by Serena Light
"I promise you there will come a time when I will visit you during the properly allocated hours," She smiled at him softly and rubbed her thumb over his cheekbone, getting up from the bed and kissing his forehead before grabbing her bag to leave.
"I'll look forward to that day," He called after her when she slid open the door, looking over her shoulder to give him the smile he had fallen in love with, his heart thundering in his chest at the sight.
It wasn't until a few hours later that his mother and brother arrived when he was having breakfast, the three of them talking about mundane matters and laughing, greeting Tatiana when she arrived later that day.
Alessio watched how Tatiana interacted with her brother, both of them talking politely and chuckling every once in a while, his mother seated beside him.
"I like her," His mother told him in French, Alessio looking towards her at the words.
"Tatiana?" He questioned since she was looking neither at the girl nor at him.
"No. Her," Myriam started, cocking her head in the direction of the flowers.
The flower bouquet which Serafina had gotten him.
"I like Serafina,"
Chapter XXXII: Hubris
Serafina paced the length of the hallway outside her brother's bedroom, gnawing at her lips as her legs were beginning to ache with her excessive walk. She had no idea how long she had been pacing the floor, but she knew it had been a good hour, maybe even more.
Maybe he's asleep. She thought hopefully, cautiously standing with her eat pressed to the door, straining to hear any movement. Maybe he has a whore inside.
A frightened shriek escaped her as the door suddenly swung open, Serafina stumbling since her entire weight had been against the structure.
Regaining her footing, she looked up to see her brother standing in nothing but pajama bottoms, his hair an unruly mess and his blue looking at her with amusement as he raised an eyebrow, no hint of a smile across his lips.
"Rude," Is all he said before leaving her to stand in the doorway as he disappeared behind the corner
Serafina did not want to be here, she did not need any more explanation than the obvious one as to why he killed her husband.
But she had promised.
And a Regnante always stays true to their word.
Swallowing her pride, Serafina straightened her back before closing the door behind her, walking down the small hallway before entering his massive bedroom. A dark canopy bed before her with a window to the bed's left. To her left, there was a door which diverted into two paths, the right leading to the walk-in closets, and the left heading to the master bath. Stepping further into the room, Serafina saw an ottoman bench in front of the bed, with two cream single-seaters facing one another and a glass coffee table between them. Opposite the bed, there was a raised platform with an archway leading into his miniature lounge with a leather three seater and matching high backed chairs, a French window covered by grey and gold curtains leading out to the balcony.
As she had said before, his bedroom was massive.
The sound of flipping pages had Serafina look up towards her brother, watching him reading as if though she weren't even there. The navy blue duvet pulled up to his waist with his black Wolf-hybrid puppy lying with his head on Salvatore's legs, his ears pricked up in attention.
"Why'd you do it?" She swallowed the pride, a bitter taste infiltrating her mouth.
"Be a bit more specific," He drawled, not tearing his eyes from the page.
"Why'd you have Paolo shot," Serafina spat out, anger consuming her once more, her teeth gritted at how nonchalant he was. "That too on my wedding day?"
"So who finally convinced you?"
"Answer my question first,"
"What guarantee do I have that you'll believe me?" Salvatore asked, putting his book away as he scratched the puppy behind the ear.
"None," Serafina stated bluntly, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Oh, the truth will burn, Serafina,"
"Then tell me,"
"Are you willing to suffer the pain that comes with honesty?"
"Tell me!" She demanded, losing her patience to deal with her brother's tricks.
Salvatore looked at her from his bed, his blue eyes as cold as her own as she knew he hated when people ordered him. He hated it as a child, and hated it even more now, the power and authority of a Mafia boss having gotten to his head.
"Paolo wanted to kill you,"
Serafina stared at him disbelief, shaking her head and scoffing.
"The truth Salvatore,"
"He wanted to kill you,"
"I said the truth!" She screamed at him, the dog yapping at the loudness and hostility of her voice.
"That is the truth," Her brother shrugged, Serafina staring at him with a red face and gritted teeth. "He believed that we were the cause of his father's death, that dad had Ricardo shot down, and since then he's hated us. He just put up this façade of a loving and caring boyfriend so that he could worm his way into our ranks. He'd marry you, take you away to your honeymoon, and then make it look like you had a natural death, poisoning or something, either way, you would die on your honeymoon. He would act to grieve and cry over you, and given that he would have been married to you, he would have just as much right over my Mafia as me. Then slowly, he'd kill us all one by one, saving dad for last just because he wants to torture him. And then, with the entire Regnante family out of the way, there would be no heir left besides him."
"But it all would have started after he'd been married to you,"
By the end of his word, Serafina was seeing red, her hand trembling in the warmth of the room, her chest heaving with her heavy breaths as the only sound in her ear was that of her blood rushing through her veins.
"Liar!" She shrieked, hurtling towards her brother and sending them both toppling onto the floor, his arms flailing and getting caught in the wire of the lamp, forcing it down and shattering into a thousand little pieces.
"Liar!" Serafina screamed at him. Grabbing his head and hitting it against the wooden flooring, her brother getting disoriented with the contact his head made against the floor. "Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar!" She slammed his head against the wooden flooring as her brother struggled feebly beneath her, the blow to his head had left him numb.
"He loved me! He loved me!" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she continued to slam his head down, blood coating her fingers, releasing all the anger in her system. "He loved me!"
"Serafina!" Someone's voice yelled as she refused to acknowledge it, her fingers covered in blood as he lay limply beneath her.
"You liar! He loved me!" She shrieked when two arms pulled her back.
Struggling against them, she yelled profanities at the unconscious body of her twin as her parents rushed to him.
"Sta 'zitto!" Her father yelled at her, instantly silencing her as she heaved through gritted teeth.
Returning his gaze back to their son, he watched as Rosalie looked helplessly at her son, blood pooling around his head along with the broken lamp having cut the skin at the back of his head. His face ashen and his entire body limo. Swallowing thickly, Rosalie felt his pulse, silently counting under her breath before letting out a ragged breath.
"Call Elia," Rosalie cupped her son's face into her hands, gently turning his head to the side. "Tell him Salvatore has a concussion and might be in need of stitches,"
"Marco, Arsenio," Arcangelo called out to her brothers, both of them standing in the doorway, staring at the scene in shock. "Help me get him up,"
The two men continued to stand in the doorway, gaping.
"Now!"
Jumping out of their stupor, they rushed to their father, helping him lift the unconscious body of their brother onto the bed, droplets of blood falling onto the floor as Rosalie hovered over them, telling them to be gentle.
Serafina watched her brother's personal physician, Elia, rush inside, gasping at the sight before rushing towards Salvatore. He did a few check-ups before l
ooking over his condition, the two men still restraining her.
"He doesn't need stitches," Elia assured as Rosalie heaved a breath of relief, watching the doctor wrap his head with a gauge. "The cuts are nothing too serious and will heal on their own, but he does have multiple concussions, and I would suggest laying him on his side in case he begins to throw up and someone should be with him until he's conscious then I can further assess his state. But for now, this is all I can do,"
Serafina watched Marco and Arsenio gently turn him to his side and thanked the doctor as he nodded. Once the doctor left, her father turned to her, fear causing the hair on her nape to stand as he marched towards her.
Roughly grabbing her arm, he pulled her away from the guards before leading her out the room. Serafina struggling to keep pace with her father's hasty footsteps before he shoved her into her room as she stumbled, the door slamming behind her.
"What the fuck have you done?" Her father demanded in a collected tone as Serafina swallowed, sitting at the edge of her bed and looking away from him. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Serafina!"
Instantly her gaze snapped to her livid father, his blue eyes wide and his face turning red.
"Why did you do that?" He asked once again, watching her cross her arms over her chest.
"Because he's a liar,"
"Oh! And that means you give your own twin a fucking concussion?"
"He deserved it!"
"Why? What did he do to deserve that, huh?"
"He lied!"
"About what!?"
"He lied about why he shot Paolo! He's a fucking liar who won't accept that he just wanted Paolo's Mafia for himself and that's why he killed him! He lied to my face!"
Serafina watched her father shake his head.
"You're so blinded by your anger and pride that you refuse to see the truth," He spoke lowly, disappointed. "Your brother didn't lie, he's telling the truth,"
"Bullshit!" Serafina jumped from her seat, stepping away from her father with anger boiling up again.
"Do you know how I know he's telling the truth?" Her father asked her, not waiting for a response. "Because I'm the one who told Salvatore what Paolo planned to do."
Serafina's throat ran dry and the color drained from her face as she stared at her father in shock.
"Y-you?" She asked with a small whimper.
"I heard him talking on the phone, running over the entire details of the plan, from having made you believe he loved you for 7 years, marrying you and then poisoning you and making it look like a natural death before slowly killing us all one by one just so that he could avenge his father and take over our mafia and I heard it, and I told your brother and he took care of it," Arcangelo told her calmly. "I didn't want my daughter dead long before me, so I told Salvatore. He didn't want to, but he had no choice, he had Paolo shot at the altar, and it caused you trauma and he blames himself for what he put you through, but you wouldn't know, would you? You just gave your twin brother multiple concussions, even when he was unconscious."
"If you don't believe Salvatore, then believe your own father." He told her gently, Serafina shaking her head at his words and stepping away from him. "Fine, you don't want to believe us, and then you can live a delusional lie for all I care,"
Her father walked out of the room, the door banging shut and having her windows rattle as Serafina collapsed to her knees, clutching onto her hair as she shook her head, not wanting to believe it.
Not wanting to believe that Paolo was exactly like Ricardo.
Chapter XXXIII: Cost a life
Serafina refused to talk to her family. Her parent would come to check in on her and she'd ignore them, she refused to look at Marco, and always walked away when Arsenio tried to approach. Salvatore was on bed rest, and apparently, she had hit his head harder than anticipated because he was often throwing up and looked horrifyingly dazed – granted, she had just heard all that and not actually seen him.
It took her a couple of days to come to terms with everything she was told, a part of her didn't want to believe it, but the unbiased part of her knew it was true.
And for that exact reason, she hesitantly stood in front of her brother's bedroom door, two guards standing on either side as they looked at her with an impassive mask, clearly knowing what she had done.
"Could you let Salvatore know that I want to talk to him?" She asked one of them as he nodded and knocked on the door, once he was given permission to enter, he left her to stand outside with the other one who looked at a spot over her head.
A minute passed until he returned, opening the door wide before gesturing her in.
Swallowing thickly, Serafina crossed the threshold, the door closing with a distinctive click as she stepped inside.
Today, her brother's curtains were drawn up, showing off the bedazzling spectacle of snow-peaked mountains and fields. Beside him sat a woman with hair as white as the snow outside, and pale blue eyes, smile lines at the edges of her eyes as she looked at Serafina with a smile, confusing her. Turning to look at her brother, she had to swallow the bile rising in her throat to see what she had done to him.
A bandage was wrapped around his crown, sweat beading his forehead with his cheeks sunken and his vibrant blue eyes contrasting against his ashen grey complexion.
"Myriam, c'est ma sœur, Serafina (Myriam, this is my sister, Serafina)," Salvatore spoke in French gesturing to his twin and squinted with every word. "Serafina, questa è Myriam Romano, la madre di Alessio e Niccolò, (Serafina, this is Myriam Romano, Alessio and Niccolo's mother)," He informed her in Italian.
Serafina held her breath at the introduction.
This elegant woman before her was the mother of the man she had landed in the hospital. Her stomach churned in unease when Myriam stood from the seat beside Salvatore, walking towards her as her stomach twisted itself into knots, her face paling and winced back when she stood before her.
"Bonjour," She smiled, sticking out her hand for Serafina as she looked at her in surprise, having expected a slap.
"Ciao," Serafina blurted impulsively and grabbed her hand, wanting to slap herself knowing that the woman before her was French and she was speaking in Italian.
"Pleasure meeting you," Myriam chuckled in a thick French accent as Serafina was still shaking her hand.
"Pleasures all mine,"
"Serafina, let go," Salvatore spoke from the bed, watching as Myriam looked down at their hands which his sister was still shaking.
"Right!" She retreated back, standing uncomfortably in front of Alessio's mother, realizing how bad of a first impression she was making.
"You know, the last time I saw you, you were hardly 4-years-old," She informed, settling back in the chair.
"Really?" Serafina had to gasp, not having known that they've met before.
"Oh, yes," Myriam nodded, taking the glass of orange juice with a smile when her brother offered it to her. "Arcangelo and Rosalie had brought you two over to France with them. Alessio was 10 by then and Niccolo had been 13." She chuckled at the memory.
"Alessio was so scared of going close to you two because you were such loud and rambunctious children," She laughed. "Kept running around, pointing and asking what-what was. Alessio kept hiding behind my leg the entire time, but Niccolo eventually got fed up and gave you two crayons and paper. You two spent hours drawing in silence."
Salvatore chuckled as Serafina stared at her in fascination, never having realized that they'd met before or the fact that she had seen Alessio as a 10-year-old.
"Speaking of Arcangelo and Rosalie, would be possible for me to meet them?" Myriam turned her gaze towards Salvatore, her pale blue eyes sparkling with mirth at the thought of meeting her old friends.
"Of course," Salvatore squirmed on the bed. "You can ask one of the guards to escort you to them. I would have done it myself, but I'm strictly on bed rest," He grimaced.
"You and Alessio are both men of combat and staying in bed is just torture, isn't it," Myria
m laughed at him, standing from her place and gathering her coat and bag.
"Oh, you have no idea," Her twin shook his head as Mrs. Romano ruffled his hair in good nature, giving Serafina a carefree smile before leaving the two.
The door closed behind Myriam as silence descended over the twin, Serafina watching her brother grab a couple of pills from his side table before downing them with a glass of water.
"You plan on standing all day?" He asked her calmly, putting down the glass and leaning back.
Inhaling deeply, Serafina took the seat Myriam had just vacated, instantly realizing that she liked it better standing because she just kept squirming in the chair, feeling unbearably uncomfortable as she could feel her brother's piercing gaze on her. Finally, she gave up with a sigh, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest, looking at the edge of the duvet which was falling off the bed, jumping in surprise when a growl resonated by her feet.
Sitting straight, she looked down, seeing Salvatore's wolf-hybrid puppy glaring and growling at her from under the bed.
"Hades, heel," Salvatore commanded, the dog slinking back into the shadow. "He hates you."
Serafina had to wince; no doubt the dog hated her for what she had done to his master. Just like her brother hated her or her sister in law hated her, maybe even her parents hated her – and if they didn't hate her, then they were utterly disappointed in her.
"So what do you want?" Salvatore finally demanded. "Here to slit my throat, today?"
"No," She swallowed thickly. "Just to talk,"
"Talk?" Her brother guffawed in disbelief. "You don't talk Serafina, the moment you don't like what you hear, you do this to them," He growled in disdain, gesturing to his bandaged head.
"I was angry,"
"Ah, yes, the short-tempered curse of being a Regnante," He mocked. "Yet, I don't think I've ever beaten my siblings bloody because I was angry; nor have I ever heard Marco or Arsenio do that,"