"Here's your ticket."
"Thanks, man." A slender young man grabbed the ticket waiting in the hands of the man at the concession. He received a nod in return and yelled, "Next!"
The slender one got out of the line and joined his group of three. They went through a door and when they entered it was like Narnia. A whole world inside. It was loud. People screaming their unneeded advice. People were jumping up and down and pushing each other aside. It was dim. The lights were focused on the middle of the large club. In the middle was a cage with two bruised and bloodlust people going for each other faces.
There was a crack as one of them punched one another in the stomach. He let out a groan as he stumbled back. The crowd roared their support at the winning fighter.
"Theodore, man, this is awesome!" A friend told the young man and he grinned at the friend.
"Told you so." Theodore threw up his hands around him. Watching the underground fighting was his favorite hobby and tonight his favorite undefeated fighter was on today; Salvo Romano.
For the final match, Salvo Romano would be up on there in less than ten minutes and the crowd was getting excited. More people began filing inside and soon the whole field would be full.
"Drinks?" A man walking around through the crowd catering drinks on a tray with strings attached around his neck shouted and Theodore shot his hand to stop him, thanking God that fake IDs existed.
"Three beers." Theodore requested for himself and his friends and shoved the money into the man's hands when he was handed over the beers.
"Thanks, man." One of his friends, Larry replied when he handed him a beer. "Who did you get on for the final match?"
"Dude, did you have ear wax in or something on the ride here?" The other friend, Daniel scoffed. "It's Salvo Romano, of course. Theodore wouldn't shut up about him!"
"Everybody here's betting on him," Theodore murmured. "They would be stupid if they didn't."
"Next up: an assassin with more than four hundred kills by hand in a year, will be fighting against the famous undefeated fighter that everybody knows here, Salvo Romano!" The mic announced. The crowd roared and Theodore joined in. Salvo came on the pillar. He used the usual grin on his face, basking in the support from the crowd. The assassin was the opposite, stone-faced, and was shooting daggers at his opponent with his eyes. He was cracking his knuckles and did a few stretching exercises.
Salvo, on the hand, looked unbothered. Theodore watched in amazement as the assassin ran forward towards him, eager to beat the undefeated fighter. But unfortunately for him, Salvo was an undefeated fighter for a good reason. When he was close with his arms behind him with his hand in a fist, ready to punch his face, Salvo ducked and put his hand around his assassin's back of his knees and pulled backward.
The assassin was on the floor in an instant and his head cracked as it hit the steel floor. That was the end of it. The crowd watched in both fascination and disappointment. Fascinated because of how Salvo Romano defeated his opponent in a mere second. Disappointment because they wanted more of a fight.
Salvo usually gave the crowd more entertainment by playing around with his completion but today he seemed to want it to be over. He disappeared from the stage as soon he bested the assassin which was also usual.
It's not like he had someone waiting for him at home. Theodore thought to himself. He was kind of ashamed to admit he occasionally stalked into Salvo's life, especially his love life, on social media. Salvo was a playboy, always with a man or woman, but they're never was any serious relationship.
It was everyone in this place's daydream, to be in a serious relationship with the most handsome and charming Romano. Theodore had to admit that it was his, too.
Getting the job as a bodyguard at Romano's mansion was the best day in Theodore's life. Thanks to his father, who was a trusted hacker who worked alongside Noah Romano, it became possible after he subtly hinted to them that Theodore was a good fighter.
"The lost mafia princess was found!" Someone shouted at someone else nearby.
Theodore's ears perked up at the new information. He shot his hand out to grab the stranger by the arm. "What did you say?" He asked in disbelief.
"Lost princess as in Ariana Romano?" Daniel exclaimed.
The elder stranger frantically nodded and grinned. "It appears the Russian Mafia had her after all these years! The Italian Don just announced them as the enemy and they are to be terminated immediately."
"Well, well, this is just a cup of tea." Larry chuckled, taking a sip of his beer.
"I thought the mother stole her?" Theodore asked.
The stranger shrugged. "Don't ask me how she got separated from her mother. All I know is the princess was a captive of the Russian Mafia and she's alive. She was found with two of the Romano brothers and was abducted a few days prior. The Russians they found..." he tutted. "Let's say they aren't in the good shape. There is to be a march of shame in two days. Rumors say there are hundreds of them."
"Holy shit." Daniel breathed. "I can't believe the lost princess is found. Never thought she would ever be."
"Nothing of us believed she was even alive, son. A miracle." The stranger patted his arm. "In an hour or less, everybody in the underground world's going to talk about it! A war is coming and y'all better buckle up."
"I'm surprised that Naum Kiselov had enough balls to fuck around with the Romano, especially their only girl born in generations." Daniel clicked his tongue. "The accident that ended up Naum and all of his sons dead. No one believes it was an accident."
"People say the Romano did it." Larry chimed in.
"Nah," Theodore shook his head. "It isn't the Italian Mafia's way, especially the Romano brothers. They don't stab you in the back and make it look like an accident. They'll kill you straightforwardly and make it as bloody as possible. They would have taken the credit. The Romano is powerful and they don't hide."
"Who did it, then?" Daniel questioned. "It must be some kind of a top dog of the Russia Mafia."
"Kodiak Mozokov." The stranger chimed in. They all looked at them with furrowed eyebrows. "A cousin, a low rank. But it seems he aims to go higher and the highest peak he did go. Kodiak was the one who kept Ariana Romano these years. To break apart the Romano family, I assume."
"Huh," Theodore said. "You know what happened to him? Did the Italian catch him yet?"
"No." The stranger said. "They didn't. He went into hiding."
"Where?" Larry asked and got smacked on the head for his stupid question. The stranger shrugged nonchalantly.
"Nobody knows. But when he's found, I guarantee you the Romano brothers will make his life a living hell."
P E R D I T A
The ocean was calm and its small ripples were comforting. In the human vision, there was nothing but water for hundred miles and the sun beaming through the clouds in a bright blue sky.
It was the middle of the pacific ocean with no sign of life. There were no birds in the sight. Under the waves told a different story.
There were fishes, sharks, eels, and many sea creatures lurking in the water. There were predators and their prey. There was one big predator in particular that scared off the sea creatures.
A submarine lay underneath.
For the Romano family searched high and low on the land and about to burn down the world down to find their father and the man who they aim to get their revenge on, there's one place they didn't think of and that place would survive the burning, in the middle of the ocean.
Kodiak Mozokov watched the sharks hunting for their food through the small window with a calm expression on his face. He was chewing his gum and bored out of his mind. He was a man who needed to have something to keep his mind busy on. Now in the middle of the ocean, he had nothing to play with except Luca Romano.
Unfortunately, he had a deal to leave Luca Romano untouched. Besides a few bruises, he was currently sitting in a lavish room, probably humming to himself even more bored than Kodiak - unharmed.
He missed the times when he had the lost princess to play with. Perhaps he shouldn't have let her go in exchange for Luca because it seemed all pointless now. He thought by taking Luca, the Italian Mafia would crumple to its ground, but it seemed Ace Romano was even stronger and more clever than his father.
At least Luca was worth the world to the Romano brothers. As long he had Luca under his mercy, he'll always have a sort of control over the Italians.
A message beeped on a small screen on the controls table.
A message from his spies inside the Romano family.
There's a big problem. They said Ariana's talking. Normally, if not a bit shy. She's a bit wary of them but is getting too comfortable. Seems to be remembering things. Too quickly.
Kodiak's breath hitched. An emotion he haven't felt for a long time began to resurface: fear.
This cannot be.
Another message.
She's aware of her surroundings. Grounded in the reality and an avid observer. She's relearning to move around on her feet by herself already. No problems with limb movements except the pain in her legs. She still can feel pain. She seems to not have any problems with thinking straight.
She was healing. She couldn't be healing this quickly. The anger coming from Kodiak was about to burn him from inside to out.
"FUCK!" He screamed in a blinding rage. He grabbed his glass of whiskey and threw it across his room. He turned to his shelf that shocked his alcohol and shoved it. It fell and the glasses shattered, spilling the liquids over the floor. He slammed his fists on a table again and again.
It cannot be! He thought to him as a helpless feeling gnawed on his heart.
He made the biggest mistake in all of his life.
Four years of breaking her - down in the drain.
He was sure she was far too broken. She must have gone insane from the years of total darkness and pain. When he looked into her eyes, She wasn't seeing him, far into her fantasy. When she was tortured in the last year, she never made any sounds. Kodiak had thought it meant she didn't feel it anymore because her mind had disconnected from reality - his mind shattered completely.
She was worthless and the only thing she was useful is to throw her away back to their family for them to see how damaged she was. She was broken and that's why Kodiak decided to let her go in exchange for something far more valuable - the person who holds the power over the Italian Mafia.
She always felt the pain all along. She just learned to hide it. Her seemingly disconnect to reality, her silence, her limp limbs when she was moved, her insanity - all of it was just her defense mechanism. Something that she'd observed and picked up the habits to please her torturers. She gave them what they wanted to see. All of it was a strategy to lessen the torture.
And it worked.
All of them had underestimated Ariana Romano.
She was far stronger and was much smarter than Kodiak thought.
And that scared him. He deemed her less than a human being and more like a pet in the background. In doing so, he revealed everything around her. She knew about his revenge plans, who his spy was, all of his bases and men have located and the coordinates of where he was currently at right now.
All of it.
She knew everything.
When she decides she trusts her brothers and reveals these vital pieces of information to the Italians, it would the end of the war before it even truly begins and Luca Romano would be rescued safely.
The ex Don of the Italian Mafia had control over his territory. The current Don of the Russian Mafia had control over his own.
But one person had control of both.
The Italian Mafia Princess holds all of the power.
Ariana Romano is the key to the downfall of the Russian Mafia.
Kodiak managed to hold himself together with a newfound determination and went back to the screen. There was only one hope to put a stop to it. He typed in a message, putting out a bounty - sending it to every neutral assassin associated with the underground world with an offer of a large amount of money.
I want Ariana Romano dead at all costs.
Three updates in a day - yay!!
I wanted a chapter on an outsider's (for now) point of view on the world finding out about Ariana's fate and the behind-the-scenes of the villain and our daddy dearest. So I wrote it. What do you think of it?
A plot twist! Seems like our Ariana is a far more important player in this war than we thought.
Did you see that coming?
Check out my new book, 'Tainted by the Past'! It's also a mafia siblings book. This book is my main focus so there will be slow updates for TBTP.