Sitting stiffly in her seat, Gia waited for the servants to serve breakfast. She bounced her foot under the table and hung her head low, completely ignoring the glares around her.
"Hey," Javan sat down beside her and whispered.
"Hi," she replied with a small smile.
"How has training been?" he asked, turning fully to face her.
Gia ran a hand through her thick mass of hair before responding drily, "It's just been a week."
"Just a week but Dante sings your praises. Maybe one of these days, we'll spar and I'll see for myself how good you are," he said and relaxed in his seat.
"I don't mean to brag but I hope you're not a sore loser in the face of defeat."
Javan chuckled, "Don't overestimate yourself."
Gia plastered a smile on her face. Three servants walked in and started serving breakfast and Alvan walked in then down next to her. Filling her nostrils with his cologne. She ignored him like every other day and tried to keep up with what Javan was saying.
"So I and some of my friends have made plans to go downtown to this new club that just opened. Would you like to join us? It's going to be fun," he invited her.
Gia beamed at him, her smile lighting up her face, "Am I allowed to go out? I'd love t_"
"There have been a lot of gang clashes downtown this past week. It's not safe out there. Especially not for you," Alvan interjected.
"I think she is capable of taking care of herself," Javan said.
"She is my wife and I get to decide if she is going or not," he replied.
Javan was going to talk back at him but Gia responded instead, "If you are worried about my safety, why don't you tag along?"
Alvan pursed his lips and said nothing in response. Instead he looked at the plate of food that was just placed in front of him.
Gia sneezed into a napkin and wiped her nose. She sneezed once, twice and nonstop. Her eyes started to water and her nose became itchy.
"Get that thing out of here. She's allergic to cats," Alvan ordered one of the household staff.
Everyone at the table stopped and stared at him including Gia. There were mixed reactions of both surprise and an obvious underlying question. How did he know?
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll get it away," Nadia said softly and stared apologetically at a sneezing Gia.
An annoyed Sophia chimed in, "Why doesn't she just leave the table?"
The comment hung in the air, making the situation even more uncomfortable.
He felt a surge of defensiveness, but tried to maintain his composure. "That's not necessary," he said, his voice firm but controlled. "Just removing the cat should help."
Gia, still sneezing and sniffling, shot him a glance that was hard to read. He wondered if it was gratitude, annoyance, or something else?
Joey picked up the car and left the room instead.
"Get back here!" Sophia barked at him but he completely ignored his mother.
When her sneezing didn't stop, "Let's get you upstairs," Alvan offered.
She shook her head, her eyes welling up with tears. "I'm fine," she said, her voice strained. "Just...just get me some water."
Alvan pressed his lips in a thin line and handed his glass of water to her, his hand trembling slightly.
The tension between them was palpable, and the rest of the family seemed to sense it, their conversations dying down to awkward silence.
"Please just go upstairs already. You're making everyone uncomfortable," Francesca, Renzo's wife said in annoyance.
Alvan picked Gia up before anyone else could say anything. He was hesitant, his movements were stiff and he was careful not to touch her anywhere that would seem inappropriate.
She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck as he climbed the stairs. The awkwardness between them was unbearable.
He placed her on the bed and stepped back, rubbing the back of his head, "How are you feeling right now?"
She gave a big sneeze, wiped her nose with the napkin in her hand and gave him a watery smile.
He turned to the door and hesitated then turned to her again, still unsure of what to do. "I'll call the family doctor to_"
"I'm fine," she said with another sneeze.
Alvan arched a brow at her as soon as the sneeze was out.
"I will be. I have training in an hour," she said stubbornly and stood up. She blew her nose repeatedly causing Alvan to worry.
He straightened his back and said firmly, "I'll tell Dante that you'll be late by an hour."
He walked out before she could respond.
She stared at the door in confusion and decided to wait till the symptoms subsided.
x x x
"They don't hate you. The Martinellis are just scared of who you are and what you represent," Dante said as he bent down to rummage through his gym bag, his dark skin glistening with his own sweat.
"What I represent? What's that even supposed to mean?" Gia, who was sitting on the floor in the training room, asked.
"How many daughters of Capos are as skilled as you? Not many," he asked and responded by himself. "The mafia depicts women as weak. The women just exist to keep their beds warm and to birth children. But you, you defy that and you're still so young. You have so much potential and a lot ahead of you."
Gia silently pondered on his words.
"So that's why he's protecting me. I'm an asset to him."
Dante removed a small bottle of medicine "Took you long enough. While you're a threat to the others, you are something special to Capo."
"But I still don't understand all that he's going to get from all of this," she said, her brows furrowed in deep thought.
"That's for him to know and for you to find out," Dante replied and swallowed a pill from the bottle he picked from his bag.
Gia bit her lip thoughtfully, her eyes staring at the floor in front of her, "That sucks. When is my initiation?"
"Maybe in two weeks or maybe longer. Depends on how impressed he is with your training."
"So is he going to be evaluating my training?" she asked in surprise.
He gauged her reaction before speaking, "He is particularly interested in you so, yes. He will."
She decided to ask the one question that was on her mind, "The initiation, what does that even mean?"
"Training is over. You should get going," Dante said gruffly.
She was confused by his sudden change in attitude, "Dante."
"Leave!" he snapped at her.
She scrambled to her feet, picked up her bag and left the training room without a word. Dante was a good instructor but he was weird on so many levels.
"How was training today, ma'am?" Giovanni asked as he opened the door for her. He was Alvan's driver.
"It went well. I can't wait to shower and change out of these clothes," she said as she climbed into the car.
During the ride back to the mafia house, he barely said anything to her. It was something all the staff she came across did. They spoke to her only when it was absolutely necessary.
"Thank you, Giovanni," she said and hopped down from the car.
He just nodded his head and drove off. It was way past lunchtime and she was relieved. She had stalled training on purpose so that she wouldn't bump into any family member after the drama earlier. She was hungry and tired because she barely had any breakfast.
"You look uncomfortable in those clothes," Vinnie said when she stepped into the foyer.
She looked at him in confusion, "Uhm. Well. I guess so."
"Let me help you out of it then," he said suggestively. He took a few steps towards her.
"You must have a death wish," she took a step back. Not out of fear but to create space between them if she needed to defend herself.
Vinnie looked at her from head to toe, his eyes lingering on her hips and the place her tights formed a V at her crotch. They dared to linger at her waist, chest and lips.
"I'm your brother's wife," she said.
"What brother?" he acted confused. He took another step closer to him.
"One more step Vinnie and I will scream," she threatened.
He laughed cynically. "Don't be silly darling."
He sauntered towards her and tried to hold her but she sidestepped him and ran upstairs to her room before the situation escalated. She slammed the door shut and scanned the room.
Alvan was sitting on the bed typing seriously on his phone. Gia could not help but stare at him a little longer than necessary. His inky black hair fell messily over his forehead and a few strands crossed past his eyebrow, hiding a scar that she wasn't familiar with. His face was chiseled and with a stubble that gave him a rugged handsome look. His blue eyes appeared darker as he stared intently at the screen.
"Are you done ogling?" he said curtly.
Gia's cheeks flushed red and she panicked, almost running out of the room where she'd just run from. She took in a deep calming breath and silently went to get a fresh set of clothes from the closet.
"What was it that Vinnie wanted?" he asked her once she was out of the closet.
She glanced at him in surprise and went on with her business, "Nothing."
"Didn't look like nothing to me," he mockingly mimicked her voice at 'nothing'.
"Then ask him," she snapped at him and slammed shut the door of the bathroom.
Alvan snorted and shut his laptop before leaving his room to his office on the same floor. Diana waltzed in like twenty minutes after and he almost groaned in frustration. Since Gia's moving in, she was more clingy than usual and his irritation was growing.
"Hi babe," she grinned at him and sat down on his table.
"What do you want, Diana? I don't have plenty of free time to goof around."
She stared at him in disbelief, "You call spending time with me 'goofing around'? How can you even say that to me?"
Her red lips were slightly twisted in annoyance.
Alvan pinched the bridge of his nose to contain his anger, "Diana this is not the time for this."
"It isn't? Are you falling for that little minx?"
"Excuse me?"
Someone barged into the office and he couldn't be more grateful for the interruption.
"I'm sorry to barge in on you like that but Capo sent for the two of us," Gia said barely acknowledging Diana which pissed her off even more.
* * *
"Dante says that you're doing well in your training so I figured that you should be ready for this," Omri said. "You two pack your bags, you're leaving for New York tonight."
"What?" Gia blurted.
"Bubba Jenkins is meeting a client there tomorrow night and he needs protection," Omri stated vaguely.
"Protection from what exactly?" Alvan asked.
"The Redneck Syndicate."
Gia's breath hitched in her throat and she could not say a word.
"The Redneck Syndicate believes that he is responsible for most of the losses and leaks in their mafia and they have been on his tail for the longest time," Omri explained with his eyes fixated on Gia.
"So you want us to play bodyguards?" Gia asked.
"Exactly," he stated stiffly.
"And do you trust me enough to keep the man alive?"
"You know what is at stake if you don't do this properly. Do you want me to jog your memory?" Omri asked icely.
Gia's next words dried up in her throat, "No, sir," she managed to croak.
"Why do you need us there? There are other people who will be more than willing to do this," Alvan said.
Omri just looked at her with a cynical smile. His unspoken response was as chilling as ever.
He was using her as a shield from her family for Bubba Jenkins. She felt sick to her stomach and just marched out of his office.
"You should go and pack up as well. The jet will be ready in two hours," Omri said to Alvan.