I watched Mia smile, as she stepped aside for our father. "She is not the downfall of this family Gregory. Mia is the start of a new generation of this family, and I have no question in my mind that as long as Deacon and Mia stand side by side, there is no storm that they cannot weather, no battle they cannot win, nothing can stand in their way. It's not often that a father can look at his children and see what the future holds for them before it comes. I can promise you one thing beyond all else Gregory, the woman that stands in front of you today, the woman flanked by my son/her husband on one side, and your son who is stands at her other, is someone you cannot begin to imagine, for I myself have yet to find the same strength that she possesses within herself. Then again there is always a reason that paths cross, luckily her path crossed my son's when it did, I can longer imagine a life within this home or in this world that Mia does not find her way to us, does not find her way home to her family, she is my daughter after all."
"Your daughter sits in the cell next to mine Declan. Do not try to fool me, she is no more your daughter than my son is worthy to carry my name with his own."
"I can have more than one daughter. As of today, Mia is legally my daughter, that's how adoption works. With my son and daughter sitting at the head of the Lombardi table, as equals in not only this maddening and corrupt world we have all chosen to live in, but also the in the outside those walls where they were will prove that not even Lucifer himself could dull their light, as well as others they have brought into their lives as the newest additions to the Lombardi table there is nothing that they cannot accomplish when they all stand together."
"New additions?" He laughed. "Declan, I think that the pressure has finally made you snap, you fool! Who would choose to sit at your table when they could sit at mine and rule as a king? Bring one to me, show me one of these new additions and I will gladly prove to you here and now that even while being shackled I am more powerful than any of you will ever hope to be."
Dimitri stepped forward, rolling up his left sleeve as he moved, revealing a tattoo, I hadn't known he had found time to get. "New additions like myself. Is there anything that you could possibly say to me that could ever prove that you are more powerful than any single person that stands above you, while you kneel in our presence in chains and shackles? It was not you who just handed down a sentence of judgement, and you will never have the chance to do it again." He stated stepping farther forward, fully allowing the light above us to illuminate the tattoo that he now wore of my family's crest to be shown to his father.
Gregory laughed loudly. "So, I see that I was wrong about what happened when you we're alone her, under the guise of tending to her wounds. Knowing now that you did indeed fuck her on the plane, how about you tell me how she was, after all looking at her standing here, she does seem as though she could use a real man to make her scream at night. God knows, neither of you are capable of giving her that.
Is this what she promised you? A place here and you believe that they'll keep you here and what? Let you live or find that brat that should be with your bitch of a mother now?"
We all froze, even Dimitri looked at him anger boiling in his eyes. Before another word could be uttered a resounding sound of a hit echoed. Standing silently, we saw Gregory focused back to Mia who had slapped him with every bit of strength in her body, causing a handprint to already start forming on his cheek.
She bent down to meet his gaze. "Your son...has earned his place at our table. He showed honor in the face of death. Dimitri brought me home alive. Gave me a chance to watch my children grow up. How do you think they knew where we were going to land that night? He was given his son, his life and this home as his own. That is why he chose to wear the Lombardi family crest instead of polluting his skin with yours."
"It is why I signed their Omertà and not our own, I am no longer under your thumb, being made to do such horrific, vile and disgusting tasks, in hope that you would one day look at me with pride. You have to first have pride in order to show it to others and plainly written for all here to see that pride is something that you don't possess. My son will grow knowing love and respect. As he grows getting to watch his father be a better man than you would have allowed me too ever be. Christoph will grow knowing a loving family and he will watch his father advise those who lead it."
"ADVISE!!!" Gregory bellowed, trying to rise again. "You'll follow them to hell!! And this ghostly whore will lead the way."
The rage swelled in Mia's eyes as she looked between Dimitri and his father.
"Silence him! Do not remove his tongue unless he fights you. We have others to attend to." I called to the men behind us. "Mia lets go." I called to her holding my hand out for her to hold.
Slowly she took it while never allowing her eyes to leave Gregory. "Yes, you're right. We do have other business to attend to."
"You know that truly is a beautiful piece of artwork you wear in honor of your family dear girl." Gregory called behind us. "Though I am very curious Deacon have you already or how exactly do you plan to honor the observance of a Living Omertà being satisfied when you could barely watch my hands on her?"
My body froze as I tightened my grip on Mia's waist, pulling her closer to me. "It has been satisfied by her pain."
"Really? How can you possibly appease anything living, anything that needs to be sated with the true essence of life with only pain?" He chuckled deeply. "You can never give something living only pain to feed it and expect it to live, let alone thrive."
I turned slowly, meeting his demented smirk while allowing both Dimitri and Alex to close around Mia. The rage boiling inside me started to overflow. "She gave life to two living, breathing human beings after she received that. Mia has more than sated the Omertà she wears." I snarled.
His smirk never faded as he stared back at me. "Giving life isn't exactly the same as being bathed in the marrow of what gives them life though is it?" Leaning in closer to where I stood his demented smirk turned into an evil sneer as he tried to find a way in which to look at Mia. "Did you even bother to tell her what has to happen in order for that ink to be anything more than a mockery to her family? Did you bother to tell her what the cost is that she has to pay with herself, with her body?"
I stood silently as I glowered at him. "It has been satisfied by our terms; we would never demand what you dare to suggest. That may be the way that you have chosen to abide by, but it is not the way that we chose to honor such a sacred honor."
"Deacon, what is he talking about?" Mia asked barely over a whisper, as she pulled both her lips into her mouth awaiting my answer nervously. "Did I not do something right?"
"No, you did everything perfect Mia. Ignore him, he's an old fool who thinks that only the old ways are the right way, the only way. He is just another fool unwilling to grow or see the need for change around, which will leave him as no more than footnote in history."
"Ask him again." He laughed. "Ask him to what it takes to fully sate the terms of a living Omertà, whore."
Mia's POV
I felt my hands shaking in each other, as it slowly spread to my shoulders and legs. "Deacon, please tell me what he's talk...ing ab...out. I feel like you don't want me to know something."
He turned and looked at me, his eyes meeting mine in understanding. "Mia, can you trust me enough to believe me when I say this is just one more antiquated tradition we are growing from?"
Before I could respond Gregory laughed loudly. "Antiquated? So, the seeds of life that gave her the brats she begged to know about is now nothing than an antiquated tradition to you? That must also be how you view fidelity, family and marriage, you're probably right though. Wouldn't life be so much more fun if we grew away from those antiquated ideals as well? How do you feel about devotion and fidelity in marriage girl? Is that archaic tradition something you honor or do you agree that we all need to grow away from such a horribly medieval institution?" He smiled. "Where pledges of faithfulness, devotion and honor mean nothing more that a scrap of paper that you throw into the trash?
Do you want to know what it takes to sate that Omerta you wear so proudly?"
"Gregory!" Deacon bellowed from beside me, causing a wave of anger to pass through me as he did. "ENOUGH!"
Gregory's eyes never left me as he kneel there his eyes shining in want to tell what make me uncomfortable, while his sneer held back whatever vile thoughts were going through his mind. "If Deacon and the rest of my family says that I have done my part then I will take their word not yours." Turning away from him as I began to move towards where Alex and Dimitri still stood.
"They take turns you know?" He called the questioned out to me, making my heart twinge in pain, while my stomach threatened to come up from the bone-chilling coldness that swept over me after the words left his mouth. "There's what six maybe seven names there? I'm sure they'll all be gentle with your fragile body as each of them take their turn crawling between your legs in order to fill your sweet, tender body with with their own seeds of life, which of course you'll be expected to receive deep within your womb over and over and over again until it's all that you feel flowing through your body.
You're a smart girl aren't you Mia? That symbol that you wear with such pride thinking that it means that you're carrying something special with you, something they would die to protect, all it means is that you're little more than a play toy for them to sink their dicks into. When you allowed them to put that mark on you, you were no longer his wife or their friend, you became nothing more than the words I dug into your gut. All they did was mark you as their whore to be passed around to whomever they wish to allow to use you.
You fought so bravely to keep your legs closed to my men, but at least they didn't hide their motives. Are you hearing me child? They marked you as their whore, you're nothing more than that to them!"
I looked at Deacon briefly and then to my left hand, as tears welled in my eyes, trying to ignore the disgusting words that Gregory was calling to me. My breathing becoming staggered and short, before I felt Deacon's arms wrap tightly around me, which instantly made my heart begin to slow and my breathing to return to normal. "Mia, ignore him. You know that the words coming out of his mouth are nothing more than another attempt to find a way in which to pull you under the waves to make you feel as though you mean nothing to us. You know better than, you held the proof in your hands not even an hour ago. Don't let him inside your head baby, listen to our voices, our words and find the truth in them for yourself."
Releasing a calming breath and gathering my thoughts back together again, I looked to Deacon, then slowly to everyone else that now held angry glares, all focused directly at Gregory. Moving to face Deacon solely I took his hand in my own holding it gently. "I stand in faith of my convictions as well as my devoutness. My fidelity, along with my loyalty and my devotion to both my husband and my family has nothing to do with any trite or aging observed custom. My fidelity is in reciprocation of my husband's, my loyalty is in gratitude for being given the family I had endured without for what seemed to be a lifetime and my devotion to both, is my humility permitting me to acknowledge the insignificance of my life in my eyes even when everyone who surrounds me unequivocally dismisses the value of their own in comparison to mine.
They've risked their lives to save mine, granted me the first real home I've ever had and the first real family I've ever known." I smiled looking up at Deacon, to Alex and then to Declan. "Nothing I've given them can ever repay that debt. I could care less about the size of the diamond in my ring or the clothes that I am lucky enough to wear.
I would love them all the same if I woke up tomorrow on a bed with cheap cotton sheets, in the worst part of town, in house where the roofs leaks when it rains. As long as I woke up in my husband's arms every morning, received a hug from my brother after his first cup of coffee, and was greeted by my father every time I came home.
So yes, Deacon I unquestionably and without a doubt trust what you say, and whatever inevitably transpires I know that separately we will always find our back to each other. Knowing that once we are brought back to each other, there will be no one that will have the capability to stand in defiance of us.
I've trusted you since the moment we met, because something told me I could.
I trusted you before I even really knew you, I trusted when you told me I'd talk again, when you said you would come for me, I trusted you would and you did." I lifted my hand resting it firmly to his left cheek, peering into his beautiful slate gray eyes. "I know even now that when our day finally comes and our backs are against the wall, we'll be standing together and even then, if a gun is to my head, I trust in you enough to know it wouldn't be their bullet that put me down. I trust you enough to know that you already know whose bullet I want to end my life when that day comes." I took his left hand in my own, placing his over my heart and covering his with mine. "Deacon, I trust you enough that I know that when that day comes, though we will without a doubt fight until the end, until our bodies are broken and bruised, barely able to move but I know that there is one thing you'd spare me if you possibly could. That's pain, so you see Deacon, I trust you enough to know that you would end my life with your own bullet piercing my heart, to keep my life from ending in pain. So, right here, right now, I'm thanking you for that."
Deacon's POV
Closing my eyes for a brief moment, allowing a deep breath to escape slowly as I took in the feeling of her heart beating under it. I couldn't help but to be reminded of a week ago, when the thought of having this moment was almost ludicrous. Right now, however, I forgot anyone else was in the room. All I could bring myself to feel was the gentle rising and falling of Mia's chest as she would breathe and the peaceful, steady rhythm of her heart under my hand. Time seemed to stand still for that brief moment, and somehow, I knew even though things were going to be different for us from here on out, I knew Mia's fear of being tossed away had been quelled, and that no matter what came was on the horizon in the future we would all face it head on together.
My attention snapped back to reality when I felt Mia move slightly taking a step backwards. A loving smile crossed her lips, as she glanced around those of us who had come down here with one side of bottom lip lightly tucked between her teeth as she blushed. Taking another small step back she looked into my eyes with an unmistakable look, one I knew all too well. She was contemplating something but I didn't get a chance to ask what she was thinking about. Before I could even form the question fully in my head, Mia did what to me had always been the unimaginable.
My lips parted in the shocking beauty of the moment. As Mia slowly and gracefully lowered herself until she was settled on her knees, while never once allowing her eyes to leave mine. She wanted everyone to see this, but she made sure my undivided attention was on her.
"Mia, what are you doing? Get up." I said calmly holding my hand out to her, though to my surprise she didn't take it. "Mia?"
A slight blush crossed her cheeks as she looked up again to meet my softening gaze. Still holding my hand out to her. "Mia, stand up."
"I meant what I said that day Deacon." She responded, still not reaching for my hand, while staring into my eyes.
"What you said when Mia?" I questioned cautiously, not knowing where this was heading.
Her shy smile let me know that she was okay, as she gently tucked her hair behind her ear. Reaching out she gently took my hand again placing it over her heart.
"Whether you realize it or not Deacon, you have taught me so much, the most important being that I am below no one.
I said that there was only one man that I would ever kneel before willingly, but that he'd never ask me to. "
You could have heard a pin drop in the room at that moment. I briefly looked behind me to everyone who stood there, all of them had the exact same face of disbelief written all over their faces. As I turned again to meet Mia's soft gaze, I found that even Gregory had a look of disbelief in his eyes that he was truly seeing the sight that was playing out before him.
I think that I had been the only one that saw the single tear fall down her cheek as she looked up at me with the same soft smile. It was a smile I had seen her wear before, the one she wore when she told me that she was pregnant.
"Although my words still remain true, you will be the only person I will ever kneel in submission to, but this is not a submission.
All of you have given me more than I could ever ask for, and more than I could have ever dreamed that I would ever have. There's nothing I have that could ever repay everything you have done for me. This is my humility, my way of saying thank you to everyone in this room for everything that you've done for me." Mia looked up at me shyly.
Dimitri stood silently at my side staring at Mia. Gently he held his hand out to her. "Mia, take my hand and stand up. Your humility has been shown far before this to all of us.
I can only speak for myself, but I am sure that you have done more that they feel needs repaid than you think.
Now please stand with us."
My attention was caught by Gregory's evil sneer as she stood between Dimitri and myself. "That is why we consider the Omerta that she sated Gregory. Say what you will, laugh for all I care, because nothing you do means anything here.
If you are ready Mia, we still have some business to handle."