Page 97 of Vita Mia

“Really?” Mirabella asked with relief. “Oh mio Dio, grazie, tutto grazie!”

Sophia hugged her. Mirabella squeezed her to her, and smiled at Dominic from over Sophia’s shoulder.

“I’ve hired a young medical student as well., she is studying child psychology. She will come and stay with you both in Naples. She will work with Eve,” Dominic said. “The kids will be fine with you.”

“Grazie,Domi.” Mirabella wiped at her tears. “When can we go?”

“You leave tonight,” he said.

Chapter Seventeen

Return to Napoli

Poggioreale Prison, Napoli Italy

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“TIRA SU IL CULO!”

Giovanni’s bunk was kicked. He woke to a harsh flash of light directly in his face.

“Tira su il culo!Wake the fuck up!” the prison guard demanded. Before Giovanni could react, he was grabbed by the feet and yanked out of the bunk. His landing was hard causing his head to slam on the surface with such force that he blacked out for a few seconds. The next thing he knew he was being dragged. Giovanni kicked and fought back. His feet were dropped and the guards went on the offensive. Two men attacked him with kicks to the side and stomps to his chest. From the compromised position he was forced into, he took the beating the best he could. Then each man took an arm and they dragged him out of the cell while the gypsy king and his men were forced to stand down.

Giovanni was dragged along the dank hall of the prison with all inmates coming to the bars of their cells to watch. He didn’t know if Nico and Renaldo were one of them but he figured they were. Instead of lifting his head to see inmates who watched him being taken to his fate he used the time to recapture his mental and physical strength. Aldo, the gypsy king, had told him what would come next. Without explanation, he was thrown into a room and made to strip. Giovanni did as he was ordered. He was bleeding from the head and the mouth. Once undressed, a firehose was turned on him with so much force he felt as if the water would rip the skin from his bones. He was blown up against the wall and had to withstand the assault. The guards laughed as he gagged and threw up water.

“Andiamo,” another guard ordered the others who’d gathered and admonished them for having their sadistic fun with the inmate. “Bring him!”

Giovanni was forced out of the room. He was nude holding his groin. He had no doubt a bullet would be put in him if he made any move against the prison guards, so he followed orders with seething hatred in his heart.

“We’ll take him,” One guard said to the other and he was handed off to men who looked like they should be working for Giovanni and not the judicial system. They arrived at the steel door of the torture chamber that the prison was known for. It had many locks. When the final one was released he was pushed inside. The room was five feet wide and ten feet long, and without video surveillance like the rest of the prison. The walls were covered in dried blood. The guards called itRoom Zero, but the inmates referred to it as theSuicide Room. Even the strongest man locked away behind its doors would want to commit suicide after a night of torture and torment.

Waiting for Giovanni inside of the room was warden Fassino. He stood with his hands clasped before him. He was dressed in a tailored dark suit. He was polished from head to toe. He looked completely out of place among the excrement stained walls. But the dark sinister way the corner of his mouth lifted into a sneer that would pass in hell for a smile, made it was clear that Room Zero was his playground.

“Welcome to Poggioreale, you Camorra dog. You are in my house now.”

Giovanni glanced behind him as a man taller and stronger than any muscle he ever hired entered the room. The guards laughed. “I’ve been informed that you’ve been conspiring in my prison. Colluding with inmates to cause trouble. And today you attacked one of my guards. I can’t tolerate such behavior.”

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