Author's POV
The next day, Gia was far too quiet.
That was the first thing the people around her noticed.
She did not yell at the staff. She did not throw a glass at the wall. She did not open a bottle of alcohol even though it was only ten in the morning. She also showed no interest in any of the messages flooding her phone from people who most likely wanted to hear her version of the night she beat Mateo de Villena bloody.
She ignored everyone.
And that was worse.
At a private estate outside Madrid, Gabriel sat at the long table in the breakfast room, silently reading through several documents laid out before him. Morning light filtered through the tall windows, striking silver cutlery and crystal glasses, but no warmth reached the room. Not when Gabriel Smith sat at the end of the table looking like he could order a killing somewhere between coffee and lunch.
On the opposite side was Anthony, newly arrived from an early flight, still in dark slacks and a crisp shirt with the sleeves folded just enough to look expensive rather than relaxed. He held a cup of coffee, with a tablet beside him, and wore the same calm expression as if he were not managing half the world while sitting there.
Gia arrived as if nothing was wrong.
She was dressed simply. A white button down, black trousers, her hair tied at the back, and no jewelry except for the small studs in her ears. No makeup. No effort. And even so, she was still the most dangerous thing in the room.
She did not say good morning.
She simply pulled out her chair, sat down, and poured herself black coffee.
No one spoke for a few seconds.
Then Anthony looked up first.
"You look homicidal."
Gia took a sip. "Only look?"
"Fair."
Gabriel did not lift his head immediately. "You barely slept."
She glanced at him. "You counting?"
"No. You're loud when you're awake."
"I can fix that."
Finally, Gabriel looked at her. Just one brief look, but enough to make her feel the way he was measuring his sister. He never asked questions without reason. He also never wasted words on anything unimportant.
"What did you do after Georgina's call?"
Gia's expression did not change. She was not surprised that her brother knew she had spoken to someone important the night before. That was how he was. Even when he did not interfere, he always knew.
"Stood on a balcony," she answered.
Anthony picked up his coffee. "Very productive."
Gia smirked. "I was thinking."
"That's what worries him," Anthony said, referring to Gabriel.
Gabriel ignored him. "Are they serious?"
It was a question that did not need any further explanation.
Gia stared into her coffee before slowly stirring the spoon inside the cup. "According to Georgina, yes."
Anthony leaned back slightly. "Names?"
"Not yet."
"Money?"
She looked up at him. "Apparently."
The room went quiet for a moment.
Unlike other families, they were not fond of dramatic reactions. No loud cursing. No raised voices. No scenes that looked like a soap opera with someone smashing plates and asking how this could happen.
In the family Gia grew up in, silence was more frightening.
Especially when Gabriel and Anthony were the ones staying silent.
Gabriel set the document down. "Who approved it?"
That was not the kind of question that wanted gossip.
That was the kind of question asked by a man who intended to follow it all the way to the bottom.
Gia shrugged, controlled. "Don't know."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
From the side, she heard the soft sound of porcelain as Anthony set down his cup. "If someone is floating numbers without clearing it with the right people, they're either stupid or too comfortable."
Gabriel's jaw tightened just enough for Gia to notice.
And that, more than anything, amused her.
Because there it was.
The closest thing to anger you would get from these two men was not shouting.
It was interest.
Cold, focused, lethal interest.
"You two deal with that," Gia said, setting down her cup. "I'm not in the mood to babysit idiots."
Gabriel watched her for one beat. "And what are you in the mood for?"
She smiled.
Too slowly.
Too beautifully.
Too dangerously.
"Leaving."
Anthony did not move, but his eyes shifted slightly. Not surprise. Not alarm. More like confirmation.
Gabriel did not blink. "No."
Gia laughed once, sharp. "That wasn't a request."
"You're not disappearing because some old men got creative."
"I'm not disappearing because they got creative." She leaned back in her chair. "I'm disappearing because they think they can."
Silence again.
Outside the room, there was the faint sound of staff moving through the hallway. Somewhere far from them, a car rolled over the gravel drive. But inside, it felt as if the morning had stopped.
Anthony spoke first.
"You've wanted out before."
Gia glanced at him. "Not like this."
"No," Anthony said. "Before, you were bored."
"And now?"
She looked at both of them.
Her smile vanished.
"Now I'm insulted."
No one spoke right away.
Because the truth was, Gia was more dangerous when she was insulted than when she was bored. When she was bored, she made trouble. When she was insulted, she made decisions.
And both of them knew it.
Gabriel leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on her. "Where."
"I don't want to say yet."
"That wasn't the deal."
"You never made a deal with me."
Anthony's mouth almost twitched. "He hates that."
"I know."
Gabriel's voice turned flatter. "You are not leaving without protection."
"I said I'm leaving, not dying."
"Same thing if you do it stupidly."
Gia rolled her eyes. "Please. I know how to move money better than half the men around you."
"Money isn't the problem," Gabriel said.
"People are," Anthony added.
Gia looked between them. "Exactly. Which is why I'm not bringing half a city with me."
"You're not going alone."
She arched a brow. "You volunteering?"
"No."
Anthony took another sip of coffee. "Absolutely not."
"Then stop being dramatic."
Gabriel let out the faintest breath through his nose. It was not a sigh. It was not laughter either. But for her brother, that was probably the equivalent of open irritation.
"You're impossible."
"And yet," Gia said, "still your sister."
At that moment, a trusted house steward appeared at the doorway. He stood there quietly until Gabriel noticed him. People did not enter that room without reason.
Gabriel did not fully turn. "What."
"Sir," he said carefully in English, "the courier from Geneva has arrived."
Gia's gaze sharpened.
Geneva.
Interesting.
She did not speak right away, but Anthony noticed. Of course he did.
"Not your business," he said without looking at her.
Gia smiled sweetly. "Everything interesting is my business."
Anthony ignored her and stood up. "I need twenty minutes."
"Thirty," Gabriel said.
"Twenty."
Gabriel shrugged as if he had not really intended to argue anyway. He stood as well, adjusted the cuff of his sleeve, then looked at Gia one last time.
"Don't do anything until I get back."
Her face turned innocent. "Why would I?"
Gabriel's face did not change when he answered. "Because I know you."
After the two men left, Gia remained at the long table with her half cold coffee and an idea that was already taking clearer shape in her mind.
She did not need to hear what was in the Geneva courier.
She did not need to know what document or asset or account their discussion involved.
What mattered was that she remembered something very simple.
If she was going to leave, she needed to leave in a way that would keep her from having to look over her shoulder for at least the first few years.
And for that, she would need cash, jewelry, documents, and silence.
The first three were easy.
The last one was more expensive.
Slowly, she stood up, left her cup on the table, and walked out of the breakfast room as if nothing was wrong.
She did not even hurry.
On the second floor of the estate, there was a private suite that was technically hers, though she used it less like a bedroom and more like a vault with prettier curtains. No one except her, one old keeper of the house, and her two most trusted men had access to it.
The moment she entered, she closed the door and went straight to the dressing room.
There, behind a panel no one would notice unless they already knew it was there, were some of the things she never entrusted to the family system.
Loose diamonds.
Passports.
Stacks of cash in multiple currencies.
A small black notebook filled with numbers and names that had saved more than one man from prison and sent two others into the ground.
She was not sentimental about most things.
But she was practical.
And a practical woman did not wait until she was being strangled before hiding a knife.
She took out a thin leather case, opened it, and checked the contents. Three passports under different names. One unused. Two with histories carefully built over years for reasons no one had ever needed to ask her about.
"Good," she murmured to herself.
After that, she moved to another hidden compartment and checked the cash. It was not enough to disappear for a lifetime, but it was enough to get out fast, move far away, and buy herself time while she arranged the bigger move.
There was a knock.
Three times.
Then twice.
Her signal.
"Come in."
Rafael entered, one of the few bodyguards who was not just paid but truly loyal to her. He was not as loud as the family's other men. She preferred that.
"Miss Georgia."
She gave him a look. "You're the only one still calling me that."
"I'm loyal, not modern."
A faint smile touched her lips. "I need a car that doesn't exist on paper, two clean phones, and a route out of Spain that won't be flagged if someone gets emotional."
Rafael did not look surprised.
He did not ask why either.
That was one of the reasons Gia liked him.
"How soon?"
"Soon enough that if I say now, you say yes."
Rafael nodded once. "Understood."
"And I need three bags ready to move without inspection."
This time, the man paused slightly. "Heavy?"
"Very."
"Cash?"
"And things that can turn into more cash."
He did not ask any more questions.
"Done," he said.
Before he could leave, Gia spoke again. "No one tells Gabriel."
Rafael did not move for a second.
A dangerous pause.
Then, carefully, "He will know."
"I know."
"Then why say it?"
Her smile returned.
Because she was still Gia.
"Because I want him to know late."
Rafael almost looked amused, but knew better than to show too much of it. "As you wish."
After he left, Gia stood in the middle of the dressing room and looked at herself in the mirror.
Elegant.
Unbothered.
Beautiful.
Expensive.
And under all of that, insulted enough to vanish.
She still did not know exactly where she was going. Not exactly. Not finally. But she knew she would not stay in Spain waiting for the day some man smiled while accepting the idea that she came with a price.
No.
If a man ever took her, it would not be because he had been paid to.
And if her world intended to hand her over like a problem, then she would become impossible to hand over.
From the hallway, she heard the heavy but controlled footsteps of a man approaching.
Gabriel.
Of course.
She did not move immediately. She simply let the footsteps reach the door before it opened.
Her brother filled the frame, still terrifying, still immaculate, and clearly displeased that she was no longer in the breakfast room.
His gaze stopped at the open compartment behind her.
On the passports.
On the cash.
On her face.
He stayed silent first.
Then, in English, very softly, "You really are leaving."
She did not pretend.
She did not deny it either.
"Yes."
Gabriel stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
No shouting.
No lecture.
No drama.
The way he approached her was more frightening. Controlled. Quiet. Certain.
When he stopped a few feet away, he only looked at his sister.
"You do realize," he said, "that if you disappear without telling me where, I will find you anyway."
Gia tilted her head. "That sounds obsessive."
"That sounds like a promise."
She smiled slightly. "Then let's see how good you are."
Something dangerous flashed in Gabriel's eyes, but he kept it leashed.
He would not grab her. He would not stop her physically. That was not how they were with each other.
But in the way he stood in front of her, only one thing was clear.
He was already calculating.
Routes.
Names.
Weak points.
And how far he would let his sister go before he started tearing the world open to catch up.
Gia held his gaze and smiled wider.
Good.
Let him.
Because for the first time in a very long time, she was not planning a scandal.
She was planning an exit.