*Three Years Later*

I was seventeen years old and still lived with the Luciano. They had remained great as usual. I had eventually grown accustomed to calling them Mom and Dad and felt like I was their biological daughter. Time healed the wounds and even though the loss of my parents was a great trauma, I had eventually gotten over it in some ways.
Dominic had gone off to university. Before he went away he and I had somehow become civil with each other. It wasn't something that I would have ever thought would happen, but we were eventually able to have a civil conversation. It took some time but we had eventually gotten there. It started because Dominic had a crush on Zara who happened to be the sister of my good friend Zena. He wanted to look good in the eyes of Zara and felt that I could get him close to her. It started with him asking me for favors in putting in a good word for him but when I had told him that I hardly have much good I could say, that was when we sort of gotten close. He and Zara had eventually dated for a while, but I guess it just never worked out after they separated for college. Dominic visited from time to time and I guess that years and maturity somewhat sealed the rift between us.

I had started dating when I was sixteen and had been in a relationship with my first real boyfriend Raphael for over a year.
What can I say? All of my friends were already dating long before me but when I had met Raphael, I figured what the hell. And that was when I jumped on the dating wagon. Raphael was older than I by three years, he was 20 at the time, and I was 17. We met when I was 16 years old, and he was 19. One day I had a flat tire, and he helped me out, ever since then, we had been together.

Dad had gotten me a car for my 16th birthday, and even though he hated me traveling and going out by myself- because he said that it was way too dangerous for me -I had managed to convince him that I'd be fine and didn't need a bodyguard.

Over the years I had noticed that he often seemed to be extremely fearful for me to be out too late, it was like he had gotten super overprotective of me. Throughout the years of getting to know each other more, we often hung out like in a father-daughter setting, and he had even taken me to a firing range. He taught me how to handle and fire guns at targets as well as how to load a gun. Those were sessions that we used to bond. He knew that I was afraid of guns at the time because of what had happened to my parents, so I guess that was his way of helping me get over my fear. Even though mom hadn't been too keen on the idea of me handling guns, she had confessed that she thought it was necessary though.

I had noticed Dad had been acting weird lately. It was like there was a ticking time bomb that was waiting to go off at any time. Sometimes he actually scared me when he was like this. It was like he knew that something was coming or going to happen while others didn't.

The night when things finally became clear to me, I was in bed when my phone rang. I smiled when I looked at the caller's ID before answering.

“Hey” I smiled with the phone at my ear.

“Hey baby, I've been thinking about you,” Raphael said over the phone which caused me to blush.

“Really? What about exactly?” I asked in a seductive voice.

“I don't know, why don't you come outside, and I'll show you” he chuckled.

“What? You're outside now? Babe, it's almost eleven” I asked as I got up and looked through the window and of course saw his car outside the gate.

“Uh yeah, I was thinking we could hang out tonight,” he said.

“Raph, you know my parents would kill me if they found out I sneaked out,” I said to him even though I still took up my jacket and got dressed.

“Come on just be quiet, and I'll have you back home before they know you were gone” he reassured.

“Alright, I'm coming. Just give me a few minutes” I said before I hung up the phone.

I took up the pocket knife that belonged to my real dad and tuck it inside the back pocket of my Jean's skirt. I didn't know why but having it with me most of the time, actually made me feel safe somehow. It was like if I carried around little stuff which belonged to my biological parents, then somehow they would be watching over me.

I had managed to sneak out without anyone noticing then ran to Raphael's car.

“I'm in so much trouble when I get back” I giggled as I entered the car.

I knew my parents would be extremely pissed at me if they knew I was sneaking out and leaving the house in the middle of the night, especially Dad.

“You'll be fine” Raphael chuckled as he leaned over to kiss me before he started his car and drove off to his apartment.
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“Raph, not yet. Just wait for a little, I'm still kinda tired” I chuckled as I caught his hand that roamed my body and went south.

“Okay, few more minutes” he chuckled as he leaned over me and kissed me.

“Yeah, I obviously don't have enough energy like you,” I said which caused him to chuckled and pulled me in his arms so that my head was on his chest.

We had spent the past half an hour making love, and I was tired, but Raphael obviously had spared energy because he seemed to have wanted to go another round.
I had only been with one guy, Raphael was my first and the only guy I had ever slept with, so I really didn't know if it was all guys, but I knew that Raphael was surely insatiable.

“You've loved my energy though” Raphael chuckled before turning his head to kissed me which I returned. And pretty soon after we were at it again.
~|~|~

I was awakened only to found myself in a chair with my hands bound behind and my ankles tied. My back and neck felt stiff and hurt like hell. I was dressed in my skirt and blouse from the night before minus my jacket. I didn't know what time of day or night it was, all I knew was that I was in a room which looked like an empty old garage, warehouse, or something.

I panicked instantly, and begun screaming and kicking my legs as I tried to get loose, but it was no use.

“Stop struggling princess, you're not going anywhere” I heard a man said as the door in front of me was opened.

“Where the hell am I? And who are you?” I asked frightened.

The guy was maybe about 5"10, about in his late 30s or early 40s. He was medium built, with greasy-looking cut dark blond hair.

“Relax princess, you're at my place, and I'm your new friend. You can call me Bob” he chuckled.

“What do you want with me!?” I yelled at him.

Even though I was scared out of my mind, there was no way that I would give him the satisfaction of seeing that.

“I wouldn't use that tone with me if I were you,” he said, as he strolled closer to where I was tied to the chair. “Anyway, you're like a repayment of favor to me”.

“What?” I asked confused.

“I was starting to think Jake wasn't going to come through with this deal. I was starting to think he wanted to keep you to himself”.

“You're crazy. Who the hell is Jake?” I asked as I looked at him like the crazy person he was.

“Oh funny you should ask. I think you're really going to love this” he said amused. “Jake! Come in here!”

I looked up to see who had entered the room and I almost had a heart attack when I saw who had entered the room.

“Raphael?” I whispered in shock.

“Princess, meet my nephew Jake,” Bob said to me as he grinned like this was the funniest thing in the whole world.

“Raphael, what's going on?” I asked once he came to stand beside Bob.

“Sorry baby, it's just business,” Raphael said to me without any expression on his face.

Sorry baby, It's just business? What the hell?

As I looked at Raphael or Jake or whatever his name was, I noticed that this wasn't the guy I had met a year ago. He didn't seem like the same guy who I had been with only a few hours earlier. The guy that stood in front of me was someone else, someone who I didn't know. This wasn't the guy I thought I knew.

“What?” I asked weakly as I looked at him confused and hurt.

“Luciano, one of the most powerful yet discreet mafia boss. Overprotective Dad as you may know him?” Bob smiled slyly.

“You're a crazy piece of shit!?” I yelled at him.

How dare he kept me there tied up in this filthy place and then had the nerve to accuse my Dad of something so despicable. I thought to myself.

I hadn't even seen it coming, but my words must have struck a nerve because a slap to my face which caused me to cried out as my head flew to the side was what I was rewarded with. I had never been slapped before, and I instantly wished it would have stayed that way because it sure didn't feel good. My face throbbed with pain and burned from the impact of the slap.

I looked at him shocked and with disdain. And then looked at Raphael for some assurance that maybe this was some kind of cruel joke or something but all I was met with was his emotionless face.

“Raphael, what are you doing?” I asked as I started crying.

“Don't call me that!” Was his reply and I knew instantly that I had been tricked for over a year.

“Young love... TSK. TSK. Sucks don't it?” Bob grinned. “A pretty young girl having a sudden car tire trouble, falling for the older handsome and charming guy that helped her out”. He shook his head as if saying that story was ridiculous How convenient when 'Raphael' came along right? “

“Why are you doing this?” I looked at both of them.

“Your stupid Dad is to be blamed. He has ruined my life and has been spoiling all my plans and businesses for years. And now he's going to feel what I felt, he's going to know what it's like to have to count his losses starting with you!” Bob shouted and smacked me across my face once more.

“You know what will be more fun? Him having to watch what happened to his pretty little daughter. Jake, keep this little pest in line, I'll be back” he said before he left the room.

“Why are you doing this? I thought you cared for me” I said to Jake as the tears ran down my face.

“Let's be real here Lexi, I'm not your friend. I may have gotten a little attached to you over the year because I got a bit sidetracked from my real purpose of befriending you. But let's face things here, your Dad is the boss of the Italian mafia, and he ruined my life too. I hate the Luciano's just as much as my uncle does. I won't lie you're very beautiful, and we had some great moments, a few hours ago for example but that's not enough” Raphael said to me.

“Please. Please don't do this, let me go” I pleaded with him. “All those times we had together been you telling me they meant nothing to you? I don't know what made you think that my dad's a mafia boss, but I'm sure you're mistaken”.

“You were always so damn blind and naive! What do you think all those men your dad have working with him and following behind his ass twenty-four sevens did? Sweep his office? Help him with his heavy briefcase and documents?” He asked sarcastically. “They're members of the Italian mafia as well, sworn to follow their boss' every wish!”.

“Raph, don't do this. I'm sure dad didn't...” I started to say but was cut off by Raphael shouting at me angrily.

“Don't call me that! I may have had to put up with you calling me that stupid name for so long, but it is a fake. My name is Jake and I almost allowed myself to care and feel for you but it's not enough, your family ruined mine and now everyone in Luciano's family will pay blood or not” he sneered “Sometimes the innocent ones have to suffer too”

“Please, I cared for you, I really liked you,” I said as I tried hard to see if I could change his mind.

“Shut up! Stop trying to get into my head it's not gonna work!” Raphael yelled. “Or so help me, I will kill you myself”.

“No, no you wouldn't” I shook my

“Oh yeah? Try me” Raphael said as he took a gun from his waist and pointed it at me. “You say one more word” he threatened.

I finally realized I really didn't know this guy in front of me. I wasn't sure whether he would have carried through with his threat, but I wasn't going to test him to find out, so I kept my mouth shut.

Meanwhile, I sat there with Raphael watching me I tried moving my wrists within the rope trying to slacken it. Much to my surprise after a while one of my hands slipped free from the knot. Whoever tied this rope was a damn amateur, and I was grateful for that because my hands were partially free. Not wanting to push Jake/Raphael to shoot me, I kept my hand behind my back as I waited for an opportunity where I could hopefully do something else to completely free myself.

I prayed to God that I would be able to survive the night.

I sat still in the chair as I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of there. There was no way I was going to die in that place or allowed myself to be tortured any more than I had already been considering those two smacks I took across my face from Bob.

As I thought about what both Bob and Jake had said about Dad, I had considered that maybe there could be some truth in that. After all, Dad seemed to be feared by most people. He was pretty persuasive, and he always traveled with Nate, Miguel, or some of his other men who worked with him. Also, whenever mom and I went out he usually had another one of his men as a bodyguard for us. I thought that it was probably because he was a businessman with lots of money why he needed the extra protection. However, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like it could be true. After all, what reason would Bob and Jake have to lie?

Dad had been overprotective more so of late and had been on edge for a while. He had been acting weird like he expected something bad to happen, and I finally knew what. A lot of thoughts came to me as I sat there. 'What if that was why Dominic didn't like me being a part of his family in the first place? What if all those years ago when Marc had said Dominic didn't like certain responsibilities this was part of what he meant?'

I thought hard about the situation. I had never condoned criminal behavior before, but how could Dad be so bad even if he was a part of a Mafia? The man practically saved my life, I owed it to him. I suddenly realized that I didn't care if Dad was a mafia boss or not. He took me in when I wasn't sure where the hell I was going to go, and he had been great, mom too. I didn't care what anyone thought about them, I was determined to stick by their sides even if it meant I would die. And death was not something I was ready for, that thought alone made me more determined to make it out of there one way or another.

I had tried one more time to get through to Raphael.

“Do you really hate me that much?” I asked him.

“I don't hate you, I hate your family, more specifically your father” he growled.

“Then why am I here? Can't you see how wrong this is? You do know I have adopted don't you?”

“Lexi, I don't care! Your dad ruined my life. And whether you were adopted you both love each other like blood” he retorted “You want to hit someone where it hurts the most, you do so by taking away the things he loves”

“So you're going to have your revenge by what? Killing me? Can't you see what's wrong with that?”

“Look, I was set out to do a job and that's bringing you in. I may have fallen off track by starting to like you, so this is me nipping it in the bud”.

“So you're really gonna just stay here and watch him torture then kill me?” I had asked.

“Well if that's what he wants, I guess I'm okay with that” he replied, and I finally came to my conclusion. He was indeed hardheaded and there was no getting through to him.

Bob had come back with a camera stand and set a video camera on it.

“Finally found it. I hope Luciano will have fun watching me get rid of the ones he loves starting with his charity case” Bob stated then stalked by towards me “And action!!”

I had no time to reacted to his crazy outburst because his fist collided with my face. I cried out louder this time because this was more intense than the first two slaps. My nose felt as if it was broken and the metallic taste of blood in my mouth told me that he had busted my mouth and most definitely my nose. My face throbbed and hurt like hell.
I was rewarded with another hit across the face and this time I felt as if every bone in my face was broken.

I was definitely not used to that type of treatment and didn't intend to start getting used to it. Even though I was woozy and felt like I would black out soon, I thought I heard my real parents as well as Katherine and Alphonso telling me to be strong. I remembered I had my father's pocket knife in the back of my pocket. It was then I realized why I felt so uncomfortable, I was sitting on it.
I discreetly moved my free hand down into my back pocket while neither of the two was paying that much attention. Bob thought that I have would pass out too soon if he landed another punch to my face, so he went and adjusted the camera. I felt I had hit the Jackpot when the little knife came out in my hand.

Seriously? If you kidnapped someone, shouldn't you at least first checked their pockets? Amateurs.

I flicked the knife open in my hand still behind my back. Suddenly, gunshots were heard outside. Bob and Raphael both seemed very alert and frightened by that.

“What the hell was that!?” He barked “Jake! Go check it out. I bet they've come for you, where the hell is that tracking device?” He yelled as he crouched down in front of me and grabbed my throat.

I gasped and shook my head as I tried to tell him that I didn't know what he was talking about and also because he was cutting off my air supply, I couldn't breathe.

“You know what? It doesn't matter because you're going to be dead in a few seconds” he bit out through clenched teeth and tightened his fingers into my windpipe.

If I didn't do something he would have definitely killed me, so I did the only thing I think would have helped me at the moment. I brought my free hand -which had the knife -around and stabbed him right below the left part of his chest.

Instantly, his hold on my neck loosened, and his eyes grew wide as he gasped and brought his hands to his chest, he moved backward then dropped to the floor. I suddenly realized that I must've stabbed him in the heart. The gun that he had in his other hand had fallen to the ground in front of me. Shaking hard with fear and panic and ragged breath, I tried pulling my other hand from the rope. I tried to pull my legs from the knot tied at my ankles, but the chair tipped over, and I fell with it. My face missed the gun which laid on the floor in front of me by an inch, and I was near to Bob's choking body. I tried to scramble away even though I was faced down, and the chair restricted much movement.

“Uncle! They're here!” Jake said frantically once he ran back inside but was stunned at what greeted him.

“Jesus Christ! What did you do to him!?” He growled as he dropped to his knees to attend to bleeding and gasping Bob.

“He's going to die! You've killed him! You're going to pay!” Jake growled as he started to get up and pulled his gun. I wasn't going to lie around and waited for him to show me how I was going to pay. I instinctively grabbed Bob discarded gun that was right beside me on the ground and fired the first shot.

I saw Jake