Chapter 3

“Has he lost his mind? And who agreed to carry out the order, and who has the power to challenge Lucifer?” Cooper shouted angrily.

Victor replied, “Let them try but keep a close eye on them. We need to know who among them will dare to touch her. I want you to know the way and the time they plan to kidnap her. Go now.”

Vladimir got up and bowed politely before leaving. Cooper escorted him to the door and then returned to Victor’s office, only to see a large part of the office being destroyed by Victor.

“Easy, man! Calm down! We’ll take care of this ourselves, and no one will touch her,” Cooper tried to calm Victor down, saying.

Damon whispered in Cooper’s ear, “Is this the doctor who was transferred to one of our hospitals?”

“Yes, it’s her,” Cooper confirmed.

“I will warn them today for the last time myself, and whoever violates that warning will bear the consequences,” Damon stated.

Victor, with a voice like the hissing of a snake, said, “Nobody knows that we knew.”

“It will be alright, man. Just calm down,” Damon reassured him and left, deciding to do as he had said. 

“Let’s go,” Victor ordered Cooper, and they left unguarded in a small car. They headed to the neighborhood where the doctor lived. They stopped on the other side of the sidewalk, facing the building where she resided. 

Cooper spoke first, saying, “She’s definitely in the hospital now.”

“No, her shift this month is in the evening. She’s inside,” Victor corrected him.

Cooper smiled and reminisced, saying, “Do you remember that day when you called me from a payphone on the street in front of one of the houses that your father attacked just before dawn?”

Victor grinned and replied, “How can I forget? She’s the only light in my life.”

He turned his head back, closed his eyes, and recalled the memory of that day. 

After leaning down to grab the teddy bear in front of the fireplace, he saw the little girl standing in the corridor, trembling in fear. He put a finger to his lips, telling her to keep quiet, and gestured for her to hide. He smiled at her and got up, then ordered the men to follow him outside. 

Victor was still young at that time, and he had accompanied his father to witness the execution of those who betrayed the family. They were the main reason for the death of his mother and one of his sisters, and he blamed himself for not being able to protect them. Due to his closeness to his mother, he refused to participate or take up arms, obeying her wish to keep him away from this life. 

However, after her murder and his father’s attempt to blame him for her death, everything changed inside him. Darkness prevailed in his heart, and he knew nothing but cruelty, killing, and inflicting pain on others. He followed his father in everything but became even darker inside. 

Then, this girl entered his life, breaking through the darkness of his heart with the innocence in her eyes. He made a vow to himself to protect her at all costs, not only because of his mother’s memory but also because she was special to him. 

That day, he had told his father that he would spend the night with his friend and cousin, Admir. After his father left, he secretly went to a payphone on the street and contacted his cousin. Then, he returned and hid in front of the house his father had attacked, waiting for a long time until Admir arrived to join him. He waited patiently until the little girl sneaked out of the house. He followed her as she boarded a red bus, and they followed behind her. When she reached a house in one of the neighborhoods of Rome and entered, he made sure she was inside and settled. 

From that point on, he monitored everything himself and even enlisted the help of loyal men who had worked with his father to ensure the safe transfer of the girl and her new family to a secret neighborhood known only to him, Cooper, and the men he later eliminated to protect the girl’s secret from his father.

Victor was snapped out of his memories as Cooper shook his hand, indicating the woman as she crossed the road and handed food to someone sitting on the ground, wrapped in a blanket to shield from the cold. She then returned to the building where she lived.

“Despite what you told me about her that day, she still has a pure heart,” Cooper remarked.

“That’s what makes her special,” Victor replied, smiling.

They waited for a few more hours as night fell and the residential neighborhood grew quiet. Victor drove his car back to his palace, which had been designed in the form of a huge castle with an underground section. 

The first floor was divided into three parts. One part housed the kitchen and service rooms, overlooking the garden with various vegetables and fruits. Another section featured livestock and another agricultural area. There was also a lake for fish farming.

The second part was dedicated to an office for managing the family’s business and overseeing their illegal affairs. It was connected to a fully-equipped gym and overlooked a beautiful garden with an array of flowers.

The third part was dedicated to receiving guests and hosting parties that were held from time to time. These events involved major deals and the division of profits from d**g deals, arms sales, and diamond transactions. It included a private hall for dancing and a large library.

The upper two floors of the palace were divided as follows: the first floor had Cooper’s suite and Damon’s suite, with eight guest rooms separating the two wings. The second floor featured a spacious suite owned by Victor, along with a huge swimming pool designed like a mountain cave, adorned with rare stones and equipped to adjust the water temperature. There was also a dedicated area for art, filled with paintings that belonged to his mother. The palace was hidden in the forest, resembling a natural reserve.

After completing his nightly routine, Victor lay on his bed in complete darkness, reminiscing about the years before the day his mother and one of his sisters were killed. His father had embarked on a special mission to oversee a smuggled arms deal concealed within a legal wheat transaction, leaving Victor behind with his mother and other children.

In the late hours of the night, as his family prepared for bed, Victor sat on the roof of the villa, gazing at the dark sky through a telescope. While observing the stars, he nearly lost his balance but regained his composure by steadying himself with his hand. Suddenly, he noticed a group of black vehicles speeding toward his house. As he zoomed in, he saw men wielding automatic weapons, ready to unleash gunfire.

Acting swiftly, Victor hurried to the rooms of his brothers and sisters. He led them to the wine cellar, instructing them to remain quiet and not leave for any reason.

Gunshots echoed throughout the house as his father had taken most of the guards, leaving only five behind, who were subsequently killed. The intruders stormed the house, executing the servants, except for one maid who guided them to the main room where Victor’s mother and his sister were.

Victor cautiously approached his mother’s room but encountered armed men standing guard at the door. He retreated to the nearest room on the same floor and made his way to the balcony overlooking his mother’s room. Peering through the partially closed curtains, he observed the intruders interrogating his mother about his whereabouts. Despite her pleas and insistence that he was not present, they forcefully took the little girl from her and threatened to harm her if she didn’t reveal Victor’s location. 

Ignoring his mother’s desperate cries, one of the men killed the girl before shooting his mother in the head. He then used a knife to carve the name of the Evra family, a prominent mafia family and rival to the Remor family, into Victor’s mother’s body. The name and the faces of the six men inside the room were etched into Victor’s memory.