“You dare threaten me?” he fumed.
My cheek felt as if it was on fire and my eyes stung with hurt, but I refused to let him see he had wounded me. I maintained the adamant look on my face. “My condition is one year,” I told him. “Give me one year and afterwards, I’ll do whatever you want. I know that being born into this family automatically takes away the privileges of a normal life, but this much I demand. You will otherwise get no cooperation from me.”
He looked as if he wanted to kill me, but saying nothing … he stormed away.
Chapter 11
Sienna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2u5uUu3DE
A taxi took me away from home. I was unsure of where to tell the driver to take me. He didn’t mind. He’d seen the house and knew I’d be good for the money. Soon we passed by the Alamo Draft house movie theater downtown, and I told him to stop.
A few minutes later, I stood staring unseeingly at the row of posters advertising the films that were showing. I walked up to the ticket booth and bought a ticket. I had no idea what the movie was about, nor did I care but it promised gun fights and explosions, and those were the only things I could currently stomach.
Taking my bucket of popcorn and soda with me, I headed into the darkened theater to watch the movie. Halfway down the aisle, I suddenly stopped, and turned around. I found myself running out of the room into the corridor and towards the Ladies room. I ran into a stall, locked the door behind me, and started bawling my eyes out. Some kind soul knocked on the door to ask if I was okay and I told her to fuck off. I was that furious with my life.
How could my father expect me to marry a man like Fabio when he could see I hated the man?
Eventually, the sobs stopped, so I unlocked the door and went out. Only one woman was in there and she gave a funny look. And not surprising I looked a mess. I washed my face and stood up straight. The cry had been just what I needed. I gazed at my reddened, swollen eyes in the mirror’s reflection. “This is your one life, Sienna,” I said to my reflection. “Somehow, someway you will sort it out.”
Then I forced a smile to my face, and left the cinema, my head held high. No way would I marry Fabio. I would find a way out, one way or another.
I returned home to find the entire house in a massive uproar. The guards’ faces showed relief.
“Come with me. Your family is waiting for you,” one of the maids said running up to me.
“What’s up?” I asked, as I followed her.
She opened the door of the Japanese room where my family were gathered, and silently backed away. My mother rushed up to me and crushed me in her embrace. I could feel the bones in her thin body press into me.
Apparently, I’d been gone for nearly two hours and had nearly given them all heart attacks.
“Stop mollycoddling her,” my father roared.
My mother reluctantly let go of me.
“What a disappointment you’re turning out to be!” my father spat. “You know about the risks we constantly face and yet, you run off without telling anyone, without a single care for your safety. And you switched off your phone. Are you that stupid? Didn’t you know we would all be worried sick about you? Get out of my sight right now, you thoughtless girl!”
I blinked several times, dumbfounded by the outburst. I opened my mouth, ready to give him an equally heated response, but the sad look on Nonna’s face as she sat stiffly on the couch by the corner, stopped me. I released a deep breath and reined in my anger. “I’m so very sorry for making you all worry. I have been free for so long in England to go where I want and do as I please, I did not realize I would cause such an uproar. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“Damn right it won’t,” my father muttered. “Go to your room. I’m so furious with you I can’t even look at you.”
Before I exited the study, I sent an apologetic look in Nonna’s direction.
As I climbed the stairs, I felt myself begin to panic, my nerves strung with fear at the world that seemed to be closing in around me. I needed to escape, to find a way out before it was too late, but I did not have the heart to leave Nonna or Gemma.
I was still sitting on my bed wondering what the hell I was going to do half-an-hour later, when a knock came on my door.
“Come in,” I called.
Nonna entered. She came to sit on my bed and I clung to her arm. She ran her fingers through my hair as she spoke softly, “It’s okay, little one. You made a mistake. Your father will not stay angry for long. If he did not love you he would not be angry.”