The Mafia's Daughter

Chapter 9 What about me?

-Valentina-

I put my hand on Vincenzo’s arm and look behind him, Marcello, a bunch of people from the meeting, who are all here with Vincenzo, a bunch of people who work here, and my other two brothers and Luca

"Please," I beg Marcello. Then I hear Riccardo and the look in his eyes doesn't say anything good.

"Guns down." He demands and you can hear it in his voice, he's furious. Slowly all the guns go down and Vincenzo nods and his people also lower their guns, only Marcello holds up his gun. Riccardo angrily takes Marcello's gun and when Marcello says something about it he gets a tap on the back of his head from Christiano. I look away from him and shake my head.

"Let's not all do stupid things. Vincenzo, it's time for you to go." Riccardo commands quietly but his voice is clear.

"WHAT?" I shout and I look furiously at Ricco

"Tina.." He sighs and I shake my head.

"Are you f**king kidding me?" I spat and I see Ricco's jaw ticking. He holds back and he is furious. I have news for him. I am too.

"Hey." Vincenzo gently grabs my chin and lets me look at him.

"It's okay, I'm going." He tells me softly and he winks. He leans forward and gently kisses my cheek.

"I'll talk to you later." He whispers and he walks to Marcello, Riccardo stands in front of him, between Vincenzo and Marcello. I don't know what Vincenzo does but Riccardo puts his hands in the air defensively and then Vincenzo and his people leave. "Everyone out, You.." Riccardo points to me "my office." He yells and when I roll my eyes Christiano grabs me hard.

"Hey!" I shout

"Not now." He whispers.

"Everyone has seen this shit." And he pushes me out in front of him to Ricco's office.

"Have you gone completely crazy!?" I look up thinking that Riccardo is yelling at me but he is yelling at Marcello. He shakes his head and I see how they both go crazy against each other. I've never seen them both so angry.

"We saw you and Vincenzo on the security camera," Christiano explains softly. I bite my lip and feel myself blushing.

"What do you want Tina?" he asks and I avoid his gaze. What do I want? At first, I thought yes I want this, but this is asking for trouble, too much trouble. Even if we wanted it both, this would never work. If Marcello reacts like this, Lorenzo explodes completely and then I need to tell my dad that I am dating his sworn enemy. I look at my two screaming brothers when Christiano suddenly gets involved and starts shouting as well. I get up and walk out of the office, to the girls. I hated when they act like this. And I hate that I’m the cause of it.

"What happened?" Esmay pulls me into the dressing room and Nelly looks with wide eyes.

"You and Vincenzo Bellucci?" she asks, shaking her head.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" she asks.

"I didn't know who he was, until today!" I exclaim and look guilty at Esmay and Grace. Sofia grabs me in a hug.

"It's okay. Everything has ended well, now it is making sure that Roberto and Lorenzo never find out, otherwise they will breathe life into the feud again." She kisses my head and she laughs sheepishly.

"Valentina." I turn around, it's weird to hear my name, especially from Christiano, he's been calling me Tina for as long as I can remember. I let go of Sofia.

"What's up? Everything okay?" I ask worriedly and I see that Christiano doesn't look happy either.

"Let's walk with me." He replies and we walk back to Riccardo's office. This is weird, he's never like this... serious an all...

"Listen," I begin.

"If you start yelling again, please don't, I didn't want to embarrass anyone, I don’t anyone mad at me if I had known that this would be such a problem… I didn't know him and.."

"STOP!" Riccardo yells and I stop and look at the ground.

He's still angry.

"one date." He blurts out, and I look at him

"What?" I ask and in disbelief, I look at Marcello staring out the window angrily and at Christiano looking worried and shrugging his shoulders.

I look back at Riccardo. He looks angry and he leans against his desk.

"one date, we don't say anything to dad and Lorenzo and after that date, you never see him again." He tells me.

I want to answer but Riccardo continues. "Tina, we're trying to end the feud, then we shouldn't have dad calling out another fight because he finds out that his only girl is being hijacked away by Bellucci." He scoffs.

"Mom and Dad did everything they could to keep you away from the other families and then this." He sighs and shakes his head. "Okay, but why is one date allowed?" I ask. Genuinely curious about the answer.

"Because that's polite, I want to end our feud, a quieter future for all of us," Riccardo explains, sh*t I already know.

"So one date and then you politely tell him it's not going to be anything and blah blah blah blah, I don't really care what you tell him, as long as you politely reject him." He tells me and I shake my head.

"And what about me?" I ask and all three of them look at me for the first time since we are in the office.

"What about you?" asks Riccardo and I shake my head.

“What if I want to date him,” I confess, and all three stare at me.

No one is saying anything. Marcello shakes his head, he is the first.

I see Riccardo’s jaw and he closes his eyes. He is mad and counting to ten.

“You WANT to date HIM!?” Riccardo shouts the words back at me.

I carefully nod. Riccardo slams his fist in his desk.

“Are you f**king out of your mind?” Blurt Marcello.

I feel the tears prick in my eyes, but I don’t want them to see it. I never show them when I’m sad.

Only Lorenzo I show that but he’s out and I can’t tell him this. I look at Christiano, he is always relaxed about me and guys.

He shakes his head. So it’s not about me then.

"Never mind." I whisper.

"you take care of it, it’s clear this is not about me." I mumble disappointed when I walk out of the office.

And it’s even more clear as no one follows me, so I’m right.

I don't have his number and they're never going to give me that, so what's the point in asking. Annoyed, mad, and sad, I walk out where Andrew is waiting for me.

"Will you take me to my mom," I ask him and he just nods as he closes the door after me.