I knew that physically Antonio's assault was over, but mentally it wasn't because it just kept replaying over and over again inside of my head. I kept remembering the sensation of his hands all over my body as he raped me.

It wasn't like I was a virgin or anything, I had had my fair share of sex with Ryan and I suppose that was better than this being my first sexual encounter. However, sex with Ryan was never anything special either. It was always about what he wanted, never for my pleasure. Not once had I ever actually had an enjoyable experience with sex and I hated that. It wasn't meant to be something feared, but one of the more exciting parts of a relationship if you wanted it that way - which I did. I hated Antonio more than ever for using my body like this.

I wanted to cry. I needed to cry. But I was so broken that I just couldn't. I felt hollow inside, the absence of emotion hurt more than anything else. I begged silently for my mind to allow me to do something, anything, but nothing came.

I could sense that Antonio had rolled off of me, now lying besides me. I on the other hand, was still lying with my wrist tied above my head. I hadn't moved an inch. I could hear Antonio talking to me but couldn't force myself to take in any of what he was saying. I just stayed motionless, staring at the ceiling.

I glanced over to Alice and upon seeing her a wave of guilt instantly washed over me. Shit, what had I done? I shifted and spoke,

"Do you want to take a shower?"

But still, there was no response to my question. She just lied still and kept her line of vision to the ceiling with an unresponsive gaze. I looked at her closely, the idea that she was in shock crossed my mind.

"Alice."

Still no answer, I lightly gripped her jaw. Slight relief filled me when she made a sound. She just let out a pained sob causing my heart to clench. A single tear made it's way down her cheek so I leant down and kissed her were it had landed on her delicate skin.

I sighed and reached up to the bed post in order to untie her hands, regretting what I had done to a certain extent. I still believed that she was only mine and therefore needed to submit herself to me, but couldn't help but notice that I went to hard on her.

Thinking that I could only give her time, I pulled the comforter over her still bare skin and left the room. I ensured that the door was locked and called my head of security to send a guard to watch the room while I was gone. I wasn't really worried about Alice escaping but more so that my enemies could do something. I had many people out to get me and now they knew about my new wife they would most likely see her as my weakness. That meant they could use her to get to me, even by kidnapping or hurting her.

As if on que, my phone rang.

"Antonio, we got a problem."

It was my brother, Alex.

"What is it?"

We were past the point of small talk by now. During business we remained cold, the rest of the time we had a decent relationship, or more than what was expected of our kind. Mafia members were not typically known for their warm hearts and friendly relationships.

"Someone has hacked into our accounts, managed to steal all the money from last months shipment."

Shit, there was at least six million dollars in that account! Sure, that wasn't a staggering amount to us but there was no way that I was going to let this kind of theft slide.

"I'm on my way."

I hung up the phone and began to head to the car. I knew that this was supposed to be an excuse for a honeymoon but Alice would prefer my absence anyway and this was important.

It took less than two hours for me to return back home. My men and Alex were already there waiting for me upon my arrival. I nodded to Alex, not wanting to waste any time before getting to the point.

"We have managed to trace the thief. We do have a location and to our knowledge they are unaware that we know of their whereabouts. However we don't know how long for that will be the case. Therefore, I suggest we attack now while we still have that advantage."

He made a very good point. Because Alex was the younger brother and had a mischievous personality everyone assumed he was like that when it came to work too. However he was extremely good at our business and was often the brains behind our success, despite people underestimating him all of the time. Though I would never admit to it, I was proud of my little brother.

"I agree. Are we prepared?"

The guards around me all nodded their heads.

"Good. Let's leave now."

My men wasted no time in getting into our cars, some throwing in equipment while I was helped into my protective gear. We all wore bullet proof vests because it was inevitable that things tended to get messy on missions such as this one. The last thing that we needed was an army of men with bullet wounds.

I climbed into a separate car to Alex. Because we were currently the only heirs to our mafia, we didn't usually travel together. It was a safety precaution in case something happened to one of the cars, at least one of us would survive and then continue to rule in our families name. The Marino's had ruled the Italian mafia for over a hundred years and so our name was valuable to the business.

The driver connected the intercom to the car so we could all hear the phone calls and soon enough, Alex called.

"Ok, so the plan is simple. The rest of the men have been briefed so Antonio all you must do is follow their lead. We will have a group enter first to clear any security. Anyone of interest will be spared and bought out to you by the cars. It's up to you what is done with them next."

See, like I said.... Alex was the brains.

"Sounds good."

I spent the rest of the drive arranging things back on the island for Alice. I had made it very clear that she was to be watched where ever she went and that while she was in our room it would be locked, but other than that she was free to roam around the hotel resort (of course while being watched). I didn't want my security to intervene with her unless she was in danger or was trying to escape, I needed her to trust me and her getting back her partial independence seemed like a good place to start. She would be given my credit card and would be permitted to buy whatever she wanted from expensive spa treatments to indulgent meals. I'd put one million dollars on the card and even though that made no dent in my bank account, for her it meant that she had more than enough to last the few days that I would be gone for.

We would need to get information out of these people. They stole money and it would likely take some..... persuasion to get it back from them. Then after that we would rip out any other information from them that seemed of valued to us, just in case they knew anything that could be of use in the future.

As promised Alex had delivered to my expectations and I now had three people knelt before me. The first, was the ringleader. His name was Dominico and he had ordered for someone to hack our accounts. That lead me to Natasha, she clearly had amazing skills as our system was extremely secure, or so I thought. The final person was named James and he was the son of Dominico. I would be sure to get rid of him too so that there was no future heir to their little gang.

"Here is what's going to happen. You are going to return all of the money that you stole from us with a ten percent interest rate to make up for the inconvenience of dragging me all the way here."

Dominico just spat at me, triggering another kick in his stomach from Alex who stood close to my side.

"Fuck you!"

I laughed at his stupidity. It amused me how he thought he had any option here.

"Ok then. Alex, load them up into the van."

I was hoping that they would refuse my request. I enjoyed beating it out of them anyway and it had been a while since I had a challenge. Plus, I needed to relieve some stress on something (or someone) after everything with Alice. Just as we were about to lock up the van with the three of them inside I gave him another piece of news with a sly smirk.

"Oh and Dominico, that interest just went up to twenty percent."

He barley had the chance to curse back at me before I slammed the door shut. I don't know why he was making such a huge deal out of this and lashing out at me. He should be saving his energy for what I have in store for him. Besides, it wasn't like he would need his money when he was dead anyway. I always planned on killing the three of them, but they would be more compliant if they thought that there was still a chance of their survival. These idote (idiots) never learn.

"So brother, how is newly married life?"

In this occasion, we were sat besides each other in the same car which left a perfect opportunity for Alex to interrogate me. I gave him no answer because I didn't want to hear his disapproval. Alex was a player but I knew he would only scrutinize me if he knew about how I raped Alice.

"That bad?"

I frowned at him. Now I regretted getting in the same car.

"Jesus, Antonio did you....?"

Me shifting nervously in my seat was enough of an answer to confirm his suspicions.

"Fuck Antonio! Remember, I met her before you and she is way to fragile for your shit! You've got to be careful with her! Especially if you ever want her to actually like you back! That is if you haven't completely fucked your chances of a relationship with her up already."

I knew that everything he said was true. I was well aware or my mistake the moment that I forced myself onto her but couldn't stop myself. She was mine! Part of me was saying that because of that I had a right to do whatever I wanted to with her and the other part told me to protect her at all costs. I dreaded to think about what her opinion and view of me was. God, in her mind I was probably just as bad as her ex.

And that made me think. Alice had probably never even had an actual pleasurable sexual experience, or at least not for a long while. That got me exited. I wanted to be the first and only person to make her feel that way. I felt the burning urge to suddenly make her feel the same way that I felt when with her. And with that my mind was made up. As soon as I returned to the hotel, I would do everything in my power to make Alice happy again.