Taken By The Mafia Lord

"Is it only me or did your father put on some makeup?" Victor pointed out as soon as they arrived at the scene in his convertible.

Although Marcel arrived early, his father was here before him and it didn't surprise him that his father was working hard for this case. What's the catch? He still hasn't figured it out, but it sounded too good to be true.

Marcel knew his father and he doesn't do this out of his great magnanimous heart - that is if he had one - unless there was something he hoped to achieve. Be it small or great, there was always an ulterior motive. And until then, he couldn't trust him.

Other than looking at the man out of mere curiosity, Marcel didn't say anything as they got out of the car. The fading injuries on his face were hidden with the makeup and Marcel's heart swelled with joy that for once, he was able to retaliate and defend the things that mattered to him and not take his shit like the good kid he was before.

He was gradually breaking out of the mentality that Daniel was lord over his life and would have always had an influence on him. He was breaking out of that bondage of captivity imprinted in him from a young age. Although it was all baby steps, Marcel believed that it was progress.

If there was anything Marcel was sure of now, it was the fact that he would never be like the man. Daniel claimed that he turned out that way because Natalie never reciprocated his love, and looked down on him because of his occupation. Although Arianna didn't look down on him, at least in the end, she betrayed him and it hurt like shit.

However, Marcel didn't take it out on others around him… okay, maybe he did a little. But the point is, he didn't kidnap the woman's best friend, which in his case would have been Mimi - and Victor would murder him in his sleep and fake it as a suicide.

They said the quiet ones were always the deadly ones because as innocent as his cousin Victor looked, he had pretty dark and twisted ways of sending one to the grave. His pretty M.O had given him his title as the Enforcer.

And thinking about it now, Marcel knew he has been an emotional wreck lately, that it wouldn't be hard for his people to believe that he loved Arianna too much, enough to take his own life - perhaps, except his nosy father who would suspect foul plan. My son isn't that weak, he would claim. The good thing is that he could trust his father to get him justice. Haha, funny, not funny.

In one word, what Marcel is trying to say is, he didn't capture some innocent woman, separate her from her family and knock her up because he is mad at Arianna's betrayal. That was the most stupid thing that he has ever heard. Whatever happened between him and Natalie doesn't excuse what Daniel did to his monster.

And since he didn't mete out the same treatment to other women, Marcel knew with finality that he couldn't be like his father as he had feared becoming all through his life. Arianna was right. Even if he carried out illegal stuff as an occupation, he wasn't his father. He was different and better than Daniel. He was above the man and he knew it.

That was why Daniel kept forcing him to become like him. Punishing and tormenting him, looking for ways to change him and it didn't happen. He was Marcel Luciano, not Daniel Luciano, two different people! And he would never be like him. Come rain, come sunshine, Marcel was determined.

"Whether he did or not, that's none of my business," Marcel grumbled as he stepped out of the car from the driver's side of the seat and Victor did the same.

As agreed upon, each side could only come with three representatives to eliminate any form of tension or foul play. Aside from his father, who was the committee chairman Of course - note the sarcasm - Marcel chose to come with Victor whom he knew always had his back. He doesn't trust Daniel one bit. What if his father stabs him in the back? So yes, Marcel was merely taking precautions from his own father.

This was a neutral ground for both parties and has been quite an old tradition in their world. Anyone who defiles the hallowed ground first, the other party has the right to retaliate and would be supported by other crime families. The rule was quite serious.

"Isn't this amazing? Our small family, coming together for a purpose. Conflict does bring people together, don't you think so?" Daniel said as soon as Marcel fell in line beside and thankfully Victor was in the middle, standing between both of them.

Marcel didn't look at his father but he did shake his head in pity. The man seriously needed a life - and a woman. But then he wouldn't put any woman through hell on earth by pairing her up with his father. So maybe Daniel deserves his loneliness and pining for Natalie all through his life seems to be a good punishment.

Marcel ignored him and when it became obvious to Daniel that his son wasn't going to talk to him any time soon, he turned to Victor, who prayed inwardly that the ground opened up and swallowed him.

"It's been a while, Vic. How are you doing?" Daniel's focus was now on him.

"Good sir," Victor breathed. Was it only him or did the air suddenly seize to blow? Thank God, he wasn't wearing a suit.

"Are you sure?" Daniel looked at him intensely as if he could see through him, asking, "Or how is your illness? What is it called again? A fit? Tantrum? I wasn't exactly paying attention."

By now Victor's lips had pressed into a thin line. He was quite sensitive to that issue being brought up.

"You know I'm sorry that I wasn't paying attention that night you were taken because I was busy looking for my selfish son. Perhaps, I would have saved you from experiencing such horrors as a child." Daniel appeared sympathetic.

"But you didn't and you have an honor degree in being an asshole," Marcel finally responded.

Daniel turned to Victor with a huge smile, "And that my son, is how you push people's buttons." He hinted at the fact Marcel finally answered him.

Well, for starters, Victor was glad that he wasn't his son. Literally.