◽THE ABSURD PROPOSAL◽
◽THIRD PERSON'S POV◽
She stirred in her sleep to the loud bang of something being thrown against the wall. Startled, she jolted awake, fear creeping in. She began practicing steady breathing to prevent her symptoms from escalating. She had been here for two months, and never had she seen Marco resort to violence. But two months wasn’t enough to truly understand a person, especially not someone like him. .
She cowered in fear as another crash echoed through the room.
Scared for her life yet unable to contain her curiosity, she tried to peek and see what was happening. Outside her door, she spotted unidentified bulky men, each easily four times her size, unusually large and gruff-looking.
With no idea who they were, she struggled to control herself and ran to hide. This mafia home was just too quiet to fit the stereotype. It was a clear contrast of the image Angel had painted in her subconscious mind
Apart from Carmello occasionally coming home with blood covered cloths and a literal torture chamber in the basement, there was no violence. It was just a big house full of buff men. She was always curious, but her curiosity couldn't override her fear. She retreated to the farthest corner of the room. Unable to resist the increasingly clear conversation, she pressed her ear against the door.
"If you don't get married and produce an heir, how do you think you were going to keep being the leader?" She didn't know who was speaking, but she had a vague idea of what was going on “Dobbiamo unire cazzo di famiglie,” {we need to unite the fucking families}
Not wanting to get caught, and with the conversation already clear, she didn't need to eavesdrop anymore. She detested how the conversation shifted from being angry at his son for not giving him a grandson to being angry at his son for not getting rid of her.
She was shaken to her core
She retreated to the farthest corner of the room, as if that made her invisible, she doesn't want to ever confront Mr Angelini senior, he sounded like a very angry man, a man with a lot of unresolved issues
Angelini senior wasn't fighting demons, he was the demon
..........
"I can help you," she announced with a straight face.
"You want to help me? How?" Carmello was confused, having zero idea what she was talking about.
"I can give birth to your child."
His eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Good Lord! I'm not going to fuck a minor for my own selfish need."
Marian began picking at her nail, waiting for him to finish his sentence. "Who says we're going to fuck? Sometimes I wonder if you're really as smart as you think you are," she said, shaking her head.
The moment that slipped, she regretted it.
Her hand flew to her mouth, but it was too late, the word already fell.
Nobody dared speak to Carmello that way and lived to see another day, but here he was, taking all sorts of insults from a teenage girl.
Better still, not reacting to being insulted “that's… that's not what I meant.“ she stuttered, quickly backpedaling "I mean, you're.. you're every girl's dream, but you're also a deadly person, so I wouldn't want to," she continued, asserting her point despite the fear creeping into her voice. "Maybe on a normal basis, if we hadn't met this way or you weren't who you are, I would certainly jump at the chance." Her rambling only revealed how terrified she really was.
Carmello was visibly irritated, his jaw was clenched, eyes narrowed but for some reason didn't say anything.
From what he had seen, she was someone who analyzed every situation with care, eventually coming up with the best solution. She doesn't get swayed by emotion and knew how to control herself.
He was giving her the benefit of the doubt.
For God's sake, she had bounced back just a week after learning about her parents' deaths, she had never even been curious about who killed her parents. "Surrogacy," she concluded. "You are influential. Getting an egg donor won't be a problem. I'll help with the baby, and you'll allow me to go to school. My future is in jeopardy; you should take pity on me."
Carmello wasn't as heartless as his father. He knew how much everything was affecting Marian, but they had no choice. Her sister was in hiding with information that could destroy them. Marian was an alternative, a threat to keep her sister tied up. They couldn't let her go; she was the only weapon they could use against her sister.
“I could..“
"Marian?" his cold voice stopped her from finishing her sentence, “I'll kill you the next time you talk to me like that,” he concludes, leaving no room for argument.
Her breath hitched, she bit her lips to stop herself from saying anything.
But,
"For God's sake, my birthday was just a little later than my peers' I turned eighteen a week after I was brought here." She knew she couldn't get what she wanted easily, so trying to compromise in a way that would benefit him was the only way.
She couldn’t afford to miss her final exam. She had studied tirelessly to get into the best university to study medicine, and she wasn’t going to lose everything because her sister had fallen in love with the wrong man.
“You don’t want to get involved with a girl. I need to take my finals. It’s a win-win,” Marian said firmly, trying to reach a compromise with him. She was determined to survive, no matter the cost.
He never replied just left her standing there while she wallowed in self pity.
Even if they decided to kill her, they wouldn’t do it while she was pregnant with his child. She had devised numerous strategies to endure this dreadful situation. Her life was precarious, especially after Carmello’s father, Giovanni, stormed in, demanding good news. It wasn’t her problem, but the household’s atmosphere hinged on it. She knew the risks when she proposed surrogacy. She was willing to do whatever it took to keep her life intact.
For days, she had cried herself to sleep, but she couldn’t remain trapped in her past dilemma. She needed to move forward if she ever wanted to discover what had happened to her sister. How did they both end up in such a disastrous situation?
Thinking about her parents stirred emotions she thought she had successfully buried. Unable to control her reaction, she ran into the room.
She was in denial about her sister’s involvement in this mess. She wanted so badly the reasonable and logical explanation to what was going on to be a lie
She handled being snatched away from her life so well but it was hard getting used to the kind of life they lived, especially since they had kept her locked up. The house was her prison.
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