Gia watched helplessly as Omri walked out of her father's meeting room with Alvan, Renzo and four other men from his mafia along with the paper she had signed away her freedom on. The gravity of her decision weighed heavily on her and she felt so suffocated.
The room was still buzzing with tension. Few minutes ago, Capri and Omri were sitting at opposite ends of the table.
Gia sat at her father's left hand side, Darius next to her and Renzo next to him. Leo was on Capri's right, Omar next to him and then Alvan who was sitting across from Renzo.
Leo and Darius were bubbling with anger. Capri and Omar both had blank looks on their faces while Gia was on the verge of falling apart.
Darius glared at her before storming out without a word to her.
"What were you thinking accepting their offer?" Leo yelled at her. "We were supposed to work this out. We were going to bargain and give them another offer but you just had to blow it all up!"
They all knew that Omri was not going to accept anything else. Refusing the proposal would endanger the Salvatores and the rest of the Redneck Syndicate. It could spark a devastating war which could risk financial collapse and loss of lives.
Capri walked out of the room without a word. The weight of everything rested on his shoulders. He felt like he had failed Gia as a father. He couldn't do something as simple as protecting her.
Gia closed her eyes with a tired sigh. Her heart beat painfully in her chest, she was struggling to breathe through the fear and anxiety. The fear of the unknown.
Zara rushed into the room, merely seconds after Capri left. Her eyes were clouded with unshed tears. Darius had met her in Capri's office and broke the news to her.
"You had better have a good explanation for that little stunt you just pulled," Zara held her arms and shook her. She cried and scolded.
"There was no other way," Gia said simply.
It took everything in her to not break down in front of everyone especially her mother.
"This is not the time to play hero. We could have protected you."
"And at what cost, mother? At what cost? We cannot risk going to war with the Grey Cobras. Not now. You know how bad things already are for us," she reminded her mother.
"So what if there is a war? We were willing to risk everything for you but you just had to sign off your life to someone like Omri."
Zara sat down heavily on a seat next to Gia.
"And have a repeat of Theo? Who will be next? I cannot risk losing any loved one! I'd rather sacrifice myself than let anyone else get hurt. With our current situation, we don't stand a chance against Omri and he knows it. I cannot risk losing more people. Theo almost died because we tried to do things our way. Bella is still traumatized from the events of that night yet you want a repeat of that?" Gia questioned with tears running down her face.
The room was silent.
In truth, no one was really angry with her. They were more disappointed and frustrated with themselves for being incapable of protecting her. Because of this, she had to sacrifice herself for their family, for their mafia, for peace to reign and for everyone's safety.
"Omri's house is not safe for you. You will be targeted, bullied, hated and alienated for just being a Salvatore," Leo reasoned more calmly with her.
Zara's eyes still held unshed tears. All her fears about Gia were coming to pass. It was so quick and heartbreaking to her, "Think about what you are getting yourself into. You don't have to do this."
"I know but I want to."
"I am not letting you do this," Zara said angrily on realizing her daughter's stubbornness. "You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. You have no idea how this contract marriage thing works. You're going to experience hell from his family and maybe even him," she held Gia's arm roughly and tried to shake some sense into her dense head.
Gia only responded with an apologetic smile that only pissed off her mom even more. Zara walked out of the room trembling with rage, slamming the door behind her.
Leo left the room too, leaving Omar and Gia. She closed her eyes and leaned against the back of her seat.
"Aren't you going to express your displeasure?" she said to Omar.
"You know you don't have to do this right?" he stared at her for a bit and turned away. His eyes stared off into the open fields where the window viewed.
"That's not true," she told him calmly.
"Let me tell you this for free. The war you're avoiding is inevitable, the honest truth is that you're only stalling it. The Mafia has always been this way."
"The blood, the money, the power," she completed for him.
He shoved his hands into the pocket of his pants and faced her, looking her dead in the eyes with those soulful brown eyes. "Yes. And greed is the driving force. Omri will come for more. Maybe you don't see this the way the rest of us see it. Getting married to Alvan is only the beginning. He can at any point hang your life over our heads as a threat so he can get whatever the hell he wants."
"He would never. There's a contract. He will never breach the terms of the contract. He knows it," Gia disagreed with him.
"No one especially no Capo is ever really accountable. This marriage will also mean that you need to produce an heir to secure yourself in the family. It's going to be the only way to protect yourself from his family. Are you sure you're ready for all of that? Raising a child in such a cold and ugly environment?" Omar said.
His words made Gia even more scared than she already was. She was not ready for motherhood but once she was married into the family, her free will was going to be taken away from her.
"I almost lost you once. Partly because of that Martinelli boy, I can't trust him with you," Omar told her sincerely. It was one of those rare moments that he was openly expressive.
Gia's eyes clouded with unshed tears. "I'm scared, Omar. I'm fucking scared. I'm sure he hates my guts."
"You can still walk away from this," he tried to convince her but she just silently shook her head.
"I need to do this," she told him firmly. This new situation was finally starting to sink in and she silently accepted it. It was inevitable. Not many children of Capos ever really married for love. A part of her accepted it and made it's peace with the contract marriage.
Omar sighed resignedly, "I failed you once and I won't fuck things up again. I promise you that I will always have your back. I'm going to have my eyes on you, to keep you safe no matter what."
She wanted to trust him. She wanted to believe his words but she couldn't. She was going to have to take care of herself once she was married.
***
Darius and Zara gave Gia the silent treatment and at the end of the day, they had to make peace with her situation.
On the night of that same day, Capri knocked at Gia's door while she was preparing for bed.
"Papa," she said and stepped aside to allow him inside her room.
He looked around like he was trying to engrave every detail of her room in his head. It wouldn't be the same once she was gone.
"How are you doing?" Capri sat on the seat of her reading table while she sat down on her bed.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know honestly."
"I'm sorry," Capri said bitterly.
Gia sighed, "Papa, you did your best and I know that already. I know that if there was any other way, you would have gone through with it."
"If things become unbearable, you always have a place here."
Gia smiled marginally, "Of course. I will run home if I can't stay there."
Capri smiled back. The light didn't reach his eyes. His precious little daughter.
Gia glanced at the small jewelry box in her father's hand, "What's that in your hand?"
"I was going to give you this on your 23rd birthday. This is an early birthday gift since you won't be here for me to give it to you," he said and handed it to her.
She opened it and saw a few sets of daggers inside. She smiled at him and hugged him so tightly in appreciation.
"Thank you papa," she gushed over and over again.
Zara barged into the room like every other day. She was surprised to see Capri there. They all burst into laughter. Both parents had the same idea. They wanted to spend more time with their daughter.
"What's this?" Zara asked as she looked at the partly open box. She opened the box and saw the daggers and she shook her head at Capri.
"There's no way I'm letting my daughter go there without any form of protection," Capri defended himself.
Just as Zara sat on the bed, someone else knocked on the door and Darius walked in. Gia's heart warmed at her family's way of reminding her that she was always going to have a home with them.