Mia's POV
"I know you are baby, but you need to keep your head up and stay as strong as you can right now not just for you. Dimitri is risking his life to get you home to us. He's scared too, you need to show him what it means for a Lombardi to have his back."
"Okay. Deacon, just in case..."
"No none of that." He said seriously.
"Deacon, just in case for some reason this doesn't work out and I don't get to see any of you again. I don't ever want you to think that I'd change anything that's happened between us, cause there's nothing that I'd want to do differently. I love you, for you. Your family welcomed me into it with open, loving arms and gave me the family I had always dreamed about having. I want you all to know that I love you all with everything in me that there is, but none before you, Teodoro and Alessia."
"Now that you got that out, be my queen and bring both of you safe together to us."
"Yes king." I laughed as I hung up the phone. "I'm gonna need a gun Dimitri, and a holster. If you're doing this for my family, I plan to protect you like I would my own."
Dimitri looked at me stunned. "A gun?"
"Yes, Dimitri a gun. You have my word I will not use it against you." I responded as I held my hand out to him as a show of solidarity. "I have your back if you have mine. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't ask you for one since I'd have my own or at least I'd be a little more physically capable of defending myself, but right now I'm not capable of doing so. The gun would be an equalizer of sorts for me. You're asking for not only Deacon to trust you but also his father, they are doing so anxiously. Though right now Dimitri you're asking more from me than from them, those men took me from my home, left my infant children alone and starved me. They mentally almost broke me apart and put their hands on me not only when they took me, but also in my husband's sight, even if he wasn't in the same room. I am willing to trust you, you have done nothing to discredit your intentions so far, but if you want me fully trust you with my life. I am asking you to allow me to have a holstered gun as a measure of protection for myself. Can you do that for me?"
Dimitri's POV
I stood staring at her for a split second. "In the closet top drawer to your left clear in the back. It's my back up weapon. The holster should be there to, it will need adjusted for you. Take it, use of you need to. At least tell me you have good aim?" I heard her chuckle slightly as she reemerged from the closet tightening the final strap of the holster around her thigh.
"Have you ever had a shootout with the Lombardi's inner circle?" She smiled teasingly.
"No and I would prefer not to anytime soon if it can be avoided."
"Deacon owns his own shooting range and the 25 acres it sits on. Unless it's an extraction operation associated with the trafficking of women and children, I don't go in. Essentially in the majority of operations I'm needed on I sit about 1750-2500 yards out with a sniper rifle aimed ahead of Deacon and Alex. I hold the record among the group for longest shot."
"Dare I ask what that is?"
"2,245 yards that's equal to 6,735 feet." She smiled as I looked at her in confusion. "Oh, that's right you're on metric measurements. So roughly 2.05 or 2.1 kilometers or 2,052 meters. That's give or take, based on wind resistance and shit like that."
"And what kind of ratio you holding at that range?" I asked with a measure of hesitant curiosity.
"Only ever missed target zone on three, have never missed a target though. Even if it's just a disabling hit so they can't fire back it's still a hit."
"Okay least to be taken from that is that you're very well trained." I stammered a chuckled. "I actually feel a little better now. If you're that accurate with a sniper I might not want to see what you're capable of with that."
"If I have to pull this gun it won't be aimed at you Dimitri I promise, no matter what it may look like at that moment the gun will not be aimed at you."
"Okay. Now we need to get out of here. We're going to have to be quiet, otherwise this will end badly before we even get to start."
"Okay." She agreed shaking her head nervously.
Mia's POV
Quietly I followed behind Dimitri as he shimmied out the window and cautiously made his way towards a cluster of cars towards the end of the semi- circled driveway.
"The red one on the left. You get to it, I'll grab keys."
I nodded and headed off staying in the shadows. Soon enough I was able to reach the car, followed swiftly by Dimitri. "Are we good?"
He put his finger to his lips and pointed over my left shoulder.
"Gregory better be right about this bitch." A man growled. "I've waited for years to bring that family to its knees. They're the only ones who quite possibly still have a living Omerta."
Dimitri looked at me in confusion. I looked at him tears forming in my eyes as I nodded in knowing the question, he was ready to ask. "Who?" He mouthed silently to me.
My handed covered my mouth as the tears started to pour freely.
"If he's right peeling the skin off her will be beautiful, knowing that son of a bitch won't be breaking up the party."
Dimitri's POV
With her hand clasped tightly over her mouth, Mia's entire body had become consumed in convulsions. "It's you?" I asked in quiet disbelief. "Get in Mia."
I watched in horror as Mia stood there frozen in place. Looking at her here and now I didn't see the same strong woman that came for Irena that day. I saw what was under that skin. To say she was terrified was an understatement. "Mia, you need to open the door. If they turn around, we're screwed." No response came from her as she stood there.
I watched her carefully. Her lips were moving but no sound came from her. Slowly she placed both hands on the roof of the car and leaned forward. She was praying, for what I wasn't sure but that was definitely what she was doing.
"Okay." She whispered to me, as she opened the door and slipped inside.
After I did the same, I sat there a moment. "Can I ask what you were praying for?"
She left a slight smile cross her lips as she looked at me. "Strength. I was asking for the strength that Deacon thinks that I have, that I don't."
"If it means anything, I'm pretty sure you have more strength than any man in that house right now. You did something that no man, let alone woman has ever dared to do. Mia, you raised and fired a weapon in his house taking one of his men. I've seen men who are twice your size a d put up far more of a fight break much quicker. I've watched grown men cry at the mere sight of my father entering the room with them."
Mia looked back at me, "I may not have cried or begged him Dimitri, but fear is a universal language that everyone knows."
"True. Mia, this question is important to answer truthfully right now. I know what an Omertà is, what is a living one? And please tell me it isn't what I think it is."
"A living Omertà is exactly what it sounds like Dimitri. It is someone living who has the contract on them. It is a dangerous choice without a doubt, but also one that is an honor as well."
I started the car and pulled forward slowly. "Mia, do you know who it is? I don't want their name. I just need to know the truth."
"I do and obviously so does your father." She said quietly.
"So that means?" I watched as she slowly turned her back towards me and lifted the back of her shirt up, revealing the words their Omertà to me. I reached out a hand without thinking and then quickly retracted it. "You are priceless."
"Not priceless. That's only in their eyes. In mine I'm a liability to all of them. Deacon would have willingly signed everything over to your father if he had let on that he had any sort of thought about this. I had to beg him not to sign it all over anyways."
"You are not a liability by any means." I laughed. "He sent you to retrieve his sister for a reason. I watched those men with you that day. They respected you, listened to your words not out of fear. They listened to your words out of respect that you earned from them. Mia, you came in that door first, not your men, you."
She sat silently staring out the window as we passed through the gates and turned onto the road. "What did you say to Deacon earlier when you on the phone with him?"
"I was just making sure he understood the dangers of this."
"perevodit' bystro. That means 'translate quickly' right? If it was only that then why not speak it so I could understand?" She asked. "I can handle the truth Dimi."
"I know you can, I just don't want you to think about it with everything else going on. That's all."
Mia's POV
I sat silently as we drove. I tensed every time a car passed us waiting for bullets to start flying.
"Either they haven't noticed that we're gone or something else is going on. We should have run into something by now." Dimitri commented.
"Maybe we were just far enough ahead of them."
"Maybe." He commented. "We're almost there. We only need a few more minutes."
I nodded as I watched the road closely.
"Mia, when we get here. You go straight to the plane without hesitation understood? I'll follow of I can, my priority though is to get you safely on that plane before myself."
"I know you're trying to keep your word, but I have to keep mine as well. I promised that I'd do everything in my power to make sure we both showed up. So tonight, you watch my back I watch yours." I stated firmly.
---------- 20 minutes later -------------
Dimitri's POV
As I stopped the car next to the runway, I glanced around us. There seemed to be no one there except us, and the plane crew. "Move quickly, but keep your eyes peeled. We don't want to be caught off guard."
Mia nodded her head as she cracked her door.
As we made our way to the small plane, you could almost certainly hear our hearts beating above anything else around us. Although I wanted to believe that it was going to be this simple, something was wrong with this entire situation.
When I opened the door to the plane and entered my fears were validated. There sat my father and his wife, both smiling.
I felt Mia run into my back from the sudden stop.
"Come in, come in." He ushered revealing his gun to my sight. "Seems as though you were right my dear. I wouldn't have believed it if I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes. My own flesh and blood, betraying me."
My attention focused directly onto Irena. "You're going to stand beside him and willingly watch this happen? Has he told you any of the information he found out tonight? Your eldest brother has two children, twins to be exact. And the younger is going to be a father as well. You have family to go home to Irena, they'd accept you back. Deacon asked about you earlier as well. He was hoping you'd be returning too."
I felt Mia start to move cautiously behind me as her hand went to the holstered gun on her thigh.
"My family has only ever cared about what I can bring them in marriage. The only reason the care to bring me home now is because I managed to find a life that made me happy. A life outside of their precious rules."
"And you can tell your traveling partner she can holster that gun. I'm not afraid to shoot through you to end her." He said cheerfully. "Step around him and face me like a man if you plan on using one of my own weapons against me."
Without a moment's hesitation she did exactly as he demanded. Gun drawn, but held firmly at her side. "Unlike some I will gladly stand before you with no fear to show. Any man who has to keep a woman subdued to feel strong is weak, and too many of them like to call themselves kings."
"Do you have any clue to who you are speaking?" Irena scoffed at her stepping to the side.
"I know exactly who I'm speaking to. Apparently, the question is do you know who you are speaking to Irena? Let me remind you." Mia took a courageous step forward. "My name is Mia Nicolette Lombardi, I am the wife of your brother Deacon, sister to your brother Alex, and daughter to your father Declan. You couldn't settle for being the princess your father made you, because you wanted nothing more than power.
Your brother wears the crown of the Lombardi family, but I am the one who sits beside him. I hold power second only to him.
I gave Deacon the heir needed to ensure the continuation of the family after Deacon and Alex. And I carry the highest honor with me where ever I go." She paused as she glanced between both of them. "You were both right however about one thing."
"And exactly what was that?" My father taunted.
"A living Omertà." Mia chided. "You may have been born a Lombardi by blood Irena, but I however carry the name with pride."
Mia's POV
I watched as Gregory stood from his seat, his gaze never faltering from mine. "I'm actually going to enjoy this trip I believe." He chuckled, raising his gun level to my heart. "Now kindly hand your gun over to Irena, and I'll consider making your injuries livable."