I had finally dealt with the idiote (idiots) who thought that it would be a good idea to steal from me.

I had tied them all up in the cold, dark basement and had hosed them all down with freezing cold water. Then we proceeded to leave them there for one night. This was done in hopes of breaking their will down, maybe they would give us what we wanted once having spent an uncomfortable night starved and shivering in the arms of darkness. But still, there was nothing.

So I began my work on Dominico. I pulled off all of his fingernails and toenails, one by one. Sure enough by the end of this he was screaming his head off in complete and utter agony yet hadn't told us a single thing.

I moved onto Natasha next. It was her that we needed anyway. She had hacked into our accounts and she would put all the money stolen back in, plus the extra I wanted for the annoyance they'd caused me. For Natasha we burned her arms and legs with red hot iron pokers until she lost consciousness. Then we would throw a bucket of ice cold salted water over her. This would wake her instantly but also the salt would burn her wounds even more. She was the first to break.

She told us how to gain access to the accounts and I had my men take down everything she said. Once our computer hacker, Jerome, had successfully gotten all of the money out of their accounts we killed her. It wasn't like there was any use for her any more. We had all of the information that was needed and I never, ever let people who had gone against me live afterwards. But as a reward for her 'compliance' I gave her a quick and easy death. One clean shot to her head and all the pain had ended for her. Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same for Dominico and James.

I knew that neither of the two were with hiding any valuable information from me. I no longer needed anything from them. But of course, I still wanted to make them suffer as punishment for their stupidity.

I had 3 of my guards beat James to his death, leaving Dominico strapped down in a chair whilst being forced to watch his son scream and bleed out to his passing. I sat in the corner, whisky in hand, simply watching the display before me as if it were a fine piece of art.

For the final day, I had left him in the same room with the rotting body of his only son....until the next morning when I came in and shot him in the stomach a few times. This meant he would die, but it would take a while for him to bleed out before he could go back into the hell that he came from.

I simply instructed my men to dispose of all three bodies before heading back out to see my Alice again.

I was instantly greeted by one of the guards that had been left in charge of looking after my new wife. He had already told me and asked if she had my permission to change rooms. I allowed it. I figured that it was too much for her to stay in that room (considering the events that had occurred there only a few nights ago) so didn't have anything extremely against the idea. After all, it was just a room.

I had some brilliant plans for the day ahead. I knew that for some reason she hadn't left the confines of her new room so wanted to take her out. I had already booked appointments at the spa for the two of us. We would both be treated to massages before splitting off so I could relax in the sauna and she could have manicures, pedicures, facials along with whatever else she wanted. Then I planned on getting her all dressed up in order to take her out into the towns. I knew of a nice little restaurant near by that I had always adored. They served the most amazing Ossobuco and couldn't wait to take my girl out for a nice meal. The view was immaculate. You could see the mesmerizing blue waves of the see contrasting against the warm yellow sand and bronze cliff sides. I was never very good at verbally apologizing so this would be my way of trying to make it up to her.

Eventually she would get used to this new way of life. I understand that she was still very new to this and simply wasn't used to such customs but the only way to survive in a world such as this was to learn to adapt to ones surroundings. I knew of friends who had done similar things to me. They had kidnapped girls and done much worse in order to get them to stay submissive and obedient to them. I remember seeing some of their girls. It was horrific. They no longer seemed like humans but more like robots or dogs. They had been completely smashed apart and broken but made to seem happy and pleased to serve their master. They were like china dolls, completely perfect on the outside but hollow within. I didn't want Alice to be like them. I wanted to still be able to have an honest conversation with her. I fell in love with her personality, not just her looks, and though she still needed to learn her place and respect me she still would keep some of her zesty personality.

I nodded at the guard to open up her door. Admittedly, I would have preferred her to stay in our original room because it was the best in the whole hotel but this would suffice. She could have done a lot worse than switching the accommodation. Thank God she didn't escape or even try, that showed huge improvement.

The first thing I noticed when stepping inside was the mess. The bed was completely unmade and their were empty bottles all over the place. The smell of alcohol was so strong. The entire room reeked of the stuff. How much had she been drinking?

Then I realized that she wasn't in the room. I called out her name but still their was no response. I thought it would have been impossible for her to have escaped, the door was locked and guarded and the windows were all still locked. Maybe she was in the bathroom.

I turned the handle and stepped inside, my heart stopped the moment that I saw the image in front of my eyes.

Alice's body was fully submerged in a tub of crimson water. Instantly understanding the urgency of the situation, I hauled her up and out so her unmoving body collapsed onto the tiled floor.

"Don't you dare die on me Alice. DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE."

I yelled historically at her unresponsive body. Upon closer inspection, I could now see that her left wrist was completely torn open, the blood still flowing out of her. I nervously checked her pulse with a hesitant hand. She was still alive, barley but there was hope. I screamed out for the security to fetch a doctor and within minutes one had arrived. He pushed me out of the way and began to assess her state.

"I swear to God, if she dies I will FUCKING KILL YOU!"

He only nodded at me, probably too petrified at my threat to give a proper response.

Everything seemed to happen in a blur however a wave of relief passed through me when I saw the doctor move her face to the side and she coughed out a load of water. She then slumped back down, still unconscious. Next I studied the doctor while he stitched up the wound in her arm in a huge, frantic hurry. He had taken my threat very seriously, most people did and they were right to. I never failed to follow through on a threat.

A few more medical professionals had arrived at the hotel. They had made sure that Alice was stable and once she was, they helped me bring her back home. She had remained unconscious the entire journey and was expected to be out for the next few days or so.

In total Alice needed to have a blood transplant and get her stomach pumped because apparently she had drunk that much alcohol during my absence. The entire time they kept her on sedatives in order to try to keep her more stable.

But God help her when she woke up. I had already reviewed my whole security system and the bedroom had some extra precautions. I had removed all of the sharp objects including mirrors so she couldn't smash them and use the shards as weaponry. I put locks on the doors, only my thumb print and a few trusted others could open it from both the outside and the inside. The windows were all shatter proof but had locks on them as well. I had also gotten chains fitted to the bed. I knew it was extreme and defiantly wasn't going to get me on Alice's good side but I couldn't trust her anymore. The chain extended far enough for her to reach the bathroom and was clasped around her ankle. I'd also removed the bath and just expanded the shower instead.

There was no way that she was getting away from me again. Escaping definitely wasn't an option and neither was suicide.

I hadn't moved from her side for four days. The doctors and nurses came and went but I was desperate to be there the moment that she woke up. I had put Alex in charge of work for the time being, having to explain what had happened was also extremely hard. He was pissed off at me and eventually I just hanged up the phone, uninterested in hearing about his disapproval towards me. Honestly, most of the time he was more like the older brother than I was.

Suddenly I heard a small noise escape from Alice's throat. She was waking up!

"No..."

Small whimpers escaped her mouth as she realized the gravity of the situation. She had not yet noticed my presence as I slowly rose and made my way towards her.

No. I couldn't believe this! How the fuck had I survived. Before I could stop it, a strained sob came out from my dry mouth. The sound seemed to scrape against my throat as it left like sandpaper. I had no idea how long I had been out but gathered it had been at least a day or two.

I couldn't even kill myself, that's how useless I was at this rate.

My body shook out of sudden shock and fear as I felt someone's presence. Antonio.

"Alice....why would you.....I...."

For the first time ever, Antonio was literally lost for words before me. He gave me a look that only encouraged more tears and shame to rise from my body. He pitied me. My own kidnapper felt bad for me. In an attempt to comfort me he climbed up on to the bed and pulled me up onto his lap. His arms wrapped around me in a possessive action. I had no energy and just allowed myself to slump back into his body, crying.

"Here."

He bought a chilled cup of water up to my lips and I hungrily chugged down it's contents. In fact I gulped so quickly and greedily that I spluttered some of it out when a bit went down the wrong hole, causing me to lightly gasp and choke.

"Careful."

He rubbed reassuring and gentle circles on my back at a steady pace as I sobbed.

"Shh, shh."

He hushed me and tilted my body so that my head laid against his warm, solid chest and his arm curled around my body. He placed a kiss on my forehead and brushed some hair out of my face. It was so tender and calming but I saw through the disguise. This was still the same man who had abused me.

"Things are going to change. I'm sorry for what I did to you."

Woah. I never expected an apology out of Antonio's lips and though his words sounded sincere, I still couldn't help but naturally fear him. It was just out of my instincts not to believe his words.

He soothingly stroked my face, all the while lulling me into a deep and comfortable slumber.