SAN FRANCISCO
THE GREY COBRAS MAFIA HOUSE
The ride to the Grey Cobras Mafia house was quiet. Too quiet. Alvan hardly said a word to her. The couple barely acknowledged each other. Alvan spent most of his time replying to emails while Gia just looked out the window at the trees flying past them in a blur. Her face was blank, she had zero trace of emotions and her eyes had a cold glint.
She was lost in thought until the car finally came to a halt. Alvan stepped out of the car and Gia followed suite. It was already night and the bright florescent lights illuminated the villa.
"Hey babe," Diana hurried down from the porch and hugged Alvan. She pecked his lip and hugged him again.
"What took you so long? I was starting to get worried," she said with a slight pout.
The corners of Gia's lips twitched as she fought back a sneer from forming on her lips.
"I had a few things to take care of. I'm here now, that's all that matters," Alvan said vaguely and glared at Gia as he spoke.
Diana frowned when she saw him looking at Gia instead of her. She held his arm possessively and turned to Gia with a hard look. "We haven't officially met before. I am Diana, Alvan's girlfriend."
Gia stared at her without a single word. She still had that expressionless look on her face as she stared at Diana for a full minute. She turned her eyes away to take in her surroundings.
Diana gritted her teeth to contain her anger. Alvan patted her hand and walked towards the mansion with Diana still clinging on to his arm.
Gia turned to the driver, "Where's my stuff?" she asked.
"It's in your room," he said to her. "You should probably go in with your husband," he told her politely.
"Thank you," she said and turned around to follow Alvan into the mansion. Climbing the high steps that led to the main entrance was a lot of work considering how opulent her dress was.
There were two guards stationed at the entrance that opened the door for her when she was within reach. She stepped into the foyer and it was very quiet. She sighed in relief when she didn't see anyone there. She wasn't mentally prepared for when she was going to meet the rest of the Martinellis.
"Lost, aren't you?" a male voice said and she turned around to see a guy about her age. He looked vaguely familiar but she couldn't tell where she had seen him before.
"Yes. Yes, I am. Can you show me to my room?" she asked. "I'm Gia."
He scoffed, "Of course I know who you are. The infamous mafia princess. I'm Javan, your brother-in-law."
She could now see the resemblance between the two brothers. No wonder he looked so familiar. She was aware that Omri had two sons but Javan barely made any public appearance and she wondered why.
"I know what you're thinking. I don't have any answer for you. Come on, your room is this way," he said.
She took off her shoes and held them in her hands as she followed him. He took a left turn, climbed up to the second floor and took another left turn. He knocked on the door and when there was no response, he opened the door for her.
"This is your room but you'll be sharing it with your husband dearest," he told her.
She found the information very disturbing but said nothing, "Thank you, Javan."
"You're welcome. We'll talk more tomorrow. I'll brief you a little concerning how the mafia house is run and how to avoid trouble. There's a phone on the bedside table. All the contacts you'll need are already there. I should warn you that the phone is tapped so all your conversations are going to be monitored at all times."
She wasn't really surprised, "So what about my old phone?"
"Gone," he simply replied.
"Thank you again, Javan."
"Goodnight, Gia," he said and turned around, leaving her alone.
She locked the door, switched off the light and turned on her new phone to search for any hidden camera in the room. When she was satisfied that there was none, she turned on the light and hid her daggers and boomerang from under her dress.
She shrugged off her dress and freshened up and changed into a night dress from the closet. She didn't find of her clothes but was too exhausted to worry about that. She slept off as soon as her head hit the pillow.
* * *
The next morning, Gia got up early since she wasn't sure what time the family usually had breakfast. She freshened up and went to get her clothes.
Her jaw nearly dropped to the floor when she saw the clothes that were picked out for her. None of her clothes were there. Her side of the closet was full of dresses, very revealing dresses all in her size. Unless it was for a gala, she wasn't really a girl that wore dresses.
She heard the door of the room open and she rushed out of the walk-in closet to see who it was.
She felt a little self-conscious when she saw that it was Alvan, since only a thick fluffy towel covered her wet body.
His eyes slowly and painfully assessed her from her feet to her face, his throat dried up at the sight of her. Her hair was still wet from the shower. Rivulets of water ran from her body to the floor beneath her.
Gia clutched the towel firmly around her. "Uhm.. hi," she said awkwardly.
The intensity of his gaze had set off something in her.
Alvan turned away from her as soon as he realized that he was checking her out. He ignored her like nothing happened and walked to the bathroom.
"Hey, please where are my clothes? I can't seem to find any of them," she quickly said before he walked in.
"Closet," he stated simply and was about walking in.
"Wait! Those aren't my clothes. I don't really wear dresses."
"Well," he just shrugged his shoulders and walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.
Gia sighed and walked into the closet. She decided to put on undies at least. The type of lingerie she found was awful. Since she didn't have any other choice, she wore it. She searched through the closet and found a few pairs of jeans pants and sighed in relief. She picked a pair and wore it.
Alvan walked in on her in just a bra and blue wash jeans. He sighed and just went about his stuff.
"I'm not wearing any of these tops," she said.
"Okay."
"I can't walk around in just a bra either," she added.
"Suit yourself."
She sighed and glared at the back of his head. "My wardrobe is trash. I can't wear these clothes."
Alvan turned to her and crossed his arms in front of his chest. His toned chest made her speechless. His biceps bulged in front of him as his hands crossed. "Is there something you want to say?"
Gia's eyes snapped up to meet his blue eyes. "Can you lend me one of your shirts? I'll need to buy a few more decent clothes later."
Alvan ignored her and turned back to his clothes.
There was a knock on the door and he threw one of his shirts to her before she went to get the door.