Trisha, Rose and Cassie all covered their mouths in horror. Understanding exactly what I wasn't telling everyone. Although Cassie and Trisha were able to somewhat compartmentalize the horrid nature of what had happened. Rose, wasn't able too. I looked to her when I heard her gasping to breathe steadily. She just kept shaking her head no as she stared at me. Axel pulled her into his chest, holding her tightly as he tried to calm her emotions. I watched them briefly as Rose whispered something into his ear and he nodded in response. This caused an even more illicit expression of emotions to pour out of her as she shook violently in realization of what happened to Mia.
"Axel, you were there for all this, if you would like to take Rose back to your room and help her calm down you may."
"I'm not leaving." Rose snapped at me. "I want to know what I can do to help my friend and I'm sure Axel does too. I'm sorry for my outburst Deacon."
"What exactly were the words he cut into her?" Cassie snapped angrily. "It would probably be a good idea for us to avoid them around her."
"That would be a true statement Cassie, but unfortunately, I don't believe they are words any one of us could avoid for a long period of time, even if she was in the room.
Don't be sorry Rose, it shows you care enough to share the hurt for her. She's going to need that for a while." I smiled at her. "While on the flight home an issue arose with Mia. As expected, she became very distant from us, but those of us who did try to talk to her at that time had no luck.
However, upon our arrival back home. In the privacy of our room, Mia and I had, well...I can't really call it a conversation honestly. For those of you who were on the plane and tried to talk to her, no it wasn't you."
"What did he carve into her stomach Deacon? Is it that bad that you're ashamed of it or maybe it's the reason she won't speak to anyone?" Cassie growled.
"Don't..." I snarled back at her. "You didn't have to hear her screaming as he did it, and know it was because of you it happened. So, don't fucking dare pull a holier than thou attitude with me."
"Then tell us." She countered.
"You self-righteous bitch shut your fucking mouth! I just left her in our room alone to be here with all of you, after having to hear her begging me to tell her what was going to happen to her now that we were back here."
Her arms crossed in front of her in as she stared coldly at me. "Coward."
"Cassandra stop." Alex snapped. "No one here needs to know the details of why or what that monster did. We all need to focus on what we can do to help her get better and feel safe again."
"Lairs!" She shouted at him.
I stormed around the desk grabbing the arms of her chair ripping it forward bringing her within an inch of my face. Her confidence disappeared instantly. "You really want to know fine. Mia has our Omerta tattooed on her back, she chose to do it and we gave her our blessing, we all three feared that we may need it at some point because of monsters like Gregory. He cut around the part of the tattoo that had my name on it, then ripped it off her. Do you understand that? He didn't peel it off her after loosening from her muscles, he ripped it off her back, he fucking tore the skin from her body with his bare hand and laughed while he did it." Her eyes welled with tears as she covered her mouth and gagged. "Apparently that wasn't enough pain for him though, so you know what he did next, just for fun? He rolled her over and carved the words 'Lombardi Whore' into her stomach, while held her down, while she screamed in pain.
We had to watch it as it happened, knowing we couldn't do a fucking thing to stop him. When he was done, he put three bullets into my wife. The third he held her up to her knees as he dug the barrel into her stomach, and pulled the fucking trigger again.
I watched as every bit of light, of joy, of life fade from her eyes as she coughed up blood and couldn't do anything. I watched her fall in defeat, at that monster's feet as my sister held the camera laughing." I snarled in a whisper in her face. "She never fucking begged them for mercy, she starved herself, so she wasn't used as a fucking play toy to them. They made her believe that we wouldn't want her back home, that we were going to throw her away like trash.
All I have been able to do for the last three fucking hours is listen to her cry, watch her fucking mourn silently something she's not losing.
I have to face the fact that the only woman who I will ever love, who holds every ounce of power over me, the one person I'd give up this life, this family, my own life for, may never be able to look at me, my family, our children, or her closest friends again without feeling weak, or judged. I've been forced to bury every ounce of rage, hatred, and pain to keep her calm, when all I want to do is rip this place apart brick by brick.
Now tell me again that I'm a coward, and I'll show you the same mercy those fucking monsters showed Mia."
Alex sat silently beside her as she sobbed at my words.
"Any more questions Cassandra?"
"No." She whimpered.
"Good." I walked back behind my desk, calming myself the best I could as I sat down again. "Now back to what was being discussed before I was interrupted.
When the initial video feed was received, there had been a statement made by the man who had been left in charge of the whole thing. And I quote 'Knowing how much you Italians love us so much, I would be immensely open to the idea of keeping her for myself, since once we pass her around defiling her no one there will want her to be brought home again anyways.' With the actions of Gregory those words rang very clearly in Mia's head.
This brings me to the answer of your initial question Trisha. I don't know and I don't know when for sure that will be able to be answered confidently.
Mia, well...she has allowed that previous statement to sink in as the truth. In her allowing that one seed of fear to take hold, she fully believes that either myself, my father or even possibly Alex is going to force her to leave here against her will. That thought has her more than devastated and I can't be sure that, that was the only fear she had.
What not very many people are aware of about Mia is that she never had a
family. She bounced from foster home to foster home until she left at sixteen.
I can't begin to imagine how hard she had to work to provide her own needs at that age and up until we met, but she did. This right here, all of us in this room, we're the only family that she's ever known. She's terrified that she's not going to get to see Teodoro and Alessia again, because I would deny her that." Taking a moment to compose myself again I grabbed the arms to my desk chair holding them tightly. "I'm not sure how to do it, but somehow she needs to be reassured that we want and need her here with us. That no one is going to force her to leave her family. And just as importantly and this one will fall solely on my shoulders, that I still am in love with her."
The entire room stood silent. It seemed as though everyone here had tears, they were forbidding to fall as they listened intently.
"Where is Mia now?" Rose asked calmly.
"Currently, I am hoping she is asleep in bed. Along with our actions I am hoping that some peaceful rest will help her slowly realize she's not going anywhere.
I understand you want to go see her Rose, but for right now or at least the next couple hours could you do me a personal favor and allow me to try to make some progress myself?"
"Of course."
"If we see her out and around in the next week or so, how should we approach talking to her?" Another asked.
"The best advice I can give you is try to keep the subject light nothing that would remind her of what happened."
"Boss, you have probably the hardest part of all this to do. How do you plan to do it?" Eric asked pointedly.
I chuckled at his kind bluntness. "Eric, I have no clue."
"May I make a suggestion? In private."
"Of course." I sighed. "Since the last two weeks have been exceeding trying for everyone, for the next three days there will be no business being handled. Pass that along please. Those of us who have families I encourage you to take this time and spend it with them. You're all dismissed."
As all everyone solemnly exited my office Eric and Trisha stayed. At this moment I envied him. "Your idea?"
"Actually, it's more of Trisha's idea." He laughed heartily. "So, I'll let her tell you."
"In a passing conversation one day Mia mentioned that the way you two got married wasn't exactly planned. Was she joking?"
"Actually no." I answered hesitantly. "Why?"
Trisha smiled brightly. "Although you are obviously married, give her the wedding you would have wanted her to have. Use that day to renew your wedding vows."
As I pondered the thought, the picture of us on my desk caught my attention. Staring at the picture, made me wonder what Mia would have looked like in a white dress as she walked down the aisle towards me.
My heart began to beat wildly as I pictured Mia like that. But I knew no matter how I pictured her; she would manage to look twice as amazing.
"Lets make it happen. What do I need to do?"
"Give me a piece of paper and a pen." She smiled back.
After handing her over a notebook and a pen she started to write down a list of questions. When she was done, she handed it back to me. "Answer those questions first."
Holding the pen in my hand I started to answer the questions Trisha had written down. Slowly I made my way down the list with little trouble. It was the last question that caught me off guard slightly. "Umm...there is no answer for the last question. Mia never knew her real father."
"I'm pretty sure we both know someone who would proudly take that position don't we Deacon?"
"I guess we do, don't we?" I agreed, ripping the page from the notebook passing it to her across the desk. "What can I help with?"
"The only thing I want you to worry about getting is the rings." She smirked wickedly, reading over my answers. "When do you want to have this?"
"I'll let that up to you. Just let me know so I can get my jeweler on deadline." Reaching into my back pocket I pulled put my wallet and retrieved my extra checking card, handing it across the desk to Trisha. "So, it looks like you two have a lot to do, don't you?"
"I've had worse jobs in my life." Trisha laughed. "One last thing."
"And what's that?"
"I'm sure you've seen her admiring dresses before. Did you happen to notice what kind they were?"
I thought for a few minutes before feeling a smile slip across my lips. "Oh yeah." I laughed cheekily. "She hates anything with poufy shit, and nothing that is all lace." Then I remembered I had caught her after she fell asleep on my laptop. I had saved the picture of the dress she had been obviously been admiring until she fell asleep. I had gotten the bright idea to save it for later date.
Quickly I scanned through my downloads on the laptop until I found it. Printing the picture, I handed it over to Trisha. "A few months back she fell asleep admiring this. If you could somehow manage to find this dress it would mean the world to me. I don't care what you have to spend to make this possible. I trust you to make it happen quickly."
"You may want to call that jeweler of yours then boss." Eric laughed. "If I had a guess, you'll need those rings in about a week and a half at the most."
"I'll email him shortly. Hopefully he's capable of making this in that amount of time." I smiled handing another picture across to Trisha. "What do you think?"
Her eyes were glued to the printed picture. "You designed this?"
"Yeah, I had designed it originally before we got married the way we did. Both the engagement ring and the wedding band are strictly one-of-a-kind pieces. I had planned to propose to her in Paris with that ring. When that didn't exactly happen, I couldn't bring myself to destroy the design. I planned on eventually having it made and giving it to her as a gift, since I have never seen another set of rings that I thought matched the beauty I see in her as well as this does. There's an inscription on the inside of the rings as well."
"What does it say?" She asked.
"The engagement ring says 'When day turns to night' and the wedding band says 'You become my guiding star'."
Trisha blushed slightly as she looked at Eric. "Who would have ever imagined it?
Deacon Lombardi, a poet. I'm impressed."
I laughed, "I am a lot of things a poet is not one of them. That was something my mother used to say to Alex and I when we were kids.
Anyways you two should try to relax for a few hours, you have stores to check out and money to burn." After being left alone in my office for a minute it began to feel lonely. I opened my email, attached the picture of the rings, telling my jeweler this was priority one for him that I needed it in a week at the most and to contact me when the set was ready for pick up.
I closed my email and shut down my laptop. I looked around the office as I walked out. After shutting the door and locking it behind me I came across Freddy walking down the hallway to head the first floor to start his morning work. "Good morning Freddy."