This didn't feel real. Was it possible I was dreaming? My knees felt weak, I felt like I going to fall to the floor. My instincts immediately kicked in.
"They're pain meds. I have a headache. Livianna said I could borrow them." I say, each word sounding riddled with dishonesty.
"Gia..." Cristiano starts to say. His jaw clenches, and his hands ball into fists. He was a flaming ball of anger that was about to burst. I needed to get out of this room.
"I know." He finishes. I stare back at him. What did that even mean. I couldn't think straight, I suddenly felt overheated and dizzy.
"Wh-what?" Is all I could manage to get out. He slowly starts to walk towards me. I would've backed away from him, if I wasn't completely frozen in place. Soon, his body was just a few inches away from mine.
"I said," Suddenly he grabs the hair on the back of my head, and pulls my face dangerously close to his. Not hard enough to hurt me, but just enough to keep me in place. "I know."
It suddenly hit me. He knew about the plot. I was too scared to say anything. What could I say? Fear encapsulated my body as I realized that I was going to be killed tonight. I had betrayed this whole family. I was caught, and there was nothing I could do. I had to accept my fate. But there was still a part of me that wanted to live. That wanted to fight my way out of this.
"Diavolo raped Livianna, did you know that? He was a suspect in an attack on your life. You don't even remotely like him. Yet you're going to kill me for trying to get rid of that scum." I say, trying to stay as calm as possible.
His grip on the back of my head tightened, and I winced in pain.
"Who says I'm going to kill you, Gia?" He says tauntingly. The smirk on his face made me uneasy, yet his words sent a wave of relief through my body. But that quickly faded as I remembered he had plenty of other ways of making me suffer.
"You should kill me, Cristiano. I betrayed you. I was going to kill your own flesh and blood. And if you don't kill me, I will go through with it." I say, gesturing towards the pills that were still in his hand, in my voice trembling. I meant every word. This was the most honest I'd ever felt with him.
He let out an ominous chuckle, tilting my head back even further.
"Maybe that's exactly what I want. Maybe I wanted to see how far you would take this little plot of yours, and if you could actually get away with it." He says in an almost cruel tone. His words make the the blood drain from my face.
"H-how long have you known?" I ask, my voice wavering under his intense and threatening gaze. He scoffs at me.
"Why does that matter?" He says, gripping my hair even harder. I cry out in pain and push against his chest.
"Please! You're hurting me!" I exclaim. The more I struggle against him the harder he grabs me.
"And you think that your betrayal didn't hurt me?" He says, as if he was suffering on the inside. I could see the hurt in his eyes.
It was then I realized what I had done. I had already felt guilty for betraying him. But seeing his face right now felt like some kind of pain I had never felt before. His expression said everything.
I had lost his trust completely.
"I've known since the very beginning. Since you and Livianna started plotting this stupid fucking assassination." He says, the sadness in his eyes fading away, and turning back to anger.
Confusion clouds my brain.
"I don't understand. If you knew then why didn't you try to stop me?" I say, not even trying to hide my fear. He hesitates before answering.
"I want him to die, Gia. But I'm not going to let you risk your life to do something that should've been done a long time ago." He says, releasing his grip on my hair, and caressing the area he had just bruised.
I pause for a moment. What did he mean?
"How long have you been wanting to get rid of him?What has he done to make you hate him so much?" I ask, trying to figure out what he had meant. Was there something else about Diavolo that Cristiano wasn't telling me.
"Gia...if you only knew..." He says, pulling my face closer to his, and pressing his forehead against mine.
I looked into his eyes, and all I could see was pain.
"Cristiano..."
Suddenly there was a loud scream. It sounded like it was from a woman. Cristiano and I both jumped. I could feel fear running through my body, and I could see it in Cristiano's eyes too. Which was a rare sight. He quickly ran and unlocked the door, throwing it open before running into the hallway.
I stood there for a few seconds. I could feel my heart beating in my chest. Who screamed? Why?
I didn't want to leave that room. Deep down I knew, I just knew that after I left the safety of that room disaster was going to set in. But I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. I hesitantly left the room, I felt as if I was moving involuntarily, like a prisoner walking to their execution.
Not knowing what to expect, I warily entered the living room, to find all the guests surrounding the bottom of the staircase. Many of them have their hands covering their mouths and their eyes, as if they're in shock. Some of the women are weeping.
I spot Cristiano, he's on the phone with someone, and he looks stressed. I try to walk over to him, but before I can, Beatrice quickly stops me.
"Wh-what's going on?" I say, desperately trying to keep my composure.
"Gia, you don't want to see this." She says remorsefully. She attempts to move me away from the guests surrounding the stairs, but I brush past her. I approach the crowd of people, they all moved out of the way. Afraid to face the consequences of saying no to a Donna.
Suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks.
There was a body lying there in a pool of blood.
It didn't take me long to realize who it was.
Livianna.
I let out a scream, but I couldn't even hear myself. I ran over to her, kneeling down beside her, and cradling her head. One of her hands reached up and touched mine. She's still alive. There's a chance she might live. I thought to myself. But the blood flowing from her head said otherwise.
Livianna was struggling to breath. She opened her mouth, as if she was trying to say something.
"Shh, don't speak. Just focus on breathing." I say. At this point, my hands and dress were becoming coated in her blood. I looked up at all the people staring down at me and Livianna.
"What are you doing?! Call an ambulance, don't just stand there!" I yell at them.
"The Don is already calling them." One of the men says nervously. I looked back down at her. Her eyes were wide with fear. She knew she was dying. I could feel tears pooling out of my eyes.
"Please don't leave me." I whisper. The light in her eyes was beginning to fade, and the sound of her breathing became even more faint.
One of her hands reached up and grazed my cheek. Slowly, she pulled my face closer to hers. I could tell she was trying to tell me something, but was struggling to get the words out. I moved closer, hoping to hear her.
"R-r-run." She says, with one last final breath, before the light in her eyes vanished completely.
I sat there, cradling this poor girl who had become my friend. We had worked so hard to get her free from that monster, and now right before my eyes, she was gone.
After a few minutes, I heard the ambulance siren arrive outside the house. A few EMT's come bursting through the door, carrying a resuscitator, a stretcher, a breathing tube. But deep down we all knew it was too late.
I was in shock, I couldn't move. Someone had grabbed my arm and dragged me upstairs. I hadn't even realized until I heard the bedroom slam shut, and lock from the outside.
Being locked in here, soaked in Livianna's blood, and not knowing what was happening downstairs made it all even worse. I couldn't be locked in one place, I felt like a sitting duck. I wanted to do exactly what Livianna had told me to.
Run.