Seconds Ticking By [tag; Carina]

[Giovanni Luigi Deluca]

[/color][/b] he shouted to his men. "Find out where they are! What's taking them so long?!"

Giovanni was a punctual person. He hated being late for appointments and he hated people showing up late for their appointments. The return of his daughter was an appointment that shouldn't be missed. The Irish should have been here by now. With every tick the red second hand on the clock made, Giovanni grew impatient. He slammed his fists onto the desk in front of him, which made some of the men around him jump. After Carina returns to him, Giovanni's going to deal with the person who let this happened in the first place: Bianca.
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[Carina Fi DeLuca]

Carina was sitting in the back of the same black car she had been sitting in only days earlier. Only, the first time she was sitting here, she was scared to death and not going quietly. Now, on her way back, she was sitting in silent tears, all too happy to be returning to her family. She was certain they weren't going to kill her now. Rylan had helped with that situation. The McLaughlin boy had become somewhat of a friend of the young girl while she was being help captive, and he was the final one to convince them that she didn't know anything about the Italian workings. For once, Carina was happy she didn't know exactly what her father and his men did, because she was certain that if she had told them, they simply would have killed her after getting the information.

Her tiny bruised and bloody fingers were fidgeting nervously with the bottom of her torn and dirty shirt. It wasn't like the Irish beat her up too bad, but there was a man that definitely roughed her up a bit. The girl's bottom lip was busted open, there was a slash above her right eyebrow, and she was pretty certain her left arm was broken seeing as how she couldn't move it without crying out in pain. And had the Irish tried to clean her up before returning her back to her father? No. They didn't give a damn. In Carina's eyes, though, this was just begging for death. Once her father saw how broken she was, he was sure to break something, himself. That was the one thing she absolutely loved about her father - he was very protective. Of course, it got annoying at times, and Carina constantly was trying to find aways around his protection, but right now, she was making a promise to herself to not undermind his authority for a long time; she wasn't going to sneak away from Bianca again, and she definitely wasn't going anywhere alone. Not for a very very long time.

As the car pulled up to the rear entrance of the hotel, more tears flowed from Carina's eyes in relief. She slowly opened the door, and stepped - barefooted - onto the warm pavement. Her hands and feet were cut, her face and neck bruised, bones broken, and face wet from all the tears. Not to mention, her hair was currently ratted in knots, and she was just ready to take a hot bath and sleep. All of the questioning, screaming, and hitting had been too much for her; hell, she felt like blowing up all of the Irish, herself. All of the Irish...except one. But that wasn't something to think about, right now. Pushing the very attractive man out of her mind, she walked through the back door, nodded at the doorman and walked toward the elevator. She then heard the doorman intercom someone to let them know that she had arrived.

Carina rode the elevator all the way to the top floor - the place where all of the mafia's elite members had suites. It also had tons of business rooms for the men and women to hold all of their meetings. After making it to the tewnty-third floor, she stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway. She began walking toward her father's room, but stopped when she heard his voice behind one of the businessroom doors. Reaching up to wipe the tears from her eyes, she knocked on the door lightly, grabbed the hotel key from inside her bra (a hiding place she had quickly put the skeleton key in when she was snatched) and opened the door. Her green and blue eyes scanned the room, landing on her father. If she didn't know any better, she would claim he was in worse condition than her.

It didn't take but two seconds to cross the room in a soft sprint, wrapping her good arm around his torso. "Dad!" Her voice was small and shakey, but the emotion was a little overwhelming. She gripped him as hard as possible, not wanting to let go for a second. "Dad, I am so sorry! I'll never sneak off again; I'll never be alone! Ugh, please don't leave me alone!" Wiping the tears moments before didn't help, because now she had more streaming down her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, dad, please. I'm so happy to be home, just don't be angry, please!" Her grip became tighter and she burried her head into his chest.

tag;;Gio
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[Giovanni Luigi Deluca]

[/i] the man said to Giovanni. "She's downstairs and they're bringing her up."

"Did they say how she looked," he asked the man, but he received nothing but silence. "Is she at least healthy looking," They weren't giving him any answers. Why? Did they know the truth and they didn't want to alarm him? Giovanni grabbed the collar of the man's shirt and began demanding for answers. "Why aren't you fucking telling me anything," he yelled. "Do you know or are you just incompetent? I swear I'm going to-" Giovanni never finished his threat when the door opened. It seemed like time stopped as he turned to watch the door open up slowly.

As soon as he saw Carina, he let go of the man and slowly began walking towards his daughter. She was the first to come to him and wrap an arm around him. "Carina," he said, wrapping both arms around her. He was never going to let her go. He was never going to let her out of his sights ever again! Carina began apologizing and crying at the same time. It completely broke his heart. He hated seeing his daughter cry. "Shhh, it's okay, baby." Giovanni kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back to calm her down. A big wave of relief washed over him. "I'll never take my eyes off of you ever again!" He had already arranged to have a few men watch Carina. Every action as small as a cough would be watched and reported back to him.

Giovanni pulled back and took a hold of Carina's arms as he went to take a good look at her. As soon as he saw the cut lip and slash above her eye, Giovanni began shaking with anger again. "What did those fuckers do to you," he asked, as he brushed his fingers over some of her bruises. They didn't even bother cleaning her up before sending her back to him. He tried to brush his fingers through her hair, but they were so knotted and dirty. Then, he looked down at her feet. "They didn't even have the decency to leave you your shoes?! I swear...I'm going to kill those motherfuckers!" He was getting angry just looking at what they did to his precious daughter. Then, he had an awful thought of what those damn Irish thugs could have done to his daughter. "Did they...Did they..." He couldn't even say 'rape' out loud in fear that it might be true.

"Are you hungry? Did they feed you?" He turned to look at one of the men. "Bring up some food!" The man nodded and quickly left the room. Giovanni pulled up a chair for Carina. She shouldn't be standing. "You must be tired. Sit down." Giovanni finally managed a smile as she saw his daughter standing in front of him again. He kissed her forehead. "Bring Dr. Richards here. I want Carina to be examined." He brushed her hair out of her face. "Honey, is there anything I can do for you right now?" This should never had happened to her.
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[Carina Fi DeLuca]

As her father lightly brushed his fingertips over her wounds, she winced a bit, but held her compsure enough. She knew her father was already frantic enough, there was no need to react to her physical pain. His grip around her made Carina feel safe again; she felt like nothing was ever going to happen to her again; she would be guarded for the rest of her life, she was sure of it. Now, the girl had mixed feelings about all of this - she loved being by herself, and the constant guarding sometimes got annoying, but now all she wanted to do was sit in the floor and be surrounded by every single person, and guns, she wanted a lot of guns. Hearing him ask the questions about what they did, all she could do was shake her head; it was pretty obvious how they had roughed her up. But his last question..the question he couldn't finish made her green and blue eyes widen, and she finally spoke up.

"No, no! Dad! No! Nothing..nothing like that."

[/color] Of course, she had been worried that a couple of them were going to at one point; what kidnapped, helpless girl wouldn't be worried about that? And the way a few of those men had looked at her was as if they had never seen a girl in their entire lives, but none of them had stooped that low. She was certain that if they had, something bad would have happened to him. The leader might not have cared, but something told her Rylan would have. Shaking her head, she pushed the boy out of her mind and looked up at her dad. "There were just a few punches thrown, that's all."[/color]

At the mention of food, her stomach audibly growled out loud and she smiled weakly and nodded. "They tried to feed me, but I didn't eat a lot."[/color] When it came to stubbornness Carina had her father's, and when she didn't want to do something - like accept food from her kidnappers - she didn't do it. She might not be the strongest girl, but she was definitely a girl who could hold her groud on certain things. As he ushered her to a seat, Carina was going to protest seeing Dr. Richards, but even she knew she needed to get her arm wrapped up or something. When her father had finally stopped talking, Carina looked at him and was just relieved to be reunited again. Shaking her head, she merely whispered, "No."[/color]

Carina tore her eyes away from him and looked toward the door. She was waiting for her best friend to come in there, or her boyfriend, anyone. She was waiting for the rest of her family to come greet her, but the door never opened. Nodding, she assumed that her father had told them it was going to be alone time for him and her, if he had even told them she was finally returning. Looking back at him, she realized that this was probably the most alone they were going to get for a while, and she knew that she needed to attack this thing head on, while she could remember everything they had told and asked her. "They asked about weapons." She looked dead in his eyes, trying to get some sort of reaction from him. He was good at keeping his compsure, but she was hoping to break him down, at least a little. "They asked me what type of weapons we were smuggling from Mexico to Canada, and when I couldn't tell them, a guy did this." She pointed at the cut above her eyebrow, continuing to watch her father. She knew that by keeping her in the dark he was somehow protecting her, and honoring her mother's wishes, but even by keeping her protected in ignorance, he still endangered her. The Irish constantly thought she was lying to them; it was Rylan who believed her - he was the one that discovered the girl was actually oblivious to everything going on around her.

She continued on, telling her father everything that happened. "They asked me how much money we were making by smuggling the weapons, and how much money we make with the drugs we sell, and even who we sell to!"[/color] Now, Carina knew that they handled drugs,and honestly she assumed that's where most of their money came from, but the weapons thing had been a slight shock to her, but it didn't exactly make her angry. "And when I couldn't tell them, they did this."[/color] The girl ran her bloody finger over her busted lip as it quivered. "The questions that surprised me the most, though, Dad..was when they asked how many people we were killing. They threw specific names at me, asking me if their deaths were our fault.They even asked things about Tristan's mom and what equipment she used when spying!"[/color] Carina wasn't dumb enough to think that everyone in her 'family' was innocent; she knew they did some dirty work, but she never thought about them murderering people. Had they killed people? Were those people innocent? How many times had they kidnapped someone like her?

Carina reached her good arm out for her father's hand, and she wrapped her dirty fingers around his index finger, the way she used to as a child, the way she always did when she didn't feel too good. But now, she was doing as a sign of love, showing him that it didn't matter what they did, she would always love him, but boy, was she pissed. "Dad...killing people?! Have we killed people?"[/color] She knew her best friend was trained to kill, as well as Bianca's father, but she didn't think they had actually gone out and committed murder. "Dad, have you really raised me to be this naive?"[/color] She stared at him with her large eyes, waiting for answers and explanations, waiting to be clued in on the things that they dealt with. The only thing she ever thought they did were business deals, drug deals, and things that she couldn't possibly understand, but killing people? Slowly, she let go of his finger and brought her hand to cradle her arm, sitting back and waited. [/blockquote]


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[Giovanni Luigi Deluca]

[/color][/b] he sighed with relief and hugged his daughter again. He kissed the top of her head. The thought of one of those Irish thugs touching her was revolting enough. He couldn't even form the thought of his daughter's innocence being taken away from her. Giovanni was glad that it was just a few punches. "I want Dr. Richards to take a look at you anyway, okay? Did they give you anything? Did they drug you? I just want to make sure that they didn't do any other damages that may not be visible." Giovanni made sure that he kept his daughter far away from that crap. It was one thing to sell it to other kids and drug users, but it was just business. He couldn't be concern for those people when he has his own daughter to care for. The last thing he wanted was to have any type of drugs in her system. He knew all too well just how addictive they could be.

"That's my girl,"[/b] he said, smiling and kissed her again. Carina was stubborn. She got that from him. Maybe he didn't have anything to worry about. Maybe she could handle herself. Either way, he didn't want Carina to have gone through this horrible ordeal. His mind was working on what he could do to hurt the McLaughlin family. Maybe Giovanni should kidnap McLaughlin's boy and allow McLaughlin feel the horrible dread he went through.

Carina looked up and he knew that she was expecting more people would come and greet her for her homecoming. However, she had asked everyone to stay away. He wanted to talk to Carina first, to debrief her, before they all go see her and ask her questions. He wanted to ask them first. "You can see Tristan and Bianca later. They're home right now, waiting for you. You might want to clean up first, though." Giovanni stood up to ask one of the men for the status of Dr. Richards. He was on his way. Good. The doctor knew that when Giovanni called on you, you drop everything and come right away. He returned to a seat next to Carina and brushed her hair out of her face. She looked so much like her mother.

When Carina brought up about weapons, his heart sank. Giovanni did his best to keep his face straight. For the past few years, he had worked hard to keep her in the dark. It was easy to keep things from Carina when she was just a little girl. But, as she got older, it was harder to keep things from her. When her best friend and boyfriend worked for him, it was even more difficult. Giovanni couldn't stand this. He looked away from Carina and stood up. He walked over to the window, sighed deeply, and wiped his face with his hand before resting his hand on his hips. How did they know about the weapons from Mexico? Giovanni thought he was careful enough to keep that a secret. There had to be another way for them to know about this operation. Was there a spy? Was there a snitch amongst their ranks? "Carina, you don't have to worry yourself about this stuff, okay," he said, turning to look at her. "You're home now. And, that's all that matters. I'll take care of it. What else did they ask you about?" How much did the Irish know? He walked back and took a seat next to her.

Damnit, he swore silently. How did they know so much? They even knew about Marino. She had been compromised. He had to call her in to make sure that she's careful. "Carina..." What was he supposed to say to her? How could he explain these things to her without divulging her too much information. Andrea didn't want Carina stuck in this world, and he had done his best to keep her safe and naive. But, he knew there would be a day when he couldn't keep all of this from her. Giovanni didn't have any other heir. Carina would have to be the one to take over. Of course, she wouldn't be taking on any of the dirty work herself. There would be other people doing all of that for her. However, she would have to run the whole operation, keep the DeLuca name out there for people to fear.

A touch of her hand brought Giovanni out of his thoughts. His facial expression soften as he looked at her. Here was his little girl who was definitely all grown up. The look of disappointment on her face hit him in the gut hard. Giovanni sighed deeply again. He took a moment to figure out what to say to her. Should he tell her everything now? Should he give it to her in pieces? Was she ready to handle the truth and nothing but the truth? The door opened and the food had finally arrived. The server pushed the cart into a dead silent room. He placed a plate of lasagna with mixed vegetables on the side. Then, he poured Carina a glass of soda. Giovanni nodded to signal the server to leave. This actually bought him some time to think a few things through. Maybe it was time to tell Carina some things, but keep the major details out. She was eighteen after all. Soon enough, she would have to start picking things up.

"Carina...I kept you in the dark for your own sake. You have to understand that much. After what happened to your mother, I couldn't, in good conscious, let you know too much. You're all I have left of your mother and I can't let anything happen to you." Giovanni could only hope that after he told her what he had to tell her, she wouldn't change her opinion on him. He liked thinking that she looked at him as some kind of hero. But, he was far from being a hero. In fact, most people thought of him as a monster. "Carina, I would like to think you're not so naive that you don't know anything about what I do. This family business that I'm involved in helped put a roof over your head. It paid for all those fancy name brand clothes you buy all the time. The hotel, the nice suite, all of this was because of the business I'm in. The same business that you might have to take over one day." Giovanni thought that if he could preface his explanation with this, she might not be so willing to jump to the wrong conclusions.

"And, the line of work this family has been involved in require us to protect ourselves. You should know from your own experience how much we need to protect each other. The weapons were just a mean of protecting ourselves. Bianca is your bodyguard. You know she's trained to do whatever it means to protect you. Sometimes, Carina, it's us or them. Survival of the fittest. People are going to get hurt, some more worst than others." Giovanni wasn't sure if he wanted to tell his daughter that they killed people in cold-blood. She wouldn't understand. It was a necessity this business called for. The DeLuca family would have never gone as far as they had without taking down a few people. "Baby, you can't worry your self about this right now, okay? You just go home. I promise one day we'll talk about this in greater details. But, I don't think it would be good for you right now to hear about the family business just yet." Giovanni leaned in and hugged Carina gently and kissed her forehead again. He hoped this was sufficient enough. He hoped that she wouldn't press him for more information, but knowing how she is, he was pretty sure she might.
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[Carina Fi DeLuca]

As Carina waited for an answer to her many questions, she simply stared at her father as if she were trying to read his mind. She would give anything at this moment to know what was going on inside that brain of his. Now, her father wasn't old by any means, and he barely looked his real age, so when she saw him walk over to the window, she was shocked at how aged he appeared; he looked tired, worn out. Had she done this to him? Had her kidnapping made his body finally catch up with him? Or had she been doing that the past 18 years, but had been too selfish to notice? Staring over at him, Carina start to feel almost regretful that she had brought up anything tha had happened to her. She could have kept her mouth shut about what they had wanted, and she could still be in the dark...but it was too late. She was now aware that some of the things her family did were not so...nice.

When her father finally spoke, the first word out of his mouth was her name. At this point, Carina just held her breath. Her name had escaped her father's lips many times growing up, as with any child. She had heard it yelled in anger, and in fear; she had heard it whispered in love and comfort; she had even heard it quivered in tears. But there was one time when he had said her name, and it was unlike any of the other times before, and no times after that had followed. It was the day he told her of her mother's death, and she would never forget the way he looked at her, never forget the way he spoke. And he was speaking in that way now. He said her name is if she were a fragile Christmas tree ornament that needed soft, gentle hands just to hold it. But just as she was about to say something else, the food had arrived.

"Thank you, very much,"

[/color] she whispered to the gentleman. Grabbing her fork, she quickly started shoving food in her mouth, not caring about appearing lady like. The girl was starving, she had no time to care. At the current moment, she was paying more attention to her food than she was her father, and that's when he started explaining a few things. It almost felt as if she were being scolded for not knowing things, for questioning them in the first place, but she knew that wasn't his intention. He had just said he purposely kept her out of the loop.

"Survival of the fittest."

This statement made her stop shoveling food long enough to look up at him. So it was true, then? They had someone else's blood on their hands? And what was that he said about Bianca? Yeah, she knew the real reason that Bee always hung around her when they were growing up, and she knew that it was the main reason for their togetherness now. Of course, an actual friendship had formed, but Bianca's main job was to protect Carina. Had Bianca killed someone? More importantly, had she killed someone for Carina?

Now, Carina could understand taking someone's life or dying. She got that much. But why wasn't she being trained to stand up for herself? How come she didn't know how to fight the way Bianca did? And why wasn't she trained to use a gun as well as all of the other members? Being naive was one thing; being completely unprepared was another. It was time that she involved herself a little more.

After his lips had touched her forehead in a small kiss, Carina nodded, downed her glass of water, then looked up at him. "Dad, I love you. I know that you know that by now. And I promise that I'm going to always love you because that's what my duty as a daughter is."[/color] She stopped here, and took some time to think of her next words carefully. She couldn't let him think that she was okay with everything, but she had to let him know that eventually she would be..if she was exposed to it. "However, I do not have to respect you. And yet, I do. You have never been anything below exceptional when it comes to a father, and I'm so blessed, and I realize that. But what you have to realize is that I cannot hold my respect for you much longer if I don't understand everything you are doing. And I can't understand everything unless you show me."[/color]

Carina sighed and shook her head. "But I don't think I can hear everything right now. I honestly don't know if I want to."[/color] If Carina had to hear more about the things her family did she was sure to lose it. And though she didn't want to discuss those things at this moment, it didn't mean she wasn't going to to remember them for a later date. However, there were different things she needed to discuss right now; things that had slipped her mind until she was calm enough to remember them.

"Oh. But."[/color] Carina sat up straight and bit her bottom lip, trying to remember exactly what she was supposed to say. "The man that was there most of the time. Uh, they called him Mr. McLaughlin. He wanted me to tell you something."[/color] She leaned close, her face deep in thought and confusion. "Actually, he wanted me to ask you something. He wanted to me to ask..hold on, let me get the words right...How's the new recruit?"[/u][/color] She watched her father for some kind of reaction when she remembered something else. "Oh yeah, something else. I have some other wounds, wounds he specifically made himself. The other times, it was someone else throwing the punches, or pushing me, or throwing me against the concrete wall."[/color] The last part of that sentence was said with Carina gritting her teeth in anger, but she shook it off quickly. "These McLaughlin made himself. As if he wanted me to show them to you or something. He's pretty sick, dad. Very sick."[/color]

She stood again from her seat and rose her shirt up, revealing her thin stomach; at the lower part of her stomach two lines peaked out from her jeans. She folded over the top of them just enough for the bloddy X wound to show right beside her hipbone. Then, she turned to the side and pointed at the other X right below her arm, on her ribs. Lowering her shirt, she took her hair in one hand and pulled it back over her right shoulder, leaving the left side of her neck bare. There, another X had been placed. As she let go of her hair, her hands were now visibily shaking as she remembered the way the cold, hard knife had felt against her skin. For a few minutes, Carina had thought this knife was going to end her life; she assumed he was simply torturing her for pleasure before the kill. But after was done, he had left. Though, he didn't finish with her neck. In fact, he had left the deepest and roughest X for last. Her shakey fingers took a hold of the dip in her shirt, and she pulled it down over her left breast, revealing the largest and deepest X placed right over her heart. The wound, in fact, was still sticky with dry blood, but still oozing of somewhat fresh fluid. Tears had filled her eyes again, this time of painful memories of that day, and pure embarrassment.[/blockquote]

tag;;Gio
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[Giovanni Luigi Deluca]

[/color][/b] he said gently. Of course, he didn't expect her to slow down until all of the food was gone.

Giovanni listened to his daughter more intently than he had ever did before. He was never going to take her for granted ever again. Yes, he spoiled his daughter, but he has never really given her the attention she needed. He was going to give it to her now. "And, I love you, too," he replied, caressing her good arm. However, he dropped his smile and his hand from her arm when she said that she didn't have to respect him. Yes, she does. He was her father and it was expected for children to respect their parents no matter what. Giovanni opened his mouth, about to reprimand Carina, but she explained herself. She wanted to see the business. She wanted to be more involved. Was she ready for it? He always knew the day would come, but he hoped it hadn't come so soon.

All Giovanni could do was nod. He couldn't deny her this. After everything she has been through, maybe it was time to lift the veil. Maybe she needed to know what went on so that she could protect herself. But, the thought of giving his daughter a gun made him feel unwell. That was why he hired bodyguards for her. She never have to touch a gun. "Not today, honey. And, maybe not even tomorrow. But, soon. I promise I'll show you your empire." That's what it was, after all. This whole family business would be hers one day. As much has he liked to think he would always be around, he knew his daughter was now a woman and an adult. It was necessary for her to know this. "You need your rest. You need to get better first."

Giovanni thought that was it. Everything was done and settled. He sat back in his chair and watched Carina finish her meal. He checked his watch and knew that Bianca and Tristan was waiting. They could wait a little longer. He had priority to Carina over them. But, then, Carina sat straight up in her chair remembering something. It scared the crap out of him that he actually grasp his chest. He thought something was wrong with her. But, he soon calm down when she began remembering some things. Giovanni needed to know all of this. "McLaughlin," he asked. Giovanni knew that name very well. However, he didn't think that McLaughlin was dumb enough to personally see to Carina's kidnapping. Giovanni would never have done that. He would give the order out, but he would never see those who were kidnapped. He let other people do it for him. So, to hear that McLaughlin personally went to see Carina caught his attention.

The recruit? Giovanni's face twitched a little, but hopefully not too much to give anything away. Giovanni had just hired a few new people to join their business. Being new in town had its disadvantage. He needed some local townies to help with a few things so he could run his business successfully. But, those were always kept secret. Giovanni never told the identities of the new recruits or even let people know when he had new recruits to keep everyone guessing. It allowed the new recruits easy access in and out of places without being suspected. So, McLaughlin knew about the new people. How? Someone must have told him. It was the only way. However, McLaughlin could just be pulling his chain. Maybe it was a random comment meant to scare Giovanni and let him think that he's onto them. But, it made sense for McLaughlin to know about the shipments and recruits if there was a spy. Was there someone on his team that was a spy, or worse, a traitor?

Loyalty was the one quality Giovanni held dear to his heart. Without loyalty, you can't have trust. Without trust, you can't have a family. And, without family, you have nothing at all. "Carina, what did he mean by that? What else did he-" But, Giovanni never finished his sentence. Knowing that McLaughlin touched his daughter made his blood boil. Those two had it in for each other since they were young men. And, now knowing that McLaughlin laid a hand on his daughter, hurt his daughter, he wanted the man dead. But, death would be too easy for McLaughlin. He would actually enjoy his time in hell. Giovanni needed another way to seek revenge.

Giovanni turned to look at Carina s she stood to show him the marks. It made him absolutely sick to see a deep slash on his daughter's hip. Then, another one below her ribs. Then, it hit him. Why did McLaughlin make marks there? It looked like they were very specific locations. It was odd to see those marks there on his daughter's body, not because they shouldn't be there, but because he had seen those injuries somewhere else. Giovanni stood up when she showed him her neck. His heart was racing as he pulled her in close to examine the wound. Then, his eyes looked down at her chest to see the mark over her heart. It felt like his heart at stopped and the room was still. Giovanni thought he recognized these wounds and it wasn't until he saw the one over Carina's heart did he realize where he had seen these marks.

Andrea, his wife and Carina's mother, was shot four times. He knew that because he was at the morgue identifying her body. Giovanni had to leave the scene and his wife behind. He had to act like he wasn't there when his wife died in his arm so that his family business could remain anonymous. He remembered the marks the doctor showed him. Three of the bullet holes didn't kill her. She was injured and bleeding a lot. But, it was the bullet to the heart that did her in. The bullet in Andrea's heart killed her and his own heart was never the same afterwards.

For the first time, Giovanni couldn't keep his straight face. His hands were shaking now and he had to let go of his daughter. Carina knew that Andrea died during a business transaction, but she never knew the details. In fact, only a couple of people who survived that night knew the exact details. Giovanni sank into his chair and tears began forming. He tried to keep them away, not wanting to cry in front of his daughter, but they freely began to fall down his cheek. McLaughlin was dead. He was going to kill this man with his bare hands. Giovanni only knew too well what McLaughlin's intentions were. The cuts were deep enough to leave scars on Carina's body. Carina, who looked exactly like her mother. McLaughlin was reminding Giovanni of his wife's death by leaving scars on someone that looked like his wife. He was a fucking sick man!

Giovanni covered his eyes with his hands and began sobbing. The other men in the room didn't know what to do. They had never seen their boss cry like this. They did what they thought they were ordered to do. Nothing. They were there to protect Carina and Giovanni in case someone decided to come and ambush them. They weren't there to comfort Giovanni. "Carina, I'm so sorry," he said through his tears. "This is all my fault. You should never have gone through this." Giovanni knew that he should have shipped his daughter to Italy once his wife had died. At least in Italy, she would have been safe. But, he was selfish and couldn't part with his daughter. He didn't want her to think that he was sending her away because he didn't love her anymore. Now it was too late to second guess everything he has done for Carina. He did the best he could for her.
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[Carina Fi DeLuca]

Carina slowly go of her shirt, pulling it back to it's original state and watched her father for a reaction. At first, she really thought he wasn't going to budge, but then his body hit the chair. Then something happened that Carina had only seen once before - tears formed in his eyes. She thought that perhaps this was just a reaction to everything that had happened; maybe he was overwhelmed and it was all hitting him at once. Or maybe he was just so tired and exhausted that tears naturally formed without his consent? But as the tears actually fell down his face, Carina started to get worried. Something was going on in that mind of his, and she couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was. Carina was hurt - that much was obviously once she walked in the door, but he hadn't teared up like this. Was there something significant about these cuts? Or was it just one more thing wrong with her that pushed him over the ledge?

When his tears were followed by sobbing, Carina's eyes filled with tears of her own. She had never seen her father break down like this; even when her mother was murdered, he had stayed strong in front of her; he was there for her when she had lost it, and now it seemed, it was her turn. Carina looked over his men, who were rudely staring at him and at each other, wondering what the hell to do. "Get out."

[/color] Her voice was loud and firm, the way her father's normally was when he gave an order. Her eyes connected with each of theirs and her hands crossed over her chest. They had hesitated two seconds too long. "Now!"[/color] This time, her voice raised an octave, almost yelling at them. She waited for them to file out of the door, one by one. Walking across the room, she shut and dead bolted the door behind them. She knew they would be standing outside of the room - that was their job, after all. They needed to stay nearby, but they didn't have to have access back in without their permission.

Carina walked back to her father, hearing his apology, and wiped her own tears away. She sat on her knees in front of him, unsure of just what she was supposed to do. It didn't take too long for her body to figure it out though. Reaching up, she put her hands on his shoulders and shook her head. "No. Dad."[/color] Her voice was quivery, but she managed to choke back some tears enough to speak clearly. "None of this is your fault. None of it. It doesn't matter what you do here; it doesn't matter what sort of work your men do. Dad, none of that matters. You didn't do this; someone else did. That evil, sick bastard did this, not you."[/color]

She pulled herself up and hugged him tight around his neck, allowing her tears to fall slowly down her cheek. "Dad, really, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I snuck off; I'm the one that left Bianca; I'm the one that wasn't able to fight back; I'm the one that got kidnapped. But Dad, neither of us made him do this to me. Neither of us forced him to be such a monster."[/color] Her words were true, of course. She had outwitted Bianca and snuck off. Carina had gotten herself kidnapped; she put herself out there for danger, knowing very well that she wasn't supposed to be alone for this very reason. So if her father was going to blame anyone, he might as well put it on her, too.

Carina wasn't sure what else she could say to comfort him, but she knew exactly what she could do to comfort herself. Standing up slowly, the tiny young woman crawled into her father's lap, just like when she was a little girl, and curled up against his chest, hugging his neck tight. "Dad, all you've ever done for me my entire life is protect me. You've held my hand when I was scared, and you've kissed all my boo-boos, and you made all of my monsters dissappear. Not once was there a time when you weren't there, and this time is no different. This wasn't a mistake you made; this wasn't something you have to regret. This is just something that happened; something we both have to get through..with each other. Something the DeLuca strength will come in handy for. We can do it...I promise."[/color]

Snuggling her head more into his chest, her tears started to stain his - probably very expensive - shirt, but it was the least of her worries at the moment. Her eyes closed and she sighed a sigh of relief. Not once this entire week had she felt as safe as she did now. The love she had for her father was very evident, and it always had been. Carina never had been one of those teenagers to act like her father wasn't cool, and like they didn't like each other. She had been raised so close to him that anything less than love seemed fake and disrespectful. And even now that she was growing up and trying to become a little more independent, she still loved and very much needed her father, and she wasn't afraid to admit that.[/blockquote]

tag;;Gio
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[Giovanni Luigi Deluca]

[/color][/b] he said, looking up at her. "If I wasn't so stubborn in trying to protect you and suffocate you, you wouldn't have done this. But, I promise you, things are going to change around here. That fucking bastard is going to get what's coming to him for what he did you you." His sadness was driven away by his hatred for McLaughlin. He smiled as Carina climbed into his lap like she used to as a little girl. Sometimes, he wished he could freeze time and keep her young forever. Then, she would never go off and marry someone and leave him. Giovanni hated to think of his girl as a grown woman with a boyfriend to boot. But, the fact that her boyfriend was Tristan made him feel a bit reassured. At least her boyfriend was someone he knew. Giovanni felt reassured to know that Tristan knew not to treat his daughter anything less than a princess if he didn't want to feel Giovanni's wrath. His mother was one of Giovanni's most trusted member in his gang. If he could trust Marino, he could trust Tristan with his daughter.

Giovanni was glad to hear that his daughter was already showing signs of recovering. He smiled as he kissed her forehead again. "You know, sometimes, you really do remind me of your mother." His smile only lasted a few moments before he saw the x mark on her neck. Perhaps the first step to the change he promised her was to tell her the truth about her mother. "Baby, the marks on your body. The x-es. McLaughlin didn't put it there by random." Giovanni was back in his serious mode. He really didn't want to tell Carina this detail. She had just told him how much she loved him no matter what. But, would she stand by her words after he told her what he had to?

The whole thing would be easier if she sat in her own chair and not in his lap. So, he gently moved her to the seat across from him. The tears had halted and the guilt was building. Giovanni thought it would be best to give her this news before opening up the door to the family business. "What do you know about your mother's death," he asked her, examining her face for a reaction. "I blame myself for your mother's death everyday. I wasn't the one who pulled the trigger, but I was the one who put her there." He sighed as he tried to gain the strength to tell his daughter the truth. "It was a routine drug pick up. It was supposed to be easy. In and out. I've done it a million times myself and I never had any trouble before."

"Your mother and I were supposed to go out to dinner that night. I promised her I would take her to that new restaurant in the city she had been wanting to go for weeks. I made the reservation a week in advance and she was so excited about going. I've never seen your mother more beautiful than on that night. Unfortunately, I got a called about a drug drop at the last minute. I told Vin that I would go and to the pick up but I didn't realize how close it would be to the reservation. We would never have made the reservation if I went to the pick up and then came back for your mother, and went to the city. Your mother was so mad at me. She said I always put the business before you and her. This wasn't true. I worked the business so I could provide for you. But, she wasn't having it. I didn't know what to do because I couldn't miss out on this drop. It was huge! I needed to be there to make sure everything went okay."

"So, I told your mother we could make the reservation if we leave from the drug drop. It would take fifteen minutes the most. That seemed to make things okay. I didn't realize the McLaughlin had been trailing this shipment for weeks. They're a bunch of lazy ass hooligans. Instead of putting the effort to bring drugs in or pick up their own shipment, they wait for others to bring it in and steal it, like a bunch of fucking pirates!" The thought of the Irish mob coming in to steal his drugs still made him boil. But, what happened next was what made it worse. "As soon as we got there, we were ambushed. I told your mother to stay in the car, but she didn't want to leave me. She didn't want to be in the car while I was in the middle of a gunfight. I should have put someone on her. I should have made sure she stayed behind in the car. I heard her cry out for me and that's when I knew she didn't listen to me. When has your mother ever listen to me? You're kind of like her. When I turned around she got shot from two different directions. She was hit with four bullets, killed with the shot to her heart."

Giovanni waited patiently to let the story simmer in his daughter's thoughts. He knew that she would eventually get the symbolism. Four bullets, four marks. He blinked a few times, still staring at his daughter, before speaking up again. "The marks on your body was McLaughlin's sick joke to me. He wanted to make me suffer by reminding me what he took away." Of course, it wasn't McLaughlin who pulled the trigger. It was one of his henchmen and Giovanni made sure to take care of that. But, now that he touched his daughter, he had a brand new vendetta against McLaughlin. This time, he was going to make sure the man would pay. He wasn't sure how his daughter was going to take the news. Would she ever be able to forgive him for taking away her mother at such a young age? If she would be able to move on from this news, then he would initiate the next phase of her training.
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[Carina Fi DeLuca]

When her father stated that she reminded him of her mother, she couldn't help but feel a sweep of bittersweet excitement rush over her. People always commented on how much she looked like her mother; the adults always said she had certain personality traits that were very similar to hers, and Carina always took it as a compliment. The memories of her mother were that of a beautiful woman and strong, independent person. She was sitting in her father's lap, day dreaming about the things her and her mother shared, the things they had in common, all of the activities they did together when her father's voice brought her back to the here and now. Reality. Dark, dim, tragic reality.

"What do you mean they weren't random?"

[/color] As he slid her to the opposite chair, Carina's confused eyes looked him over, hard. Then he asked her a question that threw Carina for a total loop. Her mother's death? "She was...killed,"[/color] Carina whispered, never taking her eyes off of her father. "Right? You told me she was killed. What more could there be?"[/color] That's when he started telling her the story. Carina had secretly hoped she would never have to hear the details of her mother's death because she knew the way she would react. Instead of the depression it had once put her in, it simply drove her to overbearing anger. She had seen what the anger did to Bianca - when Bee's mother was killed, Bianca became some sort of machine, fighting everything and everyone. She became a killer. Carina was afraid something like that would happen to her if she heard what her father was telling her, and she didn't want to know; she didn't want to learn of the details, but that's exactly what was happening. In her mind, she was reliving the night of her mother's death as if she had been there.

Her eyes glazed over as she imagined everything that happened that night. No wonder her father was blaming himself for her mother's death. It was his fault they were out here, but it was she who got out of the car. This, oddly enough, brought a smile to her face; had Carina seen her father out there shooting at people, and people shooting back at him, she would have gotten out of the car too. She would have done whatever she could to help him. Once again, she was pulled from her day dreams when she heard which shot kill her mother. The one to her heart?

Carina's thin fingers rose to her chest, touching the place where her cuts were ever so lightly. McLaughlin had done this on purpose, then? And just as she was about to ask this out loud, he confirmed her beliefs. So it was true. He was a sick bastard. Carina didn't even have time to think before she started flying off the handle. Standing up quickly Carina started waving her arms around ridiculously. "Then we have to do something!"[/color] The pitch of her voice was off, higher than it should be; anger and disbelief were causing her eyes to fill with tears, and she couldn't believe everything that he was telling her. All at once. "Don't just sit there! We have plenty of people on our side! We could easily over power them! Dad, come on! We have to fucking kill that man!"[/color]

It was the first time Carina had ever dropped a curse word in front of her father. It wasn't that she was trying to give him the image of a perfect daughter; she just wanted to show respect by not being disgraceful. However, every prim and proper thought was no longer in her head. She wanted vengance. "How can you sit there and allow them to do these things?! How can you fold your arms over your chest and watch them hurt our family?!"[/color]

Now, all of the emotions that Carina should have been feeling for so long were coming out. She was angry that the McLaughlin's could do this to innocent people. She was pissed that they could hire someone to take her mother's life; even more angry that they beat the shit out of her without blinking an eye. But the one person she was even madder at..the one person she felt so much rage toward right now, was her father.

"How could you have kept all of these things from me? How could have been so secretive? You lied to me. Do you understand that, Dad? You lied to me!"[/color] Carina wiped her face with both hands, groaning into her palms, trying her hardest not to scream. Carina stopped pacing around for a minute, her breathing heavy and deep, trying to calm herself. She could feel the panic attack coming on, and she was trying everything in her power to prevent it, but when they happened, they just happened; it's not like she had much control over anything right now.

Her brain was turning to mush, and really, that was the only way it could be described. She just learned that her mother died; her father had practically led her to her death, and she had been tortured because of who her father was. So really, if she wanted to, she could keep blaming him; she could voice her opinion and thoughts she was experiencing right now. But why would she do that? Why would she put him through torture? He was her father, after all. He had meant well; it's not like he forced someone to do this. But still, he had lied to her. He had kept her in the dark on purpose. Carina brought her arms to her stomach, wrapping them around her core, bending over slightly trying to get a control over her breathing. "There's only one logical thing to do now,"[/color] she whispered through her heavy breathing.

"You have to teach me to fight. And how to shoot a gun."[/color][/blockquote]

tag;;Gio
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[Giovanni Luigi Deluca]

[/color][/b] He had no right to tell her to calm down or to stop. She had every right to feel what she felt at the moment and he couldn't take it away from her. "We will do something about it." There was also no point in reasoning with her, but he needed to tell her that he wasn't just doing nothing. He wasn't just sitting on his ass, tweedling his thumbs. "I know you're upset," he said, loudly over her. "But, you have to understand there's a way to do this. I sought revenge on your mother's death. I killed the man who pulled the trigger and pierced the bullet through your mother's heart. That vendetta is done and over with. There's a code of honor that we have to follow. If we don't, then we'll be no better than the Irish. They have no rules, no limits, no morals! They're fucking animals, okay? But, we have to show them that we're better than that." By blowing up half the McLaughlin clan, it would have only attracted more attention to their group, and Giovanni wanted to avoid all of that.

He finally reached over and took a hold of her shoulders and shook her. Then, he looked her square in the eyes. "I lied because I had to," he said angrily. "And, when you take over for me and have kids of your own, you'll understand why I did what I did. You can be mad at me all you want for keeping you in the dark, but I'm still your father and still head of this mafia! You have to believe everything I did was for your own good." Yes, he lied to her. But, she must understand how crucial that was. If he had told her everything, the McLaughlin would have beaten out every piece of information out of her. Then, the whole company would have been compromised. Where would he be when the mafia crumbles? How would he be able to protect his daughter then?

Giovanni let go of Carina when she told him she wanted to fight and fire a gun. He simply nodded. Yes, she would need to learn all of that. McLaughlin had crossed the line this time and Giovanni was going to make sure that he pay. All hands on deck. "But, not today," he said walking away from her, towards the door. Carina was alive. She was home. Everything was going to be okay now. But, he had something important to take care of now. "Go home, clean up, see your friends. Tristan's been worried about you. Then, rest up. You will learn to defend yourself and this company." Giovanni had reached the door and unlocked it. He opened the door slightly before turning around to face Carina. "Don't do anything stupid tonight." It was a stern warning not to go out and kill someone, though he doubted she had it in her. All of that anger was just hot air. But, he knew eventually, he would give her something to kill someone over. Giovanni turned around and walked out of the doors. One set of guards followed him as another set waited for Carina. They were to make sure she got to her room safely. He would give anything to do this whole week over, to have his baby girl stay young and innocent. But, it was too late. He had to let her go. The war had just begun and he wasn't sure if he would be the last one standing.
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