Echoes of Obsession

"Are they going to be alright?" Madam Paula's voice trembled with worry as she stepped in front of Andreas, who was heading towards the bunker.

The mansion grounds were a flurry of activity as several vehicles were strategically positioned, and the men made final preparations for the imminent conflict.

"I cannot provide a definite answer to that, but we are doing everything we can to ensure their safe return," Andreas reassured her.

"Oh God! Is this my fault?" Madam Paula's distressed thoughts spilled out loud as she grappled with the overwhelming news.

The recent shocking revelation had left her in a state of profound disbelief and distress

Isabella and Sophia had been kidnapped.

"It isn't Madam Paula. We just weren't expecting a threat right outside of the mansion," Andreas replied, trying to calm the shaken woman down.

"Is the Don going to sack me?" Madam Paula asked as tears dropped from her eyes.

She knew just how much Luciano loved his little girl.

"Madam Paula you need to calm down!", Mia urged as she tried to help her from falling to the floor.

"No Madam Paula! You should get some rest! We're working on bringing them back.", Andreas answered as he brought Madam Paula to one of the chairs in the kitchen.

"I shouldn't have allowed them to leave without confirmation from you or The Don.", Madam Paula said, bringing her palms to her forehead.

"It's okay Madam Paula! I have to go now! The Don asked me to get something for him!", Andreas said.

Looking at Mia who stood silently beside Madam Paula, Andreas requested;

"Please give her a glass of water and make sure she gets some rest!"

"Okay!", Mia answered as she quickly went back to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

The tension looming in the mansion was no joke.

"I have to go now!", Andreas said, patting Madam Paula's back before he headed to the basement.

Andreas climbed down the ladder, impressed by how fast the bunker had turned into a neat research center.

"Our aerial view still hasn't found an access point yet!", Andreas reported to Luciano, whose attention was drawn by the tech guys.

Compared to the suits he was always dappered in, Luciano looked very unorganized as his tie hung loosely on his neck.

The Mafia Don would have never expected to hear his lover and child had been kidnapped while he was about to sign a multi million Euro deal.

"Don!", one of the men called as he finally got access to the security camera he had been trying to hack.

The other men sat in front of the computers making sure that they weren't detected by the system.

"Any progress?!", Luciano asked as he came into the room, Andreas following closely behind him.

"There is sir, we've been able to bypass the firewalls and the encryption!", the tech guy answered.

"Good, good! What's the situation looking like?!", Luciano asked as he watched the security cameras one by one.

The tech guy was rather scared, aware of the fact that a very angry Mafia Don was breathing heavily beside him.

"I thought you said the tracker led us to this building. What's going on?!", Andreas asked, confused as it didn't look like Isabella or Sophia were in the building.

"There's a second page!", The tech guy answered nervously.

"Do they know we can see and hear them?!", Luciano asked.

"No sir, we bypassed the security but didn't trigger any alarms!", the tech guy answered.

"Good! Now get me visuals on my daughter! Can you do that?!", Luciano asked, his mind racing with several possibilities.

From the report Madam Paula gave him, they had simply gone to get ice cream.

He certainly wouldn't have expected it would result in him having to trace the tracking device in the necklace he had given his daughter.

'Who could possibly be behind this?!', Luciano thought, already promising the most torturous unaliving process.

"Yes, we can Don!"

"Look, look over here!", Luciano pointed as the tech guy clicked on the next page.

"Here, this one!", Luciano pointed as the tech guy moved the cursor.

Clicking on the frame Luciano pointed at, Sophia and Isabella popped on the screen, their appearances looking so disheveled.

"It's a modified camera! It should be able to transmit audio feed as well! Get me on!", Luciano ordered, looking intently at the monitor.

"Yes Don!", The tech guy said as he pressed a button, resulting in sound from the video feed.

"It's okay sweetie!", They heard Isabella's voice say to Sophia as she kept patting her back.

"Daddy!", Sophia called out, resulting in Luciano's fist clenching tightly.

"He'll come soon!", Isabella simply reassured.

"We don't know who has them! Do you think this would give them away?!", Andreas asked Luciano as they watched Isabella hug Sophia tightly into her arms.

"Probably would! I don't know anyone crazy enough to kidnap my daughter!", Luciano replied.

"...And Isabella!", Andreas added.

"Yeah, except it's not someone we're familiar with!", Luciano said as he thought.

"Wait, hold on to that thought, someone just entered the room!", Andreas said, pointing to the door suddenly being opened.

"Uncle?!", Luciano questioned, wondering why his uncle was in the building.

"What's Uncle Luigi doing in the building?!", Andreas asked as he stepped closer to the monitor to confirm he wasn't seeing things.

"Shit! They got him too!", Luciano said, banging his fist on the table as he concluded.

"Who could have such an Intel!?!", Luciano wondered, his mind drifting to the traitor amongst them.

His opposition had no idea he got together with Isabella. This confirmed Luciano's suspicion that there was indeed a traitor.

'It can't be Isabella, or can it??', Luciano thought to himself.

"What?, What's going on?!", Andreas asked as Luigi's body language wasn't identical to that of Isabella's.

He didn't seem like he was held hostage.

Despite his position in Luciano's operation and the fact that he could protect himself quite well, Luigi would still react in a certain way if he was held hostage.

"...Except!", Andreas connected the dots, failing to believe the conclusion he came to.

"Luciano always liked brunettes!", Luigi started as he closed the door behind him.

Luigi's sentence threw Andreas off, giving him the answer he suspected.

"Shit!", Andreas said, seeing that his suspicion was true. He looked towards Luciano.

Wondering why his uncle didn't seem the least bit bothered about being held hostage, Luciano became confused about what his uncle was talking about.

"Leave us alone!", they heard Isabella's spitfire voice say as she wrapped Sophia in a hug.

"What's going...!", Luciano tried to ask no one in particular as he didn't want to trust the suspicion he was getting.

"Pathetic!", Luigi spat as he approached Isabella's crouched figure with Sophia laying her head on her mother's bosom.

"You know! All that mouth would have been useful if your dear husband was here!", Luigi said, using his hand to stroke Isabella's face.

Seeing this, Luciano stood quietly as his hands wrapped into a tight fist.

"Are the men ready?!", Luciano asked.

"Yes Don!", Andreas answered as they watched the scene unfold.

"You know your husband eh...

I've taught him several lessons, yet, he doesn't want to back off!

This time, I'll take what's rightfully mine!", Luigi said, getting Luciano's attention.

If there were levels of shock, Luciano was going through every one of them as he heard his uncle's last sentence.

"What do you mean?! How can you say such a thing when you know he loves you to death?!", Isabella asked, also confused by the turn of events.

She would have never thought Luciano's uncle would kidnap them, or even say the kind of words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Oh shut up you wench! What do you know?!", Luigi asked angrily as he began pacing the room.

"Are we moving out now!?", Andreas asked, since Luciano already ordered the men to be ready.

"No, not yet, I want to hear what he has to say!", Luciano answered.

He had opted to delay their sweep time as they already had their location. Luciano was intent on hearing what his Uncle was about to say.

Luciano understood that might be his only chance to hear his uncle's hate and resentment directed towards him.

"Yes Don!", Andreas answered, sending out orders for the men to stay on standby.

"The entire thing he controls! Every damn thing!

It was all supposed to be mine!!!!!!!", Luigi screamed as he came to a halt in front of Isabella.

"How does that have to do with me and my baby??!!! Huh?!?! We don't know anything about whatever both of you have going on!!!", Isabella said, equally raising her voice.

"Shut up, you don't get to shout when you speak to me!", Luigi said as he grabbed Isabella's jaw violently.

"Don!", Andreas called out seeing Isabella's face in pain.

"I'm aware Andreas! I'm waiting for him to give something up!", Luciano answered as his heart clenched.

Seeing his uncle hurt Isabella didn't sit well with him.

"You and this damned baby matter to him! So I'm going to kill you right before his eyes! Then I'm going to kill him too!", Luigi confessed.

Sophia turned fussy hearing the commotion and sensing her mother was in discomfort.

"Shut that damned baby up!", Luigi ordered as he kicked Isabella's legs violently.

Tears already running down both their cheeks, Isabella brought her baby tighter to her chest, shielding her from the noise.

"He's going to kill you! You bloody bastard!", Isabella fired, earning a resonating slap from Luigi.

"Shut up you bitch! I'll be the one to do all the killing, like I did his parents! !", Luigi said.

Luigi started, "I should have been next in line when I killed his parents...!"

As he went on, Isabella wondered how Luciano could love this man so much and said the man would still resent him.

Isabella shook her head as she wondered how Luciano would act discovering this side of his uncle.

He continued, "I should have! But my father! That bitch of a man wouldn't let me have what belonged to me.

He turned everyone against me!

Then I had to pretend, pretending to be happy when the wench you call your husband comes around.

I have been against him this whole time!"

"How could you?!", Isabella asked, wondering why Luigi had chosen to be that cruel.

Going as far as to unalive his blood brother.

"Oh, I definitely could!

I was behind everything! Me! And I'll continue to be till I get what I want!!!!", Luigi said, raising his voice again.

"How can you do this to him?!", Isabella asked

"I've been doing this for years! A few more days wouldn't hurt now would it?!", Luigi asked as he let out a sinister laugh.

Isabella patted Sophia's back, realizing that Luciano's uncle was a maniac.

"I already sent a message, I'll expect your damned husband to be here anytime soon! Then the bloodbath will begin!", Luigi said as he left the room, banging the door loudly behind him.

Andreas looked towards Luciano to see his jaw tick.

Luciano's blank expression masked the shock and anger he felt at the moment.

As if on cue, another one of Luciano's men arrived with a box.

One nicely wrapped like it was a birthday gift.

Andreas took it, opening it to see nothing but a picture of Isabella and Sophia.

Gently passing the picture to Luciano, Andreas wondered about the thoughts going through Luciano at the moment.

Luciano traced the lines of his lover and daughter, the anger he felt only growing rapidly.

He simply flipped the picture to see his uncle's handwriting.

Luciano read the address written on the back, one of the tech guys confirming the building.

"If he's serious about everything he said, do you think he's been the one sabotaging the operation from within?!", Andreas asked.

"Venice! He's the one behind it!", Luciano said after what seemed like minutes.

"Shit!!", Andreas said in realization.

"I had all the clues but I failed to piece them together!", Luciano said as his mind went back to the suspicious activities his uncle always indulged in.

Who would want to think of their uncle in such a light?

"He was so good at hiding his plans!", Andreas said.

"I always thought he made peace with my position as The Don!", Luciano said.

"What does that mean?!", Andreas asked, quite confused.

"He killed my parents for the same reason!", Luciano answered as he approached the bulletproof vest and the guns on another table.

He continued, "The operation has a certain way it works, Andre.

It is passed to every firstborn son.

As the second son, it didn't sit well with him!", Luciano answered.

"Why didn't he just take over when your parents died?!", Andreas asked again, passing extra bullets to Luciano.

"My Grandfather at the time didn't support it! Now, I'm sure he was the one who killed my parents!", Luciano said, disgust forming in his heart for his uncle.

"He's held a grudge for over twenty years!", Andreas said as he put the pieces together.

"He shot himself in the arm to make it look believable didn't he?!", Andreas asked.

"I had treasured a maniac the whole time!", Luciano simply answered.

"I'm about to end it all!", Luciano said as he stepped out of the building.

"You coming?!", He asked Andreas who didn't hesitate to grab his gun and follow behind him.

On their way out of the mansion, Luciano said to Andreas, "Remind me to get an ice cream making machine in the mansion!"

"Yes Don!", Andreas said.

It was now clear what Luciano had to do.

He now understood he was the one to put his uncle down.