A Mob Boss's Honour

2. The Party

Lena was hoping Gianluca would get the message and not come in her direction. So she put her mirror inside her bag and looked around. She saw the beautiful marble fountain of the Bellagio gardens that was decorated with Roman era style statues. She decided to walk to the fountain and pretend watching the water movements and inspecting the statues. With her luck Gianluca was going to be either getting the message that she did not want to face him or maybe he was going to be called upon by one of the adults just like how Luigi was. The second scenario was more likely.

Seconds later she closed her eyes shut in annoyance and almost cursed as she heard him approach her. She knew the sound of his footsteps. Before she knew it, he was standing right behind her.

Lena heard him say "Hello Lena."

Lena sighed. There was no escape. She said to herself "Damn it. Where is Luigi when he is needed?" She slowly turned around and looked up into the eyes of Gianluca. His towering figure was intimidating but handsome at the same time. She said "Hi." She then looked around hoping for a distraction or a way to divert his attention to make a run for it.

Gianluca said "Can we talk?"

Lena looked at him with a surprised expression "Talk? Well. We are talking now..."

Gianluca shook his head "No. I meant, can we talk in private?".

Lena couldn't believe this. There was no chance she wanted to be alone with this guy. She smiled politely and said "I am sorry. I think I need to go. It's not respectful to keep the host waiting. I should go say hello." She said quickly without thinking automatically. She just said the first thing that came to her mind.

Gianluca smiled "Oh. Then in that case you should say hello to me.... I am your host. Aren't I? Let's go talk in private."

Lena wanted to face palm herself. Of course. He was the host of the kids party today. It was his house."

Lena tried again" Well... Your guests... I haven't seen them yet. I should go say hello."

Gianluca said "I think you can say hello after we talk."

Lena gave up at that point. Gianluca never took no for an answer. She could not avoid him forever at a party at his own house. She had to get it over and done with. She sighed "Fine. Where would you like to talk?"

Gianluca's eyes lit up. "Let's walk in the gardens. I would like to take you to a new section of our garden that's inspired by the hanging gardens of Babylon.

That got Lena's attention. Gianluca's mother liked architecture for some reason. For that reason the Bellagio mansion and gardens were the most beautifully designed in New York. They expanded their property too to include so many new themed separate gardens. If she was going to be stuck with this guy, she could at least see some nice architecture.

Lena said "Sure. Lead the way. Show me the direction."

Gianluca said "This way."

Lena was in awe of the scenes. The Bellagios had great taste. She did indeed see the hanging gardens and it was not only beautiful but also breathtaking. Here she was climbing the stairs to the top of a tower like structure with a balcony.

As she stood at the balcony and looked down at the gardens, she was way too busy admiring the view to even remember Gianluca standing there next to her.

His voice startled her " Now that we are here alone, let's talk."

Lena put her hand on her heart and took a deep breath and sighed. She told herself "Let's get this over with."

Lena turned to Gianluca "What do you want to talk about? Why did you bring us here to talk?"

Gianluca said " I wanted to talk with some privacy. I just don't like an audience when I am talking to my girl."