36. Dark Moments (Part 1)

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Francesco was beyond furious. The love of his life had just admitted that she loved him all those years ago and had withheld that information from him for so long. The cherry on top of it was her also confessing to him that she didn't love him anymore.

Francesco only blamed O'Connor for this. He couldn't find any other reasonable explanation in his mind that had made Adele forget all about him. She gave him excuses and Francesco didn't believe her and believed Adele was trying to protect her ex- lover. He was sure that O'Connor had turned Adele against him. But Adele had only known that guy for the past twelve months. There was hope to do damage control and Francesco wanted to do it immediately and remove the ugly shadow of this other man from their relationship once and for all. But he was sure Adele was not going to enjoy it at all. But part of him wanted Adele to suffer. Part of him wanted to hurt Adele and make her understand how much she had hurt him with her confession. It changed everything. Her loving him all those years ago warmed up his heart and her lack of affection towards him was making his blood boil. It was as though his heart was punctured with stinging pain as he replayed her sentence over and over again in his mind. He wanted revenge. He wanted closure. He wanted Adele to get over O'Connor and to love him again.

But part of him wasn't sure if Adele was ever going to love him like how he loved her. That was a possibility. What was he going to do then? But he knew that was no issue. He was never ever letting go of Adele. Even if she hated him with every fiber of her being. He wasn't a man like his father and didn't plan to be. He didn't want to give up on Adele under any circumstances. He wanted to fight for his woman. He wanted to battle to hold the heart of his woman but if she loved another, that would have made it an unfair fight. He didn't want to compete with others for the love of his woman. No. He didn't share. Even if there was a ray of doubt in his mind that Adele had any loving affections left inside her towards O'Connor he had to act to destroy every last bit of it to avoid having a broken relationship like his father's or his uncle's. He had to cleanse inside Adele's heart and make her only to think of him.

Francesco sighed in frustration as he could see the fear in Adele's eyes and he wasn't enjoying watching his woman in distress but she had left him with no other choice. He had to get some straight answers out of her even if it meant breaking her. He dragged her to the cellar door and his guards opened the doors one by one through the dimly lit corridor. Adele was now having hiccups as she was sobbing so hard. Francesco had enough. He turned to Adele "Sweetheart. Stop crying. Your tears are not going to save our relationship but your co-operation might. Just do as I say. Be a good girl and follow me silently and stop crying because its starting to get on my nerves to hear your cries."

Adele took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. But she couldn't help it. Tears were running down her cheeks but now she was sobbing more silently or was rather trying.

Francesco got to a door and unlocked it and pulled Adele inside. As Francesco was closing the door, Adele became occupied with checking the room out. The room was furnished with a table, two chairs, a few cupboards, a fridge, a drinks cabinet and of course hooks hung from the ceiling that seemed to be Francesco's favourite decoration in almost every room with different shapes and sizes. Of course they were for hanging people from the ceiling. That made Adele cringe.

Francesco turned to Adele "Sit down sweetheart. What drink would you like?"

As Adele sat down, she shook her head "I don't want to drink."

Francesco frowned "I didn't ask you if you wanted a drink. You are having one. It would help you stop crying." He then walked to the drinks cabinet and spoke "If you don't choose one, I will get one for you, Adele."

Adele sighed "Any juice or soda would be fine. If not then can I have some water please?"

Francesco poured himself some vodka and poured some lemonade inside it. He then walked to the fridge and opened it. He asked "What kind of juice do you want? I have juices of pine apple, orange, pear, apple, cherry, lemon and grape. I also have soda. Which one do you want?"

Adele couldn't believe this. Why did Francesco care about what drink she wanted but he had no problem with handling her so roughly and dragging her to this dim cellar. She whispered "It really doesn't make any difference."

Francesco sighed. He grabbed a can of soda and some ice. He came back with the glass of soda and put it in front of Adele. He spoke "Drink up now sweetheart. We would be down here for a while." He then went back to the drinks cabinet and came back with his drink and sat down opposite Adele on a chair. He reached one hand across the small table and held Adele's hand in his and with the other hand he started drinking his vodka and lemonade drink.

There was tension in the air and Adele knew this was the silence before a storm. Adele was dying on the inside and didn't know what to do to make things better but her mind was blank. She had stopped crying now. The anticipation of what was to come had made her become sick with worry, fearful of Francesco's next actions and had made her tears stop.

Francesco finished his drink and put it on the table and whispered "You know, I never thought I would see you in this room. You are my woman. You are supposed to be on third floor right now and thinking about our future. We should be on dates, laughing out loud. We should be out there building a relationship that would end with our wedding and a lifetime spent together. I never planned our second day together to be like this. We should be upstairs. Not in this cellar that I reserve for dealing with my enemies and traitors..." He gave her hand a squeeze with one hand and he then reached his hand across the small table and touched grabbed her chin making her close her eyes.

Francesco growled " Open your eyes. I want you to look at me in my eyes and directly. And for crying out loud why do you wince and close your eyes whenever I touch your face. When have I ever hit you?"

Adele opened her eyes "Its what you are capable of that scares me. You are fully capable of hurting others. How would I be any different?"

Francesco made his grip on Adele's chin tighter and spoke with venom "I am not planning on hurting you. We are both here to solve this problem in our relationship called O'Connor. He is the reason that our relationship is now in danger and I always eliminate threats and dangers before they do serious harm."

Adele swallowed hard "What are you going to do with me? What are you going to do to ... him? Why are we really here?"

Francesco gave Adele a stern look. He let go of her and stood up. He rested his hands on his hip and spoke "You are asking me why we are here and what I want to do? You have no idea how ironic your questions sound like. We are here because of you and whatever I want to do is for you." He then laughed bitterly and paused.

At this point Adele was trembling from fear. He was now speaking with a cold tone void of emotion looking into Adele's eyes "Really Adele. You are smarter than this. You must know why we are here. You stared right at me and said to me "You used to love me and not any more." Do you have any idea how much that hurts me to hear that my woman say that? Do you? You broke my heart Adele. You hurt me with your words. Now, I need to make you love me again but for that, I need to know how you stopped loving me. It makes no sense to me at all how you could just forget me. That's impossible. You can't ever forget loving someone. How come I never forget you? I always loved you. From the first day I saw you until this very day, my feelings haven't changed for you. But you .... are making this outrageous claim that you have stopped loving me in the past ten years. I think that the only explanation is that O'Connor must have seduced you. O'Connor must have made you fall for him. How else could you stop loving someone? But I need to become certain. I need to hear everything from the beginning. I need evidence. I need to know if I am right. I need to know why and how exactly you forgot all about me."

Adele was speechless. She didn't know what to say to not make things worse for herself and Michael. She made up her mind. She had to be honest with him even if he didn't like her truthful words that she had kept repeating to him and he was ignoring. So she took a deep breath and spoke while trembling visibly " I never forgot you. I tried but I couldn't. If you want to know why I have stopped loving you, take a look at the mirror. You have become a cold blooded murderer. You are not the Francesco I knew and loved. You have changed. If you want me to love you, then you must stop."

Francesco banged his fist on the table "Don't lie to me. This is irrelevant. That's just an excuse you keep giving me. You are trying to cover up the truth. My profession has got nothing to do with our relationship. Just like how your profession is not coming between us. I leave you to work at a hospital. I am not happy about my woman working for other people but I put up with it because I love you and I know it would make you happy to do a job your worked so hard to qualify for. Now if you truly loved me, then you would have accepted my profession because being a criminal is who I am. Obviously you don't love me right now otherwise you would be fine with me doing anything that makes me happy and wouldn't want me to change for you. I don't ask you to change for me. Why should you ask for me to change for you? Its all because you don't love me. You must love O'Connor. Imagine if he was a criminal. Were you or were you not going to jump into his arms and become his?"

Adele looked down and whispered while stuttering "Francesco......... What do you want from me? I told you the reason why I don't love you like I used to. Why can't you believe me? Why?"

Francesco growled "Adele. How can you expect me to believe you. You said to me you fell out of love with me. I don't believe that anyone can fall out of love with someone unless they meet someone else. You betrayed me and right now you have the nerve to keep giving me untrue and baseless excuses that are really starting to bother me. I hate it that you are lying to me just to protect O'Connor. You deserve to be hurt for hurting my feelings. You deserve to be punished for lying to me and denying me the knowledge of the whole truth but ...... I don't believe it was entirely your fault that our relationship has come to this. Now. Lets begin by discussing the rules while you are in this room. You will do as I say when I instruct you and you wont talk back to me or argue. I love you sweetheart but if you act defiant, it would make me angry with you and you would not like that side of me directed towards you. Believe me. So obey these rules. Do as I say because disobedience would set me off and you wouldn't like that. Now I will bring O'Connor in and I will get to the truth and will guide you on how you can forget about him and only think of me from now on. But if you don't try to fix your mistakes and co-operate, then I would have to use other methods until one works and succeeds in turning you on my side again."

Adele stood up as Francesco turned around and walked to the door. She walked to Francesco and grabbed his hand making him stop and turn towards her. She spoke urgently " Please Francesco. Don't do this. Lets go over this together. Lets talk. Please don't bring him in."

Francesco spoke " I give you to the count of three sweetheart. If you don't let go of my hand, I will tie you up to that chair. You must be present in this room and do as I say. I don't care if you are tied up or moving freely. Your choice. one, two, three."

Adele shook her head " Please Francesco. No."

Francesco sighed and spoke " Choose then. Do you like to be handcuffed to that chair which is more common here or you would like me to tape you. It would be more painful to take it off but at least it doesn't cut your wrists. I also have ropes but they may cut your skin. They are too rough. Choose darling."

Adele couldn't believe how coldly Francesco was speaking to her. He was dead serious and was expecting am answer. He lost his patience " Sweetheart, I can't have you clinging onto me while I do what I have got to do when I bring O'Connor in. I warn you. Choose a method of restraining or I will choose for you. But I would prefer if you go to that corner and stand there quietly and be a good girl."

Adele felt defeated as Francesco wasn't backing down. He spoke impatiently " Fine. It's sticky tape it is then." He then wrapped his arms around Adele's tights and lifted her up and put her down into a chair. As he took out a sticky tape from a drawer and walked to Adele, she spoke quickly " I will be good. I won't move. Don't tie me up. Please."

Francesco put the sticky tape on the table and spoke " If you take one step away from this chair I would tie you up. Last warning sweetheart." He then walked to the door and opened it. He shouted out " Guards, bring me O'Connor."

Adele's heart sank as she heard a response from a guard " Boss. He is unconscious. He is recovering from his last session."

Francesco spoke " I would wake him up. Bring him now." He then turned to Adele " I warn you. You will do as I say. You don't move from that chair unless I instruct you to. If you don't do as I say...... I will kill him instantly."

Adele nodded vigorously " I understand."

Seconds passed in silence. It seemed like minutes for Adele. Then she heard footsteps in the corridor approaching the door.

Adele screamed at the sight that greeted her and covered her mouth. Tears started flowing not any fault of her own.

Two guards carried an unconscious Michael O'Connor inside. One was holding his arm and the other, his legs. They brought him inside and Francesco shouted orders " Drop him right there and leave. Close the door behind you."

As the guards closed the door, Adele brought down her hand and spoke in between sobs. What have you done to him? He is covered in blood."

Francesco walked to a cabinet and came back with a bottle and poured the bottle's liquid onto O'Connor's face as he spoke " What does it look like sweetheart. I have been torturing him non stop ever since I have brought him in here. I have only stopped when he had been given food or medical breaks. That was before I knew he had turned you against me. That was before I knew that his crime was also making you forget me as well as forcing himself on you as your boyfriend. Now his crime ,is much heavier. He wont be here just for a few months. He will be my prisoner in this cellar for as long as I live. Every time I look at him, I will remind him what happens to those who mess with my loved ones. However ....... that may not happen depending on you. If you don't obey me today, I may be pushed to kill him so he won't be able to spend a life time in pain living under my roof. That would be such a shame. So sweetheart don't push it or I would kill him unless that's what you really want." He then chuckled " It seems like he doesn't want to wake up the gentle way." Francesco then started kicking him in the stomach repeatedly with his foot. He was wearing quite heavy boots too.

Adele was sobbing hard and whispering " No. Please. No. Stop."

Suddenly Michael O'Connor opened his eyes while coughing blood. That made Francesco stop kicking him. He spoke sarcastically "Rise and shine."

Adele's heart broke as she saw Michale's hazel eyes finding her in the room and what he said broke her heart. He whispered " Honey ...... You .... Are ...... Alive. Thank ...... the .... Lord." And to Adele's shock he smiled. He gave her one of his warmest smiles. Even though his face was battered and bloodied and bruises had made his face almost unrecognisable he still smiled at her. He must have been in immense pain but still he found the strength somehow to look at his beloved and smile. Adele hated herself at that point. It was all her fault.

To Adele's horror, Francesco walked to one corner of the room and grabbed a baseball bat in one hand and an iron rod in another hand. He then walked to Adele. He spoke seriously " Sweetheart, which one would you prefer?"

Adele looked at Francesco in horror " What ... are these ... for?"

Francesco shrugged " To beat your love out of him of course. That's the first step in helping you get his love out of your system and mend our relationship a little bit."

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