*A/N: Song for this chapter: Bad Dreams (Stripped) - Faouzia

If you haven't heard of Faouzia, you should check out her music. She's super gifted/talented!! I'm happy I stumbled across her on a suggestion from YouTube, hahaha!

***Trigger warning: This chapter has scenes of torture/violence.

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Bobby Cardinale's dark eyes are on me, assessing my reaction.

The conversation I had with my Uncle Timo, seeps back through my mind. I had asked how my dad-Dominic could have cheated on my mom, but he said my dad didn't cheat, that it was more complicated than that...

Cardinale exhales another puff of smoke and continues with his history lesson. "You see it was a masterful plan, really. Timo enlisted the help of his sister, Serena. She had suffered several miscarriages and was pregnant, yet again. This would be her ninth, can you believe that?" He shakes his head, taking another drag from his cigarette, "and as luck would have it, Isabella was with child at the same time, unbeknownst to me at the time. And so, after Timo took Isabella from me, and time goes on, she gave birth a couple of days, before Serena's child was delivered stillborn. Tragic, yes? But...also providing a solution for Timo."

My eyes burn, hearing about my mom's-Serena's hardships, with child bearing.

Cardinale, chuckles to himself. "I have to tell you, truthfully, I remember feeling genuinely, happy for Serena and Dominic, when I heard they finally had their baby." He shakes his head again, clicking his tongue. "Timo had arranged to fly Isabella out of the country to 'protect' her, while the child she had, would be given to his sister, to pass off as her own."

My head is spinning, from all the information, lack of food, sleep deprivation and the realization of what he's saying. "Let me get this straight. You're saying you could be my father?"

"For your sake, let's hope so," He tells me. There seems to be some sincerity in his voice before his expression hardens. Probably because I'm laughing in response. I'm wheezing.

"This is just wonderful," I gasp out in between my laughing.

I must have done something really horrible, awful...probably unforgivable in a previous life, to have such bad luck. 

I mean, seriously?

"Do you know how twisted this all is?" I laugh again, while look back at him, in disbelief. "You tried to have me killed! And now you're saying I should hope you're my father? My one-time friend over there, Sofia aka Elena, turns out to be a psycho bitch, my mom was my Aunt, my asshole Uncle Gio, killed my dad, my dad was actually my Uncle... and that's not even mentioning the shit I've dealt within the last two weeks with Joh-" I catch myself and start laughing harder.

I look around the room at all the different faces. They all look back at me with uneasiness, uncertainty. Annalisa and Joey faces however, show sorrow. I catch Alfonso's eye.

"Eyepatch. You look like you're ready to blow your brains out, so do us both a favor, shoot me now, make things interesting and save me from this fucking nightmare. Let's not stall the inevitable." He narrows his eye at me before he looks to Cardinale.

"Charmaine!" Annalisa and Joey both yell out to me, in disbelief.

Bobby walks towards me. "Dolcezza, if you're his, then you might as well know, I plan on returning the favor to Timo, only this time, not only will there be pictures but I will send a body for him to see."

The thought that Uncle Timo, could be my real father, makes me both nauseous and furious. All the years I've spent living in the same house as him; this entire time, and he could be my father?

But then I wonder..."What about Isabella?" 

Bobby looks at me for a long time before he finally responds. "Isabella betrayed me, so she must suffer the consequences of her deception, it's nothing against you, cara." Right...just my life, but no biggie, I think bitterly.

"So, while we wait for the DNA results to come in, you all will tell me where they are keeping Isabella." He says it all so casually.

I snort in response and then start cracking up. This fucking guy is hilarious. He's no different than the others. A fucking clown. He turns to look at me, as I continue laughing, raising his eyebrow. Annalisa and Joey also watch me.

"Char..." Annalisa's worried voice has me looking at her.

"No...no...wait," I tell Annalisa in between my laughing, I continue laughing until Alfonso walks up and slaps me, but that just makes me laugh harder. He backhands me, in the other direction.

Okay...that one hurt. I taste blood in my mouth. I really need to reign in, my inappropriate and ill timed, laughing fits.

"Leave her alone, you motherfucker!" Joey yells, he tries to stand but they pull him back by his hair and punch him in the stomach. He groans, leaning over coughing.

Cardinale lifts my chin over to face him. "Let's try that again. Where is Timo keeping Isabella? I know your friend, Joey knows but even after some friendly encouragement, to get him to talk, he claims he doesn't know. So what about you, dolcezza?" 

I spit the blood in my mouth, on his shoes. "I'll tell you what I do know, stronzo. I know that you are all fucking, idiots! Including Timo. My whole life has been a damn lie! I've been kept locked up in that fucking house, after my mom-Serena was killed by some assholes who worked for another son of a bitch, Gio Dante, who surprise, turns out to be my Uncle! That same son of a bitch killed my dad, Dominic, the only man I knew as my father because of a fucking grudge, but really when it comes down to it, Giovanni Dante is a fucking pussy, who couldn't accept rejection and move on, and you're no different!"

"I lived in a house with a man who could be my father but has always kept me at arms length, treating me like an inconvenience more than family, let alone his own fucking daughter! He doesn't tell me shit! I don't even know my real mom. I've never even fucking knew she existed until a few months ago, let alone know she was still alive, until you just told me!" 

The room is quiet, with the exception of my loud panting after my rant.

"You know what, I believe you." Cardinale says after a while, rubbing his chin. "I don't appreciate your insults but I know you're telling the truth." He takes another pull from his cigarette. "Still, there are rules, codes if you will, in this world of ours, and they must be respected, and when they are not, we must do things to restore balance—."

"Are you serious, right now?" I ask. He looks back at me. I'm not sure if he's surprised I interrupted him or the fact that I'm questioning him.

"You're going to talk about rules? Codes in your world? They must be respected?" I give a short laugh. "I'm pretty sure if you, yourself, respected these rules in your twisted world, we all wouldn't be here right now. Yes, yes, I know you said it's Timo's fault we are all here, but something tells me, you're very much a part of that reason as well. But yes, let's be fucking children and pass all the blame on someone else! Why don't you, Gio and Timo get together, and suck each other off or better yet kill each other and leave me the hell out of —"

The punch to the face that Alfonso gives me, causes my nose to start bleeding profusely. My shirt is stained as I lean forward so I don't gag on it as it runs down my throat, coughing the blood out.

"You son of a bit—" Joey bellows but he gets punched again.

"As I was saying, Stella." Bobby continues. "We do things to restore balance...your gorgeous friend here, Annalisa, probably doesn't have any information in that pretty head of hers, does she? She just was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, yes?" He walks over to Annalisa. He leans down next to her and caresses her face.

"Get your hands off of me!" Annalisa glares at him.

"Don't fucking touch her!" Joey yells out.

Cardinale keeps looking at Annalisa then blows smoke in her face. "Beautiful. You know, we could use some new blood at the house. Don't you agree, boys?" He stands and walks around her, moving her hair behind her shoulders. Joey struggles in vain, on the chair he's being held down on.

Cardinale looks up. "Jimmy, tell me, how well do you know our bella amica, here? I can see she is vivacious, maybe more so than Stella, si ?" 

"She's definitely the more assertive one, out of the two." Jimmy steps up to Annalisa. "More experienced, if that's what you're asking." He rubs his thumb over her lip; she bites down on his finger, hard. He yells out and hits her across the face. Cardinale laughs at the interaction.

"Well, Joey. It comes down to you." Cardinale moves behind Annalisa, again. "Tell me where they are keeping Isabella and I will make sure Annalisa here, is treated like a queen, rather than a whore." He leans over her and runs his hands over the shirt, cupping her breasts. Annalisa squirms and tries to move away. "Very nice, are these real?"

Joey struggles in vain, his face red. "Leave her alone! I already told you, I don't fucking know."

"It's okay, Joey. I'm fine." Annalisa tells him, trying to ease his distress, but her voice is shaky.

"Alfonso." Cardinale beckons Eyepatch. I watch as he pulls out a switchblade and walks up to Annalisa.

I shout for him to stop. Annalisa leans back, breathing heavily as he takes her shirt in his hands and cuts it open, tearing it down the front, exposing her chest. I watch helplessly as she tries to fight against him with her hands tied. Jimmy moves behind Annalisa and holds her head up, against his body, making her arch her back. She grunts and screams out in anger.
Alfonso turns to face Joey, to make sure he watches as he starts carving something on her lower stomach. She cries out, in pain. I scream at him to stop.

"You motherfucker, get your hands off of her!" Joey shakes in anger. One of the other men punches Joey causing him to fall over, off the chair.

"Looks like we need to motivate him better." Cardinale states.

Alfonso moves away from Annalisa. I'm momentarily relieved that he's leaving her alone for now, but now their attention is on Joey. The men lift Joey back up and begin to untie his hands from behind his back. He tries to fight them off but they over power him quickly, in his weakened condition. They strap his hands down over the arm rests of the chair.

"Joey!" I cry out to him.

One of the men stands behind Joey and holds his head tightly, the same way they held Annalisa. Alfonso starts to carve on Joey's stomach too. Joey groans and grunts loudly and breaths heavily as he continues.

When I think he's finished, Alfonso goes to the table and comes back with a pincher like instrument, in his hand. He grabs Joey's thumb and starts ripping his nail off. Joey wails out in pain, thrashing against the man holding him. He continues with ripping each nail off on Joey's left hand.

Tears are falling down my face. "Please stop!" I choke out. Annalisa is sobbing, loudly too.

Alfonso turns with the instrument; one of Joey's nails still held within it. Blood runs down Joey's leg from his hand. He's panting and gasping heavily; he grunts loudly in anger. I can see now that the word 'pussy' was carved on his stomach.

"You sadistic fuck!" I scream. Alfonso winks at me, with his good eye as he walks by, setting the tool back on the table.

"Okay, Joey." Cardinale walks over to him, gripping his head up, by his hair. "One more time. Where is Isabella? I don't want to cause more harm to your friends here. Hell, one of them might be my own flesh in blood. She's spared for now, until I know...but Annalisa...look at her, Joey." He grips Joey's hair, and chin to turn his head over towards Anna. "You don't want to be the reason why her beautiful body gets scarred and marked up, do you?" Joey looks at Annalisa, with pain in his eyes.

"It's okay, Joey. It's not your fault. It's okay." Anna tells him crying, Joey shakes his head in return.

"Timo doesn't even know, he didn't want to know, in case something like this happened. He had help from someone outside, I don't know who. I swear, I don't know where she is. Please, please don't hurt her." He begs, Cardinale.

"Joey, Joey, Joey. You're one of his top soldiers, you're best friends with Timo's Underboss' son and you expect me to believe you don't know?" Cardinale clicks his tongue.

"Are you fucking deaf? I'm telling you the truth, you fucking asshole!" Joey yells.

Cardinale nods to Jimmy. Another man grabs Annalisa by the hair while Jimmy cuts the zip tie on her hands. The man standing behind Annalisa, holds her head and one of her arms back, while Jimmy grabs her right hand. He turns towards Joey smiling, then we hear a snap as Annalisa shrieks out in pain.

Joey and I both, start thrashing against the restraints, yelling out for Jimmy to stop. Alfonso punches me again, knocking me back and I fall over with the chair. The sickening, snapping sounds continue and Annalisa's screams of anguish, fill the room.

I can't see Joey, but I hear him grunting and I can only assume he's getting punched, repeatedly. When I'm brought back up again, Alfonso slaps me then I'm jostled, until I sit up straight. I'm panting and look over at Annalisa, her hand is shaking on the armrest. Three of her fingers on her right hand, are now in awkward angles. Her head is down, her face hidden by her hair, and her body is trembling. Joey's head is hanging back, his shoulders and chest moving quickly, with his heavy breathing.

"Alright. That's enough for today. I have a lunch appointment to get to." Cardinale says, nonchalantly. He buttons his suit jacket and begins to walk towards the door before turning back to face us. "This was just a preview of what's to come. It can be over as soon as you tell me what I want to know." 

"Take them back to their cells." He orders and walks out. I watch as Joey is dragged out. The man with the neck tattoo, pulls a new shirt over Annalisa's head, helping her put her arms and injured hand through the holes. While another man pulls her out of the room by her hair.

Alfonso uses his switch blade to cut the ties, on my hands and the ones keeping my legs tied to the chair legs. He yanks me up by my hair, wrapping his other hand around my neck. He tightens his grip as he brings my face close to his. "I don't care if you are the bosses daughter. I plan on returning the favor, puttana." He taps his patch covered eye with his switch blade. He leans down inhaling deeply. "But not before, I enjoy ripping you apart."

I look up at him. "I'm going to fucking kill you before you get the chance, Eyepatch." He laughs loudly as he drags me out of the room and down a narrow, dimly lit hallway.

I don't know if they meant to forget to blindfold us or not but I'm able to see we are definitely being held in a large basement of a house. There are three doors on one side of the hallway and three others on the opposite side. A long staircase at the end of hallway leading up.

He throws me inside a darkened room and the momentum from his shove causes me to lean too far forward but I catch the brunt of the impact on my knees, when I fall.

"Annalisa." I call out. I panic for a moment wondering if they've separated us.

Her soft crying sounds, reach my ears and I turn towards the sound. I crawl across the floor until I feel her arm and she flinches away, instinctively. "Oh, Anna. I'm so sorry."

I move closer to her and this time she moves toward me, too. She lays her head on my lap and starts sobbing. I cry silently along with her as I rub her arm and head.

"Char, please don't provoke them to hurt you. You have to think about the baby. Please." She sobs into my leg.

"They're going to hurt me regardless, Anna." Remembering Alfonso's words.

"Someone will come for us." She says as she continues to cry on my lap. I don't want to make her feel worse, but no one is coming, it's been too long. They would have been here by now.

But that doesn't mean I'm going down without a fight, even if it means I will die.

******

**Poor Joey, do you think he really doesn't know? Or does his loyalty to Timo and the family run that deep?

**What do you guys think is going to happen next??

*Don't forget to comment, vote and share!