The Pilot

Chapter Twenty Four

Danielle reached up and gave Stefania one last kiss as they stepped through the door.

The two women arrived at the hotel dining room and just before they stepped through the door Stefania grabbed Danielle's hand, giving it a quick squeeze and smiling at her. The blonde returned the smile and mouthed "thank you". They made their way to the table where the other 4 were already seated. "Good morning everyone" Stefania said warmly as she arrived at the table with Danielle just behind her. "Hey, good morning Boss" Jason responded giving her a flash of his million dollar smile. There was that word again though... BOSS. Danielle tried to push the negative thoughts that were starting to crowd her brain. Stefania caught Danielle's expression change but couldn't understand why. Danielle quickly plastered a smile on her face though as she greeted everyone. "Morning guys, I'm going to grab some fruit, can I get anyone anything?" There was a chorus of no thank yous except for Kevin who said "Aye, I'll take a banana please if you don't mind?" "Of course, back in 5 minutes" she replied. "I'll come with you Ba... nielle" Stefania said, stopping herself from calling Danielle Bambina though. Danielle just smirked and started to walk away.

The two of them were now stood at the fruit counter "what do you fancy?" Stefania asked the little blonde. "You" she responded giving Stefania a sly sideways smirk. "Mmm, you do, do you?" Stefania asked seductively. "Yep" Danielle winked as she made her way to the other side of the counter filling her bowl with melon. She looked to see Stefania adding Pineapple to her plate. "Ohhh, you like Pineapple do you?" Danielle asked with cheeky grin. "Si, I do... just not on Pizza! Never on Pizza!" Stefania laughed. "Good to know but pizza is not where my mind was at beautiful. Stavo pensando a qualcos'altro che abbia un buon sapore dopo l'ananas. Danielle said in a hushed tone. "What do you mea... oohhhh, I get it now" Stefania said as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. They walked back to the table smiling. "Here you go Kevin" Danielle said handing him the banana and taking a seat next to the Italian.

"So Danielle, Cat tells me that you require my professional expertise for something?" Chandra asked. "Well, my friend Andrew is selling his bar & I'd like to buy it from him. I can pay $195,000 outright for it, I'd like to keep him on as an equal partner and I'm adding him to the title deeds of my London apartment too. So I guess we'd have 2 shared properties." "Alright that seems straightforward enough. I should be able to draft up a contract for that in around 30 minutes. When do you need it for? Chandra asked. "I said I'd meet him at the bar at about 11:30 if that's alright with you?" Danielle replied. "Yes of course, that's perfect. I've got my laptop here, I can start it now. I just need the name and address of the bar, the address of your London property and Andrew's full name." Danielle took a deep breath. She didn't think she'd have to reveal her family connections to the team this quickly. Stefania knew this would be a lot for Danielle so she subtly reached out under the table and gently squeezed the blonde's thigh without anyone else seeing. She felt Danielle relax to her touch and gave her a very small nod. "OK, so the bar is called DeLuca's and the address is 1100 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101. My London address is 42A Inverness Street, London, NW1 7HB. Andrew's full name is Andrew Peter DeLuca." "Wait... Andrew's a DeLuca?" Jason asked knowing that Stefania had just agreed business with the DeLuca empire. "Uh... yeah... he is now since my Mom and step dad adopted him. Danielle said fiddling with the fork in her fingers. She felt Stefania squeeze her thigh again, a bit tighter this time and rubbing her thumb up and down. "Hold up... what?!" Jason now said with all eyes on Danielle. She let out a deep breath and explained her family situation to them all. She told them about her dad dying, Matteo adopting her and the fact she was brought up by the successful Italian family. "So your full name is...?" Chandra asked with raised eyebrows. "Well as far as you guys are concerned my name is Danielle Savre but for the purposes of this contract, my legal name is Danielle Amanda DeLuca." "So that makes you and Andrew adopted siblings then. That makes this a family contract now and that's even more straightforward." Chandra stated. "Oh there is one last thing that I think you would all want to know." Danielle continued. "The bar is actually the one that Cooper Maddison was supposed to be buying." "NO WAY!" Caterina squealed and burst out laughing. "Yeah... the sale isn't supposed to close for another week yet so that gives Andrew time to still back out so when I put my offer forward he jumped at the chance." Danielle explained. "Oh man, I hate that guy so much and I would love to have seen his reaction to being told no" Kevin said now also laughing too.