Chapter 40

Daisy could barely keep her food down as she stared at Gia. Every time she looked at her best friend, her heart seized up and she could no longer breath.

Marry Daniel?

Why did anyone think that was a smart idea? How could that possibly be a smart idea? All the hard work Luca had put in to make sure his sister didn't have to marry a red flag was in bane. His whole marriage was to keep his sister from having to fall into his father's demands and now...

Daisy cleared her throat and decided to poke the elephant in the room. She couldn't stand sitting around in silence.

"So," she began. "Theo said his first word today."

"He did?" Maria cooed.

"Yes," Daisy nodded, her heart leaping up. "He said dada."

Gia looked at her brother through her lashes. The corner of Luca's mouth curved up in a gentle smile as his tired eyes softened.

"Were you there?" Maria turned towards Luca.

"I was," Luca nodded.

"Well, now we know who he loves more," Maria laughed.

"It has nothing to do with love," Carla shook her head at the baseless claim. "Dada or baba are sounds that are easier to make than mama."

"I'm only joking," Maria clicked her tongue. "Daisy knows that."

"Yes," Daisy cleared her throat.

Silence fell over the table again. Only sounds of the cutlery could be heard as the family retreated back into themselves like turtles. Daisy's restless eyes fluttered around the room as she began to fidget. The girl was seconds away from bursting when she suddenly spoke up once more.

"Why is no one talking?"

Forkes froze around the table as everyone looked up at Daisy. Luca slowly placed his glass of wine down and rubbed his eyes, too tired to show any emotions.

"We should be talking," Daisy insisted. "There's a lot to talk about."

"What do you want to talk about?" Luca asked his wife.

"She's not marrying him!" Daisy pointed towards Gia.

"I second that," Carla picked up her drink.

"I third," Maria did the same.

"I don't think we have a choice," Luca sighed.

"They can't enforce anything until they speak to Angelo," Maria said. "Do you know when that will be?"

"Mario and Giovanni are there right now," Luca checked his watch.

"I can't believe Giovanni," Carla said with disappointment. "I expected better from him. Out of all of them, he was the least narrow minded."

"Let's not jump to conclusions until Angelo has casted his vote," Maria suggested. "We don't know how this will go."

"Even if he's against it, it's three against one," Daisy said. "They outnumber him."

"Nonna?" Gia spoke up. Her fork twirled the long spaghetti between her fingers as she watched it spin round and round. "How did you know I was going to hell?"

Daisy wished she could pull Gia into her arms and protect her the way she held Theo whenever she woke up crying from a nap. Her eyes turned towards Luca as he stared at nothing.

"What?" Maria pulled back to make sure she heard properly.

"When I was younger," Gia began. "You used to tell me my soul was damned. How did you know?"

"Your soul isn't damned," Maria began to dismiss the idea. "Why wou-"

"It is," Gia nodded, her eyes still on the twirling fork. "How else would you explain everything that's happening?"

"Maybe your stupidity," Maria huffed. "Or your recklessness."

"Hold on a second," Daisy scowled, her anger flaring "None of this is her fault."

"It isn't?" Maria asked.

"No," Daisy said. "The only thing she did was fall in love with the wrong person. It's not fair that you and other people keep blaming her for being stupid or reckless as if you all would have done something completely different if you were in her situation."

Up until a few days ago, Daisy would have never believed in her own words. But given how she had lied to Luca about Eric, she was beginning to understand why they said love made you blind and stupid.

Across the table Maria's eyes narrowed. She did not like Daisy's words or her tone. Luca looked as if he was not going to do anything to stop his wife.

"She should have listened to us when we told her to stay away from that boy," Maria said. "This is all her doing. She put the whole family in danger! Why would she go and shoot him?"

"Because he deserved it," Daisy said.

"Then now she has to toughen up and face the consequences of her actions."

"Toughen up?" Daisy gave a harsh laugh. "So when she made a full recovery after being pushed under a car by her own father, that wasn't tough enough? Or what about when she got up every day for two years with tears in her eyes and faced the world after some dickhead broke her heart over Luca's shit? Not tough enough for you, Maria? No, you're right. She's not tough enough. She only had to see Daniel here every single day knowing he violated her trust and privacy in the most inhuman way possible. But I guess that's just water under the bridge. As long as the family name stays clean, who cares what happened to her-"

The loud clatter of Gia's fork dropping against the dinner plate cut through the tension in the room like a butcher's knife. Luca looked at her as she slowly pushed her chair back and rose to her feet, not making eye contact with anyone while hiding the somber look on her face.

"Where are you going?" He gently grabbed her wrist as she turned towards the door.

"I'm not hungry," Gia looked up and tried to smile.

Luca felt his insides grow heavy as he watched her face fall. He slowly let go of her hand and sat silently, listening to her footsteps disappear down the hall.

"I'm worried about her," Carla said.

"She's dramatic," Maria muttered. "And you."

Daisy's eyes narrowed as the woman looked at her.

"How dare you speak to me in that manner?" Maria questioned. "Did your mother not teach you how to respect your elders?"

"I have no problem showing you respect but I won't sit around and let you bully my best friend," Daisy said.

"Bully?" Maria's eyes narrowed like a serpent. "Luca? You hear this?"

"Excuse me," Luca picked up the napkin from his lap and dropped it onto his chair.

Daisy watched him follow Gia out to the backyard. Her shoulders slumped and a heavy dreaded feeling fell on her shoulders. She desperately wished she could ease some of the tension on the siblings' plate. She hated seeing them both so defeated.

"I think I'm going to turn in early tonight," Maria said, rising from the table. "Let me know if you hear anything about Angelo."

Carla nodded. Her brows were knit with worry. She sat without uttering a word as Maria placed her napkin on the table and turned towards the door. Daisy looked down at her plate and felt her stomach churn. She couldn't take another bite with the worry filling her stomach to the tippy top.

"I'll have Dana clean all this up," Carla said. "Go upstairs. It's been a long day."

"No," Daisy shook her head. "I'll stay here and help Dana. You can head up."

"Are you sure?" Carla asked, her face tired and her eyes dim.

Daisy nodded, "Yeah."

"Okay," Caral sighed and rose from her table. "Stay out of trouble."

"Will do," Daisy tried to smile but it didn't work. She found herself unable to rise from the empty table. All the food was left untouched or scattered around the plate to make it look like they had eaten. Daisy ran a hand through her hair and sighed, feeling her bones grow tired.

"Mrs. Silvano?"

Daisy looked up as Dana entered the room.

"Hi," Daisy cleared her voice. "Did you have dinner yet?"

"Yes," Dana said.

"Could you help me clear all this?"

"I can take care of it."

"No, it's alright. Just help me."

"Of course."

Daisy pushed her chair back and moved to stand. She picked up her dinner plate and was about to turn away when she noticed Luca's phone ringing silently beside his plate.

"I'll be right back, Dana," Daisy said as she placed her plate down on the table and grabbed the phone.

Turning on her heels, Daisy headed out into the backyard where Luca and Gia sat with their feet in the pool. The two didn't seem to notice her approach as she cleared her throat and paused.

"Your phone was ringing," she said, holding it out.

"Thanks," Luca took the phone from her and unlocked the screen. His eyes quickly scanned the missed calls from Giovanni before he found the text message from Armani.

"What is it?" Daisy asked, watching the way the colors drained from Luca's face.

"Dad's okay with the marriage," Luca said.

"What?" Daisy felt her heart drop.

"We saw this coming," Luca muttered. "We all knew he would fuck us ov-"

Suddenly Gia rushed out of the pool with tears in her eyes and legs splashing water everywhere. Her shallow breathing frightened Daisy and Luca as they stared at her and watched her wrap her arms around herself.

"I can't marry him," Gia shook her head, sobbing.

"You won't have to," Luca said, lifting his feet out of the pool and standing up. "I'll think of something."

"What?" Gia asked. "There's nothing we can do now! Oh my god, I'm so stupid!"

"G," Luca reached for his sister but Gia pulled away.

"I'm going to kill myself if I have to marry him," Gia began to cry hysterically.

Daisy watched Luca flinch from Gia's words in the dark. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Gia, guiding the girl's head towards her shoulder.

"It's okay, it's okay," she said. "Nothing is going to happen. We're not going to let this happen to you, Luca and I will think of something."

"No, no," Gia shook her head. "It's too late."

"It's not," Luca said, his face twisting in pain. "You're going to be fine. I won't let anything happen to you."

"I can't," Gia shook her head, not hearing anything anyone was saying to her. "I can't marry him. I won't marry him."

"I'm going to take her inside," Daisy looked over her shoulder towards Luca.

She didn't wait around for him as she pulled Gia tightly to herself and began heading into the house. Luca followed them inside and watched the two disappear inside Gia's room.

"G, listen to me," Daisy said, shutting the door behind herself. "Luca and I won't let anything happen to you."

"There's nothing we can do now," Gia said in frustration. "We're stuck here in this hell hole! I can't even run from here."

"You don't have to run," Daisy explained, holding Gia's arms. "Luca and I promise we will take care of everything. Nothing is going to happen to you."

"No," Gia shook her head again.

"Gia, promise me you won't do anything stupid," Daisy said. "We're going to figure this out, okay? Don't go around shooting people anymore."

Gia didn't respond as she moved to her bed and sat down on the edge. Her face shimmered with tears as she ran her hands through her hair.

"We should have never come here," she said after a pause.

"I know," Daisy felt her heart shrivel up.

"I can't marry him, Dee."

"I know," Daisy sighed, the knot in her shoulders began to hurt.

"I feel like I'm going to lose my mind," Gia said.

"You're going to be fine," Daisy assured her. "Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"

Slowly, Gia shook her head, "No."

"Are you sure?"

"I....I just want to be alone."

"Okay," Daisy nodded. "Should I leave?"

"No," Gia frowned. "Just stay with me a little longer?"

"Of course," Daisy moved towards the bed and sat down beside her best friend. She took her hand as Gia laid her head down on her shoulder.

"Nothing is going to happen," Daisy said quietly more for herself than anyone else. "Luca will think of something. Just wait until the morning, okay?"

Gia nodded. She stayed silent as the tears on her face dried and her eyes began to burn. Daisy sat with her for as long as she could before Gia's eyes grew heavy. She refused to sleep as Daisy wrapped the blanket around her and turned off the lights.

"I can't sleep," Gia said.

"Try," Daisy said. "We have a lot to do tomorrow. We have to fix this mess."

"I'm sorry," Gia whispered in the darkness.

"It's going to be okay," Daisy said. She paused at the door for a little while longer before sleeping out of the room and closing the door.

The whole house seemed to be holding its breath as Daisy moved through the empty halls. Everyone hid out in their rooms with dread replacing their sleep. The tension in the air made Daisy's spine chill and her stomach clench.

"I'm worried about G," she said, walking in and finding Luca sitting on the armchair in their room. "She's freaking out."

Luca remained unmoved. He sat leaned back with his eyes on Daisy as she stood before him tugging at her hair. His fingers rubbed back and forth over his forehead as his hooded eyes remained unchanged.

"We have to do something," Daisy clicked her tongue. "We can't let this happen."

"What time did you say Eric called?"

Daisy's heart dropped and disappeared out of her chest. She stilled as Luca waited for her to answer.

"What?" She blinked at the sudden question.

"What time did Eric call?" Luca asked once more, pausing after each word as if speaking to a child.

"We have more important things to worry about right now," Daisy's chest began to quiver. "We need to help Gi-"

"When are you going to stop lying to me?" Luca lowered his hand.

"Luca-"

"And when are you going to learn that I always find out?"

"How did you...."

Luca looked down at his lap and picked up Daisy's phone.

"You went through my phone?" Daisy frowned.

"I did," Luca said. "Because you were lying to me. Again."

"Okay, yes," Daisy let out a frustrated sigh. "I lied. I was upset about seeing all those letters and pictures from Stella s-"

"So you used Eric and Theo against me?"

"No," Daisy said. "I didn't use Theo ag-"

"Cut the bullshit," Luca snapped. "You knew exactly what you were doing because you've done it before. You're so manipulative!"

Daisy flinched as Luca jumped to his feet and appeared before her.

"I wasn't trying to manipulate you," Daisy said.

"No? What were you trying to do then?" Luca asked, his voice sharp and angry. "Seriously? You're this psychotic? You're going to do all this over someone who died?"

"She's not dead to you!" Daisy said. "You still love her!"

"And I will always love her!" Luca yelled.

The words hit Daisy like a slap on the face. She felt hot tears spring to her eyes as her body began to tremble.

"She'll always be a part of my life and you can not change that," Luca said. "Ever."

"I...." Daisy didn't know what to say as she stared at Luca. her words failed her.

"This was a mistake," Luca said. "This whole thing."

"What?" Daisy whispered but Luca didn't hear.

"I can not deal with your lies and your reckless behavior any more," Luca said. "I have a hundred other problems on my plate right now and this is the last bullshit I need. Especially from you."

"God!" Luca continued. "Why are you like this? Always lying, always making my life harder than it needs to be. And if that wasn't bad enough, you're so insecure over Stella that you're not evening seeing how stupid you're being!"

Daisy was speechless. Her mind blanked as Luca's words hit her like pins and needles. She stood frozen as he paced before her with his hands on his hips. He occasionally ran his hand through his hair as if that would make any of the anger in him vanish.

"We shouldn't do this anymore," Luca said, stopping and looking at Daisy. "I can't deal with your fucked up bullshit right now."

Daisy swallowed the lump in her throat. She looked up towards Luca and waited, still unable to find any words.

"Let's just forget all this and go back to how things were," Luca said. "We were never going to workout anyways."

Whatever was left of Daisy's heart slowly bled out and died on the bedroom floor.