Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
SERENITY
Inever could persuade Nico to tell me who he has watching me. Whoever it is lurks around me in the distance.
Nico insisted on checking my room himself to ensure no one was there to harm me. After he left, I fell asleep. I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept that much while I was with Nico. All because I had to take my power back by fucking Nico’s brains out in the process.
Leaning against the headboard, I run a hand over my head, thinking about a time my life almost ended.
It was the darkest moment of my life. I was lying on my bed playing a video game.
“Mommy, no,” he screamed.
“Krew,” Mom yelled. “It’s okay, baby.” Her voice quivered.
I hit the power button on the remote, then reached for the phone.
The line was dead. I grabbed my cell and hit Dad’s contact.
Nothing happened. How could my cell not work?
Easing off the bed quietly, I slipped my socked feet into my sneakers.
I liked to play a video game before I went to cheer camp every morning.
Cheer was important to me. I’d been cheering since I was five.
My dad’s voice sounded in my head. Serenity, always be prepared for anything.
I tiptoed to my dresser. I glanced at the twenty-two tucked under my bed shorts.
I removed a different small weapon from the drawer and shoved it into the side of my shoe.
Krew was wailing at the top of his lungs.
My heart raced. Felt like it would beat out of my throat.
What was happening to my baby brother? I had to get to him and Mom.
I moved to the door and slowly turned the knob.
Was my dad here? I hadn’t heard his voice.
I opened the door, and my eyes roved over the tall, muscular man wearing an expensive suit.
“Time to die, little one.” His sneer turned into an evil smirk.
“No,” I bit out, backing up.
It happened so fast. His huge fist met the center of my face.
When I regained consciousness, the living room spun uncontrollably. I blinked twice, struggling to clear my vision.
My eyes grew wide as they took in Mom’s swollen, bloodied face. She caught sight of my clenched fists.
“No,” she silently urged from a kneeling position facing me.
I obeyed my mother. I wasn’t restrained. Glancing to my left, I saw my brother was bound. He must’ve attempted to fight one of the men.
I scanned the living room quickly.
Three men filled the space. One sat near Krew, his bright green eyes sharp beneath long brown hair, a scar slicing down his left cheek. Was he the leader? The other two stood looming over us, evaluating.
I knew who my dad was—a ruthless mafia boss. When things went wrong in the mafia world, entire families were sometimes wiped out. The thought twisted my stomach. Mom sat silently, hands bound in front of her. I understood why she didn’t struggle—she was six months pregnant with my baby sister.
Did Dad know we’d been taken hostage? Or had something terrible happened to him?
The pain of that possibility gnawed at my heart.
Questions flooded my mind. Where were our bodyguards?
The coppery scent hung heavy in the air.
If these men had breached our home, I knew what had become of them. They were dead.
The man who’d knocked me out drove his boot into my shin. “Sit the fuck up.”
Clenching my jaw, I fought back tears that blurred my sight.
Staying sharp was crucial. Sitting up in my white and blue cheer t-shirt and blue running shorts, I felt exposed—those shorts seemed even shorter under their hungry stares.
I hugged my legs close to my chest. The other guy was probably about eighteen, with a dark buzz cut and dressed in a navy suit paired with black boots.
He disappeared from view. What were we waiting for?
My mind raced, trying to guess their next move.
I knew my father wasn’t a good man, but I never imagined he’d hold his enemy’s family hostage.
The younger man reappeared, gulping down a bottle of whiskey.
He holds it at his side and flashes a wicked grin. “Your dad has the good stuff. I have this same whiskey at home.”
I noticed someone in my periphery. I didn’t dare turn my head. My family and I were already outnumbered.
“How old are you?” the younger one stared down at me.
It felt like cotton clogging my throat. “Why?”
“I know the answer, but tell him,” the man in the chair ordered.
I glared up at him and hesitated.
A large hand flew across my cheek. “Tell him now,” my personal bully ordered.
I held my cheek, which felt like it had been set ablaze.
“Fourteen,” I gritted out.
“Stay away from her,” Mom warned.
“Mom, no. It’s ok.”
She couldn’t worry about me. She had to protect the baby.
The bully turned to her and slammed his boot into her belly. “Shut the fuck up.”
My heart hammered in my chest at the shrill that escaped her.
“Mom,” Krew yelled. “Don’t touch her again.”
Anger coursed through my veins. I wanted to rip them all apart.
“Shut up,” the bully pointed at my brother.
Buzz cut crouched before me. “You’re a tough little, bitch.”
“Chill out, Krew,” I ordered.
The asshole in front of me never tore his eyes away.
“How old are you?” I muttered, meeting his gaze.
“Nineteen.”
I glanced at my mother, who rocked gently, clutching her belly.
A sharp tingling spread through my fingers; I felt like tearing my hair out from sheer rage.
I just knew this guy wasn’t thinking about raping me in front of my mom and brother.
The man in the chair still wore a smirk, clearly enjoying the moment.
“Where’s my father?” I asked at last.
My stomach churned at the thought of anything happening to him.
“He ran into some trouble in town.” The man brushes imaginary lint off his pants.
“He’ll learn that we’re holding his precious family hostage and the only way to get them back is to give up Newark. If he refuses, you three will die,” he said nonchalantly.
Krew cries hysterically.
“He’ll probably give up the territory to get back to his family. However, once he gives it up …we’re still murdering you all.”
My eyes widened. “No!”
The asshole flashed a wolfish grin before me. “I’m going to have my way with you before I strangle you. I’ll watch the life drain from your eyes.”
“Please don’t hurt us,” I begged.
Men assumed because I was a mafia princess that I was na?ve. That was where they were wrong. My father taught my little brother and me how to defend ourselves.
The bully pulled his Glock from his holster, pointing it at my mother’s belly.
“Are you all going to take turns fucking me?” I blurted out to get all eyes on me.
The bully flashed a grin. “Fuck yeah.”
Gross.
The man in the chair sneered, “I don’t touch little girls. But your beautiful mother? I’ll fuck her before I tear the baby from her womb.”
A chill ran through me.
“No, you have a wife. You don’t get to touch her. She’s mine,” the bully snapped.
My mother lifted her eyes to him. “Do what you want to me. Leave my children alone.”
He snarled, “Mafia queen, you don’t call the shots here. You’re as good as dead.”
Then he kicked her in the stomach, treating her like nothing.
“Stop!” my brother and I shouted again and again.
“Your husband disgraces Italians. He married outside our race. To a fucking black cunt.”
My mother curled inward, shivering as he kept hurting her.
The young one’s eyes locked onto mine, captivated as tears traced silent paths down my face. It was as if he had been waiting for this moment to shatter me.
I slipped my hand into my shoe, fingers closing around the cold handle of my knife. “Please don’t hurt me,” I whispered.
His thumb brushed softly against my quivering lower lip.
“I bet you’re a virgin,” he murmured.
With deliberate slowness, I flicked the switchblade open.
The distant screams of my mother and the sobs of my brother faded into nothingness.
“I am,” I said, a smirk curling at the edge of my mouth.
“Bruciare all’inferno. Burn in hell.” I dragged the blade across his throat.
I moved swiftly, ignoring the stunned look frozen on his face.
Leaning in, I hammered the knife into the bully’s legs repeatedly.
He spun around, pulling a Glock and aiming it at me.
I twisted aside just in time, the bullet whizzing past. I lunged forward, driving the knife into his chest over and over.
“You tried to kill us,” I shouted.
“It’s over, Serenity,” a familiar voice cut through.
I strained to see who it was.
“Give me the knife, Serenity.”
Clutching it tightly, I edged closer to the chair opposite Mom. I stretched out the knife, baring my teeth at Lux. “Stay back.”
My eyes flicked left. The man in the chair slumped, blood streaming from his severed neck. I rushed to him, stabbing relentlessly. “You won’t hurt my mother anymore,” I cried repeatedly, tears trailing down my face.
“Mommy,” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“I’m here, baby. Put the knife down.”
“No, no, no. Dad said I must always protect my family.”
“You’ve protected us. We’re safe.”
Straddling the lifeless body, I glanced over my shoulder and locked eyes with Mom. Blood pooled beneath her, and I broke down again, stabbing the man’s face repeatedly.
Suddenly, everything went dark. When I regained consciousness, I tried to move my arms and realized they were bound tightly in a straitjacket. My eyes scanned the padded walls around me.
“Mom, Dad, Krew,” I cried out repeatedly.
After days of heavy medication, sessions with a psychiatrist, and attending group therapy, I was finally discharged.
Those seventy-two hours felt unbearably long.
Dad came to pick me up from the psychiatric hospital and filled me in on what had happened.
We lost control of our Newark territory and most of our bodyguards.
Only four remained, including Big Lux—who had been shot three times and left for dead.
He had been waiting for the right moment to strike.
When I finally lost control, Big Lux ended up killing the asshole in the chair.
Dad then took me to visit Mom, who was recovering in our hidden underground hospital.
Mom had lost my little sister. The doctor delivered her, but she was stillborn. I was so devastated that Dad didn’t even need to remind me to take my medication—I took it without hesitation, desperate to keep my mind intact.
Dad relocated us to Elizabeth, New Jersey. We were under the protection of the five families on Mafia boss Sergio Magarelli’s order.
I had never been the same since the day I murdered two of the men who planned to kill my family.
Squeezing my eyes shut as I come back from the memory, I realize Nico only knows the part of me I want him to see. Not the monster. The psychopath. I planned to tell Nico what happened to me once we were both in college. Then he betrayed me.
Don’t forget he came to your aid the other night? Yeah, because he was stalking me.
Thirty minutes later, I step into the English building.
My classmates approach me outside of English class.
“Serenity, how are you?” Nila asks concern etched in her pretty features.
Pera, Vi, and Laneesha's eyes move over me with parted lips.
“He was rough, like you said he would be.”
I place my hand on my neck. “He choked me. And not in the good way.”
Nila’s hand flies to her mouth. “Oh my God. Are you going to press charges?”
I can’t tell them I plan to cut off his balls and feed them to him.
“Even though he tried to rape me, he didn’t.”
“Did the extremely hot guy staring at you like you were his world save you?” Pera smirks.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?” Laneesha asks.
“A friend,” I tell them.
“Girl, he wants to be more than a friend.” Vi fans herself.
I chuckle. “He is sometimes.”
They gasp. “Girl, that man looks like he puts in work.” Pera flashes a wicked grin.
I laugh.
“Anyway. I heard Chris transferred to another school,” Nila mentions.
My father sent men to Chris’s dorm to pick him up, but he was gone.
I asked Dad not to take care of the problem. I told him I’d handle it.
“I heard that too,” I say.
I can’t get to Chris now. But one day I will.