Before I start, just wanna give you a warning.

This chapter's dark. If you can't handle dark things then please skip this chapter because there are a bunch violence, of rape and mentions of  prostitution and abuse.

I had to do this dark chapter because I want to show the dark side of things. It's not going to be all happy and joy, or sadness and misery. I have to show you how bad it's getting from their side.

If you do proceed, I'm telling you to proceed at your comfort level, okay?  I'm telling you to grab some gun or some pitchforks because you might or might not hate some characters ^^

Okie? Okie! (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)

Without further ado, let's proceed with the story.

****

Nicolai held Isabella's arm and pulled her down the stairs where people were gathering already. Her family was there already. Her father and her brothers. Isabella felt another wave of pain hit her as she saw them. They were alive but they were also a reminder that her eldest brother was dead.

Nicolai held a gun on her temple as they walked down the same steps she walks upon every day without no worries of what would happen in her future.

"Isabella!" Elois cried out, his eyes looking at her and Nicolai with a mixture of anger and worry. He took a step forward but Nicolai pushed the gun closer to her temple.

"One step forward and she's gone." Nicolai growled, glaring at Elois. "One step. That's all it's going to take."

Elois clenched his jaw and took a step back, his hands were trembling slightly from anger but he didn't release his hold on the gun. Lucius held back his brother in fear of him lashing out without thinking of his actions.

Dante looked calm and collected. He acted as though nothing was amiss. He sighed. "Nicolai," he started. "What are you doing?"

Nicolai glared at him but he didn't speak. Isabella glanced at the room and noticed that they weren't alone. She could see Dmitri, Rafael and Romeo at the corner with men pointing their guns behind their heads, Dante's men were pointing guns at several directions to people who she doesn't recognize and those people were surrounding them.

They were surrounded.

"He asked you a question." Lucius said with no stutter or fear in his voice.

Nicolai scoffed. "I know he did but I'm not you or his monkeys. I don't have any obligations to tell him what he wants to hear." Nicolai chuckled darkly and leaned forward until his breath fanned her earlobe. "Isn't that right, Izzy? I don't have any obligations to tell your daddy the answer."

Isabella struggled again against him but he was stronger. Smarter. He held her tighter and pulled the trigger on the floor next to her feet. One move of his hand and he would have put a bullet on one of her feet. Isabella shuddered in fear and Lucius was about to move forward when one of the men surrounding us raised a gun and aimed it directly to his chest.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! One step and you're dead as well." Nicolai said jovially. He hugged Isabella tighter with a bright grin. "Isn't that right, Izzy?" He asked, kissing her cheek but she moved away in disgust.

"You stay away from me, Nicolai." Isabella exclaimed in anger, her red eyes were filled with anger and her whole body was trembling with it.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Lucius exclaimed harshly. "You get away from her!"

"Calm down, mijo. We won't solve anything if you act like this." Dante said to him quietly.

Elois growled. "This man's not joking, papa. You can see it. He'll kill Isabella if he has to." Elois mumbled.

"Perhaps I can give some answers." Ezri said with that innocent smile. How many times have Ezri smiled to her like that? And how many times have she fallen for it?

"Oh, goodie. Who would have known that you're one of them?" Dmitri said, sounding casual and anyone who has been with him for years could hear the slight strain in his voice. Isabella could hear it and she's sure that Ezri could as well.

Rafael elbowed him and glared slightly at him. Dmitri shrugged. "What? It's true. Right, Ezri?"

Ezri's eyes beamed at him and giggled before nodding. "Yeah, you're right as always Dmitri."

"You see," Ezri started.

****

"You're good to go." Anthony smiled softly as he fixed the final papers for his leave.

Micheal smiled brightly and bowed his head respectfully. "Thank you, sir." He said with an endearing tone.

"None of that, Micheal. You're family." Anthony exclaimed before placing a hand on Micheal's shoulder. "And since you are one, I swear on my life that you will leave with nothing but a peaceful life ahead of you. I swear you that."

Micheal nodded. "I want nothing more."

Anthony's promise was like treasure, it was like a key to a good life. He promised that danger would be nothing but dust.

Micheal had always looked up on the young man—Anthony. Calm and composed whose smile always soothed the heart and his words were treasure.

Anthony promised.

Anthony smiled brightly and nodded. "Good man. You've done a good service to the Torres. I hope you know that."

Micheal chuckled. "Thank you, sir."

Anthony sighed sadly. "I will miss you. You were one of my father's best man. Loyalty was one of your strong suits."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir. It's just that this life was just making me want to start anew." He says as he remembers the times where he had to hold the gun, where he was almost knocked on the door of death. In this life of his, there was nothing but darkness and blood. There was no room for mercy or forgiveness.

The older man laughed. "I'm sure you will find someone new, sir."

____

The Torres owned everything for years. Businesses, land, money.

People.

In a way, they were death. They hold lives like toys and didn't care what paths those who lived had, what kind of precious loved ones they got,  who they were and what kind of people they once was before meeting the Torres.

It was painful.

When they killed innocents.

Anthony promised.

So why come when Micheal finally settled down and had a good wife and three beautiful children? Why come now?

That night, Micheal wished he were dead. He wished he was nothing more than a corpse because death would be far easier to accept than the things they did and said.

"You're the traitor who leaked the information." Dante told him that night. Micheal never thought of himself as a traitor. Anthony said so himself that he was one of Dante's best.  He was nothing but loyal. He did whatever demand they asked him for. 

He couldn't have leaked it.

Micheal's wife was brought to the kitchen and his children in a room. Micheal cried out, begging for some mercy.

"Please, my wife and my kids have done nothing wrong!" Micheal pleaded and then he pleaded again and again until his voice were hoarse but nobody spoke a word.

They watched instead as he begged for his life, for his kids' life, for his wife's but it fell on deaf ears. It didn't matter if he begged or go crazy, his fate was sealed already.

Anthony, who was silent the whole time finally spoke. He spoke to the man beside him. "Chop-chop, Romeo."

This 'Romeo' gave a sigh, as if he was tired before he headed to the kitchen where his wife's cries hasn't calmed down.

Anthony's brother, Lucius also sighed heavily before shaking his head with a look of disappointment on his face. He looked disappointed by his older brother's words but he didn't utter a thing. He just stayed silent.

The next thing Micheal heard was similar to how a knife would hit a cutting board in a loud and horrendous way. It followed by his wife's pained shriek.

Micheal closed his eyes. He couldn't stand to hear it but his mind insisted he do. His mind—his damn mind— insisted he count. It repeated ten times. Ten times. Ten fingers maybe. Ten toes as well. A ten that could be equivalent to any parts of the body that they could have chop off.

Apart from the sound of the knife, he could hear his children being taken advantage of by Anthony's men. One by one. Their cries growing more and more pleading. They begged them to stop but the creak of the bed were loud and aggressive enough that he knew they weren't going to stop any time soon. He could hear them beg and Michael wished they were killed off instead. Easy and quick. No pain, no sufferings. Just...dead.

It was a torturous night because he could hear every scream, every thud of the bed, every slaps of skin to skin.

"Stop." The man sobbed desperately, bowing his head until his forehead reached the floor. Micheal's tears were falling quickly as he begged Dante to stop. He wished Anthony would give him mercy.

"Anthony." He heard Lucius hiss at his brother. "That's enough." Lucius said.

"Enough?" Elois exclaimed. "Nothing's just enough." He said jovially.

When Micheal sat up, there was death waiting for him. Death looked at him blankly and Micheal cried out for him to stop the torture.

"Anthony, please." Micheal begged as he looked at the man straight in the eyes before reaching out to his feet and hugged it. "Please!"

Dante was the one to speak. He spoke to one of the men who was just standing at the door. "That's enough. Tell them to bring them here."

The man nodded and before Micheal knew it, his wife, who lost five of her fingers and five or her toes were brought along with his children whose clothes were ripped apart and their hair in a mess. Their wrists, their neck, their ankles showed that they were tied or held down.

They were presented in front of him like a prize and Michael wailed loudly, his body shaking at how much pain and shock  his body was in, how he couldn't believe his perfect life had just been shattered in a matter of minutes.

Lucius sighed heavily, looking away while Elois practically bounced with every step he took as he moved with childlike energy behind his wife. A gun behind her head.

Silence overtook the room and everyone but him and his family were waiting with bated breaths.

"Bang."

And just like that, she fell. Her cries were nothing more and she was now just a corpse in everyone's eyes.

And one by one his children were brought on death's door. One of his children, his poor son was still alive but he were bleeding to death and a single tear fell down followed by another and then another before his bloodied hand weakly reached out to his father.

The father couldn't accept that his son is standing on death's door. He can't. His son was so young. He had so much to live for. He didn't deserve this.

His son narrowed his eyes slightly, as though he was desperately ordering his body to move but now it won't listen but with all his might, he poured all his strength on what he wanted to say with his last final breath.

"I'm sor..."

Anthony shot him even before his son could finish what he was saying. "I hate children " Anthony mumbled with a grimace.

Was his baby boy going to apologize? His son was always protective of his siblings. Was he going to apologize for not protecting them?

And before Micheal died, he finally knew why Anthony went against his promise.

It was because their organization told them that someone leaked some information and they couldn't find the person who did it so instead of looking incapable and powerless in front of the organization, they decided to use him. They made the organization believe that they got the traitor.

And it was easier to make the organization believe it because Michael once worked with a Torres. He could have leaked something if he wanted to.

But he didn't because he was loyal. He was one of Dante's best men. He wouldn't done it. He wouldn't. His life was perfect. Everything was. But his voice didn't reach their ears because they finally gave him to death.

Who knows who's going to die next in their bloodied hands?

____

"They steal the money of other families." Achilles Cattaneo sighed over the phone. "The businesses, the men—it's not good being on their side. They kill families. It's getting bad."

The Cattaneos were third from being the highest in the organization and the Torres think they could control every family in the organization, even the highest among them. But Achilles could see their control slipping like the sand in the hourglass.

Time was running out for them.

Achilles pinched the bridge of his nose. "They use women of powerful families to build stronger alliances. Or put them in their whore house. They look down on them, okay? For them, women are just tools or glass that they need to break to be fully submissive to them. He's going to use my daughter next if he finds out about her. Gonna marry her off or use her to get what they want." He said over the phone. "Kills off innocent people too— no! It's not in our pact to kill them or to even touch those who aren't even in the organization. Innocent people, alright?"

Ezri warned Achilles not to do anything stupid but the man scoffed over the phone.

"They won't be at their pedestal forever." Achilles muttered.

_____

"Ma," Ezri wailes as his mother locked the door. He backed away slowly until his legs hit the bed. He stumbled clumsily and sat on the bed with a soft grunt.

Tatiana smiled in her gentle manner before walking towards him as though she was approaching a wild animal. "Baby." Her tone were like honey, sweet and dripping with nothing but sugar and love— A tone that Ezri hates the most. "What did I tell you?"

Ezri whimpered, frightened and weak. "Mommy, please don't." He begged in desperation, hoping she'd listen to his pleas. "I'm sorry, mommy. I'm sorry, I won't ever say anything about it again." He cried out desperately as his hands were starting shake. "Don't punish me, please."

Ezri was tired from the whorehouse and now he was being used again. His back ached and his waist were filled with fingertips of people who held him for hours.

He was tired.

Tired of being used, of being in a bed with strangers. Tired of his mom. Of everything.

But he needed money. His mother doesn't give him that. She treats him like shit and acts all sweet when she wants something from him. She told him to work in that place and work he did. It's not like he had a choice. He was young. Nobody would choose a youngling like him to work.

"Tell me what you did, love." Tatiana Torres asked with that sweet voice of hers that was obviously leaking with venom. She grabbed his hair and yanked it harshly, making him whine desperately.

"M-Mommy, I'm sorry." Ezri was shaking like a leaf as he looked up at his mother. He knew his mother well enough to know that she was pissed.

She yanked his hair harshly, making him hiss in pain. "Don't make me repeat myself, love." Her voice lowered dangerously, making him take a shuddering breath of fear. "Tell me what you did that pissed me off."

"I-I mentioned..." He stammered. He can't get the words out. He's frightened. He shouldn't have— should have never— mentioned them. "I should never have."

His mother hummed, pleased by the answer. "And why?"

Because you hate them. "Because they abandoned us."  He sobbed, pain and sorrow filled his little heart as he said the truth. Those words he despised. Words sharper than a knife that he hates saying because it cuts him deeper than anything.

They abandoned us.

They abandoned me.

Me.

His mother smiled brightly, as if she was proud of him. Proud. She was only proud of him if he did the dirty work. She was only proud if he pleased her. And he hates pleasing her. Tatiana  leaned forward to kiss the corner of his lips, making him shudder at the disgusting feeling. He never liked it but this woman did. Ezri felt disgusting.

He was disgusting.

She stood up straighter. "And you know the punishment for it." Tatiana grinned devilishly. "Lay down, baby. Let mommy punish you."

Ezri bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly as he obeyed. He felt absolutely disgusting. When the woman straddled him, he didn't have a choice but to let it happen.

When she stripped him naked, when she... When she touched him— when she made him cry, when the bed creaked with the sound of her ecstatic moans and his cries mixing together in the silence of the room.

And when it was all over, Ezri cried himself to sleep.

____

Dante sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was currently talking with his in-laws and he was growing more and more annoyed.

"No. I don't want the boy." Dante said coldly, his finger tapping impatiently on his desk. "The girl." Dante said, smiling at the thought of having a daughter.

His in-laws squawked in indignation but he rolled his eyes. "I don't care if the girl's hers as well." He growled with finality.

He's had sons and was enough of it. He couldn't use them for his desire. If he were to adopt this girl then he could marry her off when she's of age to one of the dominant families in the organization which would result the Torres having a powerful ally by their side.

Things had been rocky with the organization. The families were doubting the Torres' capabilities to lead and was slowly rebelling against them. 

A little girl in the Torres family is just what Dante needs to stop the doubts and the rebels. He could marry her off to one of the powerful families in the organization which would definitely result to crucial alliances and financial gains which would provide ample power for the Torres to gain their control back.

He silently laughed at the thought. It was amusing how Tatiana tried to kept this a secret from him. She's had men in their bed before and he didn't care just as long as she always comes back to him and that she carry his child every time.

But to keep a child from him? That's new.

Amusing even.

Dante sighed when his in-laws tried to explain how much that would hurt his son, Ezri— as Tatiana named him— in the future. Dante doesn't care if it hurts the boy. He decided not to care.

He sighed. "I need the girl. Get me the girl." He demanded in finality. "I don't fucking care what the boy would feel. Put him up for adoption, throw him away or get him to the whorehouse, let him work there. I don't care! I just need my daughter. That's all."

_____

Looooook >.> I needed it to be dark. This chapter had to be dark. They're the kind of people whose souls are corrupted and that they don't care if it is corrupt.

They are the kind of people who kills, who uses people for their own benefit and I need to show that. They're not nice people, they definitely not innocent. I need to show how twisted they really are. I'm not a psycho, okay? It was hard for me to write this (⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠˙̫̮⁠ ⁠ꈨຶ⁠ ⁠)

Now, the characters here like MICHEAL and ACHILLES are just characters that I used to show the twisted side of things. They're not important characters or people who will be appearing in the future.

But what do you think?

And I saw some people saying that the story isn't going anywhere and it's okay to say it because I completely agree and I see that (⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

I don't know why  but I feel like I'm slowly losing my magic to write (⁠´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠). And I'm sorry. I feel like I'm not doing enough to give everyone a good story. I do see that this story is filled with plot holes and I'm not consistent with my updates like I once was but I do hope everyone still enjoys it.

I'm trying my best to get my magic back so don't worry. I'll try to update more quickly and I'll try to get this story somewhere, hopefully to the finish line. I won't drop this story even if it kills me and I will do my best for you guys ᕦ⁠(⁠ò⁠_⁠ó⁠ˇ⁠)

But other than that, it's a long chapter so what do you think about this chapter?

Dark?

Doesn't make any sense?

Sad?