Vera buttoned up her jacket as she stepped out of the car "Tony, go take a drive for a bite. No point you waiting around."

Tony nodded his head just before Vera closed the car door, he waited for his boss to enter Belandi before driving away.

Vera took a deep breath as she stepped inside. She recognised plenty of the faces but tonight was the first time she was attending alone; Tommy wasn't by her side like he normally was.

She wondered through the room trying to keep her interaction to a minimum with everyone.

Vera found her name placement before taking her seat. She shifted her gaze around the room as she sat alone at the table she was assigned to.

"Oh, Vera. Darling!" Squealed a grey-haired woman as she made her way towards Vera.

"Marie" Vera beamed.

"How have you been my dear?" Marie stopped next to Vera's seat.

Vera stood up from her seat "Wonderful and you?" She knew better than to talk to anyone outside of her circle about her feelings.

"Dear Fredicky has come down with a cold. Poor kid" Fredicky was Marie's fifteenth grandchild, how that woman managed to have that many grandchildren was beyond Vera especially since Marie only had two children; that Vera knew off. "Where's that handsome man of yours?"

"Sorry?"

"The handsome man that's always by your side, what's his name...T...T..."

"Tommy." Vera realised who Marie was talking about "His visiting family." That's all Marie needed to know.

"Without you, my dear?" Marie looked shocked "That's usually the first sign of relationship troubles." If only Marie knew "If you don't want him no more, I have a lovely daughter who's looking for a man."

Vera politely smiled "You'll be the first to know if Tommy is after a new girl." She shifted her gaze to a face she recognised, a face all too familiar. If Vera wasn't in front of Marie, she would've frozen "Excuse me, Marie."

Marie watched as Vera walked over to the food table "What's in the cake?" She asked the young black woman with her hair pulled back into braids and her outfit full of pastel.

Zasha placed down the tray full of cakes before looking at Vera "There is a lovely fresh made strawberry cake with grated strawberries on top and a homemade vanilla slice."

"Those sound nice." Vera tried to keep her interaction with her girlfriend to a minimum.

"Sorry, I have to get back to the kitchen." Zasha excused herself as she rushed back to the kitchen to assist the other caters.

Vera couldn't believe her eyes when she had seen Zasha being part of the catering team at tonight's meeting, she found it weird that the normal caters weren't available. Vera tried to hold back her worry and concern for her girlfriend but struggled to hold her emotions back as she watched the kitchen doors, seeing caters pushing in and out of the restaurant kitchen.

"Everyone, please take your seats." Gestured a young man that Vera had only meet once before.

Vera found her seat again.

"Thanks for coming at such short notice." Spoke the young man "It's wonderful to see you all again." He looked down at Mr Tonio, who was sitting by his side.

Mr Tonio nodded at the young man.

"For those who can't seem to remember, my name is Antonio, my father Mr Tonio."

Now Vera recognised who the man was, she had only meet Antonio once before when they were both sixteen, sadly it was at her father's funeral.

"My father has told me that he feels that he can no longer run the families anymore, instead his passing down his legacy to me. From here on out, starting tonight. I will be the one you all run to or run from." Antonio gave a brave smile.

Antonio wasn't like his father; he was a coward. He didn't even know how to hold a gun, how Mr Tonio trusted his own son was beyond any of the heads of families gathered tonight.

"Does anyone have a problem with that?" Mr Tonio spoke up.

Everyone shook their heads; the only sounds that could be heard was from the caters in the kitchen.

"Vera Melana?" Mr Tonio looked at Vera, he carefully tried to study what she was thinking.

"No problems, Mr Tonio."

"Good." Mr Tonio looked up at his son and smiled.

"Now, please enjoy the food that we have for tonight." Antonio swayed his hand towards the food table.

Vera rose up from her seat. She didn't understand the point of tonight's meeting, she could've wasted tonight at home instead of waiting around for pointless information.

She began to make her way towards the front entrance of Belandi.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Vera turned around to see Mr Tonio standing behind her "This meeting is over. I have things to do, I don't have time to wait around."

"You silly girl." Mr Tonio stepped closer to Vera "You can't escape your fate."

"My fate? First you tell me that I don't deserve a seat at the table. Now you suddenly care about my fate." Vera tried to keep her voice calm.

"Before your father died, we had planned for the first born of our families to each other, to keep the families stronger. The two of you were supposed to marry at eighteen but your fool of a father suddenly backed out of the deal when you were fifteen. He said that he saw a bigger picture for you, now that his out of the way. You are to marry my son. I tried warning you this morning."

Vera almost choked on the air she was breathing "Mr Tonio, I would never marry into your family even if you pointed a gun at my face and had a priest tied to my neck."

Mr Tonio wasn't happy with Vera's choice of words "You will do as your told."

"Or what? Sit me in the back. Nothing new there, Sir. If my father really wanted me to marry your son than he would've left a note, but he didn't. Nothing in his will even."

"You ungrateful whore." Mr Tonio spat.

"Thank you for your kind words, Mr Tonio. But that won't encourage me to marry your son." Vera wasn't going to stand in Belandi all night arguing with a senile old man, she pulled open the front door before walking out, she walked down the street to find Tony.