~GIA~ Today was a different day. I felt different. I was no longer a virgin, and I imagined how my mother would scold me for that if she was still alive. But then again, I had sex when I was married, according to her wishes. But she would scold me that I slept with a man who took her life and my father's. And while we were eating, Mario kept stealing glances at me. I had to try so hard not to blush and quit eating because I was hungry. I needed something in my stomach for this long day. "Are you enjoying your food?" He asked. "Yes. Are you?" I answered. He smiled and replied, "Yes. I am, too." I smiled and ate my food. He was nervous for some reason. He wanted to ask something else. Maybe about why I left in the morning while he was still sleeping. He wanted to know how I felt. I could see it in his eyes. He was surprised when he saw me coming to the dining table to eat breakfast with him. He thought that I would prefer to have it brought to my room so that I wouldn'
~MARIO~ She looked at me with her eyes wide open and then responded, "Don't ever call me your wife. And in case you haven't noted, I am no longer afraid of you, Mario." I chuckled and commanded, "Get in the car, Gia." She looked intently at me, obviously that she wanted to say something before she changed her mind and walked to the car and got in the backseat. She looked through the window and gave me a deadly stare. We were back to square one, and I felt bad at some point. She was not supposed to see everything that she saw in that dungeon because the last time I took her to one, her parents were locked up in it, and it wasn't an enjoyable visit for her. "Keep an eye on her and make sure that she doesn't run off again," I instructed one of the guards that we came with. The guard nodded, and then I went back inside with the other one. I wanted to get everything done and over with so that I could go back home with Gia and try to make things right with her after everythi
~GIA~ I slammed the door, went to my bed, and threw myself across it, groaning. I was angry at Mario for taking me to a dungeon when he knew that the last time he took me into one, there were my parents inside. They were tortured to tell him who hired my father to kill Francesca. He didn't even want to care that my father was hired to do a job that paid his bills. He didn't even care that the bullet was not meant for her. It was for him. Francesca was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Sofia came inside and stood near the door after closing it. "Mario sent me to check up on you," she said with a concerned look on her face and added, "What happened? What's wrong?" "You should have asked him," I responded. Irritated that he always had to treat me like I was a child. "I'm here now, Gia, and I want to know what's bothering you," Sofia responded, concerned. "I don't want to talk about it," I said, turning over and sleeping on my side. "I can't take that. What did he do?
~MARIO~ A week later, I dedicated my time to planning on evading Giovanni's place. I had to have several backup plans in case things didn't go according to the original plan. His guard sent me the layout of his house and how I could get through without alerting the cameras around the premises. At first, I was reluctant to work with the guy but then he told me that he had plans to get back at Giovanni for what he did to him when he refused to do a certain job for him. So, I had all the needed necessities for my payback. "Giovanni has two little daughters in his house, boss, we have to find a way to not get them in the middle of all this," Andrea said with a sympathetic face. He was right. In all my missions, I have never implicated little children. That's because they did not know what was going on and did not deserve to pay for things that they had no hands in. "Of course, Andrea, we will not implicate the little girls. How old are they?" I asked, getting dressed in all
~GIA~ "Put me down!" I shouted as the guard threw me inside the van. "You should know by now that there is no escaping this place, Gia," the guard said as he drove off. I stared out of the window and saw a fence at the sides of the road. The forest was just an illusion. There was no way that I was going to escape from a 100-foot fence. I felt my heart shattering inside me. "How did you know I was running?" I asked him. "I saw you when you navigated your way through the forest. I thought you knew that it would lead you nowhere. And if you reached the fence and tried to climb, you would have risked your life by getting yourself electrocuted," he replied. My blood ran cold. Sofia was right. I could never be able to escape Mario. Not if I'd be willing to risk my life by escaping through the main gate that was heavily guarded by guards and cameras. All my efforts seemed to have been in vain. And once again, Mario won. When we arrived at the front door, the guard opened the
~MARIO~ After hanging up the call on Gia, I sighed and leaned back on the car seat. I didn't understand how much she hated me until the call. I realized that we were far from resolving our issues and working past everything that happened. Of course, she had every right to be mad at me and hate me for killing her parents and her friend in front of her. I brought her so much pain, and there were no excuses for that. I had to pay for putting her through all that. But I also wanted to make it right. "We are here," Andrea said as the van stopped a few meters from a big mansion house. "Did you check on Josiah if he has been able to deactivate the alarm system in the house?" I asked, loading my gun with bullets. "Yes, he did. I will go to the girls' room and get them while you take care of Giovanni." He answered. "We did not discuss that, Andrea," I snapped. His obsession with Giovanni's daughters was insane and I couldn't understand why. He was not someone who liked childr
~GIA~ "Well, have you heard anything from Mario?" I asked Sofia. I just wondered if he was on his way home yet because it was getting late. The news of me trying to escape finally felt like old news. But Mario was still mad and would want to talk about it when he came back, and I understood. "I haven't heard anything. Why are you asking?" Sofia gave me a skeptical look. I scoffed and answered, "I won't try to escape again. I was just wondering if he was on his way back." "You need not worry yourself much, Gia. He will be home soon." She answered. "That's all I wanted to hear." I smiled. "Are we not going to talk about why I think it's a grave mistake for you to try to escape behind Mario's back?" She sat down next to me on the bed. "I got your point, and my plan didn't work. So you don't have to remind me of how I made a fool of myself thinking that I could jump off a 100-foot fence." I rolled my eyes. "It's not really about that, Gia. All I want to say is that even if you
~MARIO~ "Why wasn't I called to have fun?" Matteo said, emerging from the crowd that he came with. I almost thought that we were about to die. What a joke that Matteo had to play on us. I frowned at him and then smiled as I embraced him. It'd been a long time since we last saw each other. He was away and couldn't help with the Giovanni problem. I was very surprised when I saw him. He was good at surprises. "What happened with your arm?" He asked worriedly. I looked at the dead dog far off from the porch, and Matteo chuckled. "No way, you were bitten by a dog?" He chuckled. I rolled my eyes, "Very funny." "Does it sting? Do you think the dog has rabbis?" He asked, chuckling. "You making me feel better right now," I groaned as we walked to the gate. "It doesn't look terrible. You will survive," he said. I was really glad to see him. He was a wonderful friend and always showed up for me. He'd never bail out on me when I needed him the most. He always made sure that