Three Weeks Later
Mia entered the party on Giovanni’s arm, but it may as well have been a stranger’s.
This was her parents’ home, a family get-together, and if they didn’t attend it would cause a scandal.She didn’t want to attend, but she knew she had no choice.
All eyes were on her right now, because she had been married to Giovanni long enough to have given him a child, and she hadn’t done so.
At least she wasn’t dressed in some elaborate gown.That was exactly what had happened at one of her family’s dinner parties.No one else had attended in gowns, it had been business suits and casual wear.She had stuck out like a sore thumb and looked like a fucking idiot.Her brothers had called her a child.Her family had done the same.
Her parents had looked at her with such disapproval.Tonight, they would not.After the first week and not seeing Giovanni, Mia had taken the hint.She had seen the way he looked at that woman he was meeting in the nightclub, so she had gone out and changed her entire wardrobe.There were no more bright clothes, summery dresses, or long skirts.She hadn’t trashed them, but she had boxed them up with no intention of wearing them again.
If this is what Giovanni wanted, then she would dress accordingly.Ironically, as they entered her parents’ home, she saw instantly that once again she had dressed incorrectly.Most people were in gowns and tuxedos.
Giovanni let go of her arm and made his way across the room without another word.
Mia felt so alone.That closeness they had shared weeks ago was long gone.An entire night and some part of the day, and now it was gone.
Mia spotted her friends, thankful they had arrived at her parents’ party.She immediately hugged each of them in turn.She hadn’t told them anything about the drug, or what it meant to take it.She hadn’t confided in them, because Giovanni had told her not to.
“What’s going on?”Liana asked.
“Nothing.”
“Mia, you would have loved a party like this,” Clarissa said.
She smiled at her friends, but the truth was, she was close to breaking down and sobbing.How could she miss something she had enjoyed only a short time?
“I guess we all change.”
The suit she wore wasn’t exactly comfortable.It was the very opposite of comfort.She wanted to wriggle in it, but instead, she stood and grabbed a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter.
Only, she caught her mother’s eye, who looked disapprovingly at the glass.Of course, she hadn’t done what they wanted.She wasn’t pregnant.Her brothers were also present at the party, and it was just a firm reminder of how much of a failure she was.
Mia put the glass back on the tray and excused herself from her friends.She had no idea what to do or where to go, so she made her escape, intent on getting to her old bedroom.
She had not come back here since the wedding.Opening her old bedroom door, Mia couldn’t even believe she was surprised.Her bedroom was gone.There was no bed, no furniture.The room was empty.The pink walls were gone.Any trace of her living at home was completely gone.
“How do you think it looks on your husband when you leave a party like that?”her mother asked.
Mia turned to look at her mother who was just staring at her.“What happened to all my stuff?”
Her mother’s frown deepened.Mia was so used to seeing her like this, it didn’t even make her flinch.
“You represent our family, Mia, and not being by your husband’s side is an embarrassment.You have a duty to provide him a son, and you are not doing your job.”She shook her head.
All her life, her mother had always told her what she hadn’t done right, how wrong she was about everything.It was like stepping back in time, with no way of escaping.
Giovanni didn’t want anything to do with her, and her mother was just constantly reminding her of her faults.
“I am such a disappointment, aren’t I?”Mia nodded.“It doesn’t matter what I do, or how I dress, it is just not good enough.Did you have to pay Giovanni to marry me?Bribe him?”
“Mia, how dare you—”
She couldn’t listen to anything else.She had to get out of this room and out of this house.It had never felt like home, and it didn’t now.
“Mia, are you okay?”Tatiana asked.
She didn’t answer, but went in the opposite direction, making her way out into the garden.She needed to get some fresh air and just leave.
