My fist banged on Fiero's front door so hard, I thought I'd knock it off of its hinges. Rosalinda cracked the door open slightly, with the chain lock still in place. She gasped in horror at the sight of Nora, unconscious and bloody, in my arms. She closed the door again and I heard the lock being slid open and she quickly let us in.

"What happened?" she demanded as she put down the shot gun, she had concealed from me, behind the door again. Guns were just part of being a mafia man's woman. You never knew when the life was going to follow you home.

"There was a fight. Please just help her." I pleaded. She brushed Nora's hair away from her face and nodded.

"Go lay her down in the guest room." Her tone was serios. She ran into another room and came back with a bag full of medical supplies.

She stripped Nora of my suit jacket I had hastily wrapped around her and pressed on her wound gently. Nora flinched away from her touch even in unconsciousness.

"Get out Lorenzo." Rosalinda ordered, not looking away from the equipment she was preparing.

"I'm not leaving her- "

"I need to get her cleaned up and she would be unhappy if you saw her undressed." She argued. "Now go and let me take care of her!"

She was right of course. Nora never even showed her shoulders. I knew she kept her body covered as a way of protecting herself after what she had gone through. I wished we had made those Russian fuckers suffer before killing them. They knew her. They touched her. They hurt her. They got off too easy.

"Boss!" Fiero burst through the door. My senses were so heightened at the moment, he startled me into pulling my gun on him.

"Son of a bitch Fiero." I cursed, putting my gun back in its holster.

"We got the sniper." He informed me. "Let's go."

Before I could say anything, Rosalinda spoke up. "Go deal with that Lorenzo. You're not going to do any good here anyways. I'll take care of her." It almost seemed like she was promising herself as well. She had carefully laid out everything she needed to stitch Nora up.

______________________________________________________________________________

"He's not talking yet, but I'm sure we can convince him." Fiero said dangerously. I didn't say anything in response. I just wanted to get this over with so I could get back to my girl.

He pulled up to one of our shipping warehouses. Yes, it was full of normal items for export, but those covered the illegal dealings we had a hand or two in.

The sweet sounds of painful grunts met our ears as we walked across the echoing concrete.

"I'm not going to fucking say anything so you may as well kill me, you Italian bastard!" the sniper screamed at Raffaelo.

"That would be letting you off much to easily." I drawled. I unbuttoned the cuffs of my dress shirt and rolled my sleeves up. Without a word, Raff handed me his hand knife and stepped aside.

"Are you sure you have no information for me?" I asked with a tone of warning. The sniper spat at me. I only grinned in response and proceeded to cut his fingers off one knuckle at a time. I thought about all of the hurt Nora had gone through and I got a sick pleasure from his screams of agony.

Around the third finger he started begging but didn't tell us anything. He only started talking when Fiero started pulling teeth.

"IT'S VARLAM!" he screamed. "Please, no more. It's Varlam, he's obsessed with the girl." Blood was pouring from his mouth and dribbling down his chin.

"How does he know her?" I growled.

"The lower ranks used to buy her time. Word got around, and he got himself an appointment. He's wanted her ever since. He made her uncle an offer to buy her from him, but he wouldn't agree to it. He said he needed her." He groaned in agony when he looked down at his hand and saw his missing fingers.

"Why didn't Varlam just kill Stuart?" Fiero interjected.

"He didn't want to kill her family, thought it would upset her. He wanted her for more than her body. He was infatuated with her. Obsessed." The sniper seemed disgusted. "When he went to see her this last time, she wasn't there. He went mad and killed her uncle in his fit of rage, but not before he told him who took her."

I didn't know how Nora would feel about her only family member passing. I knew how I felt about it, not that my feelings mattered, but he was a waste of life and he was better of burning in hell.

"What plans does he have for us?" Raffaelo inquired.

"He planted a spy, maybe more than one. I don't know. He never tells anyone too much information. We all only know bits and pieces of information." That was smart of Varlam.

"What bits and pieces do you know then?" I demanded.

"In the restaurant for sure. It was one of your valets that told us he had arrived with the girl." He pointed his chin at me.

That's why my car wasn't waiting for us in the alley as I had requested. I shot Raff a look and he nodded, affirming he would take care of it.

"Where else?"

"That's all I know. I swear!"

I had always been good at reading people and I knew from the desperation in voice, he was being truthful.

"Thank you for your cooperation." I said simply and just as quickly shot him in the head. "Take care of this garbage. Fiero, we're leaving."

Nora's POV

I woke to soft, sweet humming. The lights hurt my eyes, but I opened them anyways. Rosie's beautiful face filled my vision and I felt her washing my face with a warm, damp wash cloth. I didn't recognize the room I was in, but if she was here, it must be somewhere safe.

"Rosie?" I groaned.

"You had me so worried sweetie." She continued gently cleaning the dirt and blood from my skin. "You're very lucky you know. The bullet just grazed you. It could have hit something important." She smiled gently at me.

I tried to sit up, but a sharp stab of pain shot up my side and I gasped.

"You just rest. You've had plenty of excitement for today." She gently pushed me back down. "I stitched you up, but you still need to take it easy. I'm no professional. Lorenzo should have taken you to the hospital. What was he thinking?" she fussed.

"He was thinking of me. He knows I don't like doctors. They just hurt people." I muttered.

The paper covering the examination table crinkled underneath me as I fidgeted. Uncle took his last punishment too far and one of my injuries had become infected. He finally decided to get me medical help when the fever set in, said I needed antibiotics. We came to a clinic that was in a small shopping center. It was late and all the other businesses in the shopping center were closed.

"Stuart!" a middle-aged man in a white coat entered the room. I was just focusing on keeping my shivering under control, but my fever was as high as ever and the chills were settling in.

"Hey Ron!" My uncle shoo the doctor's hand enthusiastically. "This is my niece, the one I told you about." He gestured to me off-handedly.

"Miss Nora." He drawled while he mentally undressed me. "Don't worry Stu. I'll take a look at her. We'll do a full physical on her."

"Thanks. I could just take her anywhere. We don't need CPS sniffing around again." My uncle side-eyed me as if I were the biggest inconvenience in the world.

"Why don't you step out so I can start my examination." Dr. Ron snapped his rubber gloves into place.

The examination began with him stripping me of my clothes and ended with him stripping me of my innocence. He violated me and tore through my virginity with no remorse.

We left the office with eight days' worth of antibiotics, but not before Dr. Ron said; "Let me know when she's feeling better. I'd love another date with her, just name your price."

Uncle started selling mee a few weeks later. I blamed that doctor for every terrible thing that happened to me in that basement.

My head was throbbing, and my side was killing me, but I couldn't just lay here and rest. "What about Enzo. Where is he? Is he okay? What about the bad guys?" I could hear my voice getting higher and more frantic.

"He's alright." She shushed me calmingly. "He's off playing gangster with Fiero. They just had to tie up some loose ends. They'll be back soon."

I already was uncomfortable not being around him under normal circumstances, but after the night we had had, my anxiety was through the roof. I wanted to touch him and see that he was okay with my own eyes.

"He's strong. Don't worry about him. Why don't you tell me how you're doing, and I don't mean physically."

"The bad guys knew me." I whispered.

"What do you mean they knew you?" her brow furrowed.

"I remember him, and he remembered me. He used to come a visit me when I was at my uncle's." My eyes stung with unshed tears, but I'm not supposed to cry so I fought them. "The bad man knew about Varlam."

Rosie took my trembling hands in hers as if she was lending me the strength to keep talking.

"Whose Varlam sweetie?" she encouraged gently.

"He was the cruelest man to ever touch me." I shuddered at the memory of how he used my body. Rosie rubbed her thumb in soothing circles on the back of my hand.

"He was strange though. He would always patch me up after. He would secretly bring me food when my uncle was starving me. He would be torturing me one minute and then acting like the sweetest man the next. He would confuse me." I admitted. "He used to tell me he loved me, but he would still hurt me. He said he needed me to behave, but I didn't think I had broken any rules."

"You're safe here. You're a part of our family now and we protect our own." Rosie's voice was firm.

"We're not blood. You have not obligations to me. I just brought trouble here. They came for me. I know it was about me Rosie."

"You're one of us whether you like it or not." She scoffed. "You don't have to worry about those men anymore."

"He left his mark on me." I held my breath to keep from sobbing. "He strung me up in my uncle's basement and h-he branded me. He brought his own iron brand and blowtorch and burned his mark into my skin. He said he wanted everyone to know who I belonged to." I lifted the skirt of the tattered dress I was wearing and showed her the V surrounded by a circle that had scarred over my hip.

Her fingers brushed over it gently. "I'm so sorry Nora." It sounded like she was getting choked up as well.

I didn't want to talk about this anymore. My entire body was tense and shaking, but the physical discomfort was nothing compared to the storm brewing in my mind. "Where's my Enzo?" I asked again. "I-I need him."

"I'm here baby girl."