Luca went into his study and loosened his tie and removed his jacket before sitting behind his desk. He unbuttoned his cuffs and folded them twice.
Marco is still in a daze.
'Is something wrong with the boss? Why is he acting differently with Emma Costello? Is it because that she is Gio DeLuca's sister? But he was there when he met her the first time.
There is nothing but coldness in his eyes and voice. But today, he has shown just a fraction of gentleness, when talking to her. What is happening here?' Marco thought with confusion.
Luca wanted to throw away his mud-stained suit jacket. It's expensive, but it's stained.
But when he saw her perfect handprints on it, for some odd reason, he wanted to keep it with him. So he draped it behind his chair, to let the mud dry out completely. So that the shape of her handprint will stay the same.
Marco noticed that simple moment and misunderstood his boss's intentions.
"I will send it to the dry cleaners" Marco reached to pull the jacket away, only to be stopped by his boss's cold tone.
"Don't touch it" Luca said in a cold tone, which made Marco jump in fear.
'What did I do now? I just wanted to help' he thought with confusion.
But he slowly observed the way his boss arranged the jacket so that it won't smear the handprints.
'Dumb ass, Boss actually wanted to keep it. Of course, he would be angry if you wanted to give it to the dry cleaners' Marco understood belatedly.
In the living area, Lizzie, Emanuel, and Smith are still looking at the closed doors of their boss's study.
They still couldn't believe that he let them go just because Emma asked him to. This should be a very pivotal moment in their lives.
They never thought they will see a day when their boss would relent to someone's plea.
On the other hand, Emma is not exactly aware of what just happened here. She is thinking that Mr. Vitiello understood her and let her friends go. But she never would have guessed, that's it's a first for him as well as to the people around him.
Emanuel and Smith understood that Emma is more important to their boss than they previously thought. And they really like their boss's innocent kitten very much. She stood up for them, which no one would do.
Lizzie is confused about what just happened now.
'Boss cares about Emma. Even if he is not aware of it himself. It's not wise to meddle in between them. Let's just play it out naturally' she decided.
In the end, none of them said anything to Emma. But they understood, she is loyal, innocent, and extremely important to their boss.
"Mr. Vitiello is not as bad as my father. He is reasonable" Emma said out loud.
Smith snorted with ridicule.
'Their boss? reasonable?' he thought fearfully.'He scares the living hell out of everyone he meets. The only time he is being reasonable is just now. That too only with Emma' he thought with confusion.
Emma looked at the three people around her, who are having funny expressions on their faces.
'They must have been still scared of what just happened' she thought.
"I will go and inform uncle Peter that Mr. Vitiello will be having lunch with us," Emma said happily and went to the kitchen to inform Peter, leaving the three who are still drowning with disbelief.
After Emma left, the three of them exchanged silent glances and nodded their heads, as if to say that it really happened.
After Emma informed Peter that Luca will be eating lunch today, Peter started to sweat profusely. He took extra care in preparing the meal.
After he is finished, he arranged everything on the table. Then they waited for Mr. Vitiello to come for Lunch.
Lizzie was scared and requested Emma to let her go home and she promised to come back in the evening.
Emanuel and Smith changed their clothes as fast they could in a spare room behind the kitchen, which is usually used by guards.
Emma is waiting for him to come and join her. She was standing anxiously writhing her palms.Luca Vitiello walked into the dining area and sat at the head of the table.
The table is long with about 20 chairs capability. He sat at the head of the table and looked at Emma."Sit," he said pointing nodding his head towards the chair to his right.
Emma sat in the indicated chair, like the scared little kitten, he prefers to call her.
He found her clumsy moments cute. She found her dress in casual jeans and a t-shirt refreshing. Much better than the barely-there dresses, the woman flaunts around him to attract his attention.
Marco is standing behind Luca, holding a packet in his arms.
Peter immediately started serving them.
Luca prefers his food spicy. But Emma couldn't handle much spice in her food. Miss Gabbi didn't have the authority to cook whatever Emma likes. She will usually save anything which is not that spicy and Emma could handle. But here, Peter who always prepares spicy food as per his boss's taste, noticed that Emma couldn't handle much spice, so he started to prepare his food a little bland. But today, as Mr.Vitiello will be joining them for lunch, he prepared lunch spicy as per his taste.Peter prepared a Chickpea spinach salad and double grilled chicken sandwiches.
Even the salad is too spicy as Peter added a little too much black pepper powder.
He is worried about poor Emma. He saw her condition when she ate the spicy food. Her eyes teared up and her face became red.
She drank a full bottle of water upon eating just a bite of spicy food.
As soon the food was served, Emma started eating, but her widened at the spiciness of the food. She did not dare to make a sound or reach for the water glass.
Marco is currently holding Luca's mobile phone with him. As soon as the food was served his mobile rang with an incoming call. Marco looked at the caller id and noticed it as an important call. So he promptly handed the phone to Luca.Emma's face became red, and tears are pooling in her eyes. She didn't dare to raise her head or make a sound to disturb Luca, who is on the phone, talking to someone.Peter is looking at Emma with worry.'This poor child. She cannot handle spicy foods' he thought sadly.Emma is struggling to finish the sandwich. She doesn't want to anger Mr.Vitiello. She is grateful for what he is doing for her. So doesn't want him to think about her as ungrateful. So she just kept eating, even though her stomach started to ache and burn with the spicy food she is eating.Luca finished his call and handed it over to Marco, who is still standing behind him without looking back.Luca looked at Emma, who is lookin
I don't remember a time when I wasn't being groomed to step into my father's shoes and run the underworld in which I was brought up. There wasn't a hiccup when I took over, tightening up the operation and bringing the family into the twenty-first century.I'm not a good man by any means.I've killed. I've intimidated. My business practices are illegal, immoral—and they make me a lot of money. I've got no intention of going legit any time soon, or never.I was always trained to be cold and detached from my surroundings and mostly from people's emotions. I was not even allowed to cry when my mother died.'Men will never cry' my father said sternly when he saw my tears.I immediately wiped my tears and stood near her cassette, as if the woman lying inside there is not my mother.Since then, I have never felt any kinds of emotional attachments or detachments to people or their pains.But ever since Emma, I am fi
After Luca left the mansion in anger, Emma felt bad. She doesn't want to trouble him at all. Even though he is scary, he is considerate. Emma can never repay his kindness. So she tried to be compliant and not at all troublesome.But all she did was to make him angry.'I couldn't have told him that the food he is providing me is not to my taste. I am doing nothing but sit and have fun with Lizzie' she thought.Emma felt bad about how she made him mad.'He came after 1 month and you drove him away within hours' Emma scolded herself.'I would have asked Lizzie for some help on how to apologize to Mr.Vitiello' Emma thought sadly.After thinking for a couple of minutes, Emma finally came up with an idea.'I ruined his Lunch. He didn't even eat half his sandwich before I ruined everything. So I will cook him dinner' she thought happily.She rushed downstairs and ran into the kitchen."Unc
Luca led a very scared Emma towards his office.She is scared of her surroundings. She knows about night clubs, but she never thought they will be like this.She is still shaking with fear. The suggestive looks which were thrown towards her are scary.'Attention from men is scary' she concluded in her innocent mind.Tasha is still standing in his office after Luca and Marco left."Who is coming? Is that someone more important than me? I need to bring Luca under my control. He is slipping" she thought out loud.She looked up and towards the door when it opened and in came Luca with a girl, who is looking down.Luca looked at Tasha, who is glaring at Emma. His protective instincts took over."Get out" Luca snapped at Tasha.Emma jumped with fright at his tone.Luca pulled Emma closer to him and looked coldly at Tasha.The tone he used is final. Tasha is scared out of her mind. She immediately ru
Emma looked at the Hamburger with happiness shining in her eyes.Luca looked at her fondly, who looks excited looking at her Hamburger.'I never saw a woman becoming this happy for just a hamburger' he thought."Thank you, Mr. Vi...I mean, Luca," she said with a huge smile on her face.He liked his name on her lips. Soft and alluring."Eat," he said indicating her burger.She nodded her head and started to take huge bites from her burger.She is sitting on his couch crossed-legged, holding her burger with both hands.After taking a couple of bites, she looked at him with her cheeks puffed up and with sauce stains across her right cheek and her fingers.He stood up and approached her slowly, not to scare her. He wiped the sauce from her cheek with a tissue, before going back to sit on his chair.Emma beamed at him, with her dimples on full display."You are not eating? Oh, your food became cold. Should
Luca went out with some work after breakfast.Emma joined Lizzie in the backyard. They were discussing their college and their schedule.Their college would be starting from the next day. Emma is excited and terrified at the same time."They have an introduction ceremony for the freshman tomorrow. The Principle will introduce about the college and then we have to go and get our schedules from the admin department" Lizzie told Emma.Emma never got a chance to experience student life in her 19 years of life. She is excited about the new experience.But when she remembers her stepsister's friends, who are awful to her, she started feeling anxious.If she has to endure that kind of behavior daily, then she'd rather stay home and homeschooled again."Hey, where did you go?" Lizzie asked Emma, who is zoned out.Emma shook her head to gather herself."Nothing, I just have mixed feelings about tomorrow
Luca finished dressing himself, as he was disturbed earlier by the barking of that dog. When he was done, he pocketed his wallet and secured a gun behind him in his holster, and two small throw knives in his socks.Lizzie and her brother Marco were discussing something."I thought you are the one behind the dog," Marco said with a shudder."Nope, it's all Emma" Lizzie replied and assured his brother."Boss hates pets. No wonder he asked to throw it out" Marco said.Lizzie snorted at his assessment."You just wait and see. That dog will come back in just another couple of hours" Lizzie said with confidence.Marco looked at his sister firmly. He knows his boss better than she does. His boss hates pets. So that dog will not come back, he thought with confidence."It will not. I know our boss better than you do. He will not allow it" Marco said firmly.Lizzie laughed at her brother's ignorance.Marco looked at h
Emma stiffened when Luca hugged her. No one bothered to console her when she was sad. This is the first time someone is trying to console her.This is the first time she was being hugged by someone either. She tentatively wrapped her arms around him as her tears slipped down her eyes.Luca didn't understand what possessed him to hug his Kitten. But the sight of her crying is something he prefers never to see again.Her dimpled smile is his favorite. He prefers her always smiling and laughing. Not like this, sad and crying.But this felt nice, hugging this little kitten. When she tentatively wrapped her arms around him, he felt a strange tug in his heart.'What have you done Gio? You gave up your life for me and then sent me to go find your sister, who is killing me with her innocence and kindness. Will, I will ever be able to let her go?' he thought.When he felt wetness through his shirt, he pulled back a little and looked at her watery eyes.