CHAPTER XX #2
Alphonse ambled over to Valarie, his expression tender as he leaned down to place a gentle kiss on top of her head. “I’ll be back to check on you,” he whispered.
She smiled back at him as she closed her eyes.
As we stepped out of the room, Malik called my name. I turned to see a shadow of sadness etched on his features.
“What is it?” I asked.
“There’s something else you need to know,” he whispered, his voice strained and ragged, as Liam and Dante supported his weight. “But let’s go in there. This conversation shouldn’t be out in the open.” He nodded stiffly toward the waiting room.
“What’s going on?” Enzo asked as he followed us.
I swallowed hard. “If it’s about our baby that we lost, I already know.”
Malik’s hands trembled as he ran them down his face.
A knot of dread twisted in my stomach. Deep down, I sensed that whatever he was about to share would obliterate my heart, mind, and soul.
“I’m so sorry about your baby and what he did to Gigi, but that’s not what I was talking about,” Malik continued as tears glistened in his eyes.
“Malik?” Alphonse interjected. “Just spit it out.”
“Gigi…she was raped.” Malik cast a desperate glance at Alphonse. “I tried, Al. I fucking tried to protect her, but I?—”
Alphonse’s features twisted in pain. “W-what did you just say?” he stuttered.
I stumbled backward, the wall pressing against my back. The space felt smaller, and I could feel the demons creep closer, ready to drag me to hell.
He fucking raped her. That bastard raped her—my angel.
In a flash of fury, my hand shot out, seizing the nearest lamp, and slammed it against the wall. With a sickening crunch, shards of glass skittered across the carpet.
I lunged for the heavy ceramic pot, sending it hurling against the wall with a loud crash. The explosion sent a spray of muddy dirt and broken ceramic flying.
Darkness took over my vision at hearing the words Gigi and rape in the same sentence. I was going to rip this man apart with my bare hands once I found him.
I pounded the wall with my fists. With each impact, a searing, white-hot pain shot up my arm, a jolt so intense it made my teeth clench and my vision blur. But it wasn’t enough.
“Nico!” Dante fought to pry me away. But I couldn’t stop. The haunting images of Gigi being raped broke something deep within me, unleashing a torrent of fury I could no longer contain.
“Nico, get a hold of yourself!” Enzo shouted.
Together, Dante and Enzo wrestled me away from causing any more destruction. I shook off their grips and staggered back, my breaths coming in ragged gasps as the world around me started to spin.
“Who?” The question slipped through my clenched teeth.
“His name was Ceaser.”
I had to get the hell out of here.
“He needs to fucking die,” I snapped at Alphonse and started to walk away.
“Nico,” Enzo called out to me. “Stop. We could use more time to plan?—"
“He fucking raped her!” I bellowed. “He raped her! Do you not understand the fucking urgency?” My breath was ragged and heavy.
“Walk with me,” Alphonse commanded. I followed him to the empty chapel, with only the flickering candles for light.
I’d never really believed in anything worth fighting for.
Until now.
Alphonse knelt before the altar and made the sign of the cross. “Do you believe in God, Nico?” he asked in a quiet, revenant tone with his head lowered.
“No, I don't.”
He rose slowly and gestured for me to join him on the bench, but I chose to settle behind him.
Alphonse sat with one leg crossed over the other, hands clasped tightly in his lap.
“I didn’t either. Always thought it was hypocritical to pretend to be a man of faith and a leader of a mafia crime family,” he said with a chuckle before falling silent for a moment.
“My daughter is alive, and I’ll do anything to keep her that way, including praying to a God I’m not sure exists. ”
“Me too,” I agreed.
“He had her raped. That sick fuck...he beat her so bad she lost the baby.”
He shook his head. “I can’t even begin to comprehend what my baby girl went through.”
I nodded, my throat tight.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Nico.”
I averted my gaze, fixing it on the dancing flames of the candles, the soft light offering no comfort for the darkness within. No apology could ever mend the physical pain and the mental trauma she endured.
She had been pregnant with my baby.
My child.
Then the bastard thought he had the right to take it away from her.
He and whoever else had a hand in torturing my angel would know the depth of my wrath.
I would summon and unleash all my demons and would take pleasure in watching as they tore their souls out of their bodies.
They would learn the true meaning of pain with what I would inflict upon them.
We fell into a tense silence, both of us staring straight ahead, lost in our thoughts. For the first time, I prayed.
I prayed for Gigi to have the strength and confidence to make it through her trauma. I prayed for his guidance to help me be the man she needed. And I prayed to God for forgiveness for all my sins if that was what it would take to bring my angel back to me.