The Princess and the Devil✔️

66

I woke up on the beach... only it wasn't a normal beach. There were no people around and everything was quiet. The only sounds were the waves crashing against the shore. I looked down to see I was wearing a buttoned up shirt with the buttons undone, a pair of slacks and no shoes. It was like I was in some cheesy chick flick.

Then someone started walking to me. Her hair was all wavy and flowing down behind her. She was wearing a long flowing white to pink maxi dress. She smiled at me when she was a few feet away from me. "Princess?"

"Hey, Jason."

I ran up to her and pulled her into my arms. I held her for a while before releasing her a bit and resting my forehead on hers. "I've missed you, "I whispered.

"I've missed you too, but I'm not here, not really," she said.

"What do you mean?"

She leaned back and touched the side of my face. "You're dreaming love. I'm just a figment of your imagination."

I closed my eyes and leaned into her hand. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." I opened my eyes and looked into her beautiful hazel ones. " I don't know how much time I have."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

She smiled at me. "You're waking up."

I shook my head. "No, I don't want to leave."

She chuckled. "I don't think you have a choice in that." She leaned up and kissed my lips. I held her to me extending the kiss. She stepped away from me and started to disappear along with our surroundings. "Goodbye, Jason."

"No Sydney." I tried to reach for her but I couldn't move. "I promise I will find you."

She smiled at me again. "Ti amo mio amore," she said before she disappeared.

"SYDNEY," I yelled as I woke up. "FUCK" I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and rubbed the side of my head with my fingers. I had her. I was with her and now she's gone. Why did I have to wake up?

I stood up and walked over to my bathroom. I looked into the mirror. My eyes were dark from lack of sleep and I was paler due to not leaving the house. I started glaring at my reflection. I walked away before I punched the mirror. I went to the closet and changed into a pair of grey basketball shorts and a black Nike swoosh shirt.

I walked downstairs and heard voices in the dining room. "Chris baby. You need to stop watching that tape." Said Madi.

"No somethings up I know it."

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

He looked up to me before he rewound the tape and plays the part where she is praying in Italian. "Okay, so this is an old prayer our parents taught us as kids. Roughly it is praying for safety yadda yadda. Now, normally the line goes 'Padre, Oggi Vengo da Te, inchinandomi nel mio cuore, chiedendo Protezione dal malvagio. Tu sei il Nostro custode, o Signore, l'ombra alla nostra destra. Dio, Nostro padre, noi preghiamo che tu protegga I nostri figli' which means Father, I come to You today, bowing in my heart, asking for protection from the evil one. You are our keeper, O Lord, the shade on our right hand. God, our father, we pray you will protect our children."

"Your point?" I asked him.

He played the tape making us listen to the part he just said. "I know you guys don't speak Italian or know our prayer but it's different then it should be."

"So? Maybe she forgot it? Said the wrong words?" asked Madi.

He shook his head. " no no no. her first language is Italian. She wouldn't mix up words and our parents taught it to us since before we could talk she knows it like the back of her hand."

"Chris-"I started

"Just hear me out." I sighed sitting down and nodding my head. "Okay, so the last word in that part of it is supposed to me Figli which means Children. But instead, she changes the word to cuccioli; Cubs."

"Why would she say cubs?"

"I don't know but I think it is a clue. She looks directly into the camera when she says it and pauses for a moment before continuing."

That's when Jackson and Amelia walked in. "what are you doing here? What the hell do you want?" I asked.

"We're here to help find Sydney. We got a video sent to us and as I can see so did you," said Jackson.

"Can I watch it?" asked Amelia.

Chris nodded and set it up for her to watch. She sat down and watch intently. By the end, one hand was on her swollen stomach while the other was tightly in a fist. She was clearly pregnant. "I'm going to kill him."

"Get in line," I told her.

Jackson squatted in front of Amelia and took her hand in his unfolding it. "Calm down baby. You know you can't be stressed right now."

"I'm going to be stressed until she back home safe." she turned to Chris. "Can you rewind it to her praying."

"Yeah." he did as she asked and she rewatched the same part Chris was before.

"Cuccioli... Isn't it figli?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah, it is. How'd you know?"

"Sydney said it every night when she was in California. She taught me it and some Italian."

"I know figli is children but whats cuccioli?" asked Jackson.

"Cubs."

"Why would she say cubs. That doesn't make any sense. Unless..." she said before she turned to Jackson, they both shared a look.

"Unless what?" I asked.

"It's a clue. Chicago Cubs. She's in Chicago." Said Amelia.

"What?" I said standing up.

"Of course I mean it makes sense he would bring her back there."

"And he's dumb enough to." Said Jackson.

"Definitely." Amelia grabbed the computer and went online. I saw she was going through databases and hacking into Chicago land and building records.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to see where Dante's old buildings he used or owned." she pulled up a map and points came up. "These are all his old businesses safe houses and warehouses he had before the arrest. Now some of them were collected by the state and put into real use." some of the points went away. "A few buildings were demolished." a few more points were taken away. "Now there are only three possible buildings he could be keeping them."

"So how can we figure out which one it is?" I asked.

"We can look to see which ones are drawing in power." she continued hacking. "Okay one of them isn't drawing in power at all, the other is being remodeled so they are drawing power for the workers. Dante wouldn't be that stupid to hide her where there would be a lot of people. The third place is drawing in some power and yeah this is the place.

"How do you know?" I asked her. "Amelia we have to be sure."

She looked up at me. "This is the place. This is the house he originally raped her in. This is also the place they were arrested."

I smirked. "Good. Chris gather our best fighters, Jackson you do the same yeah?" Jackson nodded and stepped out to make the call. "We're gonna get my girl... and my baby back."

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I hope everyone likes this week's update and if you do make sure to slap that little vote button! this week has already been so stressful and I'm so done with school. Hope everyone's week has been going well. Now if you'll excuse me I have like five homework assignments, two projects to do, and three quizzes to study for so have a great day yall!