Marked By The Mafia – Episode 43&44

                        ✧༺✰༻✧

               ✮{…ANGER UNLEASHED…}✮

THE DELUCA’S ESTATE*

The morning sun stretched lazily across the sprawling hills, brushing the white walls of the DeLuca mansion in gold. 

Inside the estate, silence reigned until the soft sound of movement broke it.

Nicholas DeLuca stirred awake on his bed. His hand reached instinctively for the nightstand, where a half-finished glass of bourbon sat beside his watch. 

A faint groan escaped him as he rubbed his eyes and sat up, the sheets slipping to his waist, revealing the carved muscles of his chest.

He pressed the bell once and within seconds, a maid appeared at the door, her head bowed respectfully.

“Good morning, sir” she greeted softly.

Nicholas leaned back against the headboard, his voice low, still rough from sleep.

“Water. And a plate of fruits” he ordered.

“Right away, sir”

As the door closed behind her, Nicholas exhaled, raking a hand through his tousled hair. He stared out at the estate grounds from his window. The garden below looked flawless, the guards already patrolling.

But Nicholas didn’t smile. He hadn’t done that in a long time.

He hates the pressure his father put on him.

Was it a must to have a woman in his life?

Nicholas scoffed quietly, dragging his palm across his jaw. 

He rose from the bed, the morning light spilling over his bare torso, muscles flexing as he reached for his robe. The silk clung to his skin as he tied it loosely around his waist and walked toward the balcony.

Outside, the wind brushed against his face, cool and calm, a sharp contrast to the chaos inside his head.

Fifteen women last night and none of them caught his interest. 

“Maybe I am cursed” he muttered under his breath, his lips curling into a faint, humorless smirk.

The door creaked open behind him.

The maid returned, a tray in hand, a glass of water chilled to perfection, and a plate of fresh fruits. She set it down quietly on the side table.

“Will that be all, sir?” she asked.

Nicholas turned his head slightly, his expression unreadable. 

“Yes. Leave it there” 

The door clicked shut again, and silence settled.

He took the glass, downed half of it, and let out a slow sigh. 

His phone buzzed on the nightstand. He glanced at the screen and sighed before picking up.

“Luciano” he said flatly.

“Still alive?” Luciano teased. “We’re hitting somewhere tonight”

Nicholas rubbed his temple. “I’d love to, but my old man’s got me locked in another round of blind dates tonight”

Luciano chuckled. “Again? Didn’t you go through fifteen last night?”

“Yeah,” Nicholas muttered dryly. “And I’ll probably meet twenty more tonight. Not like any of them will capture my heart anyway”

“You sound confident”

“I’m a hundred percent sure” Nicholas replied, his tone calm but edged with boredom. 

Luciano laughed quietly. “You’re impossible, man. Call me when you escape your father’s matchmaking circus”

Nicholas gave a short, humorless laugh. “Sure. I’ll come by once the torture’s over”

He ended the call and tossed the phone aside, his expression hardening.

•••

SICILY, VALENTINA’S SECRET APARTMENT*

The sharp crack of gunfire filled the soundproof room.

Valentina’s movements were quick as she fired another round. Her opponent, a tall man in tactical gear, ducked behind a metal barrier and returned fire. Sparks flew as bullets scraped against the walls.

Valentina rolled to the side, her body low and fluid like a trained predator. The next moment, she was on her feet again, her pistol raised with flawless precision.

“Too slow” she said in a low voice.

She pulled the trigger.

The man’s gun flew from his hand, clattering across the floor. Before he could react, Valentina was already behind him, her knee pressing into his back and her weapon aimed at the back of his neck.

“Surrender” she ordered.

The man groaned, lifting his hands in defeat. “You’re insane” he muttered breathlessly.

Valentina smirked, the corners of her lips curving with satisfaction. “And you’re predictable”

She stood and kicked his weapon toward the far corner of the room, then brushed invisible dust off her sleeve. 

“Clean up your stance next time. You leave your left side too open” she said coldly.

He got to his knees, panting. “You’re impossible to beat”

“Then stop trying”

Valentina holstered her gun and reached for the towel hanging nearby. She wiped the sweat from her face and tossed the towel aside, her expression calm and unbothered.

“Training’s over. Get out” she said, not bothering to look at him again.

The man staggered to his feet and left silently.

When the door clicked shut behind him, Valentina exhaled softly, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes. She turned to the shattered target board across the room and allowed herself a small, victorious smile.

Her phone buzzed on the glass bar. She wiped her palm on her pants and snatched it up. A single line lit the screen.

“Done”

She read it and her lips curled.

A small sound escaped her at first, then it grew, sharp and bright, sliding into something darker. The laugh rolled out of her chest, a diabolical sound that echoed. It tasted like triumph.

Another buzz. This one from a different number. Her father.

She tapped it open. The message was short, formal, no room for argument. A new mission for her. 

Valentina’s smile widened as she slid the phone into her pocket.

She moved through the apartment with speed. A black duffel from the armchair, a pair of gloves from the weapons wall, a suppressed sidearm, two spare mags, a slim knife, a folded earpiece. 

As she zipped the bag closed, she whispered to no one but the dark glass and the empty room.

“Killing someone will make my joy complete right now”

She threw the bag over her shoulder and bolted for the coded elevator, the flat’s hidden door sliding shut behind her like the final click of a lock.

•••

PARIS, BACK AT THE PENTHOUSE*

The scream tore through the air, sharp and gut-wrenching. It echoed through every corner of the penthouse like a call to war.

Downstairs, Blade froze mid-sentence, the butterfly knife he was toying with slipped from his fingers. Ace’s glass shattered against the floor due to the way he stood up in speed.

“That wasn’t from outside” Sylvia said in a low voice as she pulled up the surveillance feed on her tablet. Her sharp fingers moved quickly across the screen.

“It came from the terrace” she added, eyes narrowing.

“Shit” Blade muttered and sprinted ahead before anyone could stop him.

By the time the others reached the terrace, they met Aurora lay crumpled on the tiles, her white shirt soaked in blood. Her trembling fingers pressed weakly against her stomach, her breath coming out in short, painful gasps.

Vixen dropped to her knees beside her, horror filling her face. 

“Oh my God… Aurora!”

Ace moved next to her, checking for a pulse. “She’s losing too much blood” he said through gritted teeth as he ripped off his jacket and pressed it against her wound.

Maya’s asked angrily. “Who did this?”

Blade’s gaze shot toward the open terrace door. “Someone came through here” he growled while scanning the floor. 

Sylvia looked up from her tablet. “Cameras are down. Someone wiped the system five minutes ago”

Scarlett cursed under her breath. “Smart move. Whoever it was knew what they were doing”

Aurora let out another broken cry, her body arching in pain. Blood trickled between her fingers as her voice came out weakly. “It was… a lady…”

Everyone froze.

Ace’s jaw tightened. “Lady?”

Aurora’s eyes rolled back, her voice fading. “She wore a mask…”

“Damn it!” Blade slammed his fist into the wall, rage burning in his veins.

Maya knelt beside her, holding her hand tightly. “I will hunt whoever that is down, she won’t go scotfree i promise you”

“We need to get her to the medic room now” She said.

Sylvia nodded.

The sound of screeching tires outside was heard and every head turned.

The roar of an engine followed by the metallic slam of a car door and heavy, fast footsteps.

Matteo stormed in through the glass doors, his eyes wild and chest heaving. His gaze fell on Aurora and time stopped.

He did not speak or blink. His world tilted in silence before rage flooded his features like a storm breaking loose.

He dropped to his knees beside her, blood already staining his hands as he touched her face. “Aurora” he whispered.

Ace looked away, giving him a moment. But Matteo’s silence did not last long. His head snapped up, his eyes burning with darkness none of them had seen before.

“Who did this?” he asked, his voice calm but deadly.

Nobody answered. The question hung heavy in the air like a curse.

Then, slowly, Bianca stepped forward from the shadows near the doorway. 

“I heard her scream, I ran here as soon as I could”

Her voice faded when Matteo’s glare pinned her in place.

“Do not say another word” he warned quietly.

He turned to Ace and Vixen.

“Get the medic. Now. I want everyone on lockdown. No one leaves this floor until I find who touched her except for Ace and Vixen”

Ace and Vixen carried Aurora as they hurried down the long hallway.

The medic room door swung open with a hard shove, and they rushed inside.

“Set her here” Vixen said quickly, dressing the bed.

Ace laid Aurora down gently, his jaw tight, eyes scanning her face for any sign of life. Her breathing was shallow and her skin pale.

“Where the hell are the medics?” he muttered under his breath.

“They’ll be here any minute” Vixen replied.

The room fell into tense silence. Only Aurora’s ragged breaths filled the air.

After a moment, Vixen glanced up at Ace, her voice breaking the quiet. “Your girlfriend’s pretty. Nice catch”

Ace blinked, caught off guard. “Huh?”

“Oh please, don’t pretend like you don’t know who I’m talking about” she said, arching a brow.

“If it’s Maya you’re referring to, then you’re wrong. We’re not even dating” Ace said plainly.

Vixen looked at him for a long moment, then smiled inwardly. 

“You should. She likes you” she murmured.

Ace went silent, turning back to Aurora without a word.

Vixen kept her gaze on him, waiting for something, anything. She wanted to hear him say what he always did. 

‘I still like and want you, Vixen’

But nothing came.

He stayed quiet, focused, his expression unreadable.

Back at the terrace, the air was heavy with tension. Everyone was still there except for Vixen and Ace, who had taken Aurora to the medic room.

Maya’s eyes swept across the ground and something faint caught her attention near the overturned flowerpot, a tiny flash of white among the dirt.

She moved closer, crouched, and brushed the soil aside. Her fingers closed around a small, rectangular card.

A business card.

She turned it over slowly, her expression hardening as she read the bold black letters printed neatly across it.

The person isn’t smart enough to cover up their tracks, unfortunately. 

•••

A lady stopped at a secluded corner, slipping her phone out of her coat pocket. 

Her thumbs moved quickly over the screen.

Message sent: “Done”

She paused for a moment, a faint smile tugging at her lips. Then she began to type another message.

“Don’t forget my remaining balance”

Her fingers froze mid-type.

Her expression shifted, something felt wrong. She reached for her clutch, then her coat pocket, then the small inner zipper.

Empty.

Her heart skipped. 

“No… no, no” she muttered under her breath, checking again. Her business card, the one she always kept hidden, was gone.

A ripple of panic surged through her chest. 

Her breath quickened. “Where the hell—”

Before she could finish, a sharp crack split the air.

Pain exploded at the back of her head as a wooden plank slammed against her skull. Her phone slipped from her grasp, clattering onto the pavement.

Her vision blurred instantly and then everything went dark.

Her body hit the ground with a dull thud as the morning breeze carried away the last echo of her unfinished message.

•••

FEW HOURS LATER, MATTEO’S SUITE*

Aurora woke up, her throat felt raw, her body hollow where the warmth she had carried had been. The medic had come and gone. She blinked, the memory rushing back like a cold wave. 

She pushed herself upright. It took everything not to bolt from the bed and find the lady who had done this. Instead, she focused her rage.

Matteo came in then and he stopped when he saw her sitting, eyes blazing.

“I’m sure you’re happy now. I lost it. You told me to abort it and I refused. I guess your prayer got answered”

For a moment there was only the sound of the city beyond the glass. Then Matteo laughed. It broke into a long, bitter sound that turned into words.

“Do you think I didn’t want the child?” he said. “Of course I wanted it. Do you think I wake up and decide these things like flipping a coin? We were heading into a mission in Paris. Dangerous work. You being pregnant puts you at risk and it puts me at risk. If anyone, any enemy, found out, they would use it. They would hold that child, that you, over me. It would be a weakness. Do you know what the world I run does to people who show weakness? You think I wanted to sit at a table negotiating while someone else had my family as leverage?”

He paced once, the anger in him raw but precise. He stopped and turned, eyes dark and unreadable. 

“I wanted that child. You think I don’t know how it feels to want something and be told to let it go? But there is a difference between wanting and being able to protect. I will not bring someone into a life that paints a target on your back. I will not let my child be a bargaining chip because I failed to see the danger”

He sank onto the edge of the bed and the control in his voice thinned, just for a second.

“Do you think I wanted this to happen? Think what you want of me. Hate me if you must. But understand this. Every decision I make is to keep this empire standing. To keep you alive. I did not ask for what happened. I did not make this choice because I don’t care”

Silence fell like a weight. Aurora’s chest burned with grief and fury, each word from him landing like salt. She wanted to fling his reasoning back at him, to tear the excuses limb from limb. What she felt instead was raw betrayal and a hollowness that had no name.

Aurora moved as if to reach for him. Matteo watched her, hand lifting to steady her. She flinched and slapped his hand away so hard it echoed.

“I know you hate me right now, but you will understand later. By the way, the girl who did this to you has been caught”

“Take me to the bastard” Aurora said, hauling herself up despite the pain. Her eyes burned bright with a hunger that had nothing to do with mercy.

Matteo’s mouth curved. “That’s more like it”

They did not waste words. They left the suite together and walked through the penthouse corridors with everyone else cleared away on Matteo’s order. 

They entered a small, empty room near the service wing. A single bulb burned overhead, throwing everything into stark light. In the center of the room is the lady sat tied to a chair. She looked unrecognizable.

Her face was swollen and bruised. One cheek was a dark purple bloom. Blood crusted at the corner of her lip. A black eye was nearly closed. Cuts streaked her jaw and temple. Her hair was matted at the roots, filthy with sweat and grime. She tried to lift her head and failed, a wet sound of pain escaping her throat.

Matteo stepped forward and crouched so he was level with the captive. The lady’s gaze flicked up, terrified and pleading, but there was no softness left in it.

“You did this?” Aurora asked, knife-cold.

Her voice was a ragged whisper. “I— I was paid. I did what I was told. Please—”

Aurora’s hand came up like a whip. The slap landed so hard the lady’s head snapped to the side. For a beat the room held its breath.

“Who sent you?” Aurora demanded.

The captive’s lips trembled. She swallowed, eyes wild. “Valentina,” she choked out.

Aurora’s eyes went cold. For a second she did not move. Then the betrayal hit like a blow. 

Rage spilled over. Aurora struck again, then again. Her hands moved with a hard, precise fury, each crack of flesh on flesh louder than the last. The woman’s begging dissolved into gurgled sobs. A line of red bloomed at her lip. Tears mixed with blood on her face, and the sound of her choking apology scraped at the air.

Aurora hissed between blows, not stopping until her knuckles stung and the captive’s pleas were ragged and pleading.

Matteo stayed where he was, crouched a pace behind her. He watched with slow amusement as Aurora let herself become something hotter than grief. When she finally paused, breathing hard, she turned away from the ruined face on the chair and stalked to the table.

Her fingers closed around the rope studded with nails. It was heavy and ugly in her hand. She turned back to the lady in the chair. Her swollen face lifted, pleading, breath ragged.

Aurora did not mince words. She walked up close and brought the rope down. The nails raked across the woman’s cheek, tearing skin. The captive screamed, a sound swallowed by the room. Aurora struck again and again, each swipe brutal and controlled. 

Blood and tears mixed and ran. The woman curled in on herself, whimpering for mercy that did not come. Aurora’s face was white with fury. Her hands never shook. Her strikes kept time with the anger in her chest.

Matteo watched standing now with folded arms, expression unreadable. He made no move to stop her. He only watched as Aurora did her thing. 

When she finally stopped, she stood over the wreck of the woman and breathed hard. The rope hung limp in her hands. She dropped it on the floor without regret.

Matteo reached for a cloth and handed it to her. She wiped her knuckles clean without looking at him.

“Please…”

No pleading would soften her. No apology would wash this away. Not now. Not ever.

Aurora bent and grabbed the battered can of petrol from the floor. It felt cold and slippery in her hands. She moved tipping the can so dark liquid spidered across the tiles and pooled around the chair. The smell hit the room, sharp and gasoline-raw.

She straightened and fished a lighter from the  table. A single flame winked to life. For a heartbeat she simply watched the little flame, then brought it down. The fire took instantly, a hungry strip of orange licking at the petrol. Heat flared; the captive’s muffled cries were swallowed by the rising roar.

Aurora turned to Matteo. He was standing a few paces away, watching her with an extremely proud smile.

“Valentina is next” she said and walked out.

Without looking back, she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her, leaving the blaze and the wreckage to answer for itself.

•

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TBC😈

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