Chapter 25

It has been over 3 weeks now since I came to Italy. I was on my laptop finishing up some work on the kitchen table when Landon’s uncle Francesco barged in. I pretty much had my new job down pat without needing that much help from Gi now, so unfortunately I was alone.

He still hadn’t come close to warming up to me yet. I certainly didn’t miss all his dirty looks and the way he ignored me or scoffed and walked off when I spoke.

“You don’t belong here.”

“Tell me what you really think”, so he is straight to the point. I went back to my emails, not giving him the time of day.

“Silly little girls like you get killed in dis world.”

“Are you done?”

He walked over to me shutting my laptop cover nearly on my fingers, “Silly little girls like you get bullet right here” and he went to touch my forehead.

I moved back and stared him in the eyes “GET. THE. f**k. OUT. OF. MY. HOUSE!” I gritted through my teeth.

He laughed and walked out like I had just told him the funniest joke he had ever heard. f*****g arrogant arsehat!

I understand he is in his 70’s and has his thoughts on the way things should be run, though this was stepping over the line! I have never done anything to disrespect him or anyone else. Sure, I am not a born and bred Italian girl and I am not interested in anything they do other than the legal side and yes, I wish it was all legal and there was nothing illegal going on, but that wasn’t going to happen!

I came to terms with that a long time ago!

I quickly walked out the front to make sure he left. Watching his car drive off did make me feel a little better even though I was still fuming.

There were no guards directly in front of the house but you could see them walking around in the distance. There was no way of keeping him out of the house except to lock the doors. I really hope he doesn’t have a key and if he did it would be hard to explain to Landon why I needed to get the keys changed.

You would have to be dumb not to know that definitely isn’t going to be my first and last encounter with the slimy horrible old man.

He had put some of his cards on the table and showed his plan was to get rid of me. I had to be smart about how I dealt with him as he was a respected elder.

I know it is probably fruitless. However, I still locked the door behind me, then went around and locked the rest before going back to my laptop.

My head was swimming!

I can’t complain to Landon as Francesco would be waiting for that and say I had misconstrued his meaning or something. No, I had to record him if he came back. That was the only way. Oh and try to avoid him at all costs at every event and dinner! Actually, he wasn’t stupid enough to do anything in front of anyone else.

Sitting back at my laptop, I lifted the screen back up but just stared at it now. I still can’t believe he did that, especially since everyone was happy about the deal with Mr Russo and was, for some reason, saying I was the cause of the deal.

I didn’t even talk to him on Sunday! Actually, I haven’t really spoken to him at all! He normally walked off when I was brought into a conversation or ignored me.

About an hour later, there was a knock at the front door. I grabbed my phone and pressed the record just in case, even though I doubted it was him. Sure enough, Leo was standing there with a confused look on his face.

“Hey!” I opened the door.

“Why is your door locked?”

“Habit. I catch myself doing it and stop sometimes, but other times I don’t realise I’m doing it”. I waved it off and followed him into the kitchen. “Did you want a drink or something to eat?”

“Coffee?”

“Of course!”

I went over to the fancy a*s machine and made his coffee and got some cake out of the fridge and put it in front of him as well. His face lit up like a kid at Christmas, typical man with his sweet tooth. It is pretty much against the law not to feed anyone that comes through your door in this country.

“So how’s it all going?” he asked between mouthfuls.

I laughed “Good, I was just getting some work done for the festival in Boston.”

“I’m surprised Ma let you out of her sight.”

“She’s been great, so leave her alone!”

“Ah, she already has you under her thumb. Good to know I have lost another ally!” he mocked hurt.

“Oh please, says the man that hangs off the back of her skirt trying to get her attention.”

He bellowed out with laughter.

He stayed the rest of the afternoon, making me feel relaxed and at home again. We did more Italian lessons, he has been such a great help teaching me every moment he has.

To my surprise, he hadn’t tried to trick me yet and I knew that as I had put some of it into my translator app to make sure or asked Landon later. Once again, he pretended to be hurt when he caught me with my app.

“Ah dear sister, why you no trust me,” he put his accent on even thicker.

“Because you are you, but don’t worry, I still love you. So next sentence.”

He smiled and we continued.

“The chef will be starting tea shortly. Are you staying?”

Yes, we still have chefs and maids. I didn’t get rid of them all like I thought I would. It felt weird at the start, so I changed it so the chef was here in the morning and night, giving them the day off in between unless we had guests over. The maids were only there in the mornings until just before lunch time. I couldn’t fire them, they were all amazing… and Landon talked me into keeping them.

Unfortunately, though, it meant there was no one else here with me when that a*****e came over!

“Of course!” he gave me a huge grin. Typical male, they can’t say no to food!

“Good, I will let him know.”

“You mean bene glielo farò sapere.”

“Bene glielllo farò sapere.”

“Fantastica.”

The next couple of days went without incident although I was waiting for it so my phone was always in my pocket.

It was Sunday, so the big family lunch.

We arrived to the normal squeal from Ma. “My daughter! Come, come. You look more beautiful every day!” we kissed cheeks, 3 k****s as always.

Then she turned to Landon and gave him 3 k****s as well before talking to him in Italian, way too fast for me to catch even a word. Though, I do only know basic phrases anyway, and even then, I still get the pronunciation wrong all the time.

We said hello to everyone with Landon only letting go of my hand or waist when greeting people.

I was surprised to see no kids here today. Everyone seemed to be above the age of 16. There were still about 50 people or more though, with all the cousins and cousins of cousins.

WOW! No one could miss the woman in the tight red dress hanging off Leo. For me, that wasn’t a dress, it would be more of a top but she did have the body to pull it off! She was stunning with her long dark brown wavy hair, well-tanned skin and perfect make-up.

Leo was laughing and seemed to be enjoying her company when we walked up to them. I wondered if he was or had already banged her. She seemed his type.

“There’s my bella donna” Landon rolled his eyes as Leo pulled me in for a tight hug, kissing my forehead before standing back.

“Hey trouble,” I shook my head. “Hi, I’m Kate”. I extended my hand to the woman.

She looked at it then plastered a very fake smile on her face. “Ah, the Kate. Finally, we meet, I’m Aurora.”

Oh great, I didn’t miss “the Kate”, here we go, another one that wanted Landon and now is after Leo just to become a Mafia princess. Ma had told me all about them and introduced me to many on our shopping trips as they tried to still smoozy up to her. The look of surprise when they look me up and down does great with the self-confidence.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Aurora is a beautiful name.” Kill them with kindness!

She smiled and flipped her hair. Of course she loved the compliment!

“So are you a cousin?”

She giggled “No, definitely not,” patting Leo’s arm, “just a friend of the family.”

“Do you want a drink, Kate?” Leo looked around for the waiter.

“She is already sorted.” I heard from behind me as I found Gi walking over with 2 wine glasses. She handed me one before we exchanged cheek k****s.

“How was the store opening yesterday?” I asked her. There was some new designer that had an opening for a new store in Northern Italy somewhere that she was so excited about.

“Oh amazing, you would have loved it.” She glared at Landon. I am guessing she asked him if I could go and was turned down.

I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged and kissed my forehead, yep as I thought. We actually had a great day yesterday touring around. He took me to a few more of his favourite places, so I wasn’t complaining. I will have to get the full story from Gi later though.

“Well, what about next weekend? I know it’s not the opening but I would love to go and have a look.”

“Done! I will arrange everything, we will make a day of it.”

“Good. How are your studies going?”

“Oh yes!” Aurora cut in and started speaking to Gi in Italian while holding her arm. Not at all subtle!

“It’s going really well. This year is going to be hard. I’m glad Ma organised a tutor for me as I have been struggling with one of my subjects” she replied in English, making sure I was part of the conversation.

All the while, Landon rubbed circles on the back of my hand until he seemed to have had enough of it and wrapped his arms around me pulling my back to his front. I melted into his embrace as it was one of my favourite places in the world.

We continued to talk like this with Aurora continuing to talk in just Italian, which was starting to piss everyone off but me. I didn’t care.

“English A.” Leo leaned in and whispered into Aurora’s ear although I heard it.

“Sorry Kate, I keep forgetting. How are your lessons going?” she put her fake smile on again.

“Slowly, I am not good with foreign languages, but I’ll get there.”

“Please! You’re a natural” Leo was always so nice, even though I must be so frustrating to teach!

“A natural in so many ways”. Landon whispered in my ear, then bit it.

“You 2 are so cute!” Gi cooed as Landon bit my ear again.

“We would be if he stopped biting! “ I laughed as I tried to move away from the next bite I knew was coming.

“Oh, I love a man that can dish out the right amount of pleasure and pain”. Aurora fanned herself dramatically while side eyeing Leo.

Oh yeah so subtle! I think a sledge hammer wouldn’t even be enough!

“Come, they are nearly ready to sit. I want you sitting next to me”, Gi cut through the awkward silence and pulled me towards the massive ballroom set up.

Landon just nodded, grabbing my hand and walked with us.

Of course, we got side tracked as we ended up speaking to a lot of people on the way. By the end of the day you are always air kissed out! Yes, that is a thing!

It’s interesting to see how much people were warming up to me, even though they were still nice at the start. There was still a noticeable difference from even last Sunday, with more of them waving me over or coming up to me to say hello.

All the while, Landon always just held my hand and let himself be dragged along. He still didn’t say much unless he was asked a question directly. He was never rude and was still quite relaxed, but still not the Landon I know when we are alone.

We finally took our seats just after the bell chimed saying it was time. Louie appeared and took a seat opposite us with his date of the hour. No clue her name! I am not sure he even knew!

Leo sat next to him and their cousin Viv sat next to him a couple of seconds before Aurora swanned in looking for him. It was funny watching her eyes narrow before she swanned off pretending not to be pissed.

Once everyone was seated, Ma said for everyone to take hands and say grace. I just went along, holding Landon and Gi’s hand and put my head down.

Landon, Leo and Louie smirked at me as always, since they know I’m not religious and don’t come to mass with them.

The conversation flowed freely as we ate. Ma came and checked on us pretending to be sad that we didn’t make room for her to sit with us.

Aurora also came to check up on us, meaning Leo, and gave him a shoulder massage as well, since he supposedly looked so tense. I didn’t think he looked tense, but Aurora made sure we all knew his muscles were “so tight” and something about how she loves giving massages. I couldn’t hear a lot of her comments as she started to whisper more in his ear as she put on all her moves, including rubbing her breasts into the back of his head, I’m pretty sure. Well, it looked like it from this angle.

I probably should have turned away and stopped being rude by staring, but it was like watching a soap opera. Gi was definitely thinking the same thing as her glass was halfway to her mouth before it froze mid-air. I had to hide a laugh in my napkin from her facial expression. It was a mixture of disbelief and disgust at watching her brother almost felt up at the table in front of a lot of people.

I was actually quite surprised to see how uncomfortable Leo looked. I thought he would have loved the attention.

Finally, she was left when the next course came out but whispered something else in Leo’s ear that made his eyes go wide before she swanned off, making sure to sway her h**s. He tried to keep his head down and stuff the next lot of food in his mouth while commenting on it to try and move everyone’s attention away from what just happened.

Gi and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh again.

After the 4th course, yes you heard me and there was probably another 3 to go. I excused myself to go to the bathroom.

I knew my way around now, so I just wandered off.

After I finished in the toilet, I knew something was wrong. I could feel all my hair standing on end. I turned my phone on to record quickly in my dress pocket. That’s why I chose this dress. I love dresses with pockets! Best invention ever!

“Do you have golden p***y or something?” Francesco stormed into the bathroom as soon as I unlocked the door.

“What?” Yeah, what the f**k!