The pain shining in Daniella's eyes, the anger in her voice, Robert had seen this before.
He felt her pain, saw her body, all the scars, he could not even picture how she got it.
He swallowed hard. He watched as the pain was swallowed by her dark irises. Her cold expression, all he knows is that the little girl he used to play with has been long gone.
His hand stretched to give her a hug, her face buried in his chest, she cried again.
Again, and again, her weep tattooed in his mind. Her cry – full of pain sounded in the cold room.
When did the last time he saw her crying? He asked himself.
It's been three years.
As he embraced Daniella with his arms, his mind flew to the time Daniella visited him in the prison.
-
Seven years ago.
Inside of the tight room, Robert was sitting on the thin foam of his bed. Both feet were on the ground.
He was in the maximum-security prison. His room was filled with cameras, monitoring him 24 hours.
He was in the cell for one reason, he was wrongly accused of killing his own father.
His face was cold, colder than the rails of the cell.
He has been in prison for six months and he has a long way to go.
He did not kill his father, it was not even a setup. He and his father were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
And now, he's sitting in the cold cell because of that. He didn't even bother to fight for his right, he just let the court to sentence him.
He usually gets visited by his brother Sebastian, which was only sixteen that time.
But Robert wants his brother to be safe from the real killers so he asked him to leave.
Since then, his brother stopped seeing him.
After six months of sitting in the prison. He was visited by a girl.
That day, as he finished with his morning rituals, a cell guard smacked his bat on his metal door.
"HEY! You have a visitor. Come out with your hands behind your head," Robert sighed. He decided to obey the guard no matter how rude he said those words.
He knows very well, disobeying them would only cause him pain.
He walked out with hands behind his head.
One of the guards cuffed his hands, then they walked first and he followed them quietly.
When they stopped in front of the visitor lounge, Robert looked around but only saw a young girl, his brother was not around.
"My brother is not here," he said.
"your girlfriend is here," one of the guards teasingly said pointing at the small woman timidly sitting on the metal chair.
His eyebrow rumpled, with his handcuffed, he walked towards the girl.
He stopped by the table, then the girl got up, slowly, her head rose to meet his eyes.
Her pale face, those round eyes and the faint shy smile on her lips, Robert would never forget this girl.
Daniella was his neighbor, his brother's playmate.
His hands lifted to touch her face.
Her face with the beauty of a priceless painting was pale as a sheet of paper. Her thin lips were forcing a smile and her eyes, so round and beautiful were glooming with sadness.
"I am glad my letter found you. I am not sure if I got your address correctly," excitement rushed to his body after seeing Daniella.
The girl chuckled shyly, she held his hands, gripping it lightly to show her support.
"Robert. I know that you didn't kill your father but no one would believe me. They said I was not in the right mind that night but I know you didn't kill him," her soft voice was enough to make him feel better.
He held her hands and nodded.
"It's fine Daniella. We both know that whoever killed my father also had your family killed," his eyes gloomed. He might have lost his father but Daniella lost everything that night.
"its fine Robert. A woman named Kierry has been helping me to cope and she allowed me to come here and tell you that you are getting out tomorrow," Daniella's cheered voice and words have made him stunned
His hand frost from caressing hers, his eyes increased as he stared at her.
"Really? How did she do that?" he said with surprise.
"She knows a lot of people, Robert. But she also said that the people behind our families death are powerful. So even if we know who they are, we wouldn't have a chance."
Robert nodded, Daniella was right. They don't have resources to find the real culprit.
"Ok, once I am out here Daniella, I will stay by your side. I will be your brother, I will protect you" saying that, his hand patted her head.
The girl's smile widened, her round eyes went blue which something he loves to see.
And the next day, as Daniella promised, she picked him up.
He stayed in the house next to the orphanage where she was living. He worked as a bartender in a night club and supported his brother Sebastian who was living in Perth.
Then something happened to Daniella. After she moved out of the orphanage two years ago to continue her education in London, she came back.
So fierce and broken.
Daniella had just turned twenty when she came to see him.
There was something about her, her eyes, they were like a pair of statue eyes – emotionless while her smile, the way she beamed was like a psycho.
The coldness of her eyes, the agony beneath it. He knew something happened to her in London, and whatever it is, it broke her.
That night, Daniella gave him a folder, containing the information and photos of the man that murdered his father.
Inside of his small apartment, filled with rats and molds, Daniella told him something that has made his old gangster self come back.
"We will get them one by one. Those people that killed our family. For now, I only have the man that killed your father but don't worry. Step by step, we will climb that ladder to reach the top, and once we find out the person behind this, we will make his and his whole family's life a living hell."
The anguish in her voice and the pain in her weep was the same as three years ago.
Robert senses were pulled back when Daniella withdrew herself from his embrace.
He breathed, thinking how could he overlook the reason why they started this.
They now have everything, the reputation, money, and power and yet he just asked Daniella to let one woman go.
This isn't rights, he thought.
He knows very well that to get to the top and find the main person behind this charade, he should not stop and just support Daniella.
With that thought, Robert smirked and picked up the two knives laying on the table.
And with a cold face, he handed it to Daniella.
"Do your thing, Daniella. We have three people to torture today."
After Daniella accepted the knives, she looked at the senator's daughter.
"Take her out of this room Robert. You are right, she had enough pain," saying that Daniella casually tossed the knives in the air, targeting each of the Senator's Villa arms.
As soon as the knives bounded on the senator's arms, a deafening screech filled the room.