Uncle Timo sighs, visibly relaxing, and Tobias sits down as well. "Always the romantic, cara." He smiles at me.
"Um, I wanted to let you know I'm going to stay with Annalisa until I leave for Paris tomorrow. If that's okay with you?"
"You're leaving now?" He questions, with worry on his face again.
"Yeah, I just want to spend time with her, just her and I, you know?"
Uncle Timo looks away and then looks over at me. "I'd rather you stay here with us; I wanted to have dinner tonight and then see you off, but I know your friendship with Annalisa means a lot to you; please check in until you leave."
"If you're okay with it--Annalisa said Joey could stay with us until I leave; that way, someone is always with us."
Uncle Timo lifts his eyebrow, his expression questioning. "Joey? Not JP?"
"JP asked Joey to since he had meetings downtown or something." I lie, smiling, as I shrug. My Uncle's eyes crease as he looks over at Tony, who's enthralled on his phone.
Uncle Timo peels his eyes away from his underboss and looks back at me. "Okay... that's fine. Tell him I want him to check in regularly. He knows the drill, on how often."
"I will," I move around his desk and hug him, kissing his cheek.
"Goodbye, Uncle. Ti Voglio bene (I love you), thank you for everything." I tear up as I hug him tightly.
"I love you, cara mia. Please be careful and call me when you arrive in Paris, no matter the time." I nod at him.
I walk over to Tobias and hug him, too. "Mi mancherai, Tobias. Please say goodbye to Melanie and the kids for me." I sniffle. (I'll miss you)
"I will, kiddo. Take care of yourself, don't be a stranger, boun viaggo." (Have a safe journey)
I make my way over to Tony and see he's surprised when I bend over to hug him, too. "Addio, Tony." He hugs me and kisses the side of my head. "Ciao, piccola."
"Please say goodbye to Santino and Carmela when you see them." They all nod, and I walk out the door.
<><><><>
I struggle between laughing and crying when Joey pulls into the diner we used to eat at in high school, the same one JP and I have been frequenting recently.
I force myself not to break down when we walk in and wait a few minutes to be seated as the restaurant is crowded with it being the weekend.
Once we are seated, I look at the menu, but I can feel the eyes of my friends observing me. "What are you guys going to get?" I ask, glancing at them.
They look at each other before they tell me what they plan on getting. Then, once the waitress leaves after taking our order, I look at Joey and Annalisa.
"Listen, guys, please don't say anything about the baby or about JP to Enzo." They narrow their eyes at me. "I was scared out of my mind when I found out I was going to be doing this with JP, and now, after what happened, I...I don't know if..."
"You're not going to keep it?" Joey asks me quietly.
I look back at him. "I'm not saying that. I just need time to think, but if I decide not to go through with the pregnancy, I don't want Enzo to beat the shit out of JP or kill him for nothing."
"I'll fucking do it myself, regardless," Joey tells me angrily.
"Do what?" We look up and see Enzo walking up to us and sits next to me.
YOU ARE READING
For the Empire - Inganno
General Fiction[Book 1] Stella and her father had no choice but to move in with her Uncle Timo, in New York, in refuge, after witnessing her mom's murder, as a child. She feels a connection to her Uncle, but his responsibilities as the leader for one of the large...
Chapter 70
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