Chapter One Hundred One

*Gia*

She flinches at her slip up. Damn it, the asshole was finally starting to get to her. She didn’t mean to say that. How was she going to fix this now? Her guard instantly goes up and he sees it. She goes to turn away when he suddenly grabs a hold of her wrist to get her to stop. Snapping her gaze back at him she gets ready to give him a piece of her mind.

But what he says next stops her.

“You know, I’m starting to think there’s more to this story than you’re letting on. Why are you hiding Gia? What is it you’re actually running away from?”

He looked a bit concerned and not as upset as she was used too with men like him. “Does it honestly matter?”

“Yes, it honestly does. I’m not sure what kind of men or people you’ve been around but I know Dario Moretti is a piece of work. If he’s done something to you or has done anything to your family, you can tell me. We’ll protect you. Me and Enzo…we’re not like the rest of the mafia gangs out there.”

She wasn’t sure she could trust him with those words. But if someone like Gabriela Russo could fall in love with a Giordano than maybe…

“I’m not so sure you can.” With that she slips her wrist from his grasp and quickly walks out the door leaving him behind and this time he doesn’t try to stop her.

She doesn’t even bother to close the door and goes straight towards the kitchen area where the others were still having their conversation. Gabriela was sitting on one of the couches on the other side looking pale and ready to burst into tears as Enzo talks heatedly with the man everyone was calling Charlie.

“This plan is completely insane! You didn’t want this, never wanted it! And now you’re going to throw away everything you fought so hard to obtain and get away from and for what?!”

“It’s the only way, Charlie, you know this. What else am I supposed to do?” Enzo says calmly to him.

Knowing this wasn’t any of her business she veers to the right and heads into another room that held a small sofa, a TV and a coffee table. Not bothering to turn on the light she sits on the soft plush sofa and thinks about what she was going to do next. She didn’t close the door so some of the words in their conversation floated to her.

“You’re giving into him, Enzo. I know there can be another way.”

“Not if I’m going to need to protect Gabby and Dom. I don’t see any other way, do you?” He presses.

The only way she was able to find in her situation was to run away. But she knew they couldn’t do that. Dario would do everything he could to find them until his last dying breath. He would never find rest until he brought them all down. The only blessing she had in her life was being flown out to another country to be raised by nuns who weren’t as nice as they make them out to be.

She may have hated it there in the catholic all girl cathedral but at least she hadn’t been ruled over by men who saw her as nothing more than a pawn to do whatever they wanted with. She wasn’t allowed to do anything, wasn’t allowed to say anything. She was always expected to sit there and be meek, be quiet, and be timid as if she didn’t exist at all.

When she expressed her wish to go to college it was immediately shot down by her father as he wasn’t willing to spend any more money on her education. Women were meant only to bear children and clean the house was his motto. It explained so much about her mother and she hated it. Dario was raised to be the same way, believing the same things even though society today frowned upon it.

That didn’t stop them. They were in charge of most of the things in the city anyways. And soon the entire state if they were to get their way. Which would only be bad for everyone. If she wanted to live a normal life and be free then she was going to have to do more than just run away.

That realization made her feel both sick and excited. She wanted to see the men in her family fall. But she was terrified of facing them when doing it. She was in the perfect situation though. She was with the one enemy they hated the most. If she could help them win why wouldn’t she do it?

Standing back up she goes back out to finally tell them all the truth, but they were still arguing, and she wasn’t sure about what. Besides, she wasn’t sure how they were going to take the news of who she really was.

But maybe if she told Domenico first…

Without another hesitating thought she goes back in the room he was still in. When she closes the door he jerks up and stares at her. And with a determination that she wasn’t really feeling she blurts,

“You promise to protect me if I told you everything about me?”

“Yes.” Was all he states.

“How can I just trust you on that? You saying yes could mean nothing. I need absolute assurance that I won’t be harmed and that you’ll protect me no matter what.” She stiffly states back, afraid she may have made a mistake on this.

Looking confused yet shocked he clears his throat and sits up to face her. “I promise. And a Giordano never breaks their promises, I can guarantee that. It’s the one moral code we always live by.”

Biting her lower lip, her body shaking in the fear of what she was about to tell him, she takes a deep slow sigh before finally admitting,

“You were right. I’m not just some simple maid in the mansion. In fact…my name is Gia Moretti and Dario Moretti is my older brother.”