7. Luciano
Chapter 7
Luciano
"You did what!?"
Leah might as well have physically slapped me with how harsh she sounded. There weren't many people in my life who scared me, but Leah was definitely one of them. Yes, I was terrified of the little 5'4 Asian woman. To be fair, she could very well lay my ass out without breaking a sweat.
"Luciano! You fucking… Argh! Go fix that shit!" Leah seethed, whacking me with her bag. "I knew you were a fucking brainless gorilla, but even this is beyond for you."
"Would you stop?" I grunted while deflecting her hits. "Of course, I'm going to fix this. It was my stupid mouth and brain that got me into this situation. Just… I'll tell her later when she's not processing through the trauma of her heinous rape and torture. You're the doctor. Do you really think right now is a good time to break that news to her?"
Letting out a brief huff of relief, I straightened myself back out after Leah stopped punching at me. "Besides, if things go accordingly, then I won't even have to tell her because this marriage scheme will be buried before it surfaces to her."
I had it handled, hopefully. The plan was simple: get rid of Lady Heral. A very simple plan because if Juliet was in the establishment, then there were other skeletons hidden and waiting for me to unbury them. If I could uncover all her dirty secrets, discredit her, and shut her down before she blew this thing up, then I'd be golden. I would just have to figure out some other lie about why Juliet wasn't my bride by the end of the year.
Well, I could wed her and divorce her, but that wasn't right. My dad would have my head on a pike if I were to dare do such a thing because of how religious he is, and I'm sure my mother would rise from the dead to beat my ass for being a bad son and shit. I had my views on divorce, but if it was the only way to keep Juliet safe, so be it.
"You better hope she doesn't find out about it before it gets resolved. She already has been through too much for someone her age, and this would just be another slap to her face." Leah huffed and rolled her eyes after hooking her hands on her hips.
Maybe I was being a little overly confident, but only because I knew I could pull this shit off without a hitch. "It should be fine in the end. Two months is more than enough time for me and my men to dig up more than enough dirt and filth on Carol to drag everything related to her by name to Hell." I waved a dismissive hand at Leah before drifting my gaze back to Juliet's medical file that sat in front of me on my desk.
For her sake, I shouldn't read through it, but a part of me needed to know in order to fuel my sick, and twisted revenge plan. "There's no going back once you open that file," Leah warned with a heavy sigh and forlorn expression.
"I know, but I need more fuel for my hatred against Caroline." Anger never blinded me. No, it always cleared my mind, strangely enough.
Blinding red rage was something I'd never come to know in my life. Ever since I could remember, rage had always given me a sense of clarity. Everything would come into hyper-focus, my thoughts would go a mile a minute, but everything would make perfect sense, and the thrill and pleasure from letting the rage explode out of me was something beyond what words could describe. Yeah, I was a little fucked up, but I loved and craved the control my anger gave me.
Leah spoke up again after a deep breath. "Six men, that's how many were in that room, according to her. They took turns holding her down and sodomizing her. I'll run whatever fluids Gia collected last night, along with what I got during my exam, and maybe we'll get lucky with some hits in the database or something." Though calm, I could feel and hear the rattling anger in her voice."Can I at least kill them if something comes back?"
"No." My blunt denial came rather tersely. "If something comes back, I want them captured and brought to me. I want answers from them before you slice them into oblivion." I wanted to know who to go after and who to punish.
"As long as I get a swing at them," Leah grumbled with a roll of her eyes.
"You know, for a doctor who is supposed to be healing and shit, you are very violent and sadistic," I commented out loud with a chuckle while picking up the file and opening it.
"I care when it matters." Leah chuckled under her breath before letting her eyes grow wary of me.
My stomach churned at every word on the page, but not in a way where I wanted to vomit. I was thoroughly disgusted, yes, but I mostly grew angry at the fact this all happened to Juliet. She seemed like an innocent and precious little thing, someone who didn't deserve this level of assault; well, no one deserves this level of assault besides the assailants themselves. Of course, that gave me an idea about how to make these bastards suffer when I'd find them. Yes, when, not if. I wasn't doing it out of revenge for Juliet. No, it was for my personal benefit. People don't end up in these situations without some kind of connection, ones I needed to shut down if they were in my territory. No doubt Champions wasn't the only place in the city to get access to these asinine taboo acts.
On second thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let these rotten scumbags rot in jail; they'd definitely get more damage done to them long-term. Paying off the guards and some prisoners wouldn't be too hard. Actually, maybe I should just have them tossed in prison after I was done with them, have them suffer through and through. Yeah, I should do that to get my dose of fun. Of course, Leah would be able to have a go at them as well; I'd just have to make sure she didn't kill them afterward.
Scowling deeply, I sighed heavily as I slammed the file shut and threw it onto my desk. "Let me know if something from the swabs comes back. I'm going to do some of my own digging in the meantime." Probably gonna be a pain in the ass, but fuck it; I would have my men comb through the lounge's camera feeds to narrow down my victim pool.
"Can you check on her again and make sure she's ready?" I asked with another sigh while running my hand down my face.
"Why don't you go check in on her? You're gonna have to get used to interacting with her since she's basically going to be living here for lord knows how long." Grumbling briefly under her breath, she rolled her eyes. "Besides, if this plan of yours goes belly-up, then you are gonna need to know your future wife at the very least." Leah bit out the last part rather harshly with a scowl and glaring eyes that made me flinch a little.
"It's not going to get to that point, and I can easily avoid her at all costs." Once she got back on her feet and groove, it wouldn't be hard to learn her routine, so finding out what hotspots to avoid and what times would be child's play to me. Also, I could shut myself in my office and live out of it if I wanted to.
"You better hope it doesn't get to that point, or else I'll help her cut your balls off and feed it to you." Yeah, the mental image of that made me instinctively close my legs tightly and cover my private area with my hands. Unfortunately, I have no doubt she would make good on that promise either knowing her. "Now, go check up on her and make her less scared of you."
"Well, I'm not exactly a lovable person," I grumbled with a roll of my eyes, not that I intended to because I didn't give a shit about if people found me approachable or easy.
"Well, dial it down a notch for her sake, please?" Leah pleaded with a pout.
Unbelievable. "Fine, I'll fucking try." How the fuck was I supposed to dial something back I was unaware about? Not like I tried to be an asshole to her, and not that I was.
"Even the devil disguises himself as an angel of light," Leah remarked with a chuckle before packing her things into her bag.
Sighing, I slumped in my chair for a bit to ponder how I'd go about this thing with Juliet. Honestly, avoiding her seemed like the best course of action, but there was no way Leah would let me do that. So, after a long while in my own mind, I reluctantly pushed myself out of the chair and carried myself down to Juliet's room, which I stupidly placed right across from mine.
Knocking softly against the door, I leaned against the doorframe. "Juliet, are you ready?" I asked with a wince when I realized how loud my terse words came out.
"I don't know." Her muffled reply came back after a moment.
Sighing softly, I wrapped my hand around the doorknob. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah…" Her shaky response returned, making me sigh again because it made me wonder if this was a bad idea after all.
Upon entering the room, I couldn't help but frown a bit at the sight of her curled up on the small lounge chair in her room. She looked so vulnerable and scared, and if I weren't in a time crunch, I'd cancel the plan of going to her parents today. "I know it's not something you want to do this soon, or ever, but it's better for you to remove yourself from their life completely sooner than later." Cautiously, I took a few tentative steps toward her to test the waters. "And like I said, you don't have to see them, let alone interact with them, at all during the whole time unless you want to." I continued to approach her slowly with my soft voice until I could kneel before her. "I will make my conversation with them as quick as possible, promise."
"Promise I won't see them?" It was fleeting, but a blip of anger darkened her soft, chocolate-brown eyes for a millisecond before her fear chilled them when she returned to her shell.
Confidently, I assured her with a nod and smile. Then, slowly, I reached an open hand out towards her, "Is it alright if I touch you?" She looked ready to bolt with how her eyes nervously darted around the room. "You have every right to say no as well. It's all on your terms."
Seconds passed before her erratic breathing evened out when she realized I would make no move until I got an answer from her. Too bad a simple nod wouldn't suffice for me. "Juliet, I need to hear it. It's simple to mistake a motion of your head, so I need to hear it, please."
Breathing deeply, she gingerly reached her hand out towards me, just a little. "It's okay to touch me." She spoke up in a small, shaky voice.
I needed her confidence to build again if I was to help her recover, and having her full autonomy is a major part of rebuilding it all. The sooner she realizes that she has full control of everything regarding her body and decisions, the easier it will be for her to gain her footing.
Smiling gratefully, I took her delicate hand into my own rough one and pulled her up as I stood. "You can do this, and I'll be right there with you if you need any help." She may be a scared little thing, but I sensed more underneath her turbulent waves.
"That's a lot more faith than I have in myself." She grumbled as she let me drag her out of the house and into the garage. "Holy shiiii… Are these all yours? Wait, never mind, stupid question, of course, they are, but god damn… Oh my God, is that a Bugatti Mistral?!"
I couldn't bring myself to stop her from darting off toward the car; her excitement was too rich to kill. Also, I don't think she's gotten this peppy since I rescued her, so I'd take what I could get. "I am not going to let you drive, so don't bother asking." I cracked a somewhat awkward smile with my joke as I approached her while she ogled the luxury car.
"I can't even legally drive anyway, so you don't have to worry about that. Besides, I don't feel worthy of driving such a beauty. Hell, I'm too afraid to touch it." It was kind of adorable at how awe-struck she was as she bounced happily on the balls of her feet.
"What do you mean?" Did she just not have her license? It's kind of strange for someone her age not to have one, I think. I wouldn't know; I drove way before the legal age.
Frowning, she let her gaze drop to her shuffling foot. "I don't have a permit or anything like that… My parents won't let me have one or let me learn to drive or anything like that. They say there's no need or point in me learning because I don't need it. The closest I've ever gotten to driving anything is through a video game, and the few times I hacked the family car." A heavy sigh deflated out of her before her mood fully dampened.
Well, this turned awkward fast.
Sighing softly to myself, I nodded to my housekeeper with a lopsided smile and thanked her when she approached me with the keys to the car. "We'll talk more on the drive." Or maybe we shouldn' t for the sake of keeping things relatively fine between us. The last thing I wanted to do was have some awkward, half-assed conversation for the sake of it.
The air in the car instantly became suffocating when we buckled in, and I pulled out into the street. "What else did your parents not let you do?" I strained out a bit because the awkward tension killed me a little with how uncomfortable she seemed. Seriously, she was almost as stiff as a statue in her seat, even though she'd been ecstatic about the car just a few moments ago.
"No driving, no parties unless approved by them or it was one of their parties, no going to friends' houses or places with them unless it was the library, no friends could come over unless their parents were acquainted with mine, no more than three meals a day, no sweets, no coffee…" Juliet pouted sadly in her seat as her words trailed off. "There's more, but it's just all a blur to me right now… It was basically school and home, and obey my parents." Great, think I just made her sadder with how she slumped in her seat. "I'm sorry for sounding so pathetic… I didn't really ever think…" She seemed to trail off into her head with a deepening frown.
Maybe I should have dragged Leah along. Being nice and shit was her thing, not mine. I mean, it was too late now because we were on the road. Hesitantly, I reached over and patted her shoulder—yeah, fucking awkward. "Get out of your head. Don't drown in your own darkness. You're still young and learning, so don't take it hard on yourself. Stop me if I'm wrong, but I'm gonna assume you had a sheltered life, or at least forced to have one by your parents. They controlled and manipulated you, and you wouldn't have known any better."
Well, she didn't stop me, but her long silence didn't bode well for me either. I opened my mouth to continue but promptly shut it when her soft voice filled the air. "I feel dumb for letting them pull the hood over my eyes like that, though. I just… I never thought I'd be one of those girls. I mean, I've read about them in books, articles, and whatnot, and it just feels foolish because I always thought, 'Oh, I'd never let myself be played like that' or 'I'd never let someone control my life like that' when in reality that's what happened. Just so fucking stupid." And the tears came—fuck.
Huffing out a sigh, I quickly pulled over and threw the car into park before turning in my seat to face her fully. Reaching out, I gently cupped her face and lifted her gaze to me. "Stop that," I commanded sternly yet softly, making her shudder in response. "Look at me," I demanded when her eyes drifted away, making her snap them back to me. "Don't do that to yourself. I was young and stupid once, and yes, it's embarrassing to think back on those moments now, but I grew from those experiences. As long as you learn from it all, that's all that matters." Smiling at her proudly, I brushed my thumb gently across her cheek. "At least you came far enough to recognize and accept that your parents are idiotic bastards for what they did to you, and I really hope that you don't fall back into the cycle as you have before. This is your one chance to have a life of your own, Juliet, so take it. You made your mistake. You recognized it. Now learn from it and move forward."
Okay, that was exhausting.
If she weren't some fragile woman (as in if she were a man), I probably would've just punched her in the face and told her to quit bitching and get over it. Yeah, I was a bastard—sue me. People didn't call me The Devil for no fucking reason, and I didn't earn that title by being nice. Something about Juliet, though, something about her makes me go soft.
Nothing about Juliet made sense to me, and I didn't want to try and figure that out right now when I needed my mind steeled and ready to deal with her parents in a bit. I'll just vent to Leah later since she was the one who was insistent on me being 'nice' to Juliet and spending time with her. Yeah, I had no plans to let Leah off the hook that easily.
"Now, no more frowning and moping. And for fuck's sake, relax. I am not going to rip your head off or do anything bad to you." Not that I could blame her for the last part because if I were her, I'd probably be wary of any man within a mile radius of me.
Then again, if I were her, I'd just go on a revenge-killing spree. Or at least, I'd like to think that to be the case. It was one thing to think and say something, but it was a whole different ball game to actually act it out. We all liked to think we were rough and tough, that we'd laugh in the face of danger, but life wasn't that simple.
I remember when I was her age and thought I was at the top of the world. Then, I got jumped one night by a rival mafia and completely froze at the sight of the gun when it trained on me. Even if my father had trained and prepared me for many different situations, having it happen outside a controlled training scenario was something else altogether.
Obviously, I wasn't the shit I thought I was.
"How about I make you a deal?" She perked up briefly at my words before she withdrew herself again. I didn't wait for her answer to continue, "No more sad Juliet for the rest of the car ride, and I'll take you out for some ice cream afterward. How does that sound?"
What the hell am I doing?
I shouldn't care about her feelings like this, nor should I bargain with her to make an attempt at lifting her feelings. The car shouldn't be pulled over, nor should her precious face be in my hands. I don't have time for this gentle guiding shit. I should be telling her to suck it up, drive to her parents, and let what happens happen. Yet, for some stupid reason, the thought of treating her like everyone else made my heart twist uncomfortably in my chest.
"I'm not a child… But fine, deal." She strained out with a defeated pout to her face. "But only because I've never had ice cream and want to try it." She quickly threw out before she pulled herself away from me and got comfortable in her seat while wiping away her stray tears with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
"Okay, you have had to have ice cream in your life at least once." She couldn't have been that repressed and deprived of life under her parents.
Sighing softly, she shook her head with an ashamed frown on her face. "No, and the one time I tried at school when we had an ice cream party, one of the teachers on their payroll slapped it out of my hand. Next thing I know, I'm magically allergic to all things dairy, even though I can drink milk perfectly fine and eat cheese just fine. Unfortunately, since it's technically on my records as an allergy, no one could ever give me anything from then on out. But I swear, I'm not allergic to anything, at least nothing I'm aware of, and I'm gonna have an allergy test done with Leah after some more of my labs come back to make sure." Puffing her cheeks out in a pout, she huffed, crossed her arms, and slumped in her seat.
Unable to help it, I let out a soft chuckle and ruffled the top of her head before straightening myself back out in my seat. "Well, ice cream later if you behave, and once you're cleared, then we can slowly lower you into the waters." The last thing I needed was for her to be amped up on sugar or make herself sick by going crazy with trying new things.
"Can I pick whatever ice cream I want?" Though muted, the sparkle in her eyes was lovely to see. This was a breath of fresh air compared to the empty, scared eyes I'd somewhat gotten used to.
"Juliet, you can pick whatever flavor you want, though maybe stick to three max today so you don't get overwhelmed, alright?" Gotta keep it as a way to motivate her, too. If she tasted everything today, she wouldn't look forward to the next outing.
Wait, next outing? Why the fuck was I thinking about our next outing? There can't be another next time with any of this.
The rest of the car ride was silent, but not awkwardly so. It was a calm silence with how Juliet went into her own little world while staring out the window. Even though she had a small smile on her face, I could see the tension in her shoulders and her anxiety slipping through with her fiddling fingers. I thought about reaching over to ease her some, but she relaxed a little by the time I worked up the nerve to act. So, I kept to myself until we approached her parents' place.
Her body wound up like a spring ready to be sprung when I parked in front of the place, right outside the front doors. "Hey." I kept my voice low and soft as I reached out and grabbed her fidgeting hands in one of mine. "Look at me."
I felt her shiver in my grasp before her head turned towards me and her wary and fearful eyes fixed on mine. "I don't think I can do it. I want to throw up." She spoke in a broken voice, frowning at the end with an apologetic look.
Reaching my other hand out, I gently lifted her gaze back at me with a finger curled under her tiny chin. "Hey, remember, they can't touch you, and you won't see a ghost of them, not while I'm here. You can do this, and I know you can. I believe in you." They were a little too sweet for me, but they were words she needed to hear. Strangely, it didn't bother me as much to provide such reassurance to her, even if it wasn't my forte. Honestly, the most encouragement I've ever given someone was 'Don't die out there' or something along those lines.
"C-can you go to my room with me? I don't want to go alone." She asked sheepishly, chewing on her bottom lip in anticipation.
Smiling warmly at her, I softly pinched the tip of her chin. "If that is what little Juliet wishes." The sight of her bright smile caused a wave of warmth to burst within my chest. It kind of amazed me at how simple it was to lift her spirits and make those pretty eyes of hers light up with such wonder and excitement.
"Let me go deal with your parents first, then I'll come back to the car for you, alright?" Her smile faltered for a split second before she responded to me with a nod of her head. "What is on your mind?" A loaded question since there was probably the whole world on her mind right now.
Averting her eyes, she stared out the window momentarily before looking back at me with furrowed eyes. "You're not gonna kill them or harm them, are you?"
It confused me how worried she sounded. How could she worry for her parents after everything? Why should she even worry? Did she not want me to harm them? Even after all they did to her? Why?
"No, not unless they do something stupid to force my hand," I assured her through a forced smile and gritted teeth. "Why?"
"I don't know… I hate them, but I don't want them dead." Juliet paused and struggled with a wordless, gasping mouth.
But when she did get her bearings again, her next words truly surprised me.
"I don't want them to die. I want them to suffer… And I want to see them suffer, but I can't bear to face them right now… So, all that has to wait. I want them to see me thrive and be successful and regret their choices."
Guess Juliet had more of a fire in her than I credited her for.
Time to feed it and turn it into a raging wildfire.