Chapter 115

Luca’s POV

My knuckles were already bloody from the punches I had thrown. My anger at the asshole before me continues to get stronger. “I’ve already killed a plethora of your men. Do you not understand that? Your daughter was the lead guide for the missiles. How does that make you feel?”, I taunted, trying to rile him up and make him break, one way or another. It seemed to have worked, too. His facial features hardened with betrayal.

“Awe, why the long face? Did you really think that your daughter wanted anything to do with the man who had her kidnapped as a child?”, I asked. I was not certain of this, however, he has spoken a lot about how he has orchestrated many of the horrible events of her life. In spite of that comment, his face morphed into confusion, throwing me for a loop as well.

“What are you talking about?”, he growled. Hmm, is he trying to trick me right now? “Don’t pretend that you don’t know what I am talking about. Marabella was kidnapped around eight or nine years old. You have obviously brought about the turmoil in her life”, I growled. “I did not know that”, he said, breathlessly.

“Bullshit”, I yelled. Franky’s face changed to anger. “I was not a part of that. But I would love to know who was”, he shouted back. “Are you really fucking telling me that you have no idea that she was kidnapped?”, I growled. “I didn’t start roughing her up until she was thirteen. I thought I had kept a good eye on her. My men were always detailed to her”, he said, almost sounding pained. As if he is realizing the possibility that one of his men may have betrayed him.

“How ironic this must be. Seems your men aren’t as loyal as you thought”, I smirked. “I’ll make a deal with you. You tell me where your bunker is. And I’ll go retrieve all of your men, so that they may be put on trial to determine who kidnapped Marabella”, I reasoned.

Franky’s response was to growl at my offer. He looked quite torn though, maybe mind games is the way to go here. “If it wasn’t directly one of your men. They had to be involved in some way, otherwise you would have known. But, instead, your eight-year-old little girl was taken, snatched right off the road after she had gone to go get herself some ramen noodles with the money she had scraped together that week”, I said, crossing my arms over my chest, and leaning against the cell wall.

I could see Franky trying to control his temper. For the piece of shit that he is, it does kind of seem like he has some kind of soft spot for her. Like, it truly bothers him that he was unaware of her abduction, or even really her struggles, based on his bodily responses to the story.

“Were you aware?”, I asked him, tilting my head to the side. “Of what?”, he snapped. “Her being starved as a little girl. The hard ships she actually went through as a little girl?”, I asked, trying to keep my temper calm. This seems to be the most effective strategy yet. “What are you talking about? I got her mother hooked on drugs because of how good her life was”, he answered, his voice wavering oh so slightly.

“That Calsut fellow was taking very good care of her. That’s why I had to end their relationship”, he said. “And how did you do that?” I questioned. “By getting her hooked on drugs when Marabella was thirteen”, he said, with absolute certainty. “Did you ever actually lay eyes on your daughter for all these years?”, I asked, with tension in my shoulders.

Franky turned his head in shame. No, that little mother fucker didn’t. “I’ll take that as a no”, I said, through clenched teeth. “I didn’t lay eyes on her for the first time until she was fourteen. She had won first place in the science fair, and her picture was in the newspaper”, he answered.

“Then your men have been lying to you all along” I said, pulling up a chair to sit down. “What do you mean?”, he asked, his voice tender for the first time since I met him. “Ray left when Mara was five. Sherry cheated on him, and he demanded a DNA test on Marabella, because he had an inkling that she wasn’t his”, I explained. “What?”, he freaked out.

“Marabella’s details of the night told me that she wasn’t lying. He kicked them out in the middle of a storm and Sherry immediately took them to another man’s house”, I told him. I could see the anger rising in his eyes. The betrayal of his men is becoming too much for him to handle. They never cared to actually report what was happening to Marabella. “You are lying to me”, he snapped. “No, Franky, I am not”, I said, solemnly.

“My men wouldn’t betray me like this”, he whispered to himself. “They obviously already have. And you are protecting them. You are protecting the men who lied to you about the conditions in which your daughter actually lived. Though, I guess it is just as much your fault as theirs. You believed what they had been telling you rather than go check on her yourself”, I growled.

“It doesn’t matter. She still turned into a cold-blooded killer, as I intended”, he began laughing manically. Wow, he has really lost it. Now the question is, is this from the betrayal of his men, or was he just born this way? “Except she hates you for putting her through hell, she blames you for things that apparently weren’t your fault. Is that something you truly want to live with?”, I asked, trying to bring him back to where we were a few moments ago.

“I don’t think it matters at this point. No matter what I say to her, she will still hate me for everything I have done”, he growled in response. “Maybe, but she listens to me. She will believe me. Why? Because she knows I won’t lie to her, or purposely hurt her”, I said, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

“Why would you do that? Try to reach her for me? I killed your father”, he asked, astonished. I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe because you are my father-in-law, or maybe it’s just because I want my baby girl to get the closure she so desperately needs”, I answered. Franky looked to be on the fence. Does he actually, in some twisted way, care for Marabella?

“If you can get her to speak with me. I will tell her where to find her people”, he murmured. Her people? That’s pretty funny, that he thinks she won’t kill all of them. Oh well, best he doesn’t know that right now, anyway. I can work with this. Explain to Marabella every thing I have learned here today, help her cope with it, before bringing her before him.

I know that once she has processed this, she will want to speak to him. She will be ready. This is what she needed. “Deal. I can make that happen”, I nodded. “Oh, and Luca”, he called, stopping me from walking away. I turned and faced him expectantly, “I don’t accept you as my son-in-law”, he gritted out with malice.

I nodded with a smirk, “I don’t really give a damn, it sucks to be you”, I chuckled, turning and walking out of the cell. Sergio was just on the other side, out of sight. His eyes were wide with confusion. “Do you really believe him?”, he asked me. I shrugged my shoulders, “Oddly enough, I do”, I answered him. “Come on. I need to talk to my wife”, I said, patting him on the shoulder.