Marco.

A day later

**

My eyes watched the security footage intently and anxiously. It showed Kelly coming down the stairs and going into the steam room. It also showed that she didn't lock the door. Enzo told me that the door was locked and he had to break it down.

There was nothing after that. I sat there watching while taking a sip of the vodka. A part of the footage had been erased.

'What the fuck!' I cursed beneath my breath. Someone had erased the footage. I wasted no time calling the security team inside my den. No one could say how the hell that footage was erased or who did it.

I did not have the time or the patience for this. I needed answers now. I demanded answers from them but they all kept on telling me what I didn't want to hear. I drew my gun and put the silencer on it. A few seconds later, I blew each one of their heads off. Kelly's life and her safety mattered to me more than anything else in my life at this time. I told Adriano that he was now in charge of the security here. He nodded at me in acknowledgment.

I then called Luca and told him to get my den thoroughly cleaned up and the bodies disposed of.

**

Nine hours later.

I stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway. The sound of the piano being played brought back memories of my mother. She used to love playing it. Luca and I had to take piano lessons even though we didn't want to. My mother was a persistent woman who didn't take no for an answer. She was the perfect mother. I would give up everything just to see her smile again.

I was astounded to see that it was Kelly sitting there and playing the piano.

"Kelly, when did you wake up? How are you feeling? Why did you get out of bed?" I questioned.

She stared at me with those mesmerizing brown eyes and I felt my heart race.

"About an hour ago. I'm not sure." She said, touching her forehead.

"Let's get you back to bed," I told her and touched the small of her back as she got up from the chair.

I held her around the waist as we walked toward the bedroom.

"How are you feeling, Bella?" I entered the code and then opened the door to the bedroom.

"I'm feeling fine." She responded as she lay on the bed.

"Do you remember what happened?" I asked her.

She shook her head slowly while looking at me.

"Loren told me that you guys found me lying unconscious in the steam room downstairs."

"Yes, we did. I was worried about you, my queen." I said, stroking her cheek.

"The only thing that I remembered was going into the steam room. I don't remember anything after that." She said to me.

I nodded. "I understand. I want you to stay in bed so that you can get enough rest." I sat on the chair at her bedside and held her hand into mine.

She nodded silently and turned her head away.

"Bella, I didn't know that you play. You never told me." I said to her, referring to the piano.

"There's a lot of things that I haven't told you, Marco. It's the same way you haven't told me a lot of things either." She uttered.

I barely heard what she said.

"What's that suppose to mean, Bella?" I asked as I looked at her.

She averted her eyes as she responded to me. "You never told me that your father killed your mother."

I sigh in frustration. "Who told you that?"

"Does it matter?" She said in a mere whisper.

"Yes, Bella, it does. Who told you?" I demanded tenderly.

"Loren told me. She said that Luca told her." She replied, softly.

"Bella, I suspected that he might have been the one who ordered the hit on her but we have no proof that it was him," I stated, honestly. "We're still trying to find that out."

I ran my hand down my face and looked at her.

"Okay." She mumbled.

I held her fingers to my lips and planted a gentle kiss on them. "Kelly, have you ever noticed anything suspicious while you've been here?" I asked.

"No," She replied while shaking her head. "Why do you ask me that?"

"It seemed as if someone locked you into the steam room downstairs. I watched the security footage and saw where you went into the room but you never locked the door. I don't know what happened after that because someone erased it." I told her.

She stared at me with wide eyes and a terrified expression on her face.

"Who erased it?" She shrieked.

"I don't know as yet, Bella, but I am going to find out," I assured her.

"Are you saying that someone locked me inside there?" She asked in a trembling voice.

I sigh heavily. "Yes, Kelly, but I am going to find out who it is and then I'm going to blow their fucking head off," I promised her.

She shuddered as she stared at me. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight protective embrace.

"Bambino, no one is going to touch you. I will not let anyone hurt you. Even if it means taking a bullet for you to save you, that's what I'll do." I whispered to her reassuringly.

She nodded as I planted a kiss on the top of her head.

**

"Who the fuck do you work for?" I demanded from one of the fuckers who had burned my warehouse down.

This morning some of our shipments were stopped and stolen.

Luca and Lorenzo were trying to find out who the fuck was messing with our money. Over the past two days, things couldn't get any worse.

Lorenzo and Luca had tortured the other two to death because they had refused to give us any information about who they were working for.

He sat there staring at me without saying a word.

"Speak!" I demanded. My voice was louder than usual.

He remained quiet. My patience was getting thin and I wasn't in the mood today.

I flicked open my knife and shoved it into his upper arm.

He screamed as he watched his arm bleeding profusely.

I shoved the knife deeper into his flesh and growled at him. "Who the fuck are you working for?"

"Myself!" He yelled convincingly.

"That's not the answer that I want to hear!" I shouted at him.

"I work for myself." He said through clenched teeth.

"You don't want to tell me, no problem," I said while eyeing him suspiciously.

I took up the electrocution device to electrocute this fucker. I've wasted enough time on him.

Just as my finger was about to touch the button, I heard him yell, "I'll tell you who it is!"

I stopped and looked at him stoically.

"It's Edward Armstrong!" He said and I was a bit astonished.

That was the English name that my father used to disguise his Italian origin for what reason I don't know. That was the fake name that he had been using since we moved here over ten years ago. His birth name was Leonardo Alessandro Russo.

So, he was the one who was trying to tear down the empire that his own father and grandfather had built just because he was never crowned the king. Why am I not surprised? That fucker was starting what he couldn't finish. I am going to find him wherever he was and stare into his eyes as I blow his head off!

**