𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚

Chapter 26

Written 3/22/21

I look at him with wide eyes through the mirror. Drop my towel? I wanted to ask him why, but I've learned by now not to question him.

I slowly reach up and wrap my fingers around the hem line of the towel. I hesitantly let go, and let it fall to the floor, exposing my entire body. Why was I so embarrassed about showing Cristiano my body? He had seen it multiple times before. He had literally been inside of me, yet I was still shy.

Cristiano walks towards me, his eyes stay fixated on mine. When he's behind me, he places his chin on the crook of the neck. He brings his hands to my waist, and one of his fingertips rubs against my rib cage. His gaze moves down to where his hands are.

"You're getting too thin." He says.

I look at myself in the mirror, and I'm almost sickened at my appearance. You could clearly see my rib cage, my arms were hung low and looked like sticks, I looked like a ghost. Did he care? Why? Most of the reasons I looked this way was because of him.

"Why does it matter?" I say, attempting to cover myself. But before I can Cristiano grabs my wrist and stops me.

"Because your health is important to this family." He says. I scoff, and try to pull away, but he just pulls me back toward him.

"Giada you are the queen of this family. Do you honestly think that we don't care about your well-being?" He says, looking at me quizzically. I just stare at him in confusion.

Queen of the Family. It suddenly hit me. I had power. Even though it was very limited, I still had it. But if I wanted people to respect me, I had to look like someone who deserved respect. I couldn't keep wallowing in my own misery.

"I will try to take better care of myself, I promise."

I say, he looks at me for a moment, then nods. After he leaves I quickly finish blow drying my hair. I slide my dress on, and start doing my makeup. While going through my bag, I spot a beautiful, cherry red lipstick. Normally I wouldn't go for something so bold, but I was feeling brave. I carefully put the lipstick on, and finish getting ready.

When I walk out of the restroom, I see Cristiano struggling to tighten his tie. I stifle a smirk, and walk over to him.

"Here, let me." I say, standing in front of him, reaching up to fix his tie. He sighs, and takes his hands away, so I can help him. I readjust the knot, and carefully tighten it around his neck. When I'm done I look back up at him.

"There." I say, with a slight smile.

"Thank you." He says, eyeing my lips. His hands wrap around my back, and he pulls me closer.

"That's a nice color on you." Cristiano says in a low voice. I wanted to kiss him again, just like I had in the car. I wanted for him to just pick me up and throw me on the bed. I wanted him to give me that euphoric sensation I was craving. I was lusting, and he knew it. Did he want it as bad as me?

Suddenly there's a knock at the bedroom door.

"Cars ready sir." A voice calls out. Our moment is interrupted, and Cristiano snaps back into action. He puts on his coat and hands me mine, then takes my hand.

We walk down stairs, and outside where a limo is waiting. I thought it was a bit excessive because he and I were the only ones going to be riding in it, but he was the Don, he had every right to be excessive. The driver gets out and opens my door for me, and Cristiano. Before I know we're driving through the city.

I can see about 4 or 5 cars riding behind or alongside us. From the brand of car, I can tell they belong to the Seratorre family. I figured they were probably guards, but why did we have so many with us?

"Why all the guards?" I say looking out the window, then at Cristiano. He looks at me, then leans over and presses a button. Slowly some sort of privacy wall comes between us and the driver.

"For safety. Just cause it's a party, doesn't mean there won't be people there who are our enemies." He answers.

After what happened at the last party we went to, I figured that out pretty quickly. We had enemies everywhere.

"Sh-should I be scared?" I ask meekly. He gives me this look, one that I hated. He looked angry, and sad for me at the same time. It made him hard to read.

"You should never be scared Gia, but you should always be cautious." He says.

I liked that advice. Always be cautious. Not like I wasn't careful with almost everything I did already, but it was still a wise idea. I needed to be more aware of my surroundings, and who I trusted.

That is, if I could trust anyone.

sorry this is so short, but the next chapter is gonna be so long, i didn't want to dump it all on you guys in one chapter 💜