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She let out a loud cackle, “No. My papi wanted the marriage alliance. Alessio told him last night he was willing to give you up to take the North. Papi proposed he keep you to get Giovanni to sign an alliance. I was there. I heard it all. And then… papi died. Suddenly. Mysteriously.”
My eyes widened as I realised what she was implying, “Are you saying Alessio killed Diego!”
She shrugged her shoulders, “The timing was very peculiar. Did Alessio tell you Diego had died?” I didn’t speak as she smirked with smugness. “Did he tell you that he called me over to his house in the early hours of this morning while you slept? Of course not. That is when the plan was put in place. He knew Giovanni would never sign allegiance to him. Or agree to marry the both of you. So he decided to let Galiz come and take you now. And he would meet with Giovanni and kill him. He is now the King of the South after all. He can do whatever the fuck he likes.”
My head was shaking without me even realising as the tears pricked in my eyes. “No! I don’t believe a word you are saying! I know Alessio would never do this! I know he would never give me to Galiz or kill Gio to take the North. He never would have ordered Stefano to be killed either!”
Suddenly, there was commotion outside the doors and all our heads whipped around. Massimo, the soldier who shot Stefano, nodded at Isabelle and stormed outside to join the other two soldiers to see what was happening. Isabelle stepped towards me with evilness lurking below the surface of her skin.
“You don’t know Alessio at all. Not the real Alessio. I do. He’s ruthless, ambitious and heartless. But I understand you, Elenora. More than you know. Because everything he has done to you, everything he has made you feel… he has done to me too.”
My eyebrows pulled into the bridge of my nose as I stared up at her. She grabbed her phone from the table next to us and started scrolling through.
“Isabelle. Please. I don’t know why you are doing this, but you don’t have to. You can let me go and I won’t say a word. I won’t tell Alessio about this if you let me go,” I tried a different tactic of pleading with her. I had to see Alessio. I had to speak to him and know that this was all bullshit. I knew it was. Deep down in my heart, I knew him. I knew the truth, but she was messing with my head.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me, Elenora. Alessio is mine. Not yours. He has always been mine. We’ve been fucking for twelve years. I am in love with him just like you are,” she whispered, turning the phone round and shoving it in my face. My eyes took a moment to focus on what I was seeing before they bulged in my head. The sound of familiar grunting and Isabelle’s moans filled the warehouse as the video of Alessio fucking his sister up against a window in what looked like a hotel room played before my eyes. Bile rose in my throat. My whole body started trembling. My stomach tied in knots. I squeezed my eyes closed, unable to watch any more of it as she continued to torture me with their deceit. The tears spilled from my eyes.
“That was three weeks ago in Venice. Like I said, once you have had Alessio Barbieri between your legs, no other man can compare.”
“B-but you’re sib-siblings…” The vomit suddenly rose to my mouth and I turned my head just as it projected out of me in a violent action.
“Hmmm. It’s been our dirty little secret for twelve years. In fact, we fucked this morning to celebrate him becoming King of the South while you slept upstairs,” she hummed as if it didn’t matter in the slightest. “I guess you don’t really know Alessio after all.”
The door slammed open and Isabelle jumped back, turning the phone off. I couldn’t even lift my head to look as I heard shuffling next to me. The sickness and vileness that had plagued my body was too much to bear. How could I have trusted him? How could I have let this happen? Who even was this man?
“And who do we have here?” The amusement in her voice caused me to pay attention to the room. I lifted my head to look at the man, who had a gunshot wound in his shoulder and was now being tied to another chair with chains next to me. I thought I was seeing things for a moment, blinded by the tears in my eyes but no. He was right there.
“Marco?” I whimpered.
“Hey Elle,” he groaned as the metal pinched his skin and the soldier pushed his hand into his wound in his chest, causing him to hiss loudly through gritted teeth.
“What are you doing here?! No. No, leave him alone. Don’t hurt him!” I shouted when I saw one of the soldiers grab a knife off a table and head towards him.
“Well, Dante said Galiz wanted you untouched so you were ready for the market. He seems to think he will make a fortune on you. I can’t see why, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun with him just to torture you!” Isabelle sneered.
Massimo yanked Marco’s head back by his hair and looked over at Isabelle for direction.
“Please! Please, don’t do this! I’ll do anything! Please, don’t hurt him!” I cried, as she tapped her fingers against her lips.
“I think we will start by taking an eye. Isn’t that what Giovanni is known for with his torture methods,” she laughed as Massimo smirked.
“No! Stop!”
“Elle. It’s alright. Just look away,” Marco’s soft, deep voice spoke as he stared up at the ceiling.
A loud sob escaped me as I lowered my head to my chest when I heard Marco’s harrowing scream of insane pain. Isabelle’s ruthless laugh mixed with his suffering went straight through me like a poisoned arrow and I glared up at her with pure hatred in my heart.
“I will kill you, Isabelle Barbieri. If it is the last thing I ever do, I will kill you,” I growled through my stream of tears as she smiled at me, thinking it was an empty threat. The sound of a car coming to a halt outside on the stones caused her to glance over at the door with a smile.
“I don’t think you’ll ever get the chance, Elle. Dante has just arrived.”
Saviour
Giovanni
As soon as I landed in Sicily with mamma and my men, we made our way towards the hired cars waiting for us as we stepped off the plane. I was a little cautious to bring mamma to this, but she was the best negotiator and was refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer. So, I left Maximus to hold the fort at home in my absence.
Alessio had stuck to his word and texted me the location of our meeting in the capital, Palermo. It was to be held in a hotel suite so it was public enough but would still give us the privacy to discuss business openly. I had been running through every scenario that could play out during this meeting a million times. I had resigned myself to having to sign allegiance to him in order to get Elle home and to stop a war that I knew I couldn’t win at this point. But that didn’t mean I would go down without a fight. I wanted to keep my territories. I wanted Venice back. And Alessio would not be getting more than 3% of any of my business.
