Confusion

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.