𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 • 𝐈𝐈𝐈|| ❝𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞❞

> 𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃

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𝐒 𝐄 𝐑 𝐄 𝐍 𝐀 • 𝐑 𝐔 𝐒 𝐒 𝐎

The room was dark, it was cold, I was struggling to open my eyes and keep them focused. I was still intoxicated with whatever substance I inhaled. I couldn't bare the feeling, but my body wasn't strong enough to stay awake, awhile later everything went pitch black again, I had fallen fast asleep. Not by choice of course.

I was woken by the shaking of my body. I blink lightly to see who the figure was standing in front of me, they were still dressed in all black, unnoticeable to recognise, their body was overpowering over mine and they showed much dominance.

"Luca Russo will be very hurt that his daughter is in trouble." I look up at the deep voice and still feel intoxicated, it's worn off slightly but still dragging me down, not allowing me to think straight. I'm unsure what to say.

"Russo?" I roll my eyes because of the dizziness within my mind, everything is blury and blotchy.

"Yes, you're Serena Russo!" I look up at my name being called.

"You look even more beautiful in person." they come closer and I try push them away but they just won't give in.

"That's enough." A deep voice comes in and another tall figure comes in the room. Standing in front of me with his overpowering body language.

"Serena Russo, aha, it's nice to finally meet you, the amount I've heard of you." I look up and the facial features seem familiar, their voice, everything about this person seems familiar... Ivan!

"Ivan?" I almost whisper.

"Bingo!" He chuckles and leans down to face me.

"Poor daddy will be so worried about you won't he, he'll come and save you and practically walk into his death or there's something else we can do." He laughs more and the person behind him laughs louder, is this some sort of joke? My dad... They shot him... They wanted to kill him, they're probably pissed off I killed one of their men.

"What's up Ivan? Still upset that I killed one of your men?" I look at him and begin to giggle, I couldn't help it.

"You killed him?!" His anger begins to boil, I can hear it in his voice, his Russian accent is already seeping through.

"You're a bitch!" He collides his hand across my face but I can't help but laugh, it's too funny.

"Yeah well don't send them next time." I look straight into his eyes which are only darting daggers at me.

"Are you even a part of the Mafia, Serena?" He stares deeply at me with a stupid facial expression.

"No." I lean forward to them, and grit my teeth with anger, they both leave me alone in the room on the chair.

Great.

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They came back awhile later and let me loose, by loose I mean still locked up in their basement but able to move around, they stole my phone, I had nothing to contact anybody. I went towards the other end of the basement and found crates full of weapons. These must've been the weapons Nicolas was speaking about.

I may not work with the Mafia but I certainly know a lot about what's going on, what to do and who people are.

These are the Black Eagles. Ivan is their leader. I begin to think and plan out my escape root. I could break the basement window and leave. The alarm is sure to go off but I'm fast. As I was walking back and forth coming up with a plan Ivan walked back in the basement and stood in the doorway. He walked to me and handed me my dead phone.

"We plan on giving you back to your family, but we need to give them a message first." I look at him and hear the words role of his evil tongue, he pulls out a knife and brings it closer, touching the point of it and sliding his fingers over the knife, the knife is long and sharp. I know what's coming...

"It shouldn't hurt." He smirks at me and comes even closer I try and back away but one of his men come running in and hold my arms behind my back, they lift up my top and run the knife along the back to start with then they slice the side of my stomach, I grunt in pain but look at him straight in the eye. This is the first time I've ever been cut or shot before, let alone hit by another gang.

The guy behind me let me go and left me to bleed for awhile.

"Enough staring at it, let's get her in the car" after that they shove a bag over my head, everything was dark, the bag smelt like tobacco.

A few moments later I heard a door bell ring, I could still feel the blood pouring out of my stomach, leaving it to ache.

"Serena?!" I hear Nicolas shout and carry me with his muscular arms. His aftershave was already sweating off of his body, the scent ran up my nostrils and gave me a sense of protection, even though I used to despise the smell.

He lays me down gently onto my bed and removes the bag from my head and looks at my face, he gasps at the sight that I haven't even seen just yet. He lifts up my top to reveal my stomach and the perfectly straight line running across it in red, allowing more blood to flow out.

"Serena!" My mum comes running in and gasps at the state of me, she begins to cry and stays with me until Nicolas gets back to wherever he's going.

"What happened?!" She sobs while holding my hand, looking down at my stomach holding cloth there to help prevent the bleeding.

"The Black Eagles. " I look at her and Nicolas looks at me with fury in his eyes.

"Are you joking me?! Why?!" He throws the cloths down and looks at me, he's not angry at me I know that but he's one angry person.

"They stole the weapons we shipped, they have a secret area here in Italy!" I look at him and my eyes begin to close.

"No, Serena stay with us!" Butt it's too late, my eyes are closed tightly. Making me fall into a deep sleep.

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After awhile I hear people speaking quietly, I flutter my eyes open and see my father and my brother standing side my side both looking at me. My father then looks down to where I've been injured, I do the same and notice the white bandage that is wrapped around my waist to support me. My father sits at the end of my bed, holding my hand. The warmth of his hand rushes through my body, the feeling almost feels foreign. He looks into my eyes and asks, "What happened Serena?" He leans in to talk to me he looks into my eyes and asks me, "What happened Serena?" he leans in to talk to me but I take in a deep breath before I begin to speak.

"The Black Eagles look me, I was spying on Franco and Nicolas, I heard him behind me... He put me to sleep took me to some place and sliced my stomach." I look down at my bandage and can see a little bit of blood spit through it.

I can see my father turn to Nicolas who has a confused expression written on his face.

"How come your up anyway?" I ask my dad realising he's in a black suit, and not in bed anymore recovering.

"When you get used to something you heal quickly." He looks to the floor and leaves my room, I can hear the familiar large office doors close, he's gone to his office and probably discuss what he'll do to the Black Eagles.

After a few moments I'm left by myself, with my thoughts staring up at the ceiling. The darkness covers my room I turn to see the time and its 11PM, I turn the other way facing my wall and try falling asleep. But I couldn't, there were people standing right outside my door. I pushed myself off of my bed and opened my door, and there he stood. With his spikey black hair and his brown eyes.

"What are you still doing here?" I roll my eyes and him and cross my arms.

"What's up? Need your 'beauty' sleep?" He starts to laugh at his comment but it wasn't at all funny.

"No I just want you to shut the fuck up talking right outside my door, it's very rude, especially as it's not your house." I look at him and give him the death stare.

"Look my love, the only person here who is being rude is you, I mean, you were spying on what my father and your brother were up to, but unluckily for you, you got caught." He gestures to my stomach and I slam the door in his face, so fucking rude, is he saying I deserved getting sliced open?

I pull my silky bed sheets over my body to trap the warmth,  it does just that. I toss and turn and still can't get to sleep, I then feel something damp on my shirt, I look down and notice my cut has bled through my top.

I get up once again and head to my en-suite to clear myself up, I try and scrub the blood off but it won't come off. After an exhausting routine of ups and downs I finally get back in bed and get warm again and fall asleep. Not worrying about anything, no noises outside of my room. Just pure silence.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

I see the light shining brightly through my window reflecting on my mirror on the other side of my room. I get a knock on the door but refuse to talk or go up and open the door.

"Serena, can I talk to you?" I turn over and see my father standing in my doorway with his hands inside of his pockets.

"Everything okay?" I sit up and feel the pain sensation shoot from my stomach to my nervous system causing it to ache.

"Yeah, I just wanted to tell you something" he sighs and continues to talk.

"We need to get you to train so you're able to protect yourself, this doesn't mean you're a part of the mafia so don't get too excited. When me and Nicolas aren't around, you need to protect yourself." I look at him and smiled. This is a step closer to achieve what I want to achieve.

"When does the training start?" I look at him and bolt up.

"Tonight, but you will have a mentor." He looks at me and nods.

"Mentor?" My mind runs through curiosity, a mentor? Who's going to be teaching me? My mind runs through the possibilities, Nicolas, Orlando, other men? I have no idea.

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The rest of the day went fairly quick, we all sat round the dining table and ate our steaks. Nicolas was laughing at my father while making comments.

"So, Serena is training now?" Nicolas looks at my father and I look down, he's clearly not my mentor if he had no idea that I was having training done.

"Yes, not for the mafia obviously, but to protect herself." My father's words made me slightly feel like an underdog, I still want to join the Mafia, but I can't yet.

"Who's training her?" Nicolas takes a bite of his steak and I take a sip of my coke.

"Diego." my father calmly says his name but my coke was spat back in my glass.

"Diego Greco?" My thoughts tremble to the dark haired, muscular man.

"Yes, will that be a problem Serena?" my father looks at me with curiosity within his eyes.

"Not at all." My words slide out of my mouth and I already hate the training, if he takes the piss out of my stomach again I'll slice his stomach and see how he likes it.

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Dinner finishes and a few hours past, I decide to wear my sports bra and my sports leggings and head towards the basement, I've only been down there a few times to watch my father and brother train but I have never trained down here before...

I open to door and I'm greeted with a gym on one side of the room and a training area on the other, this room had changed a lot since I've last been down here, memories flood back through my mind and I can picture my brother attempting to beat my father up, they used fake weapons that resembled real ones in order to try and attack one another. I get lost in my thoughts that I don't notice Diego standing in the corner of the room in a vest and joggers, his hair is still spiked up and hes wearing a very expensive pair of training shoes.

"Ready?" He looks at me and I nod, he takes me over to the practicing area and we begin to fight, I'm not that much of a fighter just yet. But I will be.

I throw a punch but Diego manages to hold my fist and lightly squeeze it to show I wouldn't be able to let go. I tried to kick him but he grabbed my leg and pulled me to the floor. This training is going to take a lot.

We practice more and I can feel my bandage soaking up from the previous attack I had from Ivan.

"Let's take a break." Diego looks at me and I nod, heading towards the same bench he's sat on.

"I'm surprised your dad let you train." He says and looks on the floor avoiding eye contact with me, his sweat is dripping down his forehead and is showing on his grey vest leaving trails to reveal his abs.

"Me too."I look to the oposite wall and I notice a bandage on the chair, I walk over to the chair and try and bangage myself up, and by try I mean try and fail.

Diego stands up and helps tie my bandage up, closing the scar.

His hands feel so soft and warm, I could feel him trying to tug on the ends and sort them out.

"Thank you." I look at him and smile, I don't get a smile in return I just get a nod, having Diego as a teacher is going to be so difficult, he doesn't talk much which makes it all so boring.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Training ends and I head for a shower, the cold water runs across my body leaving me to feel cooler than what I was, goosebumps were emerging on the surface of my skin which only made sure that my muscles were more relaxed than before.

I come out and get dressed and head towards my bed, I sit up straight and apply another bandage, typically I manage fine without the presence of Diego.

I close my eyes and begin to replay everything that happened today well this week. After awhile of thinking about my week and the memories, I fall asleep fast.