Taken By The Mafia Lord

Just as she thought, Eric was behind her and from his shocked expression, Natalie could already tell that he heard enough. There was no getting out of this one.

Natalie had expected Eric to yell at her or something, but his eyes only grew wide when he stared at her body, and the next, he was by her side, checking her body for wounds.

That was when it dawned on Natalie that she had soiled her clothes in the process of rolling on the ground with Daniel - not that she was going to tell him that. And there was a little bit of blood at the back of her head where that evil family hit her. They would pay for that one day, she promised.

Eric pulled back when he was done checking her, his eyes darkening, "You told me that you had an appointment," He pointed out her lie.

"I only didn't specify what appointment," She still managed to find a loophole in his words.

"This is not funny!" He shouted at her which wasn't surprising, she already saw that one coming. Natalie knew that she messed up, however, she does not regret it.

"Daniel finally found you! Do you think that's something to take lightly?!" He couldn't believe her.

"Well, what do you expect me to do then?" She lifted her head, "Was I expected to live in fear of Daniel for the rest of my life? If anything, he should be the one afraid of me!"

Eric looked at her, brows furrowed, "I thought you said you didn't want revenge against Daniel? You said you wanted to spend the rest of your days quietly and happily," He reminded her of her words.

"Of course, I did," Natalie admitted. However, her face twisted sadistically, "But that was until I learned that all of my efforts to give my daughter a better future was all for nothing and it's all his fault. Now I just have to get my daughter from that bastard, Marcel," Natalie didn't have a good impression of the guy even though they hadn't met.

"Wait a minute, you know about Arianna and Marcel?" Eric was surprised that she was calm about it.

"Of course, I know about Arianna and Marcel…." Natalie trailed off as a cold realization washed over her. She looked at him accusingly, "You knew?"

Eric gulped when he realized that he just gave himself out. Of course, how would Natalie be calm knowing that her daughter was in the hands of Daniel's son, Marcel?

Betrayal had never stung so badly and Natalie turned on her heels only for Eric to block her way.

"Natalie…"

"Get away out of my way," Natalie pushed him away, she didn't want to stare at his face right now.

"Natalie, please…." He begged her

"Just go away,"

"I didn't mean to," Eric readily explained to her seeing that she wasn't ready to listen to him, "It was meant to be a surprise. Elijah was meant to bring Arianna home before you realized that she's been with Marcel, Daniel's soon,"

Bang!

Marcel was Daniel's son?

Her blood ran cold.

Natalie stood at the spot, unmoving for over five minutes to the point she scared Eric and he was beginning to panic, thinking that he had broken her or something. However, Natalie suddenly released a cry so heart-wrenching that even Jason watching the scene was affected by it. The sorrow in her voice was raw and intense.

"Natalie, no… !" Eric grabbed her as she slowly slid to the ground, exhausted. Because she used all of her weight, both of them ended up on the floor and Eric cradled her head in his arms, running his hand through her hair and comforting her while she cried bitterly.

It was all for nothing, Natalie's heart broke into pieces. Everything she had sacrificed for her daughter's bright future had been for nothing. How could her daughter be with Daniel's son? Was the universe playing a sick joke on her? Was history rewriting itself all over again? If Daniel was a monster, how different would his son be?

No, she was not going to subject her daughter to such a fate. Her ill fate with the Luciano family had to end with Daniel, not her daughter too. Natalie made up her mind, she would do anything for her daughter, just to keep her safe from the members of the Luciano family. Daniel has done enough damage to her already. Not her daughter too.

Natalie couldn't tell how long she remained in Eric's arms, but when she roused to the present, there was something different about her. A ruthlessness in her eyes somehow scared Eric.

He knew what it was like for someone to be consumed with revenge, that it was all they could think about. Once Natalie started, it would be difficult for her to find her way again. Eric was afraid that this road would lead to her destruction. Eric wasn't even sure that he had a future with her anymore - at least for now.

Natalie was pretty impulsive and stubborn and until she got her daughter back, she might as well break up with him just to concentrate on finding Arianna. So yeah, Eric would rather put his feelings aside and help her find Arianna than lose her forever.

"We need to get her back," Natalie said and Eric was glad that she remembered that they were still a team, "You know where she is, don't you?"

Eric opened his mouth to answer her, however, Natalie warned him instantly, "And don't you dare lie to me again, Eric. There is only so much that I can forgive." The fact he hid everything from her hurt her so much

"Elijah would bring her back," was all Eric told her knowing if Natalie dared possess knowledge of Arianna's whereabouts, no one was going to stop from going to her daughter and bringing her back.

"How soon? Now Daniel knows about me, he would try to lay his hands on her and I don't know what he would do to my daughter," Natalie said hurriedly, panicking already.

"You shot him, that should buy us enough time. Daniel wouldn't move carelessly and from the look of things, Marcel has no idea about you as well. That should give us enough time to bust your daughter out of there." Jason already had a plan.