The Meeting

Leia! Come out of that room this minute!" My father banged the door with his hand. More tears went down my cheeks. I didn't want to come out. It was finally the day I had to meet with the Banda's family and I had my heart in my throat. I kept imagining different scenarios that could play out when I eventually go there. 

“Leia if you don't come out this minute, this door is going down and you'll regret ever locking it" my father roared from outside, but I didn't budge.

My mother spoke. “Leia don't be stubborn. You need to go there now”

"I don't want to get married to Jericho mum” I cried out.

"What nonsense did she just say?” I heard my father's strong hand banging hard against the door and I flinched. "You have been so soft on this girl, that's why she has the effrontery to act like this” as he said those words, more tears went down my cheeks. I had thought my father always pretended not to care about how I felt. At that point, I realized he never for once pretended.

“Leia darling we talked about this” my mother tried to convince me once again.

My father sucked in the air before he spoke."Leia, if you don't come out this minute, consider yourself out of this family” he said and my heart sank. I knew my father and he was surely going to keep to his word.

I reluctantly slipped down from the bed where I was plopped, waiting for the worse to happen. Well, the worst had indeed happened. They won again. They had succeeded in making me do what they wanted, not what I wanted.

I sluggishly walked to the door, dragging my feet on the floor because I had lost the motivation to walk normally. I opened the door and I prepared myself to get hit by my father, but surprisingly he didn't do that.

“What madness was that!" my father roared at me while I kept my head down.

“And you aren't even dressed." My mother who had pretended to be the caring one spoke up in anger. 

“I'm.." 

My mother didn't let me finish speaking. “Fay!" She called out to one of the maids. Fay came by shortly after hearing her name. “Get her dressed" She instructed. 

“But mum.."

“Don't you mum me," she turned to look at Fay after glaring at me. “Make sure she's down at exactly 30 minutes," she said and walked away. My dad had already left a few minutes earlier than that.

They couldn't even wait a bit before selling me off to those wolves. They were cruel and I had heard horrible things about them. Jericho to be precise. He didn't have any regard for women. I hadn't met him, but I knew I was going to hate him. He took my happiness for me. As far as I was concerned, he was the reason why I wouldn't marry for love, just for power, not even for me, but for my family.

At exactly 30 minutes, I was staring at myself in the mirror. I hated the dress. I didn't pick it out myself. My mother did. It was a red dress_so revealing. Was I going to be his wife or his slut. Since the marriage was a certainty, why did my parents have to put in so much effort to make me acceptable? Jericho never said he didn't want to get married.

“Do you want to go down now?" I heard Fay's regular high-pitched voice which I always hated. I didn't say a word, I took my black purse that lay on the bed and walked out of the room in anger.

My parents didn't go with me, but they assigned guards to escort me. Probably they knew I would bolt if I had the fucking chance to.

 

While in the car, I had two guards by my side and two in the front. They treated me like a criminal, just because they wanted to make sure I did what they wanted.

“Don't ruin your makeup" I said inwardly as the tears threatened to fall. The urge to cry became stronger when I saw the Banda's family house from afar. How was I going to act, what was I going to say? Weren't my parents supposed to go with me to prevent me from saying anything?

 When we drove in and the car was parked, I hesitated to come down from the car. I was nervous as hell. My palms were shaking due to fear and my lips trembled. 

The guards were out and one of them held the door, gesturing me to come out. They had stern looks on their faces, probably my dad had instructed them to act strict around me to ensure I didn't act stubborn. What made them think I wouldn't leave the car and bolt off? The house premises was big enough for me to hide until I figured out a way to leave for good.

“One leg and then the other”  I recited as I stepped down from the car. A huge lump formed in my throat as I walked slowly and casually to the front door with the guards behind me. I turned around to see if I had the chance to run, but the guards looked as alert as ever. They would do anything to stop me and that included shooting me down.

We got to the front door where two guards stood. One of the guards ushered us in. Probably they knew I was Jericho's supposed wife. 

We walked into the house with my heart in my mouth. The house was big and looked expensive, but I didn't care about that. What I was interested in were the figures present in the sitting room.

 All men, dressed in a black suits, with their eyes on me. Did I come at the wrong time? I asked myself as I looked down. The only person I could recognize was Alfonso: Jericho's father. The feared Italian Mafia boss of "Banda Della''. He looked dangerous. I could almost smell it from where I was. His eyes looked dark like he had experienced a lot of things in his life. Like he could kill me without feeling a thing. Of course, he could kill me and dismember my body. My parents wouldn't even know about that. My body shook at the thought of it

“Not so bad. Roman did a fine job,” one of the men spoke with a rough Italian accent. I glared at him, resisting the urge to smack the smirk he had on his face.

"Have a seat,” Alfonso said. It sounded more like a command. I thought I was going to act stubborn, but I found myself obeying him.

He didn't say anything. Neither did the other men. They didn't look at me either, which I was grateful for. Except for one who  still had his creepy eyes on me.

I tried to pay no attention and be as invisible as possible.

Soon after, I heard loud footsteps from the stairs. I didn't know how, but my sub-conscience told me it was Jericho. I stiffened, not daring to look up.

"I told you she would be beautiful,” Alfonso said.

"I would be the judge of that,” A cold voice said with a casual demeanor. Wait! That voice. I had heard it before.

I brought my head up to look at him.

I gasped.

My heart sank. How could it be? Our eyes met, but he didn't look surprised as I was. Scrap that, he didn't look like he cared at all. Of course, he remembered me, he didn't have dementia or something.

He was the guy from the club!