Ace's POV

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Many people think the mafia is hard to explain.

In reality, it's exactly like chess. The pawns represent the people, society. Whether they know it or not, our every move controls and effects them. The rooks are like our associates. They do the dirty work, deal with the pawns and take a couple out if we need them too. Our soldiers are like the knights. They move in precise ways and, even though they aren't high rank, they can still change the entire game. Capos are like the bishops. They can move more than our soldiers, attack you from across the board. They're more powerful, definitely more sneaky. 

Then you're left with the last two pieces. The king and queen. Dons are equivalent to the king. We control everything, we're the most protected piece. Even though we have all the power, theres only so much we can do. If we die, our mafia dies with us. The queens are exactly like the Donna's. Donna's not only have the same rank and power as Don's, but they can make more moves, any move. Yes, the mafia would be horribly effected if the Donna died, but they would still be a mafia. I've also learned from dealing with Donna's and heiress' that they are the most sneaky, conniving, and ruthless of their kind. They hold nothing back, because they have nothing to lose.

Donna's have nothing to lose, yet one wrong move and a Don can lose everything. He can lose his queen. Regardless if there's love or not, your Donna is your strongest ally. She knows the inter workings of your mafia just as well, if not better, than you do. Women may have been looked down upon as the weaker gender for centuries, but it's only because everyone is afraid of the power they hold.

I've always lied, saying I'm fearless. The only thing that ever scares me has been finding a queen. If I marry for alliances, I'm giving someone power. I'm giving them every move on the board and letting them lead. If I marry for love though, it takes one wrong move. One wrong move, one thought that isn't thought through, and I lose everything. I lose my ally, I lose my secrets, I could potentially be at risk of losing my mafia. Most importantly, I could lose the one that I love.

With Hannah, she scared me. I knew I had feelings for her, I wasn't stupid. I was like a frog and someone slowly turned the heat up on the stove. I didn't realize I was falling in love with her, until it was too late. Until she was gone. Someone took my queen, my queen that I'm realizing I loved. I don't know what scares me more, that I loved her or that she was gone.

When I got back to the table she wasn't there. I immediately started to panic. I went to the women's restroom, not caring about privacy right now. I banged on all of the doors but she wasn't there either. I found a waiter and asked if they had seen her. All he said was that he saw her leave. When I got to the parking lot, I found our server by the dumpsters. He was alive, but barely. He was also no longer in his uniform.

"Qu'est-il arrive?!" I ask him. My French wasn't that great, but I still was somewhat capable of speaking the language.

"Un homme, il m'a attaque et a pris mon uniforme!"

"Etait-il Americain?!"

"Oui." He winced in pain.

I looked up at the sky, running my hands through my hair. Of course she got taken. I wasn't careful today. I was so consumed with her that I wasn't watching. I didn't make sure that we weren't followed, I didn't look for suspicious people. Because of her I did nothing.

"Fanculo!" I shouted before running to my car.

I immediately got in, heading straight for the airport. I wasn't gone long, but I knew they would be trying to get back to America as fast as possible. On my way there, I looked for suspicious cars. There were none though, she was gone. I dialed Antony's number as soon as I could find my phone.

"Ace?!"

"It's Hannah."

"What's wrong is she okay? Are you okay?"

"They took her. They fucking took her, Antony."

"Who?!"

"Who the fuck do you think?!" I shouted into the phone. I quickly took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure. "Look, I'm on my way back to America. Get everyone ready and start trying to find her. You're in charge till I get there."

"Okay, what about your father?"

"What about him?"

"Ace, he never left. He's still here." Fuck. 

Of course he didn't listen to me. Cosimo knew my threat was serious, as well as my father. He didn't listen. I know he's probably been terrorizing them while I've been gone. As soon as I find Hannah and I know that she's safe, he's dead.

"Don't let him know that she's missing. All of my stuff should be in my office, I'm giving you full access to it. As for my father, do whatever you have to do to keep him out of this. Lock him in the garage for all I fucking care, just find her."

"Have you checked her tracker?"

"No, I don't have my laptop. Check it, now."

Antony must've already been on a computer because I immediately heard the sound of keys being clicked. Every Capo and Soldier has a tracker in the back of their neck. It tell us there exact location, as well as their vitals. 

"Ace..." I close my eyes for a moment, praying that God will listen and just let her be alive. "The tracker saying she's dead."

"She's not. They wouldn't kill her this quickly. Jack would want to see her for himself, terrorize both me and her before he killed her." I don't know who I was trying to assure, him or myself.

"Then that means they removed it."

"What were her vitals before it was removed?"

"Everything was off the charts, clearly she was in distress. A few minutes before it was removed, all of her vitals were fine and she seems calm. They must've sedated her."

"Shit."

"Ace, will find her."

"I know will find her. I'm worried about what happens after."

Being kidnapped, taken isn't something that someone can just get over. It takes time, hell, some people never do. Being taken is enough trauma in its own, but what they do while you're there, it can keep you up at night. I know they won't take things easy on Hannah. 

"It'll be okay, Ace. We're working on it now."

"Okay."

With that, I hung up. It didn't take long for me to get to the airport. Now was the worst part. The flight to America is around 7 hours, and theres nothing I can do while I'm on a plane. All I can do is wait and pray that Antony finds something. I feel like I'm going to go insane.

By the time I got to the house, it was 3:30am Paris time, but only 10:00 in America. Luckily, my father is the don to the Sicilian mafia, but he has a bed time of 9:00. He wouldn't notice I'm here till tomorrow morning. I found everyone in my office, crowded around Leo, who was typing something on my computer.

"Ace." Thea sighed in relief, causing everyone to look at me.

I noticed Sarah was in here as well and my heart immediately broke for her. Not only did she lose the love of her life a week ago, but now her best friend was taken by the same people. I walked over to her and hugged her, causing her to immediately hug me back.

"Are you okay?" I whispered, just for her to hear.

"No. Are you?" 

"No." I tell her, I wasn't okay at all. "Will find her." As soon as we pulled away, I immediately walked to my chair, causing Leo to move.

"Okay, what have you done so far?"

"We've moved a few soldiers to every airport in America." Antony quickly answer.

"Yeah, we figured the main plan would be to find her, not retrieve her." Vinnie seconds.

"Good, any news?"

"None yet." Antony replies again. Leo is the next to speak up.

"Thea and I have been working on something, we wanted your opinion."

"What?"

"Well." Thea smiles sympathetically, stepping forward. "We noticed that you had files of every sighting, whether it was soldiers, Capos, or even Jack himself. We made a map and started pin pointing all of them. Some are just outliers, but a lot of them are heavily centered around certain areas."

"We think he could have compounds in those areas. The compound that we discovered when we bugged his computer had a lot of sightings around the area. Now, it's obviously evacuated, but we only discovered one, so we think the same will happen with the other compounds and sightings." Leo finished.

"That's smart. Have you found any yet?"

"We're still working on it but, so far, most of the sightings have been around New York, Miami, California-" Leo was cut off by Sarah, who was staring into space.

"And Texas." Texas. Thats where the cocaine supply we blew up was located. 

"Good, keep working. Once you've found more places, send soldiers to those areas to scout out compounds. They can be anything from Warehouses to Ranches, so make sure they're thorough. I want a list of all possible compounds as well as properties owned by Williams Corporations.

I got up and left my office, walking to my room. Someone had been sleeping in here while I was gone, but I didn't care. I couldn't sleep right now if I wanted to. I grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the bar cart in my room and walked to my balcony. I took a few gulps before hitting the call button on one of my contacts. It rang twice before there was an answer.

"Ace?"

"Cixi."

"How are things on your end? Was the cocaine mission successful?" I forgot that no one has talked to her since everything happened.

"Ben blew up the cocaine supply."

"Thats great!" She laughed.

"No, Cixi. He was caught. Jack killed him. I was told Annika tortured him, but I don't think she could've caused him the pain and injuries that were in the picture." She was silent for a moment.

"Annika wouldn't be able to go through with torturing him." She breathed out shakily.

"She called me and said she didn't even know about it. I think I believe her but, hell, who knows who to trust."

"I can't believe he's dead."

"I can't either, but he is, Cixi. Hannah's gone too."

"Hannah? The soldier?"

"We were in France and I left her alone for one minute. When I came back she was gone. Her tracker has been removed too."

"What can I do to help?" She sniffles. 

I know she was trying to be proactive, but I just told her one of her best friends from high school was dead. We may have grown up in a cruel world, but we still managed to find friends and love. Hell, I've had to try to push it away my whole life.

"Send me all of your American sightings. Some of my soldiers think we can link the sightings with where their compounds could be."

"Okay, sending them now."

"Thank you."

"Ace?"

"Yes?"

"Do you love her?" 

"Yes."

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