Chapter 3 HELLS-DAY IN PENITENTIARY

Mackenzie was not sure if she heard him well and her mouth fell open in shock, "What did you say dad?"

Her father crossed his thick arms, corded with veins over his chest, "I got life imprisonment, the lawyers have tried their fucking best to reduce my term or get me out but those motherfuckers wants to put me away for good. I am so sorry princess."

Tears filled her big eyes again and this time she didn't bother holding it back. "Oh dad, what did you do that made them hate you so bad and want you in lock up forever?"

Her father shrugged and remained silent.

She got a little bit of control over herself and her eyes flickered back to the intense blue-eyed inmate again and noticed that he was no longer looking at her and she felt disappointment wash through her. She tried not to grimace at the way she felt, she must be so starved of male attention to feel so sad that a prisoner-no matter if he was the most ruggedly handsome person she had ever laid eyes on-wasn't staring at her with a heady mixture of perusal and arousal.

"Would you do this for me?' her father asked, "I know my brother is in charge for now but that drug addicted fool would run me to the ground. Baby girl you have to take over the business from your uncle."

She hated that he was insisting on this, if he feels like he could guilt trip her into giving up her dreams for him-for a father who never gave two fucks about her and left her for prison-then he was wrong. Does he think just because he wasn't getting out of here, he could twist her emotions to his own favor and use them to achieve his own means?

"Dad, I would never take over the 'family business'. I know you are scared for the future of the 'business' but uncle Lucca is doing a great job, I mean, Marco must have given you daily reports. I want to do what I love the most and not do anything out of an obligation that I do not in any way owe you." she smiled softly and shrugged, "You know mom would want me to follow my dreams." To drive home that point, she reached for her ring and thumbed it, her father's eyes following her every movement.

Alessandro let out a deep sigh, "You have to get married then."

"No way." She tried not to frown at the prospect of getting married to some man of her father's choosing.

"But..."

"You know what? Coming here was a mistake; you are still a selfish prick who thinks of only himself. I knew you were pretending to show distress about missing my graduation. Even if you were not in prison, I could bet my right arm that you would not still have shown up. So stop with the theatrics dad. I love you... Or I loved the idea of the dad I once knew as a little kid. Uncle Lucca is way better than you would ever be regardless of his drug addiction. And for the most part of my growing years, he was the father figure I craved to have."

"You have ten minutes left." the guard standing close to them barked and Alessandro shot him a murderous look.

"Shut the fuck up, Puta!" Her father shot back and the guard swallowed as he walked away from them.

"Baby girl, I love...." Her father trailed off, sitting up with his back straight, and then he slanted as his head as though he was paying attention to something.

She saw his left ear twitching as her gaze followed the path his eyes were riveted to, she could swear that she heard someone whisper her name along with a string of curses muttered in Italian. There were two inmates talking between tables, which she knew was against the rules. All at once, they both glanced her way and one with a scar running down his left eye smirked at her. Then he winked at her as he licked his lips and her stomach revolted in disgust.

When she turned back and looked at her dad, his whole demeanor had changed and he looked so rigid as he sat up against the chair. "It is time for you to go princess. This is why I never want you near this goddamn place."

She didn't want to question him but the time they had both spent talking to each other was wasted arguing. She didn't know when next she would be able to come see him so she refused, "No dad, I still have time. I need to speak to you."

"Puta Madre!" a voice shouted across the room and it bounced off the walls, making Mackenzie jolt in surprise.

She immediately looked around for the blue-eyed inmate and he was nowhere to be found. He must have left some while ago as she was engaged with her father. She didn't know why she thought about him first as soon as room began to have this evil aura as though something bad was going to happen to her. Then she remembered what the warden had said, was he trying to warn her? and her father had reacted so violently to him.

Fear slithered down her spine as one inmate sprung to his feet and tackled the man that had winked at her. She looked at the guards waiting for them to come over and resolve this but instead they don't and they walked away.

One guy pushed another against the wall and everything went down the rabbit hole.

"Mack, Baby run!" her father yelled in a booming voice as Mackenzie stood stock still, her eyes wide with fear. One of the men came at her and tried to grip her hair but her father grabbed him by the shirt collar and planted his fist into the man's face. Soon, two other prisoners joined the fist fights between her father and the man as they discretely held sharp blades between their fingers.

Mackenzie was too stunned to move and she watched as her dad swung his fists and knees at anyone who attacked him or her, suddenly a blood curling scream rends the air and Mackenzie rushed towards her father. He had been stabbed uncountable times in the belly and was lying in a pool of his own blood as the prisoners counting kicking at his body. She screamed too and tried pushing the men easily twice her size off her father and one of them slapped her and shoved her till she stumbled and fell on the ground.

She quickly scrambled up again as her defenses kicked in and she swung at the man nearest to her. One of them that had a bad stench oozing from him tried to rip the seam of her strapless bra top and she rained blows on him. Then the oldest looking one amongst them slapped her really hard and the force propelled her on the cement floor almost knocking her out cold. Black dots lined her vision and she could feel blood gushing out from the open wound on the torn side of her head that slammed against the metal legs of one of the table. It was as though all other visitors had gotten a forewarning that something terrible was going to happen because only Mackenzie remained in the visiting room.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed as they withdrew from her father and surrounded her as she laid on the ground motionless, she was too weak to protest, and one of them turned her on her front as he cupped her small breasts through the jacket and squeezed hard. All of them whooped and howled, the oldest prisoner lifted a finger and their noises ceased.

Another one of the men knelt beside her and ripped her jacket open. They all jeered and whooped as they stared at her almost naked chest. Another one of them started to move closer to her with a sneer all over his face and Mackenzie shut her eyes tightly as a single tear slid down her left cheek. She regretted coming to the prison to see her dad and she was so worried that he would lose so much blood if he isn't rushed to the hospital immediately.

She closed her eyes, and held her breath as they all stretched their hands towards her exposed and bruised chest, expecting to feel their disgusting touch any instant.

Moments passed and nothing, her left eye creaked open and she saw all of them, in their sorry form, groaning and writhing on the floor in a pool of their own blood, the older guy laid beneath a huge figure that was plummeting and punching his face. She actually felt sorry for him; his face would be bloodied and boxed in by now.

The figure finally stood and his face was shadowed due to the poor lighting of the room or maybe because she was dizzy, she wondered who he was.

"Piss off". The stranger said to the men in a very husky and quiet voice. Those two words held so much authority and they all scrambled to their feet, their feet slapping off on the ground as they bolted away from the visiting room, the guards were still nowhere to be found.

Mackenzie laid battered, half naked and disoriented on the ground. Her knight in a fucking shiny armor or probably a prison orange jumpsuit pulled off his white vest and for a moment she wondered if he wanted to take his turn but then he threw it on her, a snarl on his face. She shrugged, gasping and she clutched her shoulders. It seemed to be twisted backwards and she lay still on the hard ground.

He sucked his teeth and ran a hand through his thick hair in annoyance, "What the hell are you doing here?" He questioned disbelievingly. "This is no fucking place for Princesses! When I saw you coming at the entrance while I was out at the fields I knew you were going to be trouble."

His voice sounded chastising and she got madder but she remained silent.

"Fucking hell, women are so damned infuriating!"

He offered her a hand and helped her up to her feet; he shoved her arms into his white vest and zipped her up.

She gave a watery smile and picked up her purse as she murmured a 'thank you' and then she remembered her father lying in a pool of his blood and she rushed towards him. She fell to her knees and checked for a pulse and found one, it was weak but it meant father was still alive. The prisoner who had helped her walked out of the visiting room to get the prison wardens and few minutes later... they grudgingly walked back in.

"You need to leave now Ma'am.' She shot them a feisty glare. "He would be taken to the infirmary and he would be fine in no time... this is not a strange occurrence inside the prison walls."

"Fuck all of you... I saw what happened. You all knew something was going to happen and you walked away. Even if you didn't know, there is a camera in this room and none of you came to help." She cried at them.

Suddenly, her bodyguard, Marco, burst through the doors and his face twisted into a mask of sweltering anger and he swung his clenched fist at the warden nearest to him.

It was safe to say that day was 'Hells day in penitentiary.'