After seeing the Baldwins off at the gates, Victor turned around with lines on his forehead and a faint, worrisome smile.
"What is it, dear?" Patricia tucked at Victor's sleeves,
"Nothing, it's just that the Baldwins have given me a lot to think about." Victor sighed.
"You all head in, I need some air".
"Good night, Dad." Valentina was absurdly bubbly tonight.
As all three of the Donatelli women were heading inside, "Victoria" Victor gently called for Victoria and, with a precise gesture, asked her to stay back.
"Let's take a walk," Victor said, without making any eye contact, and moved ahead.
The father and daughter duo reached the large birch tree at the edge of the garden, near the moonflowers.
The moonlight was especially intense now; every nook and corner of the massive garden was overflowing with bright, cool light.
"It is a beautiful night, isn't it? The sky is so clear, and the moon is just stealing the show." Victor is still looking away.
Is he trying to make small talk right now?...
Victoria was confused; she never saw her father do that. He was always direct in his conversations.
What is going on?... Victoria's senses were tingling suddenly as if something was not right.
"This is some fine birch, you know, your grandfather planted this tree when he was a child, the great..?.
"Father, what's going on?" Victoria cut Victor off before he could complete.
Victor sheepishly smiled,
"Nothing at all, I was just educating you about our family history".
"I know something is going on, you and mom, and Val, everyone is acting very odd ever since the Baldwins showed up."
"Tell me, Father, is there a problem? Is it something serious?"
Victor took a deep breath and exhaled it all out, "Us and the Baldwins are going to form an alliance soon," with an awkward smile still lingering on his face.
Victoria lost it.
"What!?
"The Baldwins as our allies? What the hell were you thinking? Those bastards, those fuc.."
"Compose yourself, Victoria." Victor returned to his stern demeanor, the lion of the Donatelli family; his face was like cold metal glistening under heavy moonlight.
The sudden change in her father's tone cautioned Victoria; she was about to cuss in front of the family head, very unlike the Donatelli discipline.
"Father...I.."
"You were not informed for this reason alone, you have a lot to learn, Victoria, but first you need to be able to control that soldering anger of yours, it will burn you one day, child."
Victor's words were like piercing blows.
"Levi and I have discussed a lot, elders of both families have discussed a lot, we all think there is something else cooking in the shadows, and I personally suspect there is a new cook, a new player lurking in the dark waiting for us to lower our guard just once. Ready to pounce on us as well as the Baldwins."
Victor's facial muscles relaxed, and Victoria tensed up with his every word.
"Levi, as well as I, wanted us to unite."
"He has lost two of his older sons, and I lost my baby brother. You and Valentina are all I have left. If anything was to happen..." Victor took a long pause.
"You will understand when you have children of your own". Victoria was listening silently, anticipating something horrible as Victor completed each sentence slowly.
"Aah, hmm." Victor cleard his voice,
"Both Levi and I had decided to betrothed your sister and Luke to each other after considerable deliberations".
"No I don't support that Luke lead the joint alliance by the families..."
"What did you say...? Luke and Val...", Victoria now grinning hysterically.
She could not gather her thoughts, let alone speak properly; her mind was running like an unbroken wild stallion, but these last words from her father made her mind go blank; nothing was registering in Victoria's brain anymore.
For a few seconds, silence prevailed, and at that time, a patch of clouds that had gone astray covered up the majestic moon, and in that moment of darkness, Victoria realised her father's words and their weight.
Her eyes protruded from their sockets as much as they could, her ears red and fuming went unnoticed in the darkness, her nose twitching, lips mumbling, teeth stuttering, throat drying. Victoria felt a chill run down her spine that was so cold her whole body shivered in the summer night breeze.
She never felt this way, even when bullets were hurled at her at four hundred feet per second in hundreds at a time.
The moonlight once again lit the garden now,
Luke and Val?...Val and Luke?... Victoria was not able to think straight.
Victor - "Listen now, well that was the initial plan, and I know your thoughts should have been taken into account when this decision was made, you had all the right to voice your opinion in this matter, everyone knows how you helped raise your little sister like your own daughter, but there has been some sudden developments, please listen carefully what I have to say next and think rationally about this, Okay?."
Victoria, still in a daze, looked at her father continuing, she had long stopped listening to him, his words just vibrated her sound drums, they didn't mean anything, until they did.
"Luke wants to have you as his partner; he wants to marry you. He says he will not go back on his decision."
Victor felt something was obstructing these words from coming out of his mouth as he spoke them.
And for a split second, Victor's words and their implications registered in Victoria's brain,
"eeeeeekkk."
She let out a little shriek and collapsed on the soft, moist grass under the giant birch, moonlight reflecting on her face, giving it a pale character.
Victor rushed to her fallen daughter and called for help with an undelayed urgency.
A gust of sudden cool wind blew all over the Donatelli Mansion, the smell of exotic flowers and moist grass filled the air, and the moon was still majestic in the Sky, dispersing a sliver-blue all over.
It was surreal.