Chapter 23 Stranger from the Past
Serena's POV
I nearly bolted up the bed, the hairs on my skin rose as zaps of bolts ran through me. This is what I've been looking for.
I barely got the words out. I couldn't steady my voice as it kept shaking from all the excitement. It took me about a few seconds before I could get myself together. "What—what do you mean? What could help?"
I tried again to swing my legs off the bed, feeling too pumped up to be laying down like some invalid. But my head throbbed painfully as I tried lifting it up. It felt like a hammer had been dropped right on the middle of my head.
I winced, slowly easing myself back down on the pillow.
Valentina smiled and held up a hand to my face. "Calm down, okay? Don't get too worked up, you're still healing."
"You don't get it," I replied too fast, rushing the words out. "You don't know what it's like being trapped, no freedom for over three years. You won't know how it feels to be starved of choices, of life."
She smiled a tight-lipped smile. There was something off about the look in her eyes. She lost her friendly look and now had a pretty much stoned face. It froze me, keeping back all the words I had to say.
It was almost as though she knew something I didn't and she didn't want to say it. It was a look of buried pain, a look she quickly covered with a smile when she noticed I was staring.
"What was that?" I asked. "What happened?"
She shook her head eagerly, like she herself was trying to shake the feeling off. "Nothing."
"Come on—"
"Back to what I was saying," she cut me off with a firm voice.
I hesitated, still curious about that look. But after starting into her eyes, I knew she wouldn't budge. So I let it slide. "Yeah. You said you might have something that could help."
She nodded, giving me a serious look this time around. I guess we are talking about something dark and probably forbidden. "Some time ago, I had a friend in this family and she wanted out. She wanted to disappear."
"Who was she?" I asked almost immediately.
"Can't say her name. Not supposed to talk about her at all. It's a sore spot for Dante, he shuts it down fast. He doesn't want anyone to talk about her and doesn't ever bring up a topic that has to do with her," she explained.
All that just made me more curious. I needed to know. "Why? What makes her so off-limits?"
"It's too risky, Serena. I can't go there." She paused, and looked away at a distance. "She was a woman close to Dante. That's why it's touchy. She always kept to herself, always looked distant, no real engagements with anyone and avoided any form of relationship with anyone."
My mind raced with so many possibilities, so many guesses. Who could it be? An ex? A family member? "And she wanted freedom? Like me?"
"Exactly," Valentina replied.
"And did she get it?"
Valentina took a deep breath, like it hurt to say. "She got more than that."
"What do you mean?" I asked, forcing myself to sit up slightly.
"She became forgotten. Like a ghost story no one talked about anymore."
"How? Tell me how she did it," I asked eagerly.
"One step at a time." She shuffled back slightly, the pain still evident from the look on her face. "She tried running the normal way at first."
"Then what happened?" I cut in.
"Dante's father caught her, dragged her back and beat the hell out of her. He locked her up afterwards and put her through hell till he finally died. After that... she vanished for good."
I blinked, slightly confused on how the story really helps me in the situation I'm in. "Wait—that's it? She waited for him to die?"
"Yup," Valentina replied, looking to the ceiling.
"Wait wait wait. Was it that she could only leave after he had died?" I asked, still trying to get to the bottom of her story.
"Maybe. But that's how it went, he died, she disappeared. Dante buried them both," she spoke with no emotions behind her words.
"Woah," I managed to say after a while. I still couldn't put the pieces together.
Valentina turned suddenly and her eyes met mine with a serious look behind them. "Be careful what you wish for. Dante's just like his father, and you? You're a lot like her."
I went completely still for a moment. I struggled and slowly began putting the pieces together. The woman had been close to Dante but she wanted out. She was caught and beaten down.
But disappeared after the old man died. Like me, trapped, craving escape from Dante's control. Was I really repeating her story?
Dante's POV
Nico leaned forward across the table and practically whispered across. "What's the way forward, Don?"
We were sitting in the back corner of one of my restaurants. The place was purposely made to be scanty. We had before us only a bottle of red wine and a portion in each glass.
I lowered my head, staring into the liquid like it held the answer to his question. I picked up the glass and turned it in circles slowly. "We'll start digging into Serena's parents. Find where they are and gather enough intel to call a council meeting so we can annul that contract with Marco."
Nico nodded, but I could tell he wasn't completely sold. "Don..." He started, then paused for a second. "Sei sicuro di questo?"
I shot him an angry look. "I'm not in the mood to argue this with you, Nico. It's final."
He raised his hands quickly and rested back on his chair. "Got it, Don."
"Now, go. Prepare the men, ensure they know how serious things can get from here, they must be alert at all times," I commanded.
"Okay, Don."
"Then divide them into defense teams on all fronts. So when another attack comes, we're ready," I added.
He nodded, took one last sip of his wine, downing the glass in the process before standing and leaving with a bow. "On it."
He stepped out and I watched him all the way out. I kept sipping from the glass bit by bit, staring out the glass wall at the city and the people down there. I looked around at the empty tables. The place had been cleared for me tonight.
I looked down as I took another sip from the glass only to hear a gentle voice from beside me. A feminine one, a very familiar one. "Papito, may I join you?”