Rafael - Past tense chapter

It took us a whole day to reach Italy by sea, and another day to find Amalia Ferrari, who turned out to be very hard to find and an impossible person to talk to. Her guards had to be put down (not dead) in order for us to enter her house. We didn't have her phone number and trust me, we tried to find it illegally but this woman was untraceable.

We were standing in front of her huge villa in Sicily, admiring the house and writing down notes to redecorate our house.

We knocked on the huge double doors and waited for someone to open them, hoping someone was inside. As much as I was willing to barge inside, I didn't want to disrespect her further, especially when I don't know how she is.

After two minutes, the door opened and a young girl stood behind it. She looked to be ten years old and had blonde hair brighter than the sun.

"MAMA!" she yelled once she didn't recognize us, running back inside and leaving the door open.

An older woman appeared from inside with the young girl trailing behind her. The woman looked at me first then at my father. Cash stood behind us but she didn't spare him a look.

"Took you too long," she said, looking at my father.

"You knew we were coming?" I asked in confusion, making her look at me.

"Of course, I knew. Once I heard your mother was missing, I knew your father would come," she explained, ushering us in, but not before looking back at the entrance where the unconscious bodies of the guards laid.

But she didn't say anything as if she knew that would happen.

She took us to the living room and there, we saw a man who looked like the young girl, sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.

"Welcome," he simply said, earning a nod from us.

"So? Tell me, what do you want?" Amalia asked my father.

"We need your help in finding Victoria," my father replied.

"I know, but what do you need? Weapons? Men?"

"Both...and hopefully, your husband," my father said, glancing at the man sitting.

"Me? Why?" the man asked in confusion.

"You were in the military and used to be Amalia's bodyguard."

"I am still is," the man replied, smiling at his wife.

"Anyways, we know that Ricardo took her to Sicily, so they must be here somewhere. Could you ask around people you trust?" I asked her.

"I don't trust anyone," she replied with a firm look on her face. "If we are going to find her, we will have to do it ourselves."

"How?" My father asked.

"We'll break down every door if we have to."

***

Amalia insisted we stay at her house. She told us that her husband, Alessandro, was going to get us more men to come with us on the mission. He also said that there are three places Ricardo could be at. One, the ports, two, the old and abandoned sewing factory, and third, an underground facility, one that could only be in the heart of the city.

So the next day, we all got ready. Amalia's daughter, Lily, was sent to her grandmother in France, while we left the villa and started our search.

We split into two groups so we don't draw attention to ourselves. For all we knew, Ricardo already knew that we were in Sicily, but I had hoped that he didn't.

We first searched for places that could lead to underground facilities. We went to the heart of the city and asked a bit around, but made sure not to directly ask someone. We blended in with the people and I thanked my mother that she taught us Italian when we were younger because she knew that one day we will need it. Besides, Ricardo used to speak Italian with us to "help" my mother teach us the language.

When we didn't find anywhere that would lead underground, we then went to the ports. Since they traveled by sea, they had to enter Sicily by boat, so Ricardo might have had a place at the ports. but I highly doubted that. It was too open and anyone could find him there.

"They are not here either," Alessandro said when we finished looking around the port.

"We still have one place to go before we look at other places," I said, feeling disappointed that we didn't find them.

"Don't worry, we will find your mother," Amalia said, patting my shoulder.

When we reached the old sewing factory, we split again into two groups. My father this time went with Amalia and Alessandro after I insisted because I knew Alessandro could protect him after what I learned about him, and Cash and I stayed together.

They went to the right and we went to the left. We saw one man standing outside the side door, guarding, and we instantly knew that they were there. The guard had a tattoo of a snake, which told me that he was one of Ricardo's men. Ricardo was obsessed with snakes as pets.

"How do you want to do it?" Cash asked in a whisper. We were hiding behind a car that was parked close to the side door where the man was standing.

"You go up and ask him about Alex and tell him that you are his brother. Then, surprise him with a punch?" I suggested, unsure of my plan.

I saw hurt pass through his eyes, but it quickly went away.

"Okay, I just hope there isn't anyone standing on the inside close to the door because it is weird they are putting only one person outside."

"Me too, but I think he didn't want to draw attention. Besides, Ricardo may be smart, but he makes a lot of mistakes," I replied, earning a nod.

With that, Cash took off and once the guard saw him, he quickly took out his gun, but Cash immediately said Alex's name and mentioned he was his brother. Once Cash stood close to him, he smacked the guard and he fell unconscious.

I then followed him and we carefully opened the door to check if there was anyone, but thankfully, there was not.

We walked in with guns in our hands, ready to shoot anyone that comes in our way. But before we could encounter anyone, we heard gunshots and we immediately knew that they saw the rest on the other side.

For the first time, my heart was beating so fast, scared that something bad happened to my father. He was not that old and still got the hang of everything, but still, after what happened with my mother, I get worried about everything.

"Don't worry, Amalia and Alessandro are with him. Let's find your mother," Cash whispered, making me refocus on the mission.

The action seemed to be on the other side of the factory, which was good for us. Cash and I found a staircase that took us to the first floor and there, we found five men standing, waiting for us as if they knew someone was coming.

Gunshots were fired and we immediately took refuge behind the wall. I started shooting in their direction, hitting one man in the stomach.

Cash took the other two, leaving three alive. They kept shooting until they ran out of bullets. While getting more, I quickly came out of hiding and shot them all.

At that time, Amalia, Alessandro, and my father came up the stairs and joined us.

"We searched the other side and we didn't find anything," Amalia said.

"They must be here, then," my father said, pointing at the door at the end of the corridor.

We carefully walked to the door, looking behind every time to make sure no one came.

I slowly opened the door and a bedroom greeted us. We looked ahead only to see Ricardo holding my mother's neck close to the window, ready to push her down.

"Rafa! Mannie!" my mother yelled as tears ran down her face.

"Leave her the fuck alone!" I yelled, pointing my gun at the fucker.

"I am impressed you found me," Ricardo said with an evil smirk. "But I am glad too because I want you to watch your precious little wife dead."

He was going to push her, but a gunshot from outside hit Ricardo in the head, letting his body fall to the ground.

I quickly ran to my mother and took her in my arms and away from the window. Cash looked outside only to see a helicopter in the sky with Alba hanging down with a rope and a sniper in her hand.

Needed to be steady my ass.

"Damn..." he mumbled, amazed by the image of his crush in the sky.

"You're safe..." I told my mother as I caressed her hair.