~~~~~TWENTY YEARS LATER~~~~
Eleanor’s POV
"You disgusting bitch!"
"Nah, that’s definitely you, honey."
More pain shot through my face as I sustained yet another punch to my face. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, and I spat at my tormentor’s feet. I looked up at his raging green eyes and smiled, "Now, that’s no way to treat a lady, now is it?"
"You are no lady," Don Russo muttered, and I could not stop myself from laughing hysterically at that. I had lost over three liters of blood, yet I was laughing like I was not undergoing the worst pain of my life. That was what my mother taught me: to never show men that you are weak. Especially the disgusting ones like the one standing before me.
I could see some of Don Russo’s men looking at me with worry. Even though I was tied by both my ankles and wrists, I was the one to be most feared. I was not just the daughter of the most feared woman in all of Italy, but I was also partially insane. I mean, who laughs when they are getting beaten and tortured to death?
"You are right, I am no lady. I am no human either, which is why I am giving you one last chance to let me go, and I will tell my mother to let you live the rest of your life. You probably won’t have limbs though," I laughed, and Don Russo’s face twisted with disgust and horror.
He threw his fist at my face once again, and I had to pinch my eyes shut to prevent the tears from leaving them. I won’t let them break me. I won’t ever give anyone that pleasure. I was not weak, I was not fragile. I was strong, dangerous, and insane. And I was going to make each and every one of them pay for the pain they were causing me.
That is, if they don’t kill me first. But they wouldn’t dare do that. My mother was the most feared woman in not just Italy, but in all of Asia. She wasn’t known as the Mad Queen for nothing.
"Not a chance," Don Russo spat before crouching down until he was eye level with me. My vision was kind of blurry thanks to the fact that my left eye was swollen and my right was covered with blood thanks to my head injuries. "You and your wretched mother’s reign will soon come to an end. You will no longer torment this city and we will finally be free to do as we wish. "
I snorted at his words, "Torment this city? We saved it! You held women captive and used them as sex toys! You despised the less fortunate and turned them into slaves! We have freed not just women but men and children from your treacherous reign!"
"That may be true, but the vast majority of this city is living in fear. I do not know why or how you and your mother aren’t in mental asylums, but I will do what the government has failed to do for years. Put you both six feet beneath the earth’s surface." He said before returning to his full height and adjusting the jacket of his suit.
"You do know that will never happen, right? You are only bringing death closer to your door," I stated, and he huffed.
"We’ll see about that. I know it will only be a matter of time before your mother comes charging in here with guns blazing. But I have studied Chiara for years; you are her only weakness. Once I point my gun at your head, she and her army will be dropping their weapons in a flash, and they will be left completely defenseless. That’s when I will release the bullet I have kept saved for her into her brain. Then I will kill you because you are just as crazy as she is. Then all my problems will be solved and I will finally regain power over Rome."
This man was definitely the insane one here if he thought that was going to work.
"Let me go, Russo. The doors of hell aren’t ones that can easily be closed once opened," I stated, and he laughed.
"We’ll see about that. But for now, make yourself comfortable," he turned his back on me and proceeded to leave. He looked at the three guards standing by the door and said, "Don’t even blink while you are on guard. She might not look much, but this girl is more dangerous than the devil himself. Do not let her out of your sight for a second. Do you understand?" he asked with a strong voice, and the men nodded rapidly in understanding.
Don Russo gave me one last glance before stepping out and leaving me with his sorry excuse of guards. One of them glanced at me, and I smiled sweetly at him. His eyes widened with fear before quickly diverting them.
Ouch.
I knew I looked scary on a normal day, but I did not want to imagine how much it was now with this much blood on me. I didn’t really like being feared, even though most people believed otherwise. They always confused me for my mother. I did not relish in the fear of others. I enjoyed the respect and love. When people feared you, they didn’t want to come anywhere near you. They would be too scared to talk to you, crack jokes with you, play with you, or have anything to do with you.
My mother always thought fear was respect, but it wasn’t. It was far from that.
Fear was forced, but respect was earned.
Throughout my childhood, I was left only with a maid to care for me. I didn’t have friends because I was home schooled, and my mother’s friends were always scared to let their kids play with me or have anything to do with me. All because they were feared one of them would hurt me and my mother would end up shooting their kids in the foot.
I couldn’t blame them though; my mother was that type of person.
I have always wanted to be someone else. I have always wanted to be normal. I always wanted to go to school like a normal kid, have normal parents, have siblings and friends, go out without the fear that there was some sniper on a nearby rooftop ready to end my life. And I can go to parties without the fear that the cops will show up and apprehend me.
But no, I grew up in solitude. I had real guns for toys and watched my mother torture her enemies like it was some sort of sick horror movie. And, as difficult as it was to admit, I was sometimes just as sick as she was.
There are days I wonder what my father was like. Was he as sick as her? Was he cruel? Or was he fun to be with? Was he respected and not feared like my mother? These are questions I never got an answer to and probably never will.
The dead tell no stories after all.
But if there was one thing I knew, it was that I wanted a new life, a normal life. With friends, a job, and possibly even a lover. And I was going to get it, no matter what.
I whistled, and all three men looked at me instantly. A devious smile stretched my lips. Slowly, I parted my legs and I could not describe how happy I was that I was kidnapped on the day I wore my favorite short red dress. Their eyes fell on my legs and stayed focused on my center, and I gestured at them to come forward with my tongue.
One of them stepped forward, but the one standing next to him stopped him. I wanted to laugh again. I couldn’t tell if he was scared or knew that this was a trap. "Come on, boys, you don’t have to untie me. We can still have some fun while we wait for death to come strolling in," I said, and I could see the uncertainty in their eyes.
The one that stepped forward before did so again, and his comrade stopped him, "What are you doing? You can’t just go near her, she’s dangerous."
"Oh, come on, there are three of you and only one of me. How can I possibly escape?" I asked, and the room was filled with silence for a while. Then, in the blink of an eye, all three of them were charging at me hungrily. One of them went for my lips while the other found a position between my legs. The other was just hovering somewhere behind me and playing with my skin.
That’s when I struck.
I bit off the tongue of the man kissing me while I stabbed the balls of the man between my legs with the hidden blade in my heel. The one behind me didn’t even have the time to comprehend what was going on before I was pushing my chair backwards and hitting him right in the balls. My chair fell carelessly on the floor and a groan left my lips from the impact. The blade that was strapped to his waist fell on the floor next to me, and I took their moment of pain to grab it and cut through the ropes.
The guard standing behind me was the first to notice what I was doing, and he charged at me, but I was already free. Before he could take the blade from me, I plunged it into his stomach. He yelled out in pain, but I wasn’t giving him the time to recover before taking out the blade and stabbing him three more times. He fell on the floor like a sac of potatoes and his blood pooled around him faster than I could blink. It did not take long for me to realize he was dead.
His other comrades were still wincing from their wounds, and I could not help but snort at how weak they all were. I stabbed one of them at the back of his neck, taking his life effortlessly before turning to the last man. The one whose tongue I had bitten off.
He looked at me with tears in his eyes as he silently pleaded with me not to do what I had done to his comrades. I kept my eyes on him as I cut the ropes tying my ankles together. Once I was free, I dropped the blade and smiled at him.
"Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you." I said, and he rose to his feet slowly. And just as I thought, his hands flew towards his gun in his holster, but I was faster. The blade cut through the air and pinned his left hand to the wall. He screamed with pain, and I laughed before picking up the one I had thrown on the floor. "I honestly could not believe you boneheads did not think of searching me. Did you really think I was unarmed?" I laughed before walking towards him, and he shook his head rapidly in a silent plea. I tilted my head to the side and pouted my lips, "And I was really giving you a chance here and you blew it. Oh well, maybe next time." I jammed the blade in his throat and I watched the life leave his eyes before his body slid down the wall. His hand was still pinned to the wall, and I took out my blade, his hand falling limply by his side. I cleaned the weapon on the corpse’s shirt and took my time to look at it.
I traced my hand over the golden snake engraved into the dark handle and smiled.
"Thanks, dad."
