He's 21, I'm 31

4

Diana's POV

Looking down through the window at Ayla in the swimming pool, I was thinking of her life. I wish I could be a good mother to her and not be like my own mother. I had been crying since; my eyes are already swollen.

Then the door burst open and I was yanked by a tall man with broad shoulders.

Alex

I recognized him from earlier this morning; he was with Alessandro Moretti.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed as I was involuntarily dragged out of the room. Tears streamed down my swollen, red eyes as I fought against him.

My free hand desperately tried to break free from the grip of him, but he held on tightly, refusing to let go.

The hotel wasn't crowded tonight, but there were a few vacationers checking in and out.

The employees remained motionless, their faces blank. They glanced around, but none of them had the courage to lift a finger to help me.

Their survival instinct had sealed their lips and silenced their consciences.

"Please! Let go of me," my voice shook, and my body trembled with fear.

"Somebody, please!... Please!!... HELP ME! I have a daughter!" I cried, my eyes darting around at the people who were silently observing and ignoring my desperate pleas for help.

As he dragged me away,My sharp nails bit into his flesh, but it did nothing to slow him down.

He kept walking, dragging me along and disregarding all my attempts to escape.

Once outside the hotel, he slightly slowed down his pace.

I checked around, and thankfully Ayla was not close. My face paled when I noticed three black cars neatly parked and waiting outside the hotel.

Four men dressed in black suits stared in my direction with stoic, rigid faces, devoid of emotion and expression.

For some reason, I knew they are waiting for me, as if I am a piece of lost property to be delivered.

I became more scared, knowing what is coming next.

"NO, no, no, no! I have a daughter... Please! Please! Please! Let me go. Please!" I cried out with huge sobs and gasps erupting from my lips while scratching at his hand. His grip, however, was firm as stone.

"Hey, you!"

A voice said, and I turned to see Leo.

"Leave her alone right now, and get outta here!" he demanded, pointing at me and looking at Alex.

I shot him a grateful glance, yet my face was still twisted with sorrow. I hoped all this was just a misunderstanding, and Leo would help me out of this mess.

But it didn't seem like that at all.

Alex noticed him from the corner of his eye and simply scrunched up his nose in annoyance. He used his free hand, moving it to the back of his waist. His coat flew in the air with a slight movement.

The next thing I saw was a gun in his hand. He didn't think twice before pointing it at Leo without sparing him a single glance.

Alex is the most dangerous and trustworthy liege of his master and needed no specific orders to get rid of anyone who dared to cross his path.

"No!" I whisper-shouted in shock and agony.

My eyes grew wide and my lips parted in surprise as my body shivered. I gulped down the saliva, taking in my first encounter with a gun.

A wisp of smoke escaped Alex's gun, following the loud bang moments before.

Leo lay on the concrete ground. Blood gushed out of his chest, and his soul was on the verge of leaving his body.

I am shocked. My mouth fell open, and my eyes went wide.

No way. Leo is a brother to me; he had been there for me since the day I came to this country, and now he killed him.

Ayla sometimes called him father. Now he killed him. Who will Ayla stay with if I couldn't escape? Whose hands will my daughter fall into?

Whatever had just happened had been enough to freeze every cell in my body.

Alex still hadn't ceased dragging me, even though his pace had slowed down because of the 'small inconvenience.' I glanced back at the blood-soaked Leo. I just couldn't believe an actual human being was shot dead in front of me.

Was that because he tried to help me? I started feeling a pang of guilt, and the dry sobs just racked out of my body even harder.

How can someone be so ruthless? I thought miserably to myself, not having enough courage to speak out to Alex, not with the gun in his hand.

"What a good shot dude!? You gotta teach me that!" laughed one of the four men in a black suit with a wide, unsympathetic grin stretching his lips as he opened the car's door for Alex to push me in.

"Clean the mess! I'm driving to the mansion," Alex said with a straight face and dead-serious tone.

"Uhh, yeah, no problem," one replied, his smile faltering slightly.

Whatever happened next was completely a blur for me. I never knew being pushed into the car, nor did I realize the door of the car closing on me, or the engine roaring. My eyes were still glued to the dead savior.

I felt a pang of something. That something was tearing me apart, eating me from the inside.

My cheeks were wet, and my lips and throat were dry. I was looking no less than death itself.

Just as I turned again to look at Leo, Ayla came running towards him, shaking his body, shouting, "Uncle! Father!" Then she stood up and ran inside shouting, "Mommy, Mommy! Uncle is on the floor with blood!"

I froze. I didn't know what to do. She didn't even know I was captured.

What's awaiting her?

As the car moved, I watched as the hotel started getting smaller. Sitting inside, in the plush seats of the car, I was too shaken up to move or struggle at this point. My whole body and mind were numb, gone too far to feel anything.

I knew it wasn't my fault, not entirely, but the grief kept swelling up my heart, the weight crushing what was left of my self-confidence.

How I wished he hadn't come to help me, and now who would my daughter be with?

The last thing I remembered before my exhausted body shut down on itself was cursing myself for not killing myself the first time I got the pregnancy result.

No one had ever stayed by my side, not even my parents.