ANGELICA

She could hear footsteps becoming louder and louder down the gravel of the drive way to her house. Quickly pulling out of her bathroom, she threw on some clothing and he favourite socks, rushing towards the front door of her parents home. 

Turning the door knob to the door, she flung the door wide open, looking out for the culprit of the noise. A smile painted onto her face from ear to ear. 

"Dad!", she giggled with her arms out. 

A man inched through the threshold of the front door, placing his bag on the ground as he did so. She ran into his arms, and pressed her face against his chest. 

"Hi sweetheart".

"How was your flight here? Mum missed you a lot this time".

"I know", he muttered. Signing up to his lips as she looked up lovingly at her father, he motioned her to stay quiet. Walking slowly passed the entrance, Angelica watched as her father snuck up behind her mother, slowly grabbing had hips and hugging her from behind. She heard as her mother gasped in shock. They embraced one another like young lovers who vowed to always be together. 

That's always how it had been in Angelica's home. Full of love. 

Not soon after, her bothers had exited a room to come and greet their father. Angelica isolated her whole family. She wished to have a family and a love just like her mother had. Angelica gazed out at her fathers garden. Hopefully what she wished for would come true. 

The reality wasn't what she had once wished it could be. She could barely stand. The pain racking through her body sent jolts down her like lightning to the ground. Her knees pressed against the carpet, but it didn't feel soft. Her knees felt like they were pressed against hard concrete. Her hair felt like it was being ripped out of her skull as her captor tightened her locks around his fist, gripping every few seconds, like a snake, constricting itself more and more to incapacitate its prey. 

Prey. 

That's all she was in this game of revenge and demise. She was being used a pawn to alter her husbands emotions. To be used as some sort of emotional leverage. This was what everything had resulted to. The pain and the anguish of being stolen away from her home, forcefully married, thrust into a world she wanted nothing to do with. Now being used like a chess piece in a game she never once belonged in. 

Her captor tightened her hair around his fist again, earning a gasp from her beaten and bruised face. Yanking her hair back, he face was exposed to every person in the room. 

Before she had time to blink, a harsh slap was delivered to the left side of her once glowing face. He her was let go of and wrapped around another fist, but this time, it was more harsh and dominating. She felt a cold aura engulf her body like she was being dragged into the icy depths of the ocean. She wanted to open her eyes, but her fear would not let her. She relied on what she could hear, and at that moment, she could only hear the soft wind blowing through the windows, and footsteps walking around her kneeling figure. 

"Don't you touch her Marcus!", Angelica heard Daniel yell. 

The footsteps marched away from her instantly and Angelica's hair was set free. Only ten second after did she hear the sound of a harsh punch and a manly grunt. 

"You should learn how to shut your mouth. You bloody would, if you knew what was good for you and the whore", a rancid voice erupted. 

She knew he was talking about her. Silence ensued, and after only a few moments, as brash and merciless laugh echoed through the room. 

"My brother should have killed you when he killed your good for nothing family", the voice erupted once again. 

"For years, we sat as the highest family in the ranks. For years we had run the underworld that you call yours", the voice spat, "and your filthy parents came into the act along with your good for nothing grandparents taking it all away, and how? By throwing around morals. All the others wanted was money, and less violence". 

"Pathetic. They stooped low enough to change the trade for more money. Ridiculous really. Fear means more money. Fear means power. Violence means power. And with power comes fortune. Petty bastards. Too childlike to fulfil what the mafia has been doing for years. Too scared to use power for whatever it was they wanted. They bowed down to you and your bloody grandfather. You think your grandfather was like that before?". 

Without warning, Angelica was bought to her feet roughly, and her eyes opened slightly out of shock. She managed to glance at the room. Greg' partially lifeless body was shoved ungraciously to the side, with blood, but she noticed he was breathing slightly. She was slightly relieved in her current situation. She managed to get a glimpse of Gabriel and Daniel, quickly realising they were restrained by many men, tensed up and trying to break free. Twisting her head slightly, her eyes met the same one's from before.

Marcus. 

She had no idea how to react, and instead took a deep breath, not before a large fist came into contact with her stomach rather harshly. Angelica clenched her eyes shut and tried to to gasp out and moan from the pain. 

"Don't you touch her!", Gabriel growled out lowly. 

"I think I will do what I want, boy", Marcus growled lowly. His fingers came up to Angelica's face and stroked her stray hairs out of the way. She could feel his breath on her face as she tried to release herself from her assailants harsh grip. 

"Let me-",

"BE QUIET!".

Angelica felt sick to her stomach. Marcus' fingers trailed over her cheeks and down her neck, and all she felt was an unsettling pick of danger in her still aching stomach. 

"You know who you married, little girl?". Angelica's gaze rolled over to her husband and his brother.

"A killer", Marcus mused, "a man who has no emotion for anyone, apart from that stupid little Caleb". Daniel tensed up harshly hearing the name of his younger brother"

"See, being the uneducated and stupid man I have been in the past, I assumed torturing that bastard orphan would hit both Gabriel and Daniel where it hurts. Alas, you see? They had pain but not for long. I cannot seem to think what made you marry that vile creature. Killing Caleb was supposed to be the best thing I had ever done. But no. Things change".

Angelica's eyes were glued onto Gabriel and Daniel, her eyes masking the pain that still ate throughout each muscle of her body. 

"Killing you, will be the best thing I ever do. Or should I keep you for myself?", he mustered condescendingly. 

"You are a young woman with a beautiful body. You'll be a great snack for my dogs once I am done with you", Marcus nodded towards his men. 

"The greatest thing about dogs, is that they don't mind the scraps", Marcus smiled menacingly. 

"Why?", Angelica croaked out.

"Why? Oh I am glad you asked! Revenge seemed to be it. A life for a life and that has already taken place. All I wish for now is power. Power over each gang there is here. Power over people. Power over drug trade. Taking your husbands throne is all I wish for now. My brother? Yes he should have killed those petty boys on their knees, but he wasn't man enough. I always told my father he would not amount to anything. You see he killed your husbands family, out of love". 

Ears perked up the room as everyone intently listened in.

"Stupid stupid brother. You know he wasn't even my full brother? My father bedded some cheap slut and alas, he came along. Petty bitch died giving birth to him", Marcus sighed happily as he went to sit down in the arm chair again.

"He fell in love. Something we all know is a pointless emotion to harbour when you live a life like this one. He wanted to love and price himself to the family. So I did what any man would do to show his precious brother what living in this world was like. We kidnapped his love. His test? To kill your husbands family, along with Daniel's. And surprisingly he fulfilled the damn deed, Not to the best of anyone's ability. There are still two people here" Marcus motioned his hand towards Gabriel and Marcus.

Gabriel and Daniel were both shaking. Angelica was shocked at the information, but said nothing.

"Ridiculous really. My brother thought once he was done, he would have been free to live his life with power and with his lover. All he wanted was my approval. Unluckily for him, his lover died in accident", Marcus grinned darkly. 

"He decided to live his life in solitude, until Gabriel's grandfather came along and killed him". 

"I thought loyalty was the biggest belief for you?", Angelica managed to croak out once more, hurting her throat in the process. She tried not to move, as her shoulder and side would bleed more if she did. 

"Loyalty means nothing when all you want is power".

Hello to all my lovely followers and readers,

I hope you are all well! I have been away for university and am pleased to say I am done in a week! This means the last chapters will be updated quickly and on time. My apologies once again!

I have some great news about this book! Can anyone guess what it is?

Yours truly,

M.

P. S. Three million views! Thank you to everyone who has been reading and voting!