Chapter 5 - Avoiding a Lion's War.

The next day, Georgia was finishing getting dressed in her usual uniform when a call made her phone vibrate on the couch. With shoes in hand, she ran towards the small living room of her apartment.

"Miss Alcott, we are calling to remind you that your grandmother's medication bill is due today, you must pay the next bill so we can send a messenger to bring the pills."

Georgia closed her eyes and took a couple of fingers to the bridge of her nose "Can't you give me a little more time? I can pay in a couple of days, but grandma can't wait."

"We are aware of the gravity of your grandmother's condition, but there is nothing we can do to help."

Georgia didn't know what to say.

"Having notified the above, we will leave you with a satisfaction survey so you can rate the attention we give you" said the woman mechanically.

Immediately the phone rang with a "beep"

"Damn healthcare system!" she shouted at the phone before hanging up the call.

Frustrated, Georgia finished getting ready and then left the house, fortunately that day the bus passed by early, being there, the woman thought about how she would get the money for her grandmother's medicine, but she also thought about the ironies of life, that the night before she was going home in a luxurious sports car and that morning she had returned to her usual means of transportation.

While getting on the bus and taking one of the few free seats, Georgia bit her lips as she remembered the wonderful way Doménico treated her the night before, the man was a prince, he took her to the door of the house and as if that weren't enough, he offered to bring her every night so she wouldn't have to take the bus so late, of course, due to shame, Georgia declined the offer, still, she liked those attentions from the man.

Suddenly, a thought clouded the woman's mind, as if it were a bad memory, her mind was flooded with Alessandro's face and words, as if it were a macabre game she began to compare them, almost making a list of pros and cons, definitely the kindness of Doménico couldn't compare to Alessandro's arrogance, they were two opposite poles, like heaven and hell and that upset her, because for some reason, the woman couldn't stop thinking about both of them.

Although to tell the truth that was absurd, after all, neither of them were romantically interested in her, or at least that's what Georgia thought until that moment.

When she arrived at the restaurant, the woman went to the bathroom to finish getting ready and start her daily chores, a short time later Valery also entered, not as a coincidence, but rather as a result of Valery's pursuit of her friend to finally forgive her.

"I see you're still not willing to forgive me" she puffed while Georgia continued to ignore her.

Ready to start the work day, despite all her financial problems, Georgia left the bathroom and began to serve the few tables that were occupied during breakfast, as usual, the place began to fill up for lunchtime.

Among the people who entered, she recognized Alessandro and little Thomas, as soon as she saw them, the woman's heart turned over, Alessandro didn't look very happy and she wasn't in the mood to endure his rudeness.

Since she didn't want to serve them, Georgia asked another of the waitresses to take care of them, the woman, who was very friendly, accepted, despite this, Georgia couldn't take her eyes off Alessandro and his son.

"What are you doing there hiding?" asked Doménico, approaching Georgia and seeing her practically hidden behind a counter.

Despite being the boss, the man found the situation amusing.

"I'm sorry, I was just looking for a dessert" she put her hand in the counter as if she were really looking for something.

Before Doménico could tell her that she was a very bad liar, the waitress approached Georgia again.

"I'm sorry darling, I tried to cover for you, but Mr. Mascherano has explicitly requested that you be his waitress, he said he won't be served by anyone else."

Georgia snorted "thank you" she said to her colleague.

"Is everything alright?" Doménico didn't like the expression on Georgia's face "Do you need help with something?"

"No, everything is fine" she laughed, but it was so fake that it didn't convince the boss.

Without thinking twice, Georgia went to Alessandro's table, meanwhile, Doménico kept his eyes on her.

"Georgia!" exclaimed Thomas, standing up and hugging her "Georgia! Why haven't you come home? You promised you would come so I could show you my toy collection, you promised you would come back."

"I'd like to know the same thing as the child" Alessandro's green eyes were dark, the man was smoking out of his ears, he was furious and something told Georgia that it was her fault.

"I'm sorry, darling, I've had too much work" she explained to the child "my free time is very little" she made a sad face.

"If your work is so enslaving you could quit it, you don't have to be here" Alessandro's words weren't advice, but rather a threat "you shouldn't have to tolerate any boss's inhumane treatment."

Georgia made a face.

"You could work as my son's nanny, you would earn more than you do here and your job would be easier."

"You don't say!" she snapped sarcastically "And what would the conditions be?"

"That we can discuss later" for the first time since she approached the table, he looked at her fixedly.

From the other side of the restaurant, Doménico decided to see what was going on, it was clear that Georgia wasn't very comfortable with whatever was happening.

"Is everything okay here?" he asked, putting his hand on Georgia's waist, who looked at him confused.

Alessandro saw Doménico's hand on the woman's body and then a frenzied rage crossed his whole body.

"According to labor law, that could be considered harassment, did you know that?" he growled.

Doménico raised an eyebrow.

Georgia looked at one and then the other, just to realize that they looked as if they were about to kill each other.

"Everything is fine, you don't have to worry about anything, boss" Georgia looked pleadingly at Doménico, just for him to leave.

She more than anyone knew that Alessandro wasn't someone with patience. He was grumpy and violent. There was no worse combination than that.

Domenico didn't have a good impression of Alessandro, in fact, for a second he was about to throw him out of the restaurant, however, he controlled himself for the child, who looked confused.

"Everything is fine" Georgia insisted.

"If you need anything, just call me" Doménico moved away from the table, still suspicious.

"And who does he think he is? Your guardian angel?" Alessandro was being fucking sarcastic.

"My name is Georgia and I will be attending you this afternoon, do you know what you want to order?" she asked as if nothing had happened.

Alessandro wrinkled his mouth "I want the beef carpaccio with a glass of the best red wine."

"I want macaroni!" Thomas excitedly ordered.

"Bring the food and sit with us so you can feed Thomas" Alessandro ordered.

"Excuse me?" that man was willing to test each of Georgia's limits.

"I don't know if you realized, Georgia, but the reason your old boss asked you to obey is because I offered him a juicy sum of money, this time I'm not going to offer it to that imbecile who just came, so all the money could be yours, the only thing you would have to do is sit at the fucking table and have lunch with us."

"Not in your dreams am I going to obey one of your orders again"

"Georgia left and went straight to the kitchen, where she received a text message on her cell phone reminding her that she had to pay her grandmother's medical bills, which put her in a difficult position. Although she didn't want to do it, she was going to have to accept Alessandro's proposal.

"I'm damned!" she exclaimed, frustrated.

As soon as the dishes were ready, she brought them to the table.

"I've changed my mind, I'll accept the money," she said grudgingly, sitting next to Thomas and looking with annoyance at Alessandro's satisfied face.