Created by the devil

Show me how you feel.

Gia can't shake off the fact that it didn't take a lot of negotiating to get the man on her side. Either he is, stupidly enough, actually scared of her or he knows she's coming his way with this dangerous favor. 

All she knows for sure is that the pit in her stomach is saying to keep her guard up.

She lifts her head to see the store of the Johnsons they were at the day prior. Gia's eyes catch the light that is on in the corridor. She doesn't know why yet, but she voices loud and clear, "Stop."

Mario furrows his brows, and before he can ask why she said stop, she tells him, "Fermare the car." Mario halts the car, and without another word, she gets out and goes to the store.

The bel on the door alarms Darius that someone is at the front door. He reads on the analog clock '06:36'. 

He furrows his brows and questions who it could be. With uneasiness does he walk through the store, but halts when he sees her silhouette. She turns around and catches him looking. He clears his throat and walks up to her.

Not knowing what to say, he's grateful that she talks first. "Hi." Her smooth voice echoes in his head. He takes his time but eventually answers, "Hi." 

She looks around before she asks, "Can we sit down for a second?" He nods and leads her to a table nearby.

She sits down gracefully and puts one leg above the other. Gia looks more mature and less naive, but she still does everything elegantly. "What's the favor you need?" He asks after some time of painful silence has passed.

"How-" He cuts her off by saying, "You're pretty predictable." She lets out a light chuckle before saying, "That's the worst thing someone has ever said to me." Even her laugh didn't sound the same anymore.

"Even after the amount of time I haven't seen you, I know that I can trust you. Right now, I need someone that I can trust." She tests out his waters before she can dive in it.

"I'm going to ask you something that I'm not proud of." She looks up to his brown eyes to see if she can keep on going. "I need someone to keep an eye out on my business leaders here in New York."

A wave of disappointment washes over him. They've had conversations about this in the past. She always used to tell him about her dreams, but they would be ruined by the reality.

'It's the way of my family' she always reminded him and a part of herself too. She was fully aware back then of the amount of hate he had for this business.

So, the fact she would even ask him this was simply disappointing. But there it was again, the boy in him who was completely in love with her.

After some silence, he asks her, "All I have to do is keep an eye out?" She nods and keeps going, "You will not be in touch with the dirty business. I'll make sure of that. You will be protected and paid. You will have to keep an eye out for Al, and when you see something that doesn't fit right, don't hesitate to contact me." He takes everything she said in.

She takes a pen out of a pocket in her vest and writes an address on his hand. "Is that your office?" He asks. "No, that's my house address, but I'll give you that address too."

She goes on to write the other one down. Gia stands up in silence and walks to the door. Before she closes the door, she says, "Grazie."

Now that Gia doesn't have to feel suspicious about her business going 'too' good, she feels stunned. Darius barely reacted to her asking all of this from him.

She's fully aware he isn't a fan of what she does, but he still accepted it. The air of her youth fills her lungs and leaves her wanting to turn around. Instead, she opens the car door and sits down, in a quiet voice she says, "Let's go home."

It is almost seven AM, and the first people are already busying the streets of New York. They're either hard-working people or drunks making their way on the streets at this time of day.

Whilst Gia is trying to calm her overbearing mind, she doesn't think about that her husband is trying to do the same thing.

About half an hour ago, he woke to an empty bed. Their servants couldn't answer him on where Gia was either. The only thing that brought him some peace was that Mario wasn't in his bed either.

Wherever she is, and if she is in danger or not, she is not alone. He also knows that she is smart, probably smarter than him, but he can't stop his heart from beating a little bit faster.

He has been trying to lessen his drinking and smoking. It's not that he wants to, but Gia is pressed on Elijah growing up in a safe house. So, no guns, no alcohol, and no cigarettes in his reach.

But he doesn't care right now. He needs a cigarette and a glass of whiskey fast.

Gia finally arrives at the house with a small smile on her face. She's excited to go back to Birmingham. New York doesn't feel right anymore. Not if she can't have it like before.

She opens the front door to be met with her husband sitting on the stairs. A glass of whiskey in his hand, and a cigarette in his mouth.

Mario clears his throat and mumbles, "I'll leave you guys alone." He walks past Tommy and up the stairs to his room. Gia takes her time walking up to Tommy.

Before she can say something, she hears, "Where were you?" His husky voice makes her eyes direct to his. "We can go home now." She slightly smiles.

"Where were you?" He presses louder this time, making her smile disappear. "Before you get mad, everything went well. There is no reason for you to worry." She goes to touch his face, but he flinches away.

"No reason to worry? I wake up to you not being in our bed, but I have no reason to worry. You didn't tell me anything or even didn't think about leaving a note." He rattles out.

"I know I should've said something about the meeting, but everything is alright." She consolates him. "This isn't about you not telling me about a bloody meeting. It's about you not trusting me." He tells her.

Gia furrows her brows. "I do trust you. Why wouldn't I?" She asks hurt. "I know you trust me, you trust me in our house,  on the couch reading a book to Elijah, having a picknick with you guys but you don't trust my reactions when it comes to business." He stands up.

"Because it's business. It's not important." She defends herself. "It is to me! I told you what's mine is yours, if you're going to keep me in the dark with everything then that just makes no sense." He gets louder.

She takes a couple of seconds to collect herself before she lashes out at him. "I'm not the one keeping her partner in the dark with anything in our life." He sighs, "See you just did it again. You hide your emotions and feelings. It's so confusing, you're fucking with my head."

She nods her head 'no', "I'm trying to calm myself before I actually fucking punch you in the face."

"Do it!" He comes closer to her. "What?" She asks confused. "Show me how you feel. Punch me, slap me, scream at me! I don't care, but for the love of God just tell me what you feel." He calms down.

She breaths harshly through her nose before she takes the glass of alcohol out of his hand. She throws it against the wall. The pieces of glass scatter everywhere like it's the fourth of July, and there are fireworks in the sky.

Gia walks away, but screams for him to hear, "Vaffaculo!" He screams back, "I don't even fucking know what that means." and there he saw it again, the rage in her eyes, and the fire in her soul begging to get out.