REYNA

He was sick. The look on his face was purely psychotic. I couldn't imagine how he so easily hid the monster that smirked behind his every boyish grin.

"I thought you died," I muttered in disbelief.

He laughed. "It was all apart of the plan, Reyna. It was me who told Tino that Saint had Red. He had no other choice but to believe me, and just like I suspected, his dumbass immediately assumed I was Red. Through my jealousy, came the brilliant idea that as the caporegime of Saint's business, I was third in line to take control of everything. If I set Adriano up, Saint would kill him. Leaving me to be next in line. I would then easily bring down Saint and take over everything."

"No longer would I be some black market trafficker, but I would be the don to the strongest mafia in the world. So, I gave Adriano a little sedative that knocked him clean out. It didn't take long for Dante to show up with a few of his men and 'take me against my wheel.' Shortly after, I hired someone to find a man that looked similar to me and I had him killed. After taking a picture of the dead body, I sent a message to Adriano using an encrypted server, pretending to be someone else, knowing that he would show Saint. This will only incriminate him more. I wouldn't be surprised if Saint wasn't killing his own man by now. Shortly, he will come looking for you, and when he does, I will kill him leaving no one other than me left." He smirked.

I shook my head in disbelief.

"Together, we can take over Saint's empire and make it our own," he said dreamily as if he was talking about his wedding plans.

I focused on the dark look in his eyes. It was like two gigantic holes, waiting for someone to fall into. There was an echo that existed with them, repeating the words of the most insane minds.

"What if I say no?" I asked hesitantly.

"Then, I'll be forced to put you back into that room where you can live out the rest of your life as my own little whore." Viktor chuckled. "Either way... I win."

He was mad.

I had to get out of here. I couldn't wait for a Saint that would never come. He told me —he warned me that I would be on my own. If I wanted to get out alive, I had to come up with a plan... fast.

"I'll agree on one condition," I began.

He quirked up a brow, an evilly smile taking over his appearance. "And what shall that be?"

"You let me see my mother," I stated. He leaned forward in his seat before getting up. I tried to fight the rise of my breathing as he stalked towards me. I could smell the stench of his victims and the scent made my skin crawl.

"I'll give you only ten minutes," he declared, reaching out to touch my neck with the pad of his finger. My head whipped to the side as I sucked in a deep breath of air.

"Thirty," I insisted.

"Fine," he said. His hand began moving. I shut my eyes to try and block out my discomfort but opened them when I could hear the keys unlocking the door.

Getting out of his way, I removed myself from his hold.

It didn't take long for him to open the door. He immediately grabbed me by my arm and began to drag me back down the hallway. I was led to a stairway where he walked me up the flight of stairs until we were at another identical hall. Again, we were passing up doors. I could feel my heart physically breaking as I passed each room. From what I could see so far, there was probably no more than fifty girls in the household, each locked up in complete darkness. Each of them holding on to the belief of freedo. Each of them being used for profit. What was the most crushing was that my mother was one of the lives that were locked away in a room, and she had probably been there for years.

With his iron grip still on my arm, he stopped at a dingy door that looked all beat up. I watched him pull a key out from his pocket and begin to unlock it.

Once he finished, he pushed it open and threw me in. Not soon after, he was locking the door again.

"Hello?" I heard.

The voice brought goosebumps to my skin as I shut my eyes and focused on the sound I hadn't heard in so long. It was the most beautiful song that I didn't even know I missed until the moment it began to play. It was the sound of my mother's voice that I would try so hard to never forget as I shut my eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of a world where she and I were together.

"Mom?" I cried.

She gasped. "R-Reyna?"

I didn't know where I was going because it was so dark, but all I knew was that I needed to go to her. I followed the sound of her voice and immediately fell into her arms where she held me so tightly. My heart was thumping in shock and my mind was having trouble keeping up with reality. It had been so long since I had last seen her, that I almost convinced myself she wasn't real. Now, I was in her arms again just like I had been when I was nothing but a baby. She was the foundation that had been missing. I was finally home again.

Her body rocked with each sob. I could feel her tears on the side of my face as she kept hold of me and never bothered to let go.

"Reyna," she whispered, crying. "My baby girl."

I had only imagined this moment about a million times. I always thought I knew exactly what I would say. There would be moments where I'd practice what I wanted my mom to hear in the mirror. Despite all that, now as I relaxed in her embrace, I couldn't think of a single word.

Just when peace began to flow through me, my mother stilled. She pulled away from me and I could see the white's of her eyes aimed directly at me.

"Why are you here? How did you get here? Please tell me Viktor didn't take you, too," she said.

Reality settled in at her words. I forgot where we were and bad man waiting for me outside the door. This was a dream I had only wished for after many years, but it was coated in a nightmare.

"I'm going to get us out of here," I whispered.

My eyes began to adjust to the dark, and thankfully there was a bit of light that escaped from under the door so I was able to see the features of my mother. She looked the same as before only a bit older. A bit of maturity hung on the ends of her eyes and the sides of her mouth. However, she was still every much as beautiful as she was before.

"How did you get here, Reyna?" my mom demanded quietly.

"It's a long story." I sighed. She started at me in waiting, so I got my thoughts in order and began, "since your disappearance, Uncle was made to be my legal guardian. He never gave up trying to find you and he made sure I knew how to find you, too. He searched for you through—"

"Hacking. Him and those damn computers," she chuckled longingly. "How is he?"

I frowned. "He passed away a few years ago."

"Oh," she mumbled sadly. I could hear her take a deep breath as she nodded her head. "I'm sorry... go on."

"I looked for you and could never find you. As I searched for you, I stumbled across some very bad men. One of which is named Santino Venturi," I muttered, glancing over at her to see if she's maybe heard of him. Her face was void of any reaction to the name, so I continued, "he isn't a good man, but he needed my help. So, he offered me a job to help him find Viktor and in exchange, he would help me find you. We didn't know that we would end up looking for the same person—or should I say... persons."

"Turns out, Viktor Jr had been watching me from the time you were taken. He was smitten by me, and he told me all of this through a video he put on my computer. He even told me about how he had you captive. I didn't know it at first, but Viktor worked for Santino under the name of Giovanni as a hacker as well. It wasn't until I was kidnapped that I realized the truth about him," I explained.

"I'm sorry. I never wanted to make you have to go through all for this for me." She sobbed. "You should've stopped trying, Reyna. I don't think I would be able to live with myself knowing something happened to you because of me."

"I always knew you were alive, mom. Something in my gut told me you were alive. I could never just live my life with that feeling. It wouldn't feel right. I wouldn't feel whole. To me, I've been dead this entire time. I'm finally alive, mom." I wept.

She pulled me back into her arms and began to cry again. I wasn't sure if she truly ever stopped.

"I have to tell you everything. Maybe I can help it all make sense," she said, never letting me go.

"I was young when I first met Viktor. I never had parents growing up so I was out all night because my foster parents didn't care what the hell I did. One night, I was out at the bar at the age of sixteen when he first came up to me and bought me a drink. Like a stupid child, I flirted, of course. He wasn't a bad-looking man, and I liked that he had an accent that—at the time—I believed to be quite nice. He took me to his house and after a night together, his wife showed up and kicked me out. As I walked through the house, I remember catching the eyes of these two little kids—one boy and one girl. They stared at me all the way until I walked out of the room."

"I heard that they split up after that. No one knew it was me who broke them apart, but rumors spread around town that there was a home-wrecker amongst us. Viktor kept trying to reach out to me, but I kept ignoring him. For months, I didn't see him. With that time, I met a new man, Francesco Rubino, and instantly I fell in love with him. He was tall, handsome, the most charming man I had ever met. His smile still makes me melt just thinking about it. I thought he was my happily ever after only to learn that he worked for Viktor, who began to rise up in the crime world. Viktor was so consumed with anger, and hatred, and jealousy that he forced Francesco to leave me or he would kill me. So, Francesco left me. Keep in mind, I was sixteen... young... pregnant..."

I gasped. "Pregnant?"

"I didn't want a baby—at least, not on my own. However, I carried my child for nine months and gave birth to a handsome little boy. I wanted to keep him, but Viktor found out. Viktor took him from me and I never got to see him ever again. I never got to see Francesco or my baby ever again. I'm sorry I kept it from you... you were just so young." She sobbed.

"I have always hated Viktor. Every time I got just a little happy, he would come and ruin it. It wasn't my fault that his wife left him. I didn't even know he had a wife." She cried.

I held onto her tighter and let her cry, softly combing my hands through her hair as she let out her tears.

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Question: How do you feel about Reyna's mom?