Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
VIRGILIO
I stand in the dim light of my family estate trying to adjust my eyes to the shadows cast by the heavy curtains that block out most of the natural light. The mansion's grand, yet decaying opulence is just as oppressive as the monster ruling it.
The dining room is a large space dominated by a massive mahogany table. Dark, brooding portraits of long-dead ancestors loom from the walls, their eyes seeming to follow my every move. The grand chandelier above catches the dim light, and scatters it in eerie patterns across the polished wooden floor. Every sound seems ten times louder — the clock ticking, the hum of the refrigerator, the creak of floorboards under Benedetto's weight. Everything.
Benedetto stands there, his eyes are wild with rage as he grips the back of a heavy wooden chair. Dante is beside me, his body is tense but resolute. I can feel his fear mingling with mine, but there's a determination in him that I lack.
"Move, Dante," Benedetto growls, his voice dripping with violence. "You really think you can protect him?"
Dante doesn't flinch. "No."
Benedetto's face twists into a snarl. He lifts the chair high above his head. My legs feel like lead; I can't move and I can't speak. The sickening thud echoes through the room as Benedetto brings the chair down on Dante's head.
Time slows as I watch Dante collapse to the floor, unconscious. Blood trickles from a wound on his scalp, staining the ornate rug beneath him. My stomach tightens and bile rises in my throat. The room spins around me, but I can't look away from Dante's still form.
I can barely breathe. My body is trembling with terror and rage, but I'm paralyzed. All I can do is stare at Dante and silently pray he will wake up.
Mother's scream pierces the silence, her voice is filled with anguish. "No! Dante!" Her face is pale, contorted with fear as she rushes toward us, but Benedetto's menacing presence halts her in her tracks. He turns his cold, calculating gaze on her, and she recoils, clutching her chest.
A sudden surge of adrenaline courses through my veins, and before I know it, I'm moving. I launch myself at Benedetto with a desperate scream as my fists fly at him.
I manage to land a few punches, but they are weak and ineffective against his solid frame. Benedetto barely flinches, his eyes flashing with anger and amusement. He seems almost entertained by my futile attempts to hurt him.
"You're just like your mother," he sneers in contempt.
My rage intensifies, and I swing again, aiming for his face this time. But Benedetto catches my fist mid-air with a single hand. He overpowers me easily, his grip like. In one powerful motion, he shoves me to the ground.
I hit the floor hard, pain shooting through my side as I gasp for breath. The world spins around me, but all I can think about is that Dante is lying there unconscious and bleeding because of me.
Mother's sobs fill the room now; she kneels beside Dante's still form, her hands trembling as she tries to stop the bleeding with a piece of cloth she tore from her dress. "Please," she begs Benedetto between sobs. "Please stop this."
Benedetto ignores her pleas, his eyes locked on mine. "You think you can defy me?" His voice is low and dangerous as he steps closer to where I lie on the floor.
I struggle to push myself up on shaky arms; but every part of me aches from the fall.
Benedetto kicks me back to the ground as he growls again, low and dangerous. In one fluid movement, Benedetto pulls out a gun and points it directly at mother. The sight of the gun stops her in her tracks, her face going even paler. The phone she had used to call 911 clatters to the floor.
My blood runs cold. Every muscle in my body tenses as I look at my mother, her eyes wide with terror, and the sheer helplessness of the situation hits me like a sledgehammer. I can't lose her. Not like this.
"Please," I beg in a small and broken voice. "Please don't hurt her."
Benedetto's eyes flicker with a twisted amusement as he shifts his gaze to me. "Begging now, are we? How far the mighty have fallen."
I swallow hard, and my throat feels as dry as sandpaper. My mind races for any solution, any way to protect my mother from this monster standing before us. But there's nothing. I'm utterly powerless.
"You're a coward," Benedetto spits, his grip on the gun tightens as he moves it closer to my mother’s head.
"No!" The word rips from my throat, raw and desperate. I scramble to my feet on shaky legs but I am determined. "Take me instead! Do whatever you want with me, just leave her alone!"
“But that’s not a fair trade, son,” Benedetto's lips curl into a cruel smile. "You see, I can do without a wife. But an heir... an heir I need." He steps back slightly, but his gun is still trained on mother although his eyes are boring into mine.
Mother's sobs become quieter but it is no less heart-wrenching as she whispers my name, pleading for me to stay down, to not provoke him further. The fear in her voice tears at me from the inside out.
Benedetto seems to relish the control he has over us both—the fear he's instilled in every fiber of our beings.
None of us speak again even as the wail of sirens erupt, the ambulance mother managed to call races toward us. Benedetto and I remain locked in a deadly standoff, our eyes never leaving each other.
Every muscle in my body screams at me to move, to do something, but I'm rooted to the spot by sheer terror and rage. The sirens grow louder, and the sound soon mingles with the rapid thudding of my heart. The longest minute of my life stretches out, and for a moment I believe that an eternity has gone by.
Then, the front door bursts open, and paramedics rush in. The room erupts into chaos as they see Dante on the floor and immediately move to stabilize him. They move in a blur as they check his vitals, apply pressure to his wound, and prepare him for transport.
Benedetto lowers the gun, but his eyes never leave mine. The look he gives me is one of pure, cold rage. "You will pay for this," he hisses. "You will regret ever defying me, you fucker."