Chapter 004

~GIA~

Days after Anna's death, it felt like time stood still. There was a void inside my heart that nothing but death could fill.

I was married to Mario, the most ruthless man I've ever known. He made my life a living hell.

He made me give up on life and fantasize about my death.

I was a walking corpse and gave up on trying to escape from him.

He owned my life, and there was nothing or anybody that could do to help me get away from him.

Except for death, of course.

For days, I couldn't stop imagining Anna's blood on my face whenever I looked in the mirror.

I couldn't eat or sleep.

It felt like food choked in my throat whenever I was tempted to eat, and the nights seemed longer. Darker and lonelier.

Every day, it was torture to realize that I was still alive and had to get through the day and the night that followed.

I kept thinking that I should have been the one who got that bullet, and not Anna.

She deserved to live. She probably had people that she loved and were still alive.

I, on the other hand, had no one to live for. Mario should have shot me and spared her life.

"You will look amazing in this dress, sweetheart," he said as he measured the dress on me in front of the mirror.

And I answered, "It's beautiful."

"Just like you," he mocked.

"I'll assign a new maid for your service to replace Anna. She will come and help you to get ready for the function."

He turned me around to face him and then gave me the dress before he continued speaking.

"Everyone tonight will finally see the wife of Mario Montez." He kissed my cheek and then left.

A tear rolled down my cheek when the door shut behind him.

Sofia, my new help, came and helped me to get ready for the function that was going to take place outside of town.

Mario didn't disclose too much information about it to me, but I didn't care.

I was looking forward to it so that I would be out of this house. Because everywhere I looked, especially in my bedroom, I saw Anna.

I had nightmares of her being shot in front of me.

Her death was my fault, and for the rest of my life, I was going to carry the guilt of her death on my shoulders.

I wished that I never had that stupid idea to leave. I wished that I had kept it to myself instead of getting Anna involved.

She would have been alive, and she would be the one to give me hope now that it seemed lost. Everything would have been better with her around.

She knew exactly what to say and when to say it to make me feel like it wasn't over with me yet.

She tried so hard to make me see the reason why Mario was acting the way he was.

But she didn't know that it was too late to save him.

Mario was heartless, and nothing in the world was going to change that.

His demons had long defeated him and took even the little light that remained in him and left him a monster.

Regardless of what led him to be the man that he was, he was never going to come back.

And every time he looked at me, he saw his dead sister that my father had killed.

Hence, he was never going to look at me differently or even like me.

He hated me as much as I hated him. All that was left for him to do was to end my life.

"Is there anything else that you need, ma'am?" Sofia asked.

"It's Gia. But thank you, that will be all," I answered. She nodded and then left.

A few minutes later, Mario came and escorted me outside to the car.

The long drive was all I needed. To see people again. The tall buildings in the town.

The night sky was even more beautiful with a full moon and stars.

I remembered how I used to take the simple things for granted, like being outside when I was free.

And now it made me happy. I looked around in awe as if it was my first time being outside, breathing the cool air at night.

I felt the cold breeze air against my skin.

And as expected of him, Mario came out of the car first, opened the door for me, and helped me out.

He was a perfect gentleman with a suit matching my dress.

We looked like a normal couple with normal and fixable problems.

He took my hand and escorted me inside the ballroom hall. It was filled with high-profile people. People in his line of work.

"This is our annual meeting party. All these people that you see here are crooks working for the government, and some of them are drug lords," he said as we entered the big ass hall and then continued as we looked around.

"So, this is like our little social gathering to make acquaintances and form alliances," he continued to explain to me.

"I see," I simply answered.

"Do you see that man with a black shirt?" He asked.

"Yes," I answered, spotting him.

He was tall and masculine. He looked like he never skipped gym day, and tattoos were visible from his neck to his arms that were exposed by the short-sleeved shirt.

"That's Matteo Colombo," he answered. "He specializes in firearms shipments. He knows everything from grenades, pistols, and machine guns."

Matteo... Noted. I had to take some notes because who knew? Maybe one day he was going to help me.

"And that one with a blue suit..." He said, directing my attention towards another one, and I followed his gaze.

"I see him," I answered when I spotted the guy.

He looked like an office nerd who knew nothing about crime and loved watching soccer.

"That's Lorenzo Lombardi. He's the COP in the government police department. He helps when one of us has trouble with the law," he answered.

I didn't take notes of that one because he was not going to be of any use.

"Has he helped you before?" I asked out of curiosity. And because why not? He seemed comfortable with me today.

"Several times," he said with a smirk, "He's one of my allies."

We grabbed drinks, and then he showed me someone else again. The guy looked young and had tattoos as well.

"That's Marco Gallo. He's an IT god. He has made himself a fortune by robbing banks simply by hacking their accounts and transferring the amounts into his accounts. He's invincible behind a computer," he replied.

I honestly didn't know why Mario was telling me about his allies, but I didn't mind.

I guess he was trying to test me to see if there was anything I would do with all the information he was giving me about them.

"And the one with him, that's Aldo Romano," he said, pointing towards a more elderly man with a long white beard.

"He's been a lawyer for 20-plus years now. He comes in handy when Lorenzo fails to get us out of the claws of those wanna-be police officers," he added.

"Good to know," I commented.

"Mario! What's good, man?" We both turned our attention to the person speaking whom I remembered as... Marco.

The IT god. He looked very chilled and somewhere between Mario's age.

"Hey man, how are you?" Mario answered him with a big smile. He had a beautiful smile.

"I'm good. Is this the woman I heard you tied the knot with?" Marco asked, looking at me with a smile while he shook hands with Mario.

"Yes, this is my wife, Gia," Mario answered.

"She's beautiful," Marco complimented me.

"She is, isn't she?" Mario queried with an irritated face because Marco looked at me longer than he was supposed to.

Marco noticed the change in his tone and then looked away from me and looked at Mario.

"I was out of the country, I just returned this morning. I'm sorry I missed your wedding," Marco said to settle the dust in the air.

"It's okay. I'm glad to see you here," Mario answered.

"Gentleman," another voice spoke.

The whole crew came. Great. They all looked intimidating and dangerous.

I just swallowed and pretended to be comfortable around them.

"And then we meet again," Aldo, the lawyer, commented.

They greeted each other and laughed for whatever reason.

While I stood there next to Mario, screaming inside to be swept away from these people who were triple my size.

They were all taller than me, and I looked like a toddler around them.

"So, tell us how you got this mesmerizing beauty to be your wife," Lorenzo teased with a smile.

It was crazy how I managed to grasp everything Mario told me about them and memorize their names.

"I'm also intrigued," Matteo said with a smirk on his face.

Mario chuckled and took my hand into his. He squeezed it just enough for me to realize that his hand was bigger than mine.

"This is all an act, brothers. How can I ever ask the daughter of Riccardo Conti to be my wife?" He chuckled.

"Conti? As in the assassin who killed Francesca, your sister?" Marco asked with clear shock on his face and tone.

"Yes," Mario answered.

He smiled and looked at me with disgust. He hated me.

He brought me here to be humiliated and to make fun of my family's name.

"Mario, why in the world did you marry her then?" Matteo asked.

"She's the key to my next biggest score," he replied.

His friends looked at each other. Wondering to themselves, like I was, as to what key I was when he had killed my parents and stripped them of everything that they owned.

They looked at me like I was the enemy they had to team up against and destroy.

Whatever reason that Mario married me, it didn't matter more than to make me suffer.

It was written all over their faces. They hated with the same depth of Mario's hate.

"Don't worry, in due time, I will fill you in with all the details." He answered them with a smile.

I wondered for a long moment what he meant. My father never left anything in my name that would be of use to Mario.

When Mario found us on our island, he took everything that his hand could find and burned down our house into ashes.

He made me and my parents watch as our home went down into flames, along with every memory and every picture that we had in the house.

He made sure that we never had anything to go back to if he ever set us free.

So, what use would I be to him?

I had nothing. I had no one. I was now enemies with his friends.

The most dangerous people in the world hated me. It was over for me but yet, Mario wanted something from me.

I wondered and wondered what it could be, but nothing rang a bell.

As far as I was concerned, my father did not own any riches.

He didn't have millions hidden somewhere. He didn't have businesses or anything that could have made our family rich.

We lived off of the money that he made with his missions. To us, it was too much and enough. We were happy.

* * *

On our way back to his house, no one said a word to the other.

I was lost in my thoughts as he was lost in his.

In just a day, I had made 4 more enemies, and I was sure that my life was over.

I was no match against a chief police officer who could give the order to have me searched to the ends of the earth if I were to escape.

And I was no match for an IT god who could use my information to locate me anywhere in the world I would run to.

My life was as good as over, and there was nothing I could do.

I had to allow Mario to have his way with me.

He already won the day he had me captured in my home and brought to his house.