Dangerous Union

Chapter 7

Irina

I looked around the bedroom, looking for something to do in complete solitude. I had not been able to calm the knot of anxiety that had completely enveloped my stomach.

I hadn't even had the opportunity to prepare myself psychologically, and I was immediately thrown into the middle of this pack of... I didn't even know what they were.

I simply knew that my father had left me here, alone, without knowing anyone, without even preparing me for what I would face. He had left me in the midst of strangers as if I were the worst b***h on this planet. Tears came to my eyes and I let my head fall forward while my lower lip trembled.

I had a crazy desire to cry, but I was so lost that I didn't even know how to do it.

Someone knocked on the door and I raised my head abruptly. "Come on?" I said almost as if it were a question.

The door opened, and a girl appeared who I recognized from one of Noah's photos. She was his younger sister. She held a tray in her hand and frowned at my bodyguard as he held the door open for her to enter.

Once inside, she looked around and closed the door with a kick, and then laid her eyes on me.

"I remembered it was bigger", she commented and approached, placed the tray on the table and gave me a sincere smile. "I'm Mia!" she said enthusiastically.

I was petrified, then I stretched out my hand and squeezed hers"Irina", I said almost frightened.

"Irina is a nice name" she said sitting next to me. "Does it have any meaning in Russian?" she asked me

"It means peace," I said, "Mir," I said in Russian, and she looked at me.

"Certainly a little peace is what we need in this house" she commented, throwing her long black hair behind her shoulders "But why am I here? Well, Noah wrote to me telling me that he had to go out for important things and that you were left here alone. I dare not imagine being alone in a place where I don't know anyone. I didn't even know that you were coming to stay with us. In fact until this morning, I didn't even know about this union, but these are details" she began to say speaking in bursts "So I thought: what can cheer a person up if not ice cream?" she said cheerfully removing the lid from the tray "Fortunately it hasn't melted yet, But our chefs make a banana split that will make your head spin. I had it made extra sweet so I could sweeten your first day here" she continued to speak in bursts and I looked at her in amazement.

"Don't give credit to Noah, he just told me to come and keep you company, I would have come anyway if I had known before that you were here, so no, it's not his credit. For once he made that stupid neuron that is found work, he doesn't need applause" she continued to talk as she took the plate in which there was a banana with a mountain of ice cream, cream, chocolate, chopped walnuts on it.

I looked at her with my mouth open, unable to speak.

"Everyone in this house is very grumpy, but you'll soon realize it. Fortunately there is me who is the nicest and the smartest, otherwise you would be bored to death in the midst of everyone" she continued to say then she looked at me "Am I talking too much?" she asked me angelically.

I blinked, "I've never heard a person say so many words at once," I admitted, making her laugh.

"Not even from your friends?" she asked me, sinking the spoon into that mass of sugars and fats.

"I don't have any friends," I said, taking the other plate and looking at it as if it came from another planet.

"None?" she asked me, widening her eyes and I sighed.

"I hadn't... allowed" I tried to explain to her by sinking the teaspoon into that skein and then bringing it to my mouth.

I found it essentially good, perhaps a little too sweet, but still good.

"What does it mean?" she asked, crossing her legs on the sofa and turning completely towards me.

"My father has always been very restrictive" I tried to explain to her "He sent me to an all-girls college, with only female teachers. Zero testosterone. Zero technology. Zero parties. Zero dates" I said continuing to eat.

"Oh," she said, looking at me, "It's a bit... sad," he said after a while.

I sighed and looked at the plate "My father is a bit paranoid. The history of our family marked him a lot and he never wanted me to have the same fate as all my female ancestors" I commented "So he preferred to prevent rather than cure" I added.

"It's still sad," she commented, finishing her plate and placing it back on the tray. "Have you never been to a party?" she asked me stunned.

"Nop" I said sinking the spoon again, the ice cream was starting to melt and I had to be very careful about my movements "Actually the conversations I've had with your brother and with you are the longest I've had in ... all my life" I said frowning "Pathetic, isn't it?" I asked her looking up.

"A little," she admitted, "Shopping?" she asked hopefully, and I nodded.

"My stepmother took care of... contact a styler who came to the house and proposed things to us. Not that I needed them since I was always in my room" I said placing the plate on the tray.

"So you never even had a crush?" she asked.

"If we don't talk about characters in the books, no," I replied.

I took off my sandals and snuggled up against the bracelet, bringing my knees to my chest as I looked at her, I could clearly see the wheels of her brain set in motion.

"You're calculating how pathetic I am from one to... a million?" I asked her.

"It's not your fault," she said, "it's the way of life they imposed on you," she continued, "And that they continue to impose," she added.

I shrugged my shoulders but didn't add anything, because there was nothing to add, it was all bad enough already like that.

She sighed and then stood up "You know you can make the room as you want" she said looking around, "I can also give you a hand especially if I wanted to fill it with pink, it would be very funny to see my brother trudging through total pink. Please let's do it!" she said cheerfully.

I laughed and shook my head "I'm not crazy about pink".

"Oh, too bad," she said, "but, anyway, you can make it whatever you want, make it yours. In the end, you'll live here," he said, looking at me from the center of the room.

"At the moment I would be content to have something of my own" I said with a sigh.

"If you want, I can lend you something of mine" she offered herself, "Even if we don't have the same build" she added bending her head to the side.

"You mean I'm not six feet tall" I asked pretending to be bewildered and standing up "And I thought it wasn't noticeable" I added.

Mia laughed and I imitated her, feeling a little better.

It was not easy for me to deal with other people, I had never had any kind of relationship with anyone, except for my bodyguards but they were not very sociable.

But Mia seemed to me a very easy-going girl, it was easy to talk to her and she had not been as hostile as the other women in the house, even if I had suspected what the reason was.

"We can go shopping tomorrow" said Mia, looking at me, her blue eyes followed me scrupulously "You just have to ask Noah for the card" she said shrugging her shoulders.

I sighed "I don't want to ask him..."

"You have to," Mia said, interrupting me.

"I'm not used to these things and no, I don't want to do it. I'll just wait for them to send me my things," I said, shaking my head.

"It must be hard" said Mia "They didn't even give you time to get your stuff"

"Yes," I replied and tried to loosen the knot of sadness that invaded my chest.

My father had gotten rid of me. He had simply left me here as if I were an object that he no longer needed. I thought he would give me a few more days but it seemed like he couldn't wait to get rid of me. I wondered what my stepmother would think of it. Maybe she would have been happy not to have had me in the boxes anymore.

Although he wanted to show everyone that he didn't hold it against me and that he had raised me like a daughter, I could see it in his eyes. Juliette felt no affection for me, hers was just a façade. Ever since I was a child he had tried to convince my father to create new alliances by promising me to marry someone, but Dad had always been adamant about the matter.

Well until then.

In the end she had convinced him to get rid of me, perhaps because I was the first child, or perhaps she felt envy. I couldn't have said.

She had grown up in a different environment from mine, I had been protected by my father and I knew that in his own way he loved me, he didn't always show it, it was true, but he cared about me he had always done everything to protect me, from anyone.

I sighed and looked at Mia as she began to talk, telling about her life and her family, it was easy to listen to her. He was the first person of my own age with whom I spoke for so long.

He told me about the trips they made every year to go to Italy, apparently his father made sure to go there at least three times a year, since they had houses there and their origins. Mr. Bianchi wanted his family to stay in touch with their country, so much so that he only spoke Italian with them.

I had noticed it from the way Mia changed, without realizing it, from Italian to English. I couldn't understand her.

I knew five languages, but Italian was not among them. Maybe I should have learned, it would have been useful since from that moment on I would have lived among them.

I let myself go to a sigh and turned my head towards the window, the afternoon sun came in through the shiny glass and hit the furniture that cast shadows on the floor.

My head was lost in a thousand thoughts while in the background, only remotely, there was Mia's voice that continued to speak non-stop.