Chapter 6 Sixth

MARIA.

My work routine was very flexible. After doing all the bureaucratic part, I was free to leave. When I got the hang of it, I started doing it very fast and ended up with a lot of free time to go home. Instead, I started to help Nena prepare the salon for the evening.

The owner had plans to open during lunch as well and while he hadn't started, he delivered delivery. I started to help assemble packaging and take orders over the phone.

Everything so I don't stay at home for nothing. My mind was much better after I got busy. I still took piano lessons three times a week and participated in some events with my mother, which was a complete torture. I couldn't count how many pats I received that soon, my parents would find another fiancé and I'm glad I wasn't like the other woman, who gave the virtue to someone like him.

It made me want to scream that it wasn't my fault, I doubted very much that the other girl wasn't as manipulated as I was. It was his fault. But who cared? It was more important to talk. Maybe they would be less cruel if my own mother wasn't so rude about the lives of others.

Everyone has a glass ceiling, even people as apparently perfect as me. It was good for my mother to learn and deep down, good for me. I didn't love him. I wasn't heartbroken. I was hurt. Hurt. You wouldn't have to go through any of that if you had been a little smarter.

I grew up in a traditional family, for the love of Dio! How did I fall into the story that I needed to give him a proof of love? I wanted to hit me all over!

- Thank you, Maria. - Giuseppe smiled. He liked to flirt with me. He was many years older and the father of a teenager. In addition to having zero attractions, I wasn't there because of you. I chose to ignore and be polite, I wanted to keep working.

I nodded without returning the gallant smile and went to the next order. Nena was at home, she suffered from menstrual cramps and needed to rest for later. Without her presence, her father was hovering. He didn't get close, much less touched me, because he wasn't crazy. Maybe I believed you could conquer me with kind words and a little smile. He was handsome, he just wasn't for me.

The phone wouldn't stop ringing. It was one request after another and I let out a laugh when I got a tip for my good service. I Received

A monthly payment that, to my shame, I didn't spend on anything. I almost returned it because I didn't need it, but my father said the owner could be offended. The Italians had pride as a prize and I didn't want to stress anyone.

It was saved. I thought about donating to my grandmother's old church after I added a larger amount.

Laughing with myself, I stuck the tip in the pot of the delivery people. They were polite to me, but they were a little scared by DiNozzo's order not to get so close to me.

- I'll be right back - I told you and picked up my phone at the counter, sticking it in my pocket. It was close to the end of my shift, I went to the living room and handed over my bag and coat for DiNozzo to take to the car. I would go to the bathroom and come back to answer just a few more requests before leaving.

I was almost at the door of the toilet when I heard a loud roung at the door, Giuseppe's loud voice and then, shots. Frightened, I retreated against the wall and through the gap of the door, I saw the exchange of shots between the cooks, the owner of the place and three men I didn't know, but were Italians. There was nowhere to run.

I went up the stairs and went into the bathroom, calling DiNozzo, but he didn't answer. Then I called my father.

- Yes, my love?

- The restaurant is being attacked! I'm scared!

Dad started screaming at his men and with horror, I noticed the silence outside. I closed the call when I saw one of the men entering the room. It was a matter of time before I was there. The bathroom window was too small to try to jump and I didn't even know how to fight. I stuck my phone in my pants pocket and got ready.

He would pick me up. The door opened thinly and he looked at me from top to bottom.

- Look what we have here... - He smiled crooked. - I found a treasure.

I was quiet.

- What's your name, princess? I didn't answer.

- What's your fucking name?

Even if I wanted to talk, my tongue weighed and looked like a ball. It was so terrified that my knees hit each other. He grabbed my neck, pulling me out abruptly, suffocating me against the wall and then pushed me. I tripped down the stairs, rolling down. My foot came in

On the old wooden step, making me fall face to face on the red floor of the office. Through the door, blood flowed and I closed my eyes, terrified.

I felt his shadow hovering over me as well as the strong smell of his perfume. He was almost touching me when I heard the soft sound of a single silencer shot. The body fell in front of me, with my eyes open. Standing at the door was the man from the other day. His cold eyes analyzed me before he entered, kicked the wood from the step and took me in my lap as if I didn't weigh anything.

- Your father sent me. - That's all I said and for some reason, I trusted him. There was a part that said no, but he gave me security.

My shin was throbbing as well as my head, the sore neck was just the icing on the cake.

- Close your eyes. - He ordered when we passed by the hall and I obeyed. Leaving the back, he put me on my feet in front of the car that brought me to work.

- Where's DiNozzo? - I panted.

The man just looked behind the car and put me in the front seat, fastening my belt. He kicked the license plates of the car, kneading and threw them in the back seat, lowering the protective visors of the sun and climbing the

Armored glass. The car was very dark and in the background, we could hear the police sirens approaching.

My bag and coat were thrown in the back seat and I wondered if DiNozzo was surprised and they would use my car as an escape.

I didn't know his name, the man who was sent to save me and take me safely home, but he drove in complete silence at high speed through the streets and avenues that led to my house, on the highest side of the island, where there were other mansions of the family. I was shaking from head to toe, wanting to vomit and cry. For some reason, his presence left me in shock.

The iron gates of my family's property were open and he went straight by, stopping in the garage. I saw three cars of the guards shooting out and Dad came up, armed, opening the door and taking me in my lap. I hid my face in your neck, making the effort to stand up.

- I'm fine, Dad. You can go - I said serenely.

- I love you - he said.

My bag and coat were delivered to the housekeeper. I turned around and saw mom's guard's car come in and she jumped out even before he had totally stopped, running towards me. In this confusion, no

I could thank you. I couldn't do anything. The maids screaming, my mother in despair and my father going out to hunt those who dared to attack a restaurant protected from the family with the scary man who saved me...

Everything went in a spiral and I felt like falling, being supported by arms that couldn't stand my weight and we ended up on the ground.

I opened my eyes again and was on the couch, panting, feeling lost inside myself. The feeling was that the fingers of that bastard were still squeezing my throat and the swelling in my ankle would not make me forget that day so soon. Mom approached with a tea and I denied it.

- I need to go to my room. - I pushed your hand with the cup gently. There was no possibility to drink or eat anything.

- The doctor is coming, he will examine you.

- Later. I want to take a shower, I'm feeling dirty - I warned you softly.

Mom helped me limp up the stairs, gave me support in the shower and took shards of glass from my hair that I didn't know how they got there. I had barely worn a comfortable outfit to stay at home when the doctor arrived. He looked at my neck and lamented the bruises that would arise,

But his ankle was dislocated and before he needed to put on a boot, he gave some guidance.

I begged to be alone, claiming that I was going to sleep, but in fact, I just wanted to cry without an audience. I grabbed my pillow, with my stomach looking like a painful ball in my belly and consumed by the desire to shrink all over until it doesn't exist. How many more horrors was I condemned to go through just for being a Bracci?

I cried for hours. I let the tears flow until I felt empty. I ended up falling asleep, mentally exhausted and felt suffocated. I opened my eyes and came across the man who found me in the bathroom on top of me in bed, squeezing my neck. The pull in my hair made me goosebumps. I fought, screaming, wanting to get out of his hands, losing his strength and air because his grip only increased.

Calm down, daughter. It's Dad! Calm down!

I felt a sudden touch in my arms.

- RELEASE ME! - I screamed and woke up completely. My father held his chin, where I hit it with my fist. - Sorry, Dad.

- It's okay, my dear. Come here, princess. It was just a dream... - He held me in his arms. - It's okay, it was just a bad dream. - He caressed my hair. Mom sat on the edge of the bed and me

Squeezed too, we were quiet in an affectionate triple hug until my phone ringing insistently caught my attention.

- I put it to charge, it just broke the film and your sister can't stop calling you. - Mom explained and I turned off the call.

- I'll bring your dinner, you need to eat something. - Dad left.

- Call her, she's very nervous. - I got a kiss on my mother's forehead and she left, giving me privacy to meet my sister.

Anastasia's face appeared on the screen. She was so calm and centered, that even in the midst of nervousness, her voice brought me peace. She was in the living room, gave the phone to Romano to analyze me and make sure she was fine and talked to me again.

- A lot has happened to you... I don't want you to keep it inside yourself, just as you've been struggling