Undercover

Educated Women Are Not For The Weak

OLIVIA'S POV:

Mattia looked at his Dad in disbelief, then at me as everyone awaited my answer. A part of me wanted to argue him for Mattia's sake. But I'd never crossed Giancomo, no one had. And honestly, I didn't want to be the first person to do that.

"If that's what you want" I said, shrugging my shoulders and facing the ground. Alejandro looked at Mattia in annoyance.

"But it's not what you want" argued Mattia, looking at me as he took a step forward. His Dad rolled his eyes and took out some keys, throwing them to Kairi.

"Both of you go wait in one of the cars outside, we'll be out once we've sorted whatever the fuck this is"

Alejandro and Kairi left swiftly, Alejandro giving me an apologetic look as he passed me. Mattia sighed and shook his head at Giancomo who seemed to remain unbothered.

"Shouldn't we go? Maria could still be in the building" he said. But his Dad shook his head.

"I don't care, we're armed" he said, nodding towards the guns on the floor. I slipped my hands into the sleeves of my hoodie and awkwardly looked at the door. Everyone was angry tonight, nothing was going to get resolved.

"Look" I said, getting their attention "if you don't want me near Mattia, I understand-"

"But I don't want that" interrupted Mattia "why the fuck is no one taking into account how I feel about this whole situation?"

"I forbid you from seeing each other, you're not safe with him, and she's only going to be putting her life at risk" said Giancomo, pointing at me as he spoke.

"But I'm protecting her!" exclaimed Mattia.

"Just like Dmitri was protecting his wife" said Giancomo under his breath. I looked back at Mattia who was only becoming increasingly frustrated.

"This is different!" he yelled, making me jump a little. Giancomo stood up and raised his eyebrows at Mattia. Just being in his presence made me feel intimidated. I couldn't imagine having to deal with the pressure of being his son.

"It's exactly the same!" he yelled back "if not, it's worse cause you're both young and so fucking stupid!"

I narrowed my eyes and Giancomo and cleared my throat. I was amazed at how confident I became when I was insulted by someone.

"In case you forgot, I got Mattia out of a shootout when we were seconds away from being blown to fucking pieces" I spat "so I will not stand here and be called 'fucking stupid' by someone who knows bullshit about me"

Giancomo and Mattia stood in silence, staring at me in awe. It was becoming crystal clear of how Giancomo wasn't used to women having the upper hand. Something which had unfortunately rubbed off onto Mattia too. Except, Mattia knew how to pay respect where it was due, a skill Giancomo was still to learn.

"Goodnight, gentleman" I said, turning around and walking out of the room, swinging the door closed behind me. I found the exit pretty quickly and called myself a cab once I was far enough from the house.

"Liv!"

I turned to see Mattia running down the street to me. I sighed and shook my head at him as he got closer to me. I saw Giancomo exit the building too, not too far away from us.

"Please, just come home with me" he said, taking my hand.

"Mattia, your Dad hates me"

"He's hated every girl I've dated, Liv!" he said "don't you see it? He won't let me be with anyone"

"I'm already on his bad side-"

"So fucking what?"

"So fucking what?" I repeated, looking at him as if he was going crazy.

"Mattia, I don't know how he hasn't killed me yet, and you're here asking me to just casually go against his wishes like he's a regular guy"

"He won't do anything-"

"You don't know that!" I yelled at him, waving my arms in the air.

"Just come home" said Mattia, his voice beginning to crack "I need you, why can't you fucking see that?"

"Trust me, I can see that" I said, watching as my cab came, the flashlights placing making Mattia's face glow up. I looked at him to see his eyes turning glassy, I hated having to hurt him like this.

"I just don't think I'm ready to put my life on the line that easily" I said, opening the door.

"Liv please" he said, placing a hand on the door.

"If you ever had any kind of love for me, you won't get in this car" he said, staring me dead in the eyes. I took my hand off the door and looked back at him, doing everything I could to stop myself from kissing him right there and then. But my eyes travelled to the figure stood a few metres away from us.

Giancomo, staring at us both with a gun in his hand. To put it simply, he wasn't exactly smiling at me. I redirected my gaze back to Mattia, letting go of any kind of hope I had for us.

"I've always loved you" I said, gently lifting his hand off the door.

"So how dare you doubt that for even a second" I said, feeling my own eyes starting to heat up. The only way I could stop myself from crying in front of him was to replace my sadness with anger. Anger he didn't deserve. Anger I would only regret showing within the next hour.

I got into the taxi and closed the door, looking down at my hands as we drove away. I wanted to turn around to look but I knew he was already gone.

Why was saying goodbye such a hard thing when it came to him and only him? Or maybe, just maybe this wasn't our goodbye.