A Bond by Marriage

Chapter 15

Gia's POV-

Marco let out another hearty laughter at my poor skills with the controller. It was my second day being trained and while I was distressed, at least one of us was having fun. Too much fun if you asked me. I wasn’t that bad at this though and I was starting to get the hang of all these little buttons rather quickly.

“I think I’m doing good for my first day, don’t you think?”

“Umm, you are doing pretty good f*****g it all up, YESSS.” Sarcasm dripped off his tongue.

“I think I need a break. I might be too stressed to continue otherwise,” I set the controller aside.

“You are so bad at it!” Marco exclaimed, chuckling. “Just like I was when Vito used to kick my ass. He still does though.”

“You don’t play with your friends?”

“No one is allowed in the house. Not that anyone would want to send their kids here.”

“Why? I also heard you say something about Dino shooting them that day.”

“Those assholes made me try drugs once. Said it was sugar and Dino found out. He threatened to kill them if I ever sneaked out to meet them.” A couple of young teenagers doing drugs? I’m glad Dino found out about it.

“So, you didn’t really go to your friends, did you?”

“No. Dino has strict rules laid out and one of them is ‘No drugs’. I was just angry at him, so I tried it. But I was really just strolling around that night. I like it that way, you know, it’s calm.” I understood him. It felt good to be in the dark, out of everyone’s sight. But Marco was too young to have to seek a haven in the dark.

“Why were you mad at him?”

He shrugged, “I don’t need a reason to be upset with him. Since he dragged me here, imposed all these rules on me, has been forcing me to communicate with the people here and asked me to be an Accomazzi, I have been upset with him.”

“I was happy back where I lived. It was a guarded area but I never saw the guards and that felt good. I could forget and just live. Now, I have to live like an Accomazzi, keep up appearances and… I don’t know what is expected from me.”

“You need to have faith in your brother, Marco. And you need to know that he will take care of you.” I thought he already knew it and it was just his young blood rebelling whatever way it could. Most teenagers were like this.

“I thought that, but he is always busy. Even before, he rarely came to spend time with me. It was always Vito, and my caretakers that he kept changing.”

“Dino changed your caretaker?”

“A lot of them. He didn’t want me to be connected with someone who wasn’t family, and the family that ever tried to be close to me was Vito. I even begged him to let someone stay, but he would always change them, and with time, I never bothered interacting with anyone. Not after Greta. She was my favourite. She took care of me like she wanted to and not because she was being paid.” Marco turned away and wiped his eyes. I knew Dino loved him, but it was getting clear that he was terrible at showing it. Dino was looking out for his brother, but he forgot that being lonely wasn’t a consequence of being alone. One could be sitting on a bench in the middle of Chicago without acknowledging the din of the city.

My heart ached for Marco because unlike me he had been living in the shadows and didn’t want to. Before anything, Vito barged into the game room, slightly startling me.

“No need to jump. It’s just me.”

“He isn’t wrong, you know,” Marco said over his shoulder before running past Vito, yelling, ‘Snacks!’ on his way out.

“What happened to him?”

“Just shared something with me, and he got emotional.”

“And ran as if I hadn't seen him bawling his eyes out when I ripped his teddy bear,” he said, settling on the far end of the couch.

“You ripped his teddy bear?”

“Nothing but a little quality check gone wrong,” he said. I mean, ripping a kid’s toy in front of him was brutal. Kids really did believe their toys had life. “A bought him a new one.”

“And he was okay with it?”

“Hell no. He threw a tantrum. Said I killed his bear.” I had already guessed that. “So, are you going strong with him?”

“Apparently, he was impressed when I spoke up for him in front of Dino,” Vito smirked, and I looked at the door again. I knew I was crazy, but I still wasn’t comfortable with him, or at least not enough to be alone with him in a room. "I was honestly surprised that you didn’t say anything.”

“I didn’t because it was the right thing. I’m sure you must’ve noticed that Marco prefers me more than Dino. And if I started going against Dino in front of him, he would definitely believe that Dino was the bad guy. The fact that I don’t support him when Dino confronts him lets him know that he is the one who is wrong and that he must obey Dino because I too do not stand up for him.” His reasoning left me shocked. Marco seemed like a brat and yet he was just in need of love. Vito turned out to actually be sweet and not just protective and I hadn’t imagined Dino to be patient, or consider my say in this bond. I remember what he had said to me during our first dance. He didn’t have a problem with me choosing someone for myself. He wasn’t bothered that I wasn’t pure. He didn’t care what people said.

All these thoughts brought my guilt from the other night back. I shouldn’t have asked Marco about Dino’s past. I shouldn’t have pried like that. Dino wasn’t prying around, he wasn’t even forcing me when he could. I shouldn’t have rushed to do anything. And above all, the fact that he even noticed my discomfort and hadn’t touched me since… It was unexpected. Besides, I might not have known uncle Corrado for long, but he was also encouraging Dino to open up to me.

If only I could work with myself, will myself to trust the people around me and become a part of this family.

“It’s good, he's comfortable around you. I believe it wouldn’t be too hard to convince him for a trip to your uncle’s place this time.” I looked at him confused. “Dino asked me to inform you that Aldo is taking Umberto’s place as Capo. Later though, everybody will be expected to show up for the celebration.”

“When is the party?” I asked.

“This week. We figured you’d want to visit the oath ceremony too—”

“That’s quite alright.” I cut him off. “If it isn’t a necessity, I’d like to stay back.” I explained. Vito stared at me for a couple seconds before he nodded pursing his lips.

The last thing I wanted was to meet my family and if I could delay that, I would take any opportunity presented before me. Even though I knew the celebratory party was something I couldn’t escape, I planned to stick to Dino’s side throughout the duration and avoid Riccardo at all costs. I knew him well enough. He would try to deliver his threats again and I didn’t want to fall victim to his schemes anymore.