CHAPTER 56: PRISONER

The guards led Valentina into the cell, and when she was in, the doors slammed behind her with a sound that echoed in her ears.

Her nose was hit with the smell of rust and mildew, as she stumbled deeper into the dark cell.

Anxiety began to rise in her, but it passed when her eyes caught the small vent above, producing a single streak of light.

Valentina hurried over to the spot the light touched ground, and plopped to the ground there.

She planned to remain close to the light for as long as she remained in the cell, because the alternative was darkness that was sure to consume her soul.

"Hmmm, it’s been a while there has been a new face around here."

Valentina’s heart snapped, as she turned her head around in search of the source of the voice.

"Who is there?" Her voice fell out in whispers.

"Your neighbour in the next cell. Don’t try to look though, I do not have the luxury of even a single ray of light in my cell, so you won’t see my face."

Valentina listened to the man’s croaked voice, wondering who he was and why he was there.

"I can tell from your silence that you’re wondering about me."

"And if I am?"

"Then you must know that I’ve been here for give or take, five years."

"Five years?" She gasped. "What did you do? Kill an Angel?"

He laughed. "You have a sense of humour. Now I’m intrigued. And I’m not sure if the time is accurate. I mean considering how long I’ve been locked up. But yeah, about five years."

The damp cell suddenly felt even more miserable to Valentina.

Just the thought of spending even a day in this godforsaken place was enough to cause a chill down her spine.

"What is your name?" She asked.

He smiled. She couldn’t see his smile, but for some weird reason, she felt it.

"It has been forever since anyone asked me that. I’m Tyler James."

"Yeah, I thought as much."

"Pardon?"

"You have an American accent. Why are you locked up in an Italian mafia cell?"

"Let’s just say I crossed the devil," he answered.

"Luciano." Her voice trembled.

"LuceNera if you may. Is he the reason you’re here too?"

"Oh he certainly is. But don’t you worry. I’m going to get out of here, and when I do, I’ll kill the bastard with my own hands."

Tyler laughed again. This time, his laughter was filled with mockery.

"What’s so funny?" Valentina’s face twisted.

"The fact that you think you’ll ever leave this place. Even death is a more merciful sentence than LaNotte. Did I tell you I’ve been here for five years?"

Valentina’s breath hastened. "That won’t be me. I’ll kill myself first before I remain locked here."

"You think I didn’t think about it a lot? He knew I would crave death above this torture. So he warned that if I ever tried to kill myself, he’ll haunt down my only son, and slaughter him."

Valentina stiffened.

"What?!"

"You heard me. Do you still think you can escape this prison?" He laughed again in jest.

Valentina battled between rage, and fear. Neither won, even as the tussle climaxed.

"I’m not scared of him," she said.

"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself? You really don’t know who you are dealing with. Just wait until you get your three portions of food weekly. And then the walls start closing in on you. It’s only too long until you start hearing voices in your head. Then when you approach the doors of complete malady, a psychiatrist is brought to treat you. Just for you to return to solitude, and the circle is repeated again."

Bumps formed on Valentina’s skin as the man’s voice faded away.

She had never in her life heard such violently descriptive words.

"That’s what you’ve had to end-ure?" Her voice broke.

"Now you are starting to understand the den you’ve fallen a victim to."

"But why? Why would he do this to you? How can he be so heartless? I mean I shouldn’t be surprised considering who his father is, but still."

There was silence.

Valentina thought the man had shunned her. She couldn’t even hear his breath, despite how hard she listened.

But just when she was giving up hope, he spoke to her.

"You know Matteo Alvarez?"

Her stomach knotted at the mention of that name.

For many years, she slept with that name at the edge of her being. Dreaming of the day she finally made his offspring pay for the sins of their father.

Only for her to be the one locked up in her nemesis cell.

"Oh I know him extremely well."

"That’s unfortunate. I think I understand why you’re here now. Over the years, people who knew him have been brought here. They never survived because they were killed. I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten the luxury of death yet."

"Why do you think I am here?"

"Is it not clear enough? You know Matteo Alvarez."

"Unfortunately. It would have been nice if he was alive, so my face would be the last he sees when he takes his last breath," she said bitterly.

Tyler went hush again, but it didn’t last as he asked. "Who exactly are you?"

Valentina’s first instinct was to lie about her real identity like she had to do every time, since she started venturing out of the castle.

But the cat was out of the bag already, and there was no point pretending anymore.

"I’m Valentina Quinn Wallace."

"Holy mother of God!" Tyler muttered under his breath.

"I’m guessing you knew my father Allen Wallace too."

"Valentina? You are alive?!"

She blinked. "Do you know me?"

"I held you when you were a baby. Your hair was red like your mother’s. The great beauty, Bianca Barone."

Tears instantly welled up in Valentina’s eyes.

"Tell me everything you know," she whispered breathlessly. "Please."

"There is a lot to be told. Your father Allen, and Matteo were best friends."

She breathed heavily through the welling of tears in her eyes. "That man was no friend to my father."

"I assume LuceNera would say the same about your father. Still doesn’t change how things were. Their friendship was inseparable at the time. Together, they were a formidable team. Matteo, in Italy, and your father in the States. What a time that was," he reminisced.

"Yet, look at how that ended. In the most tragic way imaginable."

"Indeed. No one knows why the rift happened though. Only what caused it. Rather, what place caused it."

Valentina frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on. You should know. Your father Allen, used to brag to everyone how you were the only one who knew where the map was."

Valentina’s heart throbbed. It wasn’t the first time she was hearing about a map that she knew nothing of.

"Whatever you talking about? Map to what?"

"To where it all began. The beginning of the end."

Valentina’s forehead creased with wrinkled lines of confusion. "I still don’t understand. Where?"

"Project Blackstone. The ground that doomed a lifelong friendship."

Valentina’s lips parted, but no sound came out of it.