(Renata Pellegrini)
“I gave your mother to me.” Tiago asks with his hand outstretched.
I have cried for so long that I have lost track since the time James left to answer the phone. I don’t know if it has been minutes or hours, I am lying there hugging my legs, the tears still falling bitterly down my eyes. Amanda… Caio… did they report me missing?
“I’m in a hurry!” He bristles angrily.
Tiago grabs my wrist forcing me to break my upper arm, my wrist burns with his grip, he slides down my finger a ring with a solitary stone in the center, I try to pull my hand away but he squeezes even tighter forcing me to remain still.
“If you take the ring off, I will cut off your hand.” He threatens me and jumps my hand.
I massage my wrist, my skin is burning.
“Why did you put that thing on my finger?” I ask, my voice hoarse from crying.
“To let everyone know that you are now my bride.”
“You fool! I’ll never marry you!” I shout and at the same instant my face turns sharply to the side, my cheek burning.
“I didn’t give you permission to speak, and even less to contest a decision of mine.” He grabs my jaw and forces me to face his eyes. “Either you obey me, or I will kill you and everyone you love, starting with that bitch named Amanda.”
My heart skips a beat, if something bad happened to her because of me, I would never forgive myself. I look away and he lets go of me, I lower my head feeling my heart hammering in my chest. My son… What will this monster do to me when he finds out that I am pregnant? I have to find a way to escape, I can’t stay here.
“Very good.” He speaks and walks away.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I ask.
“You are my door to be back on top, bambina.”
“What do you mean by that?” I ask, now looking at him.
“We will get married in three hours, there in Italy, and with you as my wife, I will have my honor back and will hold the position of sottocapo of the famiglia Martinelli, but soon I will hold that of Don.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask without understanding. “What do I have to do with whatever this position is?”
“Renata Martinelli: granddaughter of the current Don and niece of the next Don of the Martinelli family, daughter of the former princess Marieta Martinelli, who disgraced the name of the family by getting involved with a soldier and getting pregnant by him. Soon after your birth, she and the soldier ran away, she was killed during the raid, but Giovanni Pellegrini managed to escape and disappeared with you for fifteen long years. He went to Brazil and joined up with some woman to take care of you.”
“Stop lying!” I speak without shouting, I feel a lump in my throat. “My father is an honorable and hardworking man! He was murdered by a rich man who…”
“No, it was your grandfather who had you killed, the order was to find you, but your father had help from someone else to hide you.”
“I never lived in hiding, I…”
“You were always protected, I don’t know the reasons why he collaborated with your father, but his efforts were in vain, now he is dead!”
“What? Who are you talking about now?” I ask, unable to process the flood of information he launched, but he continues talking:
“You were promised to another man, still in your mother’s womb, thank me for freeing you from this cruel fate, I will be a good husband to you.”
“You are forcing me to marry you, monster!” I speak in rage.
Again my cheek burns and tingles.
“You are just a bargaining chip, no matter whose hands you are.”
“I am not an object!”
“In the world, you are. Now come.” He grabs my forearm and pulls me off the bed, dragging me out of the room. “Let’s go to the helicopter.”
Again tears fall from my eyes, sobs hurt my throat, why is this happening to me? I just wanted to live in peace with a family, to be loved by the man I chose and not be dragged to another country to marry the kidnapper.
In the elevator, I try to let go, but Tiago doesn’t let go and just squeezes me even harder, hurting me, on the roof, he drags me to the helicopter, I cry even more, it can’t end like this. Tiago sits down next to me and soon takes off.
(Filippo Valentini)
“I hired him to find and bring my granddaughter back, I wanted to enforce the agreement we made about his marriage to her.” Dominic speaks. “But, earlier this morning, when I called so I could talk to her, he told me that there have been changes of plans and he will no longer give her to me. He is going to marry her and demands that I give her the position of sottocapo. I need help, he must now be in some church forcing my granddaughter to marry him.”
“You also want to force her to marry me.” I say, crossing my arms, I have no interest in marrying his granddaughter, even if she were the most beautiful woman in the world.
“You are an honorable man! He is a…”
“Escaped convict, and yet you entrusted him with the mission of finding someone so valuable, obviously he wouldn’t just want the money. Conform and accept your son-in-law, that child murderer.” I speak with disgust, I feel no pity for that old man, he had no pity for killing his own daughter for getting involved with a soldier.
I hate James with every fiber of my body, I will still kill him, I will avenge all the children he kidnapped, murdered and sold their organs to.
“What about the deal? She is his fiancée!” Dominic softens.
I roll my eyes, I know that my father and he made a deal, his granddaughter, even though she was the daughter of a man of low value in the mafia, was also the daughter of the princess and since Marieta was no longer a virgin, to marry my brother Matteo, they agreed to marry the girl in her womb to me and thus maintain the alliance between the families, but I was always against it, and even after twenty-four years, I still don’t even want to know this girl’s name.
“I don’t want her, for all I care.”
“Renata Pellegrini.” Vincenzo interrupts me to get my attention, why did he say her name? “The bella ballerina, she’s his betrothed.”
“What is it like?” I ask, not believing what my ears have heard.