Inizio (COMPLETED)

11. The First

Upon entering the room, I immediately noticed how the long table in the center of the room stole my attention. It was a table that had what appeared to be gold, lining the borders. The legs of the table had carved lions on them, the tails appearing to wrap around the tables legs. The dark red walls appeared black due to the low lighting. Already sitting was Mr. Fiorentino, Mrs. Fiorentino, Stephan and the girl I'd seen him with. Natalia wasn't anywhere in the room, but I assumed she'd be there soon considering we were 5 minutes early. Mrs. Fiorentino stood as I walked over to a seat beside her for Marco.

"Zhara Embin. A pleasure to meet you," she said. I shook her soft hands.

"Pleasures all mine Mrs.Fiorenti-,"

"Oh just call me Justina," she interrupted, with a sincere smile. I nodded and stepped aside so that Marco could greet her. Mr.Fiorentino was talking with the man who I assumed was his guard. I went to go stand a little behind Marcos seat as I had seen all the personal guards do. Stephan rose and walked over to me with the girl I had seen with him during 'stage' day.

"Zhara- may I call you Zhara," he asked.

"Of course Mr. Fior-,"

"Stephan. Let's just stick to Stephan. I'm 22 not 26 and a wanna-be my dad," he said staring at Marco who was looking at him as his mother talked to him. He squinted, then refusing to say anything, went back to listening to Mrs. Fiorentino.

"Hi, I'm Jessica, Stephan's wife." My jaw fell a bit.

"I'm so sorry for my reaction I just didn't think that at all," I said realizing how rude my expression was. She laughed and Stephan chuckled.

"No worries! We get that a lot. Right, detka?"

"All the time," answered Stephan. We talked about when they got married (at 20) and when they were planning on having kids.

"Soon, hopefully. I love kids," said Jessica.

"What the fuck are kids," said Stephan. I laughed as she rolled her eyes and he shrugged.

"WHERE IS NATALIA," yelled Mr. Fiorentino. That hushed everyone in the room. I looked at my watch. The families would be coming upstairs soon.

As soon as he finished yelling, Natalia walked in with Sergio hot on her trail.

"Sorry Papa. My dress got stuck and Gigi couldn't fix it for a while." Natalia kissed her mom and dad and said hi to her brothers. She smiled at Jessica and then took a seat. She noticed me and gave a short wave.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Is that a—. There was a bruising mark coming onto Natalia's neck. Maybe it was Sergio. Yeah, it probably was. I looked over at him next to me and watched as he admired Natalia as she talked to Marco. Her hair wasn't covering it well and if Marco caught sight of it.

Only Lord knows

Thankfully, she bent down to pick up something that had fallen and her hair laid itself perfectly over the hickey. I let out a small breath I didn't realize I was holding and crossed my hands behind my back. A knock came at the double doors and one of the eight guards opened it.

"Ciao, Rossi. Sei invecchiato," said the short man who walked in.
(Translation: you've aged.)

He was at least an inch or two taller than me, and compared to the Fiorentino men's towering figures, he was a midget at that. Mr. Fiorentino rose from his seat, a forced smile on his face.