Unwanted Encounter

A quiet night, clear sky and warm wind. A van was moving in that darkness across the wasteland. Six men were seated in that van, four had firearms, one was driving and the last one was sitting in the passenger's seat. He was wearing a very expensive suit that indicated he belonged to a high-class family.

They were crossing the wasteland, not knowing the fact that they were being followed by a group of people that were riding on some special kind of flying vehicles.

“How long?” The man in the suit asked.

“We are almost there.” The driver replied.

After spending few more minutes driving, the van stopped in the middle of nowhere. The place they stopped at had small pointy rocks in the surroundings so they were having trouble walking.

"I don't like how that guy always changes our place of meeting. I mean, what's the point of calling us to a place like this?" A guy with a laser rifle in his hand complained.

"For security measures. And that's exactly why I love to deal with him. That man is very cautious in what he does and prepares countermeasures if things go south. He also cares for his customers and their safety. It's rare to find someone like that. Not to mention, he provides exactly what we want all the time so I see no issue with this."

"I am terribly sorry, sir; I should have watched my mouth."

As they were busy with their chitchat, the noise of another van could be heard.

All the guards pointed their rifles in that direction. The van stopped near them and a tall young person emerged out of it.

"Good evening, Mr. Alessandra."

"Evening? It's currently 11 PM, Mr. Jeronimo."

“HAHAHA! It doesn’t matter either way. I have all the guns you requested in the back of the van.”

Two men, that came with Jeronimo, opened the steel doors for them.

“Your men seem to be on the edge more than usual, sir."

“They just don’t feel right to have a deal in a place like this. They say they are getting some bad vibes.”

“I apologize for calling you in a place like this, but this is probably the safest area to test these weapons as well.”

“You are right about that.” The man had a serious look on his face.

Then, the Mr. Alessandra took a look in the back of the van. The light was available to give him a clear vision.

“Fascinating!” He was clearly happy to see the weapons.

"Now, time to put these bad boys on some tests."

Then, both Alessandra and Jeronimo took hold of the weapons. One was holding a small pistol-shaped device but had more curvature, while the other was holding something off the size of a rocket launcher.

Jeronimo pointed his small gun towards the ground and pressed the trigger. It released a shockwave that created a hole but also generated an eerie noise.

Alessandra aimed his weapon towards a small mountain and pulled the trigger. A blue flame came out of it and burned down the entire thing.

"This is what I was talking about. That much destructive power with bare minimum recoil. You did it again, kid."

"It's an honour, sir." He bowed down his head a little.

Alessandra then checked some more handheld guns, fired them at random.

"They all seem to have a great grip on them."

"Yes, indeed."

They were so engrossed in those weapons that they didn't notice the ambush… except for Jeronimo.

Even the guards were caught off guard with this as something came flying at a great pace and hit them. It was a guy, riding a flying vehicle. He hit the guard with a metal rod on the head. No one knew whether he was dead or just unconscious.

He was not the only one to go down. Other guards fell to their knees one after another as the other members of the group did the same thing.

Alessandra turned around to witness such a scene, he was shocked but regained his composure quickly.

Five of them landed on the ground and pointed their guns at the remaining ones.

"Hands up! Everyone. We have outnumbered you." The golden-haired girl from the group said.

“That voice…” Alessandra muttered.

"I am sure you don't want any harm. We are here for the weapons. Hand it over to us and we will leave."

"I see. So, you are the kids are from Nicolo's group. It's been two months and you all are still playing this game?"

"HUH?" The girl said in an extremely shocking manner. She must have recognized the voice. She was sweating.

"Hello, Fina. It's been a while since we last met."

There was dead silence after that.

"It pains me to know that you completely ignored my existence during the ceremony, after all, we have some great memories to share." Alessandra's voice got a bit menacing.

"WHY!!!! Why are you here? Why you, of all people?" Fina let out a scream.

"That's not very nice of you to do. People don't usually scream when they see their father's face." Alessandra had a huge grin on his face which looked terrifying in the dark.

Fina fell to the ground. Her whole body was shaking.

"Don't you dare come any further."

Alessandra stayed where he was standing.

“Hey Jeronimo, you are also in cahoots with them, right?” Alessandra said without turning back.

Jeronimo was shocked to hear that.

"Don't do anything stupid. Those two guards of yours are my men. I left them by your side for a situation like this."

At that moment, Jeronimo realized he was completely in the palms of Alessandra. Who knew how many of his men were disguised in his enterprise?

Alessandra then gave a signal with his hand and one of the guards knocked Jeronimo down. Before others could react, Alessandra moved with great speed and kicked the person in the middle. It was a great feat from someone like him.

“Valentino.”

“Calm down, kids.” He was using Valentino as a shield. “Drop your weapons, at once.”

They got no choice but to do as he said. The guards pinned them on the ground while confiscating their guns.

"That's not how you talk to your father, Fina. I guess you need some more lessons."

“NOOOOO! Please stop. Please spare me. Please leave me alone.”

Please

Pleas..

Plea…

P…….

When did it all start? The fragile girl wondered as she cursed her fate.

Oh right, it was when I lost my real parents.

It was nighttime. A small mansion was on fire towards the east of High End. People, around the mansion, were trying their best to extinguish the fire but it surely was not working. Just then, a person came out from that burning mansion, carrying a child..

“Someone came out. Give him a hand.”

“The kid is breathing as well.”

"This man's face got burned. Where is the ambulance?"

“They say it’s on its way.”

“No one seems to be alive, beside them.”

“Thank god, the kid is at least alive.”

A few minutes later, people heard the sound of an ambulance. Both of them were immediately sent to the emergency ward. The kid was having trouble breathing because of the excessive smoke he had inhaled while most of the man's face was burned.

-One week after the incident-

"How are you feeling?"

“Fine, I guess.”

The man was somehow still talking with a burned face that was covered with bandages.

“More importantly, how is the girl?”

"Physically, she is not in danger. But, we can't say the same for her mental state."

"Understandable. She saw her parents getting burned, alive."

“It will remain as a trauma for the rest of her life.”

"Don't worry, doc. I will take care of it."

"What do you mean?"

“I am willing to adopt that girl. She is a child of my friend after all.”

“But what about your face? Won’t she get more nightmares? You will just give her another trauma.” Doctor jokingly said that.

"That's the strategy, doc. Beating the previous trauma with a new and a more intense one at that.”

"That's a nice one, Mr. Alessandra." And both of them laughed at the joke.

Little did the doctor know, it wasn't a joke.

"About my face, I am planning to have plastic surgery."

“That’s one option. But wouldn’t she have had trouble recognizing you?”

"No need to worry about that, doc."

"You are a really kind person, Mr. Alessandra. Willing to take someone's else kid when you, yourself, are quite young."

“Hahaha. Can you believe I am still 22?”

"Your life barely began. You are married, right?"

“Yes, got married last year.”

"Then, you are a newlywed couple. Are you sure your wife won't say anything regarding you adopting someone else’s kid?”

“Like I said doc, don’t worry about such things. I am more than capable enough to deal with things like this. I will do my best to make the girl forget about that horrible night.”

“Very well, we will talk about this once your surgery is a success.”

"Wait, doc. Is it possible to create the face I desire?"

“Do you have any sort of sample?”

“Yes, I do. I need to make a call.”

*Ring*

*Ring*

“Hello.”

"It's me, Alessandra."

"Sir, where did you go off to? We were so worried about you."

"Stop this and listen to what I have to say."

“Yes…”

“Ask my wife to give you the photo of Ugo Ciriaco and bring it to me at St. Epifania.”

“You are in a hospital? Are you alright?”

“Stop with this and do as I say, quick.”

"YES, SIR."

"They will be here in an hour, doc."

“Call me when they arrive.”

“Of course.”

-Two days after the incident-

“What’s your name?”

“Fina.”

“How old are you?”

"Four."

“How are you feeling?”

The girl didn’t say a thing.

“Is there anything you would like to eat?”

The girl didn’t say a thing.

“Any place you want to visit?”

She nodded.

“Where mom and dad are?”

No one said a thing. The girl's eyes were completely lifeless. They lost the charm a kid of her age had. It's like she didn't know what to do after her beloved ones died.

"Not good." The doctor said to the nurse after coming out of the room. "Her mental state is very disturbed. I fear that she might not recover from this."

"That's sad. What did a kid like her do to deserve all this?"

*Sigh*

It all depended on her. Doctors couldn't do anything in a situation like this. She would recover if she truly wanted that otherwise, no one would be able to help her.

-One week after the incident-

“Sir, what happened to your face?”

“Keep your voice down, we are in a hospital.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“My face got burned as I was trying to save a girl from a burning mansion.”

“Why?”

“None of your concern. Did you bring what I asked for?”

“Yes, here it is.”

Alessandra stared at the photo.

The doctor arrived a moment later.

“Here.”

“It can be done, but who is he?”

“Father of that girl.”

"What did you just say?"

“Exactly what you just heard, doctor.”

“Are you out of your mind? You are planning to go in front of that girl with that face?”

“Yes. As I said, I have everything under control.”

“I don’t accept this.”

“I think you misunderstood something; this is not a request but an order.” Alessandra then pointed towards his man who was holding a gun.

“Are you threatening me?”

"Not just you, but the entire hospital. It would be stupid to lose your life for a futile thing called morality. I can get more doctors to perform the surgery so you will fail, regardless. You got no other choice, doc."

After thinking for a while, the doctor agreed but he was clearly sad. What Alessandra was trying to do was truly hideous, totally unacceptable but he had no choice.

The operation started next week and it turned out to be a successful one. Alessandra now, had the face of a dead person, his friend Ugo.

"Marvelous, doc. This is amazing. A masterpiece, I would say."

Both of them were alone in a room. The doctor had a very sad expression on his face as Alessandra kept talking about his face.

"Why such a long face, doc?"

“You are the worst.”

“You don’t need to tell me that.”

“Leave me alone, now that you are done.”

"Not yet, doc."

"What do you mean?" He was surprised to hear that.

"Leaving you alone won't be a good idea in my opinion. How about I send you the place where Ugo is? You can have a chat with him. He was a nice guy after all. You can tell him how I will use his face to make his daughter's life more miserable. Ah yes, that's perfect. Way too perfect. I can imagine his face if he gets to hear this. That would be hilarious. What you say, doc?"

"Wha….what are you talking about?" The doctor was obviously very scared.

Alessandra pulled out a knife.

"No need to be scared, doctor. I promise I will make it quick. You won't feel a thing. Trust me."

Before the doctor could scream, Alessandra grabbed his mouth and slit his throat. The doctor was desperately trying to set himself free and scream but it was impossible to get out from Alessandra's grip.

Few minutes after the unnecessary struggle, his body became lifeless. The doctor was dead. Alessandra's expressions were as if nothing had happened. This man might be crueler and more messed up than Giovanni.

Alessandra wiped the blood from his hand and went out of the room. His men were waiting outside.

“Clean that mess.”

"Yes, sir."

Alessandra headed straight to where the girl was resting. He was not joking when he said he had everything under control. He had no issue adopting the girl without legal formalities. Some shut their mouths for money and some had to be threatened. In short, no one would interfere in this matter and whatever he will do with that girl, everyone would turn a blind eye to that. It was as easy as that.

“Fina Ciriaco.”

He read the nameplate on the door.

“Hmph. Soon, it will Alessandra.”

He opened the door and entered. There was no one else in the room, except for Fina, who was on the bed. She was staring at the ceiling with her big black eyes.

“Hello, Miss Fina.”

She titled her head, which was expressionless at first, but the impression changed quick. She let out a happy scream the next moment. To her, it was a glorious sight. Her father was standing, right in front of her. Her mind was so broken that she didn't figure out why his father had a smaller build than before.

"FATHER!!!!!" She shouted as she jumped from her bed and hugged him.

"I knew you were alive, I just knew it. Those doctors lied to me; I knew it." Fina was crying as she said that.

Alessandra caressed her head gently.

"Everything will be alright, my girl."

“Where is mommy?”

“I am sorry I couldn’t save her.”

A sad expression appeared on her face for a second.

"At least you are safe, father." Fina was smiling as tears were still trickling out of her eyes.

“Yes, my dear.”

Alessandra was smiling as well but it was more devilish and menacing which that little girl failed to understand.

“Let’s go home.”

"Yes."

After an hour drive, they stopped in front of a humongous beautifully structured mansion.

“This is your new home, Fina.”

“This is huge.”

“Yes. Let’s go in and meet your new mother.”

“New mother?”

"Yes. You don't mind, right?"

Fina was conflicted. Having a new mother right after losing her original one... That was why her brain was having trouble processing things.

“I am fine with whatever you think is fine.”

“That’s my girl.”

They both head inside the mansion. For their welcome, an extremely young and beautiful girl was standing. Alongside her, was a maid, holding a baby of few months.

"Nice to meet you, Fina. I am Donella, your new mother. And he is your younger brother."

“Nnnnn……nice to meet yyyyyyy…you.”

That poor girl didn't realize what was about to befall her. She thought her good days of living with the family were back but she was extremely wrong on this guess. That was the start of hell.

Alessandra was, probably, the biggest sadist out there who found new ways to hurt people and enjoyed their screaming, especially kids. That was one of his experiments. He wanted to see how much he can break and fix the kid, how much mental torture can a child endure. No one knew how many kids and adults died in the process during his 37 years of life. This was something that even his wives chose to accept. He was the epitome of evil. A truly disgusting human being.