CHAPTER 24

ANALISE’S POV

I look at myself in the mirror and sigh. My pregnancy is not that much visible as I am only two and a months pregnant.
I talked to Bianca about it and she said I worry too much. According to her, it is common in some women. Looking at my belly I gently stroke it. Soon in a few months, I will have my child in my arms. His or her beautiful laughter will be music to my ears.
By looking at myself I suddenly remember why I am even here. I quickly blow dry my hair and get out of the bathroom in a bathrobe to see two unknown women
doing something on my vanity.

How they entered? Who are these? Where is Luciano? I move backward so I can run into the bathroom if something happens.
“Who are you?” I ask to which they look at me.
“Master Luciano sent us to get you ready.” One of them says relieving me. I nod and sit in front of the mirror and they start doing their work.
Tonight, Luciano is holding a big celebration party for his company’s latest success. As his wife I must go and honestly, I want to be with him in his celebration.

The problem is that I am scared of going there. I still remember what happened last time. In truth, I don’t want to be with strangers in one room. Every stranger scares me.
My kidnapping also played an important role in my being scared. Women that come to these parties are so rude and evil. Glistening in money, everyone is so evil.
It seems like every single person present there wants something of his benefit. Some want to make new deals while some are betraying each other by wearing a fake mask of friendship.

Only a few people are genuinely happy or are not cunning. Thank God! Aria and Niccolo will be there too. It is fun to be with Aria.
“You are ready mam.” The one whose name is Maria said.
Looking at myself in the mirror I can see exactly what I wanted. I didn’t want heavy makeup. My face is giving a pretty much natural look. My hair is in loose curls from the end.

“Thanks. I think you can leave now. I will wear the dress myself.” They pack their things and leave.
I pick up the dress that I am going to wear today. It is a golden floor-length full-sleeved dress with glitter spread all above it. Its neckline is a little deep but not much.
I wear it and look at myself in the mirror after wearing diamond pearl earrings with it. Assuring myself that I am looking good I get out of the room to see Luciano in the hallway coming towards me. He is dressed in a black tuxedo and is looking handsome as ever.

“You are looking so beautiful, so pure, love.” He says kissing my forehead.
Getting out of the mansion, I see a car already waiting for us. We take seats and the driver proceeds to take us to our destination. Luciano is talking to someone on his phone in fluent Italian.
When he speaks Italian he looks so sexy. The car stops and I see that we are outside of a hotel. We enter the hotel and I am surprised to see it. It is beautiful and one can judge easily that a single room for one night in this hotel will be really expensive. But looking closely and joining two and two I realize something.

“This hotel is yours, right?” Luciano smiles at me.
“Yes, it is.”
The receptionist greets Luciano as we pass by her to the lift. Looking at the lift I halt.
“Can’t we use stairs?” I ask Luciano looking towards the stairs.
“Why baby? We have to go to the third floor. Will you not be tired after climbing so many stairs?” He asked concerned.

“No, I will not. The gravity pull of lift makes me dizzy and nauseous.” I answer moving towards the stairs taking him with me.
I finally take the last step of the stairs and I must say I am really tired but I don’t show it. Luciano will not like it if I tell him this. We pass the few hallways and then enter a hall that seems to be illuminated by millions of lights.
Almost everyone comes and greets Luciano. We met businessmen and some workers came to congratulate us. When finally, we are alone we take a seat at the tables arranged.

“Where are Niccolo and Aria?” Luciano is holding a glass filled with wine in his hand while looking continuously at a certain person on his right. He seems to be talking angrily with someone on phone.
“Hey!” I suddenly hear Niccolo’s voice making me smile brightly. He comes and hugs me along with Aria.
“I have to meet someone. Stay beside Aria.” Luciano said before leaving with Niccolo.
It has been quite some while since I and Aria are talking. She also introduced me to some of her friends and advised me to ignore most evil-hearted women present here.

“If only Nora was here too. We would have enjoyed it so much. I miss her at parties like this.” Aria's words fill me with confusion. Who is Nora?
“Who is Nora?” Aria looked at me with shock.
“You don’t know about her. She is Luciano’s younger sister. She does not live here. The last time when I met her was one year ago.” Oh. So, Nora is the name of Luciano’s sister. That room in the mansion might also be her room.
I suddenly feel the strong urge to pee. “I need to use the washroom. I will be back.” I whispered to Aria as she was talking with her friend Lancy.

“Ok, I will come with you.” Aria said to which I immediately refuse. I don’t think I should bother her much. She insisted but then agreed.
I enter the washroom and quickly relieve myself. I am not feeling well. As I finished washing my hands, I heard something. Startled I quickly looked behind me to see two ladies dressed in relatively exposing dresses.
“So, you are the capo's wife, huh?” One of them snarled.
“I think I should leave.” I quickly said not wanting to indulge in conversation. Just as I was passing by them, one grabbed my wrist stopping me.

“You are not beautiful. I am sure you must have trapped him.” The other said.
“Leave me alone.” I tried passing by them but they blocked my way. “I wonder if the child is his. You are so ugly. Why would he want a child with someone like you? Slut.” The first one said and they both left.
Their words were harsh. I look at myself in the mirror. Tears start brimming in my eyes but I try to stop them. I didn’t trap Luciano. He fell in love with me. I never wanted to be with him in the first place. I suddenly feel dizzy.

No, I should not let her words affect me. Ignore her. Ignore her. I remind myself.
I was not feeling well but now I think everything worsened. I should ask Luciano to take me home. I grab my head but as I was going to open the door, I felt my body falling on the floor and the darkness appeared.

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I open my eyes to see the white walls. Seems like I am again in hospital. My head hurts.
I try getting up but I can’t because I am feeling a strange weakness and tiredness.
“How are you feeling?” Luciano asks whom I just saw. He is wearing the same clothes from the party but now his shirt has creases. His sleeves are rolled up.
“Weak and tired. What h-happened?” I ask Luciano.
“You fainted and were out for six hours. The doctor said you fainted because your body was exhausted. I told you to not go shopping yesterday.” Luciano said slightly angry.

“Sorry.” He is right I should not exhaust myself. For the past two to three weeks, I have been buying a lot of things for our child. I even ruined his celebration.
“Let’s go home. I was waiting for you to wake up. An IV was attached to you, it ended almost one hour ago.” He said picking me up bridal style.
………………………………………………..
The Past (Fourteen Years Back)
Third Person POV
There was complete darkness everywhere. The two little terrified girls were hugging each other tightly. Their soft cries can be heard in a dark silent environment.

A strong smell of blood was oozing out of the walls. They couldn’t understand why they were here. They only wanted that white rabbit. The younger girl started crying loudly.
“Ana. Don’t cry. Father will come to safe us.” The Capo’s daughter, Nora said wiping her friend’s tears.
Suddenly the door opened and they both hugged each other more tightly and closed their eyes.
The man who entered harshly took crying Nora with him leaving behind a scared Ana. Nora was taken to another Darkroom where only a little lamp was hanging from the wall. She was tied to a chair. A camera was set to record everything. Little Nora couldn’t understand what was going to happen.

A badly beaten woman was brought into the room. The little girl was too scared to say anything. They started beating the lady in front of little Nora. She screamed for her father to help and stop it but her father had no idea what was going with his daughter.
Those monsters even raped the lady brutally in front of Nora. This horrific scene was imprinted in the little girl's mind scarring her for life.
Those cruel monsters even sent a video of it to her family as a warning that what can happen with their daughter if they don’t give them their shipment back.
Capo didn’t know that his new enmity will become that heavy on his daughter.
After one and a half days both Nora and Ana were rescued. Ana was scared while Nora’s condition was worse. She was in shock. She didn’t eat anything or even spoke to anyone.

She would cry the whole day and night and wouldn’t eat for hours resulting in her losing weight. Staying alone for even one second would result in her screaming. She couldn’t stay in dark. As weeks passed Ana was back to normal but Nora’s condition became worst. Capo and his wife took her to the best psychologists but to no improvement.
She became so scared that she completely stopped going to school. Too much noise would afraid her so much that she started having panic attacks.
She stopped going out. Her hatred for cities started building up because she hated noise and the crowd. These loud noises would remind her of what happened to her.
In the noise of the city, she would cry and say that she is hearing the screams of that woman.

After two months of no recovery, a kind and intelligent doctor suggested taking her somewhere peaceful. Where the greenery will help her relax. She would recover only if she is in a
Then her parents remembered their ancestral home which is in Savoca.
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