ROBERT KING'S POV
Helpless.
That's how I felt when I saw my daughter getting abducted right in front of my eyes. The feeling of being a total failure haunted me ever since, as it is engulfing me completely.
I couldn't help but blame myself over and over as I failed to keep her safe and protected, yet again.
Seeing her taken away from me made me feel as if a piece of myself had been painfully ripped apart, and a rush of burning pain surged through my body.
Not just her, but it was also painful to see Lucca taken away. I may only be his uncle, but I've seen that boy grow up and he's basically my own child.
Every part of me felt powerless. My entire world seemed to be collapsing around me, and my heart was wrenching in pain.
Horrific images of them getting hurt filled my mind, leaving me completely restless. My heart was yearning to get them back home safely.
The reality of their absence left an earth shattering impact on every single member of this family.
The fact that it was impossible to find them any time soon, because we had no clue about our enemies, didn't stop a single person from searching and searching, looking anywhere and everywhere while not even taking a second of rest as everyone needs to get them back before anything drastic and irrevocable happens.
Twelve hours— it has been twelve hours since they were taken away from us, and everything is falling apart since then, the ambience of distraught had filled the air in the mansion leaving everyone feeling lost.
There has been an eerie calmness in our frantic search and it is alot scary knowing that the more calm everyone is, the more enraged they felt and it definitely wasn't good for anybody else.
Dad and my brothers had been calling every single one of our allies, informing them about our situation, and they all had sent their men in search and lookout for our mafia's lost prince and princess.
Alexander, Dante, Vincenzo and Elijah are the only ones among the rest of their brothers who have managed to keep their anger at bay as they had busied themselves searching every nook and cranny in this world, exhausting every possible trick up their sleeves as they searched for any possible lead on those two.
Emilio, Matthew and I had been working with the guards, creating and formulating plans and strategies for the rescue, anticipating every possible wrong situation that could occur.
Max and Enzo had been treating the injured men from the earlier ambush, with the ladies helping them while still managing to keep themselves together.
The younger guys are trying to help whoever they can. Surprisingly Mason and Gianni have somehow managed to not lash out and they are actually trying to rack their brains in search for any clue they could find till now.
Kyson and Dominic had been hacking into government departments and airport cameras in various countries to figure out where those guys had landed.
Giovanni, Noah and Silvio had been dealing with the situation differently than the others. They are trying to be helpful but at the same time distant and cold towards everyone.
Every single person is working themselves out, and I don't blame them because nobody could think of taking a break knowing fully well that with every passing second, Arabella and Lucca are getting further and further away from us.
Rhett, the guy had been shot but he refused to be treated, he wouldn't even come back with us as he kept running in the direction of where the car had vanished.
Dumbass was trying to compete with a car!!
Max had somehow managed to get the bullet out his arm but instead of resting, Rhett had been in Dante's office straining himself out.
The guy was lashing out on everyone, not even sparing Bryn, and that's when my mother knocked some sense into him, and he finally let Max treat him but that still didn't take away the rage from his eyes.
Everyone can see how much Arabella means to him.
These two thought we had no idea about their nightly roof talks but all of us had seen the way they both react around each other, knowing that they are both helping each other recover in some way.
I wasn't thrilled with the situation, but I can understand, the look of adoration Rhett had in his eyes every time he sees Arabella also seems genuine.
And, don't even get me started on my girl.
To be honest, I sort of had a feeling that these two would end up together someday.
Even now, the look of guilt and self-loathe on Rhett's face was also clearly visible to everyone, which just adds up to how much he cares for Arabella.
He had been working with each and every single one of us. I have to admit that this guy's observation skills are pretty exceptional.
He could practically control a mafia alone with the intelligence skills he possess.
He was the one who was able to quickly decrypt Morse code from Lucca's blink signal within seconds. He had also helped Kyson and Dominic in gaining access to highly secure databases in a matter of minutes.
The guy had been using his brain restlessly and it hadn't gone unnoticed by anyone, but right now our priority was to get Arabella and Lucca back from any help we could get, and being selfish wasn't going to stop myself from doing.
After Jesse took Lucca and Arabella, no member in the family cared about the guns that were pointed at us. We all turned wild and irrational as we tried to free ourselves to go after them but those assholes managed to leave before our reinforcements could reach us.
We somehow captured a few of them who had ever since been subjected to our wrath, but nothing helpful had yet come out of their mouths.
The first thing we did after we were freed was went straight away to the airport knowing fully well how this shit works, and no one in their right mind would stay in Italy after kidnapping two members of the Italian - American mafias.
We saw the footage and seeing Arabella and Lucca walking with them willingly made us realise that those assholes had something over their head.
This was confirmed when we saw Lucca flashing blinking signals at the airport security cameras, indicating that the kidnappers were indeed holding their friends hostage.
Which was further validated when Santiago and Clara along with their daughter flew here to Italy in search of their son and his friend.
They were distraught as well, and had been working with us in the search since then.
We all were interrupted from our respective tasks when we heard a loud bang of explosion from the outside, causing us to halt our actions as everyone quickly rushed outside.
Just as we walked out through the doors of the foyer, we came in the vision of smoke and thankfully none of our guards were injured as the explosion was just a mere loud noise.
"What the fuck happened here?" I asked one of the guards, who was approaching us with a small cardboard box in his hand.
"A pen drive—" He said, handing me the opened box, as I took out a pen drive, bringing it to the sight of everybody else.
"You know what this could contain don't you?" Dad gritted his teeth while my eyes remained fixated on that pen drive, praying that it didn't contain anything that I was suspecting.
"We still need to watch, dad. It could have a clue." Alexander said as he took it from my grasp and stared at me.
"Let's go—" I said as I turned to face the guards, instructing them to conduct a thorough security check.
We all quickly rushed into Dante's office, where everyone was huddled in front of the laptop.
Alexander inserted the pen drive into the slot and opened the folder, clicking on the only video that was present in it.
My heart shattered into a million pieces, the moment the video began to play.
The entire room was deafeningly quiet as a terrifying atmosphere perpetuated it. Everyone's heavy breathing was clearly audible to the ears, followed by the sounds of curses and cries.
The screen displayed two badly beaten and bruised bodies. The blood was flowing through the cuts on their bodies while their hands were tied together with a chain that hangs to the roof.
Arabella was only in her undergarments and was littered with small and large cuts and burns, the blood coming out of them covered almost every inch of her body.
Lucca didn't look any different, in fact he looked much worse, with bluish black bruises all over his torso and stomach.
Both of them were barely conscious as my eyes involuntarily left a trail of salt water down my cheeks.
The video then progressed to show their friends tied to chairs, all of whom were unconscious.
An angry yelp came out of Santiago's daughter when the screen showed unconscious bruised Aaron and his friend. My teeth were clenched together as I tried to restrain myself from lashing out in anger.
The video further moved on as we now came into sight of two people. One of them instantly made my blood boil with rage, and I couldn't help but punch the table in frustration.
The motherfucker is still alive— if he's alive that means that bitch is too.
I'm going to have my fun the moment I capture them.
The other one was an unfamiliar old man but I can see the similarities between the two.
He's probably relatable to that asshole.
"Hello, Alfonzo King, it's been a very long time—" The old man started which caused my eyes to automatically look at dad with the others, who was glaring at the screen in extreme anger and a look of realisation.
So he knows this fucker.
"Dad—" My gaze was drawn to Kyson, who had called me and was staring at the screen in complete shock.
His eyes met mine as I took in the fear in them, making me realise who exactly this fucker is. This caused my anger to manifold as my mind made me recall the unwanted memories of my son's kidnapping.
Mason immediately placed a hand on Kyson's shoulder as his eyes also held a look of realisation.
I was going to tell Kyson to wait outside when Mason quickly shook his head and asked Alexander to press play who reluctantly did so.
My gaze had not yet moved away from Kyson's frozen state, but a painful scream from the laptop forced me to look back, where I saw Lucca hunched in pain, while John stood beside him, grinning.
"I will be the one to torture this fucker—" Isabella said glaring at the laptop as she saw her son in pain.
"This motherfucker—" Alessio yelled out at the same time in anger, as he saw his son getting punched by John.
"I will kill this piece of shit—" Gianni mumbled angrily, but his eyes stayed frozen at his brother.
Arabella's cries to help and pleas to stop, reached my ears as my heart continued to break.
I couldn't take it any longer, I'd rather have them beat me than have to witness my children being beaten.
"Dad, we have to save them, please—" Noah said with tears flowing down his face as he stared fearfully at the laptop.
"So let's get to point, Alfonzo King, you made a mistake by leaving me alive, and now you'll pay for what your fucking family of bastards did to mine. I was initially planning on selling your granddaughter, but honestly, nobody's going to want to buy this damaged piece, so I have decided to further notch it up even more. I'm going to send you the exact location of where your little shits, but you might want to leave right away because the moment you get that box is the same moment we activate these bombs. Now, this location has hundreds of empty warehouses, and each of these shitheads will be tied down in one of them alone with a bomb. So if you want to save them, then you must act quickly because the time is running out and there are a hundred warehouses you'd need to search." He said with a shit faced grin on his face as he nodded at John, who punched Lucca again, causing him to yelp in pain.
"Want to say any last words to them, this might be your last time." John said to Lucca and then went over to Arabella as he yanked her hair, forcing her look at the camera.
Everyone in the room protested in anger, shouting rounds of curses.
My hands were itching to get on to that asshole as I glared at him, but my eyes immediately softened when I saw my daughter's tear stricken face.
Her tired eyes stared back at me, and a small sigh of pain left her mouth making my heart throb in pain.
"Dad I love you, thank you for making my life the happiest it has ever been. Before you came into my life I was about to give up, but you saved me and I'm glad that I stayed strong long enough to meet you, and I couldn't be more thankful and blessed to have you and the rest as my family. If you reach here on time, please save my friends and Lucca before you come for me. I love all of you guys." Arabella managed to stutter out in pain as I could tell she wanted to say more but the pain was holding her back.
My daughter is a resilient queen.
At this moment I couldn't hold back my tears anymore, I wanted to hold my baby in my arms and assure her that everything will be okay soon.
I wanted the peace of mind that comes when I know my little girl is safe with me. My gaze remained fixed on her painfully morphed face as she attempted to speak.
"Rhett—" She said again, staring right at the screen with so much pain.
"Arabella—" Rhett whispered back from inside the room, tears welling up in his eyes as he gazed at the screen.
This was the first time he has shown an emotion other than anger in the past twelve hours.
Arabella didn't say anything but instead just smiled softly yet regrettable and my eyes looked at Rhett who closed his eyes as tears flowed down his cheeks.
The camera then focused on Lucca, who was looking at Arabella softly, but John yanked his hair to make him look at the camera, making my blood boil to kill this motherfucker.
"Mom, Dad, guys, I love you all. Don't you fucking dare blame anything on yourself. If anything happens, you all better remember me with a fucking smile on your face. Uncle Robert, I'm sorry, I tried to protect Arabella and I'm so sorry I couldn't. I wish I was stronger like the rest of y'all. I really am the weakest because I couldn't even protect my own sister, but when you get here please save her as quickly as you can. Please come soon."He finished and the screen went completely black.
But seconds later the video started as the old piece of shit reappeared on the screen, grinning once again.
"Oh, I forgot to mention to you that you'd reach here in almost 5 hours, and the timing on the bombs is also set to 5 hours, and you have already wasted a bit of your limited time on this video, so now chop-chop and run. Hopefully, you arrive just in time for the blast. Someone had to take their dead bodies right or maybe you can all die as well. Goodbye, Alfonzo, continue regretting keeping me alive and do pay my regards to that little King, I sure as hell had a great time." He said as the video immediately came to an end.
My eyes looked at Kyson, who stared down in shame and I was about to go to him but stopped when I heard my phone beep along with the rest.
There was a message containing the coordinates of the location where they had captured Arabella and Lucca. I knew it could all be a bust, but at this point I didn't have a choice and couldn't take any chances at this point
My eyes then met Dad's, who was still staring at the laptop in regret and anger.
What the fuck is he hiding—
"You're going to have a lot of explaining to do after we get them back." Alessio said angrily looking at dad, who sighed and nodded his head.
"Let's go save our kids—" Dad said as we all quickly rushed out of the room.
Hopefully we reach their on time—
✏️ Word Count: 2845
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