Chapter Five - First date

                        Vienna's POV

      As I walked away , I couldn't help but wonder why Avanna looked quite dishevelled , her hair was a mess , her top was more wrinkled than when I saw her earlier this morning , and she was quite sweaty .

         I pushed the thought aside with the conclusion that she had probably fucked one of Francesco's men , it had become a hobby of hers , that cheap little slut . I caught sight of Tommaso , and I walked up to him .

           " Tommaso , thank goodness I saw you ", I said , and he turned to look at me .

         " Hey Vienna ", he said , avoiding my eyes , that was strange , what happened with him ? Maybe he already knew what I was going to talk to him about , and he felt guilty .

          " You're so sweaty , I guess you were working out , right ? " I said

         " Yes , is there a problem ? " He asked .

         " I don't know where to start , you let my Francesco arrange my marriage and you didn't even tell me , didn't you know it was to that heartless Mafia leader , Dante ", I said

         " I didn't know you were getting married until yesterday , and when I wanted to tell you , I heard you were in with Francesco , so I assumed he had told you , so I didn't bother ", he explained , and I let out a small sigh .

         " That aside , how did Francesco find out that I helped Maximo with the job ", I asked .

       " Avanna had told him this morning that she saw you leave the house quite early , and he asked Maximo ", he replied , still avoiding eye contact , that was unusual for Francesco's men , not to think of his underboss .

       " Is everything alright with you , you're acting quite strange ", I said .

        " I'm fine , I am just stressed after workout , it's only normal , now isn't it ", he said jokingly .

       " I have to go now , we can talk later ", I said and walked away .

         I walked into my room , and thought about changing to something else , but I shrugged it off , I was going to go on the date dressed however I wanted , not to please anyone , at least not Dante .

      I heard a knock on my door .

         " Come in ", I said

        " Ma'am your husband to be is here to pick you up ", the maid said , and she turned and left the room .

        Husband to be ? That was a weird way to put our relationship , it was nothing , he's just Dante , I am just Vienna , not my husband to be , I am not his wife to be .

        I walked down stairs , and I saw him sitting with Francesco , what were they talking about ? Was he plotting on how to make my life miserable , even when I would be living with Dante ?

         " We'd have to go now ", Dante said to Francesco and Francesco nodded . Dante took my hand and we went outside . As soon as we walked outside the door , I pushed his hand away .

       We walked towards his black jeep , and he made to open the door for me , but I opened it myself , he seemed taken aback , but he didn't say a word . He got in as well and started driving .

       " I told you we were going on a date ", he said .

       " Oh are we ? and all along , I thought we were going save the world from zombies ", I responded sarcastically .

       " No wonder you're dressed for it ", he said , and I furrowed my eyebrows in anger . Did he just use a comeback on me ? I was speechless , I didn't know how to respond to him , so I sat there in defeat , hoping for the ground to open and engulf me within it .

       We sat there in silence , and he finally parked outside a restaurant .

      He got down and came to open the door for me , but I had already done that .

         " I can open the door myself ", I said getting down .

       We walked into the restaurant and I stared at it , it was really pretty , it had a simplistic interior deco , but you could still tell that it was top class .

       We got sitted , and a waiter came to attend to us . I tried my best to ignore all the stares we were getting thanks to Dante , the ladies just couldn't keep their eyes off him .

         We placed our orders , and the waiter went to get it . And the silence began again , well except from the ambience of the restaurant , our table was extremely silent .

          His eyes searched my fingers as if looking for something , and when he didn't find it , his expression changed , and I watched his eyes darken with anger , and suddenly his dominating aura came again , this time it was stronger and more intimidating , I couldn't help but wonder why he had a sudden change in moods .

         " Where's your ring ", he asked coldly , glaring at me as if he was so close to me .

         " At home ", I said .

          " What's it doing there ? " He asked , and I couldn't help but chuckle .

          " Good question , probably having dinner with it's family ", I said and he got even more angry , apparently it wasn't amusing .

          " I'm not joking Giulia, why don't you have your ring ? ", he said , and I glared at him . I told him my name was Vienna , and he addressed me as that , when did Giulia come into the whole story ? Just because he heard Francesco use it doesn't mean he could too .

          " What ? Don't you ever call me that again , the name's Vienna , if you can't use that , then go fucking rot in hell , I don't care , and as for the ring , I don't have it on because I don't want to , I do whatever I want to do  ", I said , my blood suddenly starting to boil , I hated that name , I hated being called that , it brought back many terrible memories , ones that I didn't want to remember .

          " What If I want to call you that , what would you do , apparently , you do whatever you want , so I can do whatever I want as well ", he said .

       " Don't dare me Dante Ricci , it won't end well ", I said , with venom in my voice .

      The rest of dinner was silent , and we didn't say a word to each other , he'd occasionally stare at the finger he had put the ring , then look away . What was up with him ? It was just a ring .

       The waiter came with the bill , he paid it and we went outside and into the car .

      " What happened in there ? You absolutely lost it for no reason ", I said , finally speaking up .

      " For no reason ? I don't expect you to understand , it was a ring from your soon to be husband and you had a date with him but didn't put it on , should I be clapping ", he said , still looking at the road .

      " I told you this wasn't an everyday marriage , why are you even making a fuss about it , it was just a ring ", I said , and he turned to me , his eyes bearing more anger than it did in the restaurant .

       " Just a ring ? Really , that's all you have to say , fine , if you say so Giulia ", he said and I lost it , I slapped him , and I started to regret doing that minutes later and he only laughed wickedly , was that all he could do ? Then he parked the car .

       He turned to look at me , with a sinister smile all over his face , not reaching his eyes , which were still darkened with anger .

      " This will teach you not to raise your hand to me ", he said wrapping his hand around my neck , choking me . I was suffocating . I kicked my legs back and forth , trying to withold the pain and the loss of breath . I was coughing , it felt like I was going to pass out soon , I had to do something .

       " L-let me g-g-go ", I tried to speak , but it came out as whispers . I gathered a little bit of strength , then I used my legs to kick his hand off my neck . I pushed my head back on the chair , coughing , and struggling for breath .

       That heartless Mafia dared to raise his hands to me . I warned him not to call me that name , and he did , and I slapped him , which I regretted doing , was that enough for him to choke me ?

       He started the car and continued driving .

        " Stop the car Dante ", I said and he turned to me , staring at me , anger still written all over him .

        " Look I am not in anyway ready for your nonsense ", he said

         " I said stop the car ! " I yelled , and he parked by the roadside .

         " What is it ? " He asked .

          " Continue from where you left off , choke me to death ", I said , and he sighed .

         " Look , I don't want us to do this ", he said , and I looked at him .

          " We have to , I heard one shouldn't start what they can't finish , and I would like to assume you can finish this , so please choke me to death ", I said again .

          " Are you crazy ? " I asked her .

          " To think I'm going to marry a man like you , I always knew you were heartless , couldn't expect less ", I said , turning back to face the window .

           " Strangle me already ", I said , and he sighed and started the car . Moments like these are when one should cry , but I couldn't , it wasn't in me , I hadn't cried in years , and that wasn't going to change for Dante .

        Soon we were infront of my house , and I opened the door , about to step down when he spoke up .

        . " Let's forget about what happened today Vienna ", I heard him say , but I didn't care . He expected me to just forget it like nothing had happened , I got down and slammed his car door , knocking on the gate .

                        *      *      *

       I laid on my bed staring at the ceiling , did he really raise his hand to me ? I warned him severally not to call me Giulia , but he wouldn't listen , he made me do it , and then he took the opportunity to vent his anger out on me . I felt so angry and helpless , I was going to be married to that ruthless man for God knows how long .

       I should have know better , that this alliance would bring me pain as Francesco had always done . Who knew it'd even bring more pain than the one Francesco gave me . My phone began to ring , and I saw it was Annalise .

        ' hey ', I said picking up the call .

       ' you don't sound fine Vee , are you okay ? ' she asked with concern . ' how was your date ? ' she added .

       ' That Dante is so cruel , he kept calling me Giulia and I told him not to , and he did it again , so I slapped him – ' Annalise gasped in surprise

      ' why did you do that Vienna , you should have warned him again , or said something to hurt him , but that was a bit to much ', she said z and part of me knew she was right , but another part of me felt like he deserved exactly what he got .

      ' I guess , and he started choking me ', I said .

       ' Why the fuck did he do that ? Are you okay , did he hurt you ', she panicked .

        ' nahhh , I'm fine , for some reason I feel like all of this happened because I didn't wear the ring he had used to propose to me , he did ask me why I didn't have it on , but why did he care so much about the ring , I had already told him that it wasn't an everyday marriage , and it meant nothing to me ' I explained .

         ' what if the ring belonged to someone special at first , and he had to give it to his wife ', Annalise suggested .

        ' I really don't care , but I already regret this marriage , I don't think I want to get married to him anymore ', I said

      ' vee , you of all people should know that this marriage is between Francesco and Mr Ricci , and you should know better than to mess with Mr Ricci ', she said , and I knew she was right , I was hopeless . I never felt this helpless in my entire life . Why was I even trying to escape the marriage , its not like staying at Francesco's house was a better option .

    ' I guess ', I said .

      ' if you aren't busy tomorrow , we could go to the coffee shop together tomorrow ', she said and I knew she just wanted to get my mind off the day's events .

        ' we can go , it's been a while since I've been there ', I said .

         ' okay , good night Vee ',

           ' good night Liz ', I said and hung up .