204

Isabella

As I spoke to Damon and cried into his neck, I felt a weight lift off my chest. Walking back to my room, I suddenly stopped and flinched as a screen popped up in front of me. I closed my eyes, willing it to go away.

I didn't want to see a future without my child. But it didn't leave. It stayed there, and another one joined it. Feeling frustrated, I raised my eyes and looked at it. The events were not threatening, and there was no red screen this time, but I was alone, and I had to make a decision.

I turned away from my room and headed towards where I knew I would find Alessandro. He got up from his seat in the reception of the lounge when he saw me and bowed his head.

"The reality is… what is left of the family, who are they?" I asked him.

"Respectfully, princess, I didn't think you were up by now."

"Well, I'm up. And I'm fine. So tell me what I need to know," I pushed him.

"From what I remember, Roman's wife Anya and his second daughter Patricia are the only ones alive."

"Are they acting against us?" I asked as I walked towards him.

"I believe so. But do we have proof?" he asked as I was already standing in front of him.

"I don't believe we do. Then let's get proof, Alessandro. Let us get some proof," I said as I pushed him slightly, and he stumbled backward. "Immediately, princess," he said as he bowed and left the reception.

Alessandro had gone to pull Ted, and now the two men stood in front of me as I sat in the lounge in front of the fireplace. "What do you have for me?" I asked Ted.

"Boss hasn't given me a go-ahead on Patricia. I'm giving you the go-ahead. I want proof that they're working against us. I don't want hearsay; I want to see it myself.”

"So send your little bugs and let them go and spy on them. I need this, Ted," I said, then slowly leaned toward him.

 "Help me. I don't want that entire family wiped out. I don't want to have to make that decision, and depending on how fast you can get me what I need, the better it is for me," I said in a soft voice.

"Immediately, princess," he said as he pulled back and left me alone in the lounge with Alessandro.

"What is Damon doing?" I asked him. He looked up, hesitating for a while, and then looked back at me.

"He went to Nicholas. He gave him an assignment, and I believe he should be… Raven has him now, and I don't know where they're going, but I'm sure it's not somewhere bad," Alessandro said.

I leaned back against the chair and suddenly felt a craving for strawberries and whipped cream. "Can you get me some strawberries and whipped cream? Also, I want coffee with a lot of cream and a lot of sugar," I said. Alessandro looked genuinely perplexed.

"Right away, princess," he said after I widened my eyes at him and nodded my head for him to get to it. Bless them, half an hour later, I sat leaning back against the chair and munching on a strawberry covered with cream. It was simply delightful, especially when I took a sip of the slightly hot, creamy, and sweet coffee on top of it.

***

The next day, I was sitting with Paula in the gazebo when Ted came over to me jogging with his laptop in hand. "I have something," he said, his eyes black with codes running through them.

 "Raven found something," he continued. "Do you know Raven?" he asked me abruptly.

"Yes, I know of Raven. Continue," I said, with Paula gasping beside me.

"They found where Roman was hiding explosives. Explosives?" I repeated.

"Yes, explosives, princess. When he plans to use them is unknown, but we know that many of them are missing. You asked me to track down his family, and I did. They're currently hiding in the safe house owned by Martino. Martino's wife, she's with them. And from what I heard, they're planning to find you and kill you.”

Damon

"What do you think?" Raven asked as he squatted beside me and touched the marks on the floor.

"Clearly, the boxes were removed, but it looks like they didn't get everything out before we found them," I said as I walked deeper into the dark warehouse. It wasn't a warehouse as much as it was a cave, being that it was buried under several floors of the Recolletti estate. A few boxes remained, but the bombs in there were only enough to take out the building we stood under.

"If this entire place was filled with bombs, then do they plan to blow up the entire city?" I asked as I leaned down and looked at the contents of one of the boxes. The bomb wasn't an old type of dynamite. It was fairly recent, and I was willing to bet that it had a remote control from somewhere.

"We need to go," I said to Raven.

"But the bombs are dormant," he said.

"The bombs are controlled remotely. If they left in a hurry, they'd know we were about to come here. And what does that mean to you?" I asked as I pulled him out by the scruff of his neck, even though he struggled with me.

Suddenly, he stopped when I asked the question and allowed me to pull him out into the afternoon above.

"They want to kill us!" he said, his hand on his cheeks, and his eyes wide with horror.

"Just kidding," he said as he removed his hands and began to run towards the gate.

With my super speed, I ran after him, caught up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck again, and jumped several feet into the air. Just as I jumped, the bombs exploded behind me, sending a force wave that propelled me forward until I landed with a thud and dropped Raven, who was practically squealing with joy.

"Let's do that again, boss," he said as he got up on his feet.

I looked back at the mansion and shook my head. The entire building was nothing but a crater filled with rubble of large chunks of concrete, roof, and the occasional piece of furniture that wasn't burnt to cinders, lay close to the fence.

"They didn't know we were coming. They knew we were going to find it. Somebody's working with them. Somebody that knows who we are. I'm willing to bet it's Valentino," I said as I turned around and headed towards my car.

"Let's go, food," I said as I sort of pulled him inside.

Just as we pulled away from the fence, we were cornered by several cars. Out from inside came four men from each car, each pointing guns at us.

"Fuck," I said as they suddenly opened fire. I pulled Raven down and opened the door beside him. They began to rapidly fire towards the open door. I smirked.

"Climb to the back," I commanded him, and he immediately obeyed, stretching his slim body and contorting it as he climbed to the back without lifting himself up.

"What now?" he asked below the sound of gunshots and bullets hitting glass.

"Go outside, kill as many as you can, and after 5 seconds, I will open the door and join you. Cause as much destruction," I said as I turned towards him.

Raven smiled, showing his bright white teeth at me, before he quickly pulled open the back door and jumped out. Instantly, I was greeted with the sound of men shouting at him and crying out in pain. After a moment, I counted to 10 and then pushed open the door once the gunfire stopped hitting me and turned to Raven.

I pulled off the door and used it as a shield as I ran towards the nearest car to me. With one kick, I hit the car and sent it flying backwards by several feet. I pulled out the gun from my holster and shot the fuel tank, causing it to explode instantly.

Within a few more minutes, I carefully dispatched the men that were out for my death with a smile on my face.

"Don't kill that one," I told Raven as he approached the last man who was pushed up against a car. He was injured, but he was also in a lot of pain.

"Who put you up to this?" I asked the man as I put my hand on his shoulder and began to squeeze into his wound. The man opened his mouth and let out a scream of pain as he squirmed and tried desperately to release himself from my grip, but to no avail.

 Tears gathered in his eyes as he pleaded with me through the pain.

"Tell me what I need to know and I will give you a quick death," I said.

The man swallowed loudly and raised his eyes to me.

 "Lysandra. Martinez's wife. She contacted us after our boss died. She said we needed to kill you since you were a monster. She didn't tell us that you were an actual monster."

"I didn't know I was an actual monster myself," I said with a smile. "But you didn't know if the mafia king would be here. All you needed to know was that someone told her exactly who I was," I said as I turned my face to Raven, who looked perplexed.

"Someone who told her who I am," I said as I stood up gently.

"Are we going to Rome, sir?" he asked as he stood up with me and pulled out the knife. Instantly, he slit the man's throat in one quick action, but I could barely see. The man reached up to his open neck in an attempt to stop the blood that was spewing out through his artery. In less than 10 seconds, his hands fell and his eyes lost the life inside.

"We're not going to Rome, Raven. But we are going to purge another family.”