The Esztar Code | A Mafia Romance Thriller |18+|

C H A P T E R 21

"I'm not calm. I know what this means. But that doesn't mean I go lashing a grieving sister with my words." He yelled.

"You made this more difficult, remember that Oliver." He pushed him back.

"Stop it. Please stop it. It's all my fault. I'm sorry." I begged. "I'm sorry you have to see my annoying face. I'm sorry for bothering you. I'm sorry for existing." I ran upstairs to my room.

"No, Vittoria! Wait." Toby tried to stop me.

I ignored him and closed the door. Never in my life have I ever felt so little and so much unwanted.

I slid down the wall, holding Mason's painting close to my heart. It was all I had of him. His painting. His promise that he'll come back to me.

He broke the promise. He instead left me forever. Was it because I didn't decipher his painting this time? Will he come back if I did?

He won't. I know he won't.

Dread took over the entirety of me at the realization. He was gone. I was all alone. Alone and scared. He was all I had. What am I going to do now? What will happen to me? Where am I going to go?

I was here just because they needed me to break Mason. What are they going to do to me now?

As if on cue, the door opened with massive force, carrying a guard in. Travis. I think that's his name. He began moving towards me. I cowered back in fear. Everything scared me now. He was closing the distance with his heavy footsteps but there was nowhere I could go with the wall behind me.

"Boss has requested your presence." He said in his heavy southern accent.

I shook my head timidly, holding the painting tightly as if it will bestow me any safety. He wasted no time in repeating himself. He bent down and forced me up with one hand alone.

"No, please!" I resisted. He didn't say a word. Nor did he stop what he was doing. Turning me around, he pulled my hands at the back and I felt two metal rings click around me.

Panic engulfed me and I suddenly couldn't breathe. "What are you doing? Why did you handcuff me?"

His face remained impassive like he didn't hear me at all. Clutching my arm, he began towing me downstairs. Is this how they're gonna treat me now?

"Help! Someone please help me!" I begged to the guards positioned around the house. They silently watched me get dragged downstairs.

All four of them were waiting for me downstairs. Toby and Liam had their heads down while Oliver looked out to avoid seeing me.

And then there was Rafael. He was staring right into my swollen red eyes, trailing his charcoal eyes down the stairs as I neared them. He had his hands held behind and was standing straight with a stony face telling us how much authority he had.

He never looked so scary as much he did today. Now that I was right in front of him, I built up the courage to look straight in his cold eyes. They held no emotion. Not even anger or annoyance that he felt at my mere sight. My eyes then trailed his hard set jaw, his broad chest until they finally went to his hands. His left hand was balled into a fist while the other one had an object secured firmly.

A gun.

I staggered back. Tremors took over my body. I snapped up my terror glazed at him. My heart was beating wildly. Or was it even beating? I don't know.

"W-What are you going to do? Are you...are you going to k-kill me?"

Their pensive silence gave me the answer. No! This can't be happening. They aren't so cruel. I know these people. They can't do this to me.