“Release my father!” Rosalie shouted as she entered a room in the casino. She saw her father, bloody, beaten, struggling to breathe.
“Rosalie, my daughter, run away, I made a mistake sending you here, please forgive your father,” her father weakly said.
The leader gazed at Rosalie, drawn to her beautiful body and appearance. “I never thought your daughter would look just as appetizing,” he said before licking his lips.
“Run, my daughter!” Rosalie’s father desperately shouted.
Rosalie, frightened, prepared to run when the leader signaled to his man to quickly close the door to the room. The door was shut immediately, leaving Rosalie with no escape.
“What do you plan to do!? Stay away from me!” Rosalie yelled in fear as she saw the leader approaching.
“Boss, let us have a turn after you’re finished,” one of his men said before laughing.
“Boss, I haven’t had fresh fish in a long time,” another one said.
As the boss got closer to Rosalie, she quickly lunged at him, embraced Rosalie and sniffed her, “hmm… a delicious being,” he said in a lustful tone.
“Let go of me!” Rosalie shouted.
The men laughed before finally locking the room.
…
..
Victoria and Lucas entered the grand villa. Victoria felt a sense of familiarity inside the villa as if she had been there before. Xavier noticed Victoria’s expression, smiled, and said, “Even though many years have passed, your mother has not wanted to change the look of the villa since you were last here. The way it looked before you disappeared remains unchanged until now. Your mother likes to maintain the villa’s appearance; she always revisits the place where you both used to play when you were little,” Xavier explained while pointing to various parts of the villa.
Victoria felt deep emotions with each part of the villa that Xavier pointed out. She felt a profound connection to each place, “Dad, I want to see mom,” Victoria said tearfully.
Xavier nodded and led them to the second floor of the villa. In a room, as Victoria entered, she saw a thin woman looking out the window at the villa’s surroundings. The woman heard the door open and turned around, “Xavier, who is this woman? Why does she look like me?” the woman asked in surprise.
“Vivian, this is your daughter, Victoria,” Xavier replied with a smile.
“What? My daughter? Is she my daughter? Victoria, my dear child, is that you?” the woman asked, tears beginning to fall.
Victoria could no longer hold back her emotions and began to cry. She felt the close connection between them, her heart aching as she saw her mother’s mixed emotions. She ran into her mother’s arms, crying out, “Mom!” before embracing Vivian tightly.
“My daughter, is that you?” the woman asked tearfully, feeling the same emotions Victoria was experiencing.
Victoria nodded while embracing her, “Yes, I am Victoria,” as her tears continued to fall.
“My daughter Victoria, forgive me, it’s my fault you disappeared. Forgive me, I was careless. It’s my fault that I couldn’t watch you grow up. Mother has many shortcomings,” Vivian said, holding Victoria’s beautiful face.
“Mom, I’m here now. You don’t need to blame yourself. For now, you need to regain your strength. We have plenty of time to bond outside. When you feel better, we can go shopping, watch movies, and eat. I won’t disappear again,” Victoria said.
Vivian nodded happily, then looked at Xavier before her mood changed, “You, old man, you found our daughter, why didn’t you tell me?!”
“I didn’t want you to get too excited, so I waited for Victoria to come here to surprise you as well,” Xavier explained.
“Humpf!” Vivian said grumpily before looking at Victoria and smiling, “My daughter, we have a lot to talk about.”
Victoria smiled and walked towards Lucas, “Mom, this is my husband, Lucas. He took care of me and was my light during dark times. He is also the reason I made a name for myself in the jewelry industry,” Victoria happily introduced.
“Victoria, you built your reputation because of your own abilities and talent, it has nothing to do with me,” Lucas replied.
“If you hadn’t sent me abroad to study, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I might still be the old Victoria who did nothing but help the servants in the villa. Oh, thank you also to the villa servants who trained me,” Victoria said lovingly.
“Silly girl, you’re my wife, and I know your dream is to be a great jewelry designer. I’m just here to support your dream,” Lucas said.
Vivian saw the love between the two and said, “It seems that my dear Victoria has found a good husband. You have a lot to tell me.”
“Let’s go downstairs, let’s eat first and discuss it there. I’m sure you are hungry now that you’ve seen your daughter,” Xavier said to Vivian.
Vivian smiled, “I feel like I can eat a lot now that my daughter is here. We will have a long conversation at the table, there is much we need to talk about.”
The group went down to eat, the mother and daughter talked about many things that needed to be discussed. Victoria shared all her past experiences, how she met Lucas, her visit to Casella, their chance encounters, and how she became the famous V.
In the long conversation between Victoria and Vivian, Lucas excused himself to go outside and get some fresh air. He gazed upon the vast expanse in front of him when suddenly his cellphone rang, and he saw it was a call from Lorenzo. Lucas answered the call, and Lorenzo immediately reported, “Boss, someone is investigating Kevin’s disappearance. If I’m not mistaken, that person is behind this investigation. They will attack us soon, thinking you’re just a business tycoon. Even so, we need to be prepared, they have Johanna in their hands, believing she’s your wife. But they will soon find out the truth. Our people have not seen Johanna since she was taken in a car heading to the enemy’s villa,” explained Lorenzo on the other end of the line.
“Keep a close watch on the enemy’s movements. But if they discover that you’re onto them, retreat immediately. Do not take any risks for now. Let’s first find out their plan. I will make sure they fall in the end, starting from the root to the top,” Lucas said in a cold tone as he mentioned the last line.
“Noted, boss. We have civilian personnel on standby near the villa keeping watch. Do not worry, the enemy will not suspect that we sent them since they are residents in the area,” Lorenzo replied.
“Good. Just keep me informed of any of their actions, even the smallest ones. Keep me updated,” Lucas said.
“Yes, boss!” Lorenzo replied.
Lucas ended the call before looking at the window where he saw Victoria and Vivian talking. ‘Victoria, there are things that you need to keep in the dark for now. You’ll be safer if you stay here for the time being. That man won’t make a move once he knows you’re here.’
….
…
In a dark and cold place, a woman was huddled in a corner of the room, her hair messy, her toenails gone, her hands crushed with injuries, and her body covered in wounds. Her face was unrecognizable, almost decaying.
The iron door of the room creaked open and a man entered, “Johanna, are you still not going to speak?” Gino asked impatiently.
Johanna was trembling with fear, “Just kill me, don’t torture me anymore,” her eyes wide with terror, showing the pain and fear within them.
She had experienced all kinds of suffering in this room in the past few days. Half of her face had been scorched with boiling water, resulting in a terrifying appearance. She had also become thin, surviving on only a piece of bread and a little water.
Growing impatient, Gino signaled to his men to torment Johanna again. Seeing this, Johanna could no longer bear it. She knew that pretending to be Lucas’ wife was futile, as it was unlikely he would arrive to save her. “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you!” she shouted after seeing the two big men.
Gino stopped the two men, “Speak,” he said to Johanna.
“I am not Lucas’ wife. His real wife’s name is Victoria Casella. Look it up on the internet, I’m sure there are uploaded videos of the moment he introduced her at the new project opening of Luca Group,” Johanna said, trembling.
Gino frowned before taking out his cellphone, unconcerned about other trivial matters happening like the events organized by the Luca Group, so they were unaware of the truth, although they knew of the influence of the Luca Group, they did not care about it. He searched for Victoria’s name and watched the video where Lucas introduced her.
After watching the video, Gino left and reported to his boss. Gino showed his boss the video where Lucas introduced Victoria as his wife, and in the next video, where Victoria was introduced as the heiress of the richest man in Italy.
The Don frowned, “We cannot act hastily, especially when the woman is the daughter of the wealthiest man in Italy,” he said.
Gino nodded, understanding the situation. Despite being the strongest and most powerful mafia in Rome, they were unaware of the connection the richest man in Italy had.