Chapter 12: Chapter 12

"See you in a minute," Nunzio said, handing his fingers through his brown hair somewhat nervously, before knocking on a dark door downstairs and giving me an encouraging look.

"Come in!" I heard Vincenzo call from inside, but I was transfixed and looked up at Nunzio for help, who then opened the door and pushed me at my back into the large office, where Vincenzo was sitting at a magnificent desk and I was expressionless looked forward to.

Excellent! Thrown to the lion to eat.

"Ludovica," he greeted me in his dark voice and smiled so fakely that it went through my bones. "Sit down."

I turned to Nunzio, but he was about to close the door from the outside. I looked anxiously at a bookshelf next to me and, noticing a painting by the window, I dazedly ran towards it and saw Vincenzo sitting in front of his sons.

Dario, Gino and little Nicolo.

Only the woman at Vincenzo's side, with the piercing blue eyes that Dario also had, was unknown to me.

"She was a truly stunning woman," Vincenzo snapped me out of my observation and I turned in his direction with a questioning expression. He was still sitting at his desk in his tight black sweater and was now also looking at the painting in front of me, while I could see something like longing flashing in his eyes.

Since he spoke in the past tense, I could only imagine that she was already gone, and even in my hopeless situation, I felt something close to sympathy for the unfamiliar mafia boss, because I knew all too well how difficult it was it was losing someone and just moving on.

"Le mie sincere condoglianze," I offered him my condolences, running towards him to sit in front of him in one of the two leather armchairs.

"Thank you," he said coolly, looking at me in silence for a while. "Now that you're part of the family, you should know that we have many enemies. Most of them don't target me or my sons, but the people who are most important to us," he explained, but I barely heard him because I was irritated by what he meant about me being part of the family.

"Sorry, but I don't quite understand," I admitted and he pulled something out of his drawer while I watched him intently.

"My wife was shot," he said coldly, putting the cigar in his mouth to light it with a match. "You should know what dangers you might face if you marry my son."

He calmly waved his match while I felt like I was choking and clutched my heart in a panic.

"Me? Getting married?" I mumbled nervously and he seemed amused that I was going nuts.

"Yes, because otherwise Gino never gets sane. You can be happy that we have to close some deals right now and it's always better when my sons have a woman by their side. It's good for the atmosphere in the family and looks on looks better on the outside too."

"Gino?" I repeated, my eyes widening in disbelief as I got up from the chair and walked to the window. I desperately needed oxygen, but even here I felt like I was suffocating. I literally felt his hand around my neck again and grabbed my trembling chest even more tightly while my eyes almost went black.

"No," I said almost breathlessly, remembering Dario's words, who probably already knew what to expect. "I do not want that."

Vincenzo stood up, put his cigar in a clear ashtray and came close to place his hand on my shoulder for comfort.

"But Ludo," he said calmly, looking into my eyes with a smile. "You can decide for yourself. Nobody wants to force you to do anything."

I took a deep breath and fought back tears to look at him gratefully.

"Either you marry Gino, become part of my family and I will do everything to give you a good life, or you work in one of our clubs and get minimum wage while old men rape you every night. Your decision, Dear."

I looked at him in disbelief and really had to pull myself together not to freak out and start crying. One was almost as bad as the other, although I couldn't even begin to imagine life as a hooker. Those two old men came back to my mind and I didn't want to imagine what would have happened if Dario hadn't saved me from them, so to speak.

"So?" Vincenzo turned to me, letting go of my shoulder to walk back to his desk and sit back in the black desk chair. "What are you saying?"

"What am I saying?" I blurted out confusedly, glancing at the painting again to get a closer look at Gino. He was probably 10 years younger in the picture, but even now he still had that black, slightly curly short hair and that distinctive face that women were sure to attract. But his character, his unpredictability and his violence. No matter how handsome he was, his demeanor made him a person I didn't want around.

But be a whore? could i do that Giving myself over to other men every night.

"Why?" I asked Vincenzo and looked over at him again. "Why should I do all this? My uncle owes you, not me. It's not my job to sell my life for him."

"Well," he said with a grin and drew on his cigar, which polluted the whole room with its penetrating smell. "I can hardly let Gino marry your uncle."

I would have loved to smack that fucking smile out of his face, but he must have had several pistols in his desk, so I just clenched my fists and visualized it, while now I was the one who cracked a faint grin.

"I have no debts with you and I don't give a shit about my uncle. Shoot him or torture him. I don't care either. I'll go now," I said and wanted to go to the door, but Vincenzo got up and held up his hand, to make me stop

"You will either consider one of the two options, or your uncle can visit you at a tombstone. Either way, you will do as I ask. Don't think I have Nunzio's patience and don't think I would "I can't see through a ruse. So don't tease me and tell me what you want before I run out of patience with you!"

He took a pistol out of his desk, loaded it demonstratively and looked at me expectantly while my thoughts raced, but I didn't show any weakness.

Maybe I could get Gino to let me go as soon as he got fed up. As a hooker I certainly wouldn't last long mentally.

"Fine, I'm marrying your son," I hissed through clenched teeth and couldn't believe what I was saying.

"Congratulazioni, Ludovica. You won't regret it," he said happily and came over to me to hug me tightly. "Please call me Enzo and we'll clarify everything else with the family now."

fucking shit!!!

Dazed, caught in a kind of intoxication, I followed Enzo out of his office and into the high-ceilinged foyer where Nunzio and Nicolo sat on a bottom step and rose happily as soon as they saw us coming out of the room.

I heard a terrible hissing and only noticed everything in passing while my gaze fell into the living room where Dario's fiancee was standing and seemed to be taking selfies with a mobile phone. Of course she looked gorgeous again with her long brown hair and really elegant yellow dress.

"And?" I heard Nunzio, who, like Nicolo, was looking attentively at Enzo.

"She said yes," he said, and Nunzio immediately came up to me and hugged me tightly to spin me around.

"Then you'll get a great last name after all," he laughed and put his mouth close to my ear. "And finally I have someone in the family I really like."

I looked at him irritated and was shortly afterwards greeted by Nicolo with a handshake before the front door next to us opened and my soon-to-be husband entered the house.

He wore a tight black shirt that matched his light-colored jeans and looked back and forth between us in amazement.

"What's going on here?" he asked, glancing at my dress before turning to his father.

"We've finally found a woman for you," he said, and that's when I really realized that Gino, like me, didn't even know.

"What?" Gino asked laughing and probably thought it was a joke before he realized from Enzo's expression that it wasn't a joke but bitter reality. "No!"

He cursed loudly in Italian and waved his hands wildly, only to be reprimanded again and again by his father, who apparently had the last word on the matter.

"So that's that!" Enzo ended the heated discussion and I watched with bated breath as Gino spat right in front of his feet and left the house with a loud slamming of the door. I stayed behind and while it should have been an insult to me how Gino had reacted to me, it pleased me because it certainly wouldn't be a wedding, which put a big grin on my face.

"Sit down. I'll talk to him," Enzo turned sternly to the three of us and disappeared after his son while we ran into the living room and Nicolo immediately sat down on the couch to turn on his Playstation on the big TV.

"He'll calm down," Nunzio whispered to me, but I was more than happy that Gino had fled in such a hurry. It wouldn't matter much if I had to have him next to me right now, so I took a calming breath and turned to smile at Nunzio, who gave me an apologetic look.

"His reaction is perfectly fine with me," I explained, looking behind Nunzio toward the open kitchen where Dario's fiancée was standing, eyeing me disapprovingly.

What was her problem now?

As Nunzio followed my gaze, he gently grabbed my forearm and led me to the large couch, where we sat down next to Nicolo, who, however, had headphones on and barely noticed us because of his game.

"Ignore Giovanna," Nunzio spoke softly, turning to block my view of the beauty.

"What's her problem with me?"

"With you? The question is, with whom does she have no problem," he grinned and turned to her briefly, only to then look at me again. "Even Dario doesn't like being around her. Her family is also very influential in Palermo. So her marriage is more of a benefit thing and since she's here, Dario just throws himself into work and is hardly ever at home."

I listened carefully to his words, because I wanted to learn more about Dario, even if it was just little things, they just interested me and I slowly understood why he never wanted to be home when I met Giovanna's poisonous look again.

"Does he work with Gino?"

"No," Nunzio shook his head and explained that Gino was in charge of the girls and clubs and Dario was in charge of the gun deals. He and Nicolo are more tied to chores like collecting debts and Enzo was the one trying to keep things under control.

I was slowly getting better and better at imagining how everything was going here, and when I looked at the archway into the hallway after our conversation, I unconsciously held my breath and saw Dario, who entered the living room with his eyes on me and stopped with a confused expression.

"Where's Padre," he turned to Nunzio, who then took his eyes off the TV and looked up at him.

"Out with Gino," he let him know, and as Nunzio watched Nicola's game again, Dario's blue eyes met mine again, and I liked what he triggered in me in that moment of silence. There was no more Gino, no marriage, no compulsion. Just two more people who moved something inside, but of course this magical moment was interrupted far too quickly.

"Darling," Giovanna wanted to hug her fiancé, but he immediately took a step back and seemed to signal without words that he didn't want to be touched.

I would have loved to have had the snapped mine that she then twisted on video, but even so I couldn't help but giggle, so that suddenly everyone looked at me in surprise.

"What's laughing at?!", Giovanna wanted to know bitingly and crossed her arms, but my gaze slid to Dario, who I suddenly realized seemed to be signaling something with his fingers. Almost conspicuously, he tapped his watch twice with his finger and looked deep into my eyes. Somehow I had the feeling that he only wanted to tell me something with it all alone, but it was probably imagination and I looked over at Giovanna again, who probably had nothing more to say about my silence.

"Sooooo, please sit down," Enzo's dark voice sounded behind the two of them in the hallway and it didn't take long for everyone to get up and sit down at the laid dining table. Only I stood nervously on the couch and didn't really know where my place would be until Gino entered the living room and slowly walked towards me. His gaze fell briefly to his father, who was sitting at the headboard, until he looked back at me and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled under his breath, and I could really see that he was being forced into the apology. "I shouldn't have reacted like that and it won't happen again."

He stretched out his hand to me, but I only looked at it in amazement for a while before I hesitantly took it in mine and let him lead me to the table.

My heart skipped a beat and when I took a seat at the table right across from Dario and next to Nicolo, I thought this fucking life is really trying to screw me.

"I'm very grateful to have you all around me and I hope you feel the same way," said Enzo happily, raising his wine glass, which the others imitated. I quickly grabbed my glass and held it up while constantly feeling that Dario's gaze was solely on me, which made me so nervous that my hand started to tremble and I wanted to put my glass down quickly, but all took a sip, so did I.

"And to many descendants of the Mancini family!"

At Enzo's words, I choked so quickly that I coughed up all the red wine and hit Dario's face directly, which made me stare at him apologetically, wide-eyed.

Oh man!!!