain but I was also drained.

He walk down the corridor and surprisingly the guards let him through. My eyes were struggling to remain open as they so swollen from being punched. Breathing hurt. Moving a limb hurt. Every small like thing brought me mountains of pain.

Alistair had really done a number on me. I hated the fact that I was weak. I always had prided myself in being one of the most strongest women on the planet yet here I was - beaten and bruised.

"It hurts." I whimpered as he put me down on the bed.

"I'm so sorry." Alessandro said as he brushed my sweaty red hair away from my face.

"It hurts." I said again as I closed my eyes and felt as though I was going to lose my consciousness and give way to my impending doom.

"I will get you some meds and an ice pack to help you out." He whispered as he left followed by Luciano walking in.

He gasped, "Arianna!"

"Yeah?" I said trying to move my aching body.

"I'm gonna kill him!" Luciano seethed as he fisted his fists and looked at me, tears filling his beautiful eyes.

"Don't... cry." I managed to say as the sharp pain on my side kicked in causing me to groan and adjust my position.

"The sight of you like this brings back many memories." Luciano admitted as he rested his hands on top of my stomach slightly. He was bothering the bruise I had already had there but I didn't want to say anything.

"They left her to die." He said as tears fell down his somber pain but in his eyes I could see the hurt he was feeling and the inner turmoil that was eating him up.

"It..  wasn't... your fault." I said and tried to reassure him with a small smile.

"I didn't protect her, Arianna. Of course it was my fault." He said as he shook his head and removed his hands off my stomach.

"No, no." I breathed out as I closed my eyes and waited for the pain to slightly subside, "You did all you can and you are still trying to avenge her."

"I wouldn't be trying to avenge her if she wasn't gone! She's dead Arianna!" He yelled, "My mother is dead because of that bastard... that... that... monster!" Luciano said as he sat down on the floor tears spilling down his face as he wrapped his arms around myself and began rocking as though he was physically holding himself together.

"I wish... I could give you a hug." I said.

"You must rest." He said as he pulled the blanket over me and gave me a tearful, pained smile.

Luciano then left the room and slammes the door shut behind him. The sound echoed in our tiny room as I was left to stare at the ceiling as I was in too much pain to do anything else.

My whole body ached. Breathing that was supposed to almost effortless now felt like a chore. Every single time my chest filled with air the pain on my side and on my stomach flared up.

I didn't give up. Normally, I didn't give up. My mother used to always tell me that I was stubborn and would reprimand for having a one track time yet here as I lay upon my dirty death bed I couldn't stop thinking of how I failed everyone I knew.

"I'm sorry I failed you." I whispered to no one.