16|Dinner Time With Mafias
"You gotta be kidding me, grandpa. Give here." I snatched the knife from his hand. "Have you never used a knife?"
"I have. But to slit throats and not these goddamned chilles." He looked at the innocent green stuff like they're monsters.
"I'm totally not freaked out. Such sweet people you are."
"What's happening here?" Rafael and Liam entered the kitchen with a tense look on their face.
"Vittoria is cooking dinner for us. How sweet." Toby replied. "Oh and she's also teaching our grandpa how to slit chillies and he's terribly failing at it."
"Did you just call me grandpa?" He passed him a hard look and I slid the knife far away from Oliver. Just in case.
"I'd prefer starving to death. Thanks." The atrocious mafia boss commented and I flipped him the middle finger.
"What are you making by the way?" Liam asked, walking over to us while Rafael sat on one of the stools, burying his head in his phone.
"Lasagna, salmon steak, Greek salad, garlic bread and some pink pasta." I announced happily. Food makes me happy.
Rafael looked up from his phone, wide eyed. "Who the hell is going to eat so much?"
Toby and Liam raised their hand and then Oliver grandpa followed with hesitation.
"You said you don't like pink." Rafael asked.
"I said I don't like the color pink. I never said I don't like pink pasta." It's only then I noticed the color of his t shirt. I turned my eyes away before my stupid face turns a shade darker.
"But pink pasta is pink in color. The reason why it's called pink pasta." He argued.
"No. It's called that because it's a fusion of white and red pasta."
"Stop it you two." Oliver yelled. "Does your bickering ever stop? I'm trying to focus on the chillies here. I need silence."
We were dead silent for a minute and then the room burst into a fit of laughter. Everyone was laughing except for two people. Grandpa himself and quite surprisingly... Liam?
"What's wrong Liam? You look a little upset." I touched his arm but he backed away quickly, not looking at me in the eye.
"I'm just a little bit sleepy that's it." He rubbed his eyes, taking off his glasses.
He's pathetic at acting. I noticed his mood went downhill ever since he returned from wherever he was with Rafael a few minutes ago. It's none of my business but I was worried for him. I hated the fact that I was starting to feel comfortable with them.
I just didn't like seeing him like that. Toby and Liam always made me laugh whenever I was upset. "Is there a problem Liam?" I asked softly.
"Yes there is." He screamed all of a sudden, taking a step away from me. "I like you. A lot. And I shouldn't. That's the problem. Are you happy now?"
Everything stopped. The world stopped. The strong blow of his words physically sent me staggering back. I could do nothing more than just stare at him in utter disbelief. The others were equally shocked.
But then something happened.
His lips slightly quivered, distorting the straight look on his face and a series of uncontrollable laughter emanated from him.
Oh okay. It's alright. Calm down. It was a prank.
I held a hand over my chest, exhaling a held in breath. I felt I could finally breathe. "You got me there, you idiot." I slapped his chest.
He still hadn't recovered from the joke. "The look on your face was pure gold." He managed between the laughter.
"That was such a bad joke." Toby scowled, passing him a displeased stare. "Anyway, how long until dinner is ready? I'm hungry." He pouted.
"Hi hungry, I'm Vittoria." I stretched out my hand for a handshake.
They all collectively groaned. Toby was the only one to laugh his ass off on my highly intellectual joke.
"My ears are bleeding after hearing that." Rafael held his hands over his ears.
"Can I stab myself with this knife?" Oliver pretended actually doing it.
"I feel like a disappointed mom." Liam shook his head.
"These dumbheads will never understand this level of humor." Toby passed me the olive oil. "You know what, I'll call you Vitty now onwards. Because you are witty."
"Just when I thought it couldn't get worse." Rafael muttered under his breath.
"A girl who matches my sense of humor!" Toby exclaimed, pretending to get emotional. "I'm afraid I might get attached to you."
I scoffed internally. "Don't worry sweety. People don't usually get attached to me. Won't be a problem for you. Liam pass me the bell peppers will you."
The next few minutes passed in the similar manner, that is, preparing dinner while small talking with the mafias. I got to know a few fun facts.
Usually Rafael and Toby were the ones who make dinner, Liam had around sixteen girlfriends or at least that's how much he could recollect and Oliver once got hit in his head by an angry grandma because he stumbled across her plants, destroying them in the process.
When I asked them about their romantic history, something very weird happened. Toby accidentally slipped something about some girl who never came back which I probably think he meant to say was got killed. However, he never got to complete his statement as Rafael's sharp eyes snapped to him, giving a clear sign to not talk about it. But what's more odd was that all eyes then flied to Oliver and he looked away to hide the pain in his eyes.
Did he lose the girl he loved? Is that way he's so afraid to get Ariel into this dangerous life? My heart broke for him. First this girl and now even Ava. I know how it felt to lose people. It was bad. Very bad.
Everything was almost done, only the pasta was remaining. I stretched my hand up to the top cabinet to retrieve the box of pasta when Toby suddenly grabbed my arm.
"What the hell is this Vittoria?" He stared at the scars on the inside of my arm, terrified.
"Nothing. Just a birthmark." I shrugged his hands off quickly.
"You seriously want me to believe that? These are scars left by burn marks." He looked away as if the sight was very disturbing.
"Who did that?" Rafael demanded. His tone was calm but his demeanor said otherwise. I didn't answer. I couldn't talk about it to anyone. It was too traumatic.
He stood up, the stool screeching at his abrupt movement and began stalking towards me angrily. "I asked you something."
I flinched, backpedaling only to hit the fridge.
"You're scaring her Rafael." Oliver stopped him. "She doesn't want to talk about it. Respect that."
He was about to speak but someone's heavy and frantic footsteps interrupted him. I silently thanked my surprisingly good luck.
"We just found something important, boss." The man which I assume was one of his henchmen said urgently.
"I'm listening."
"Uh.. Here?" He asked, a little taken aback.
"Yes, here." He seethed.
"This is Haden Evans." He displayed a picture on his tablet. "We have reasons to suspect he's a part of the Invisible Army. Another thing worth noting, he's in close connection with Alvaro. In fact they're meeting in club Inferno tomorrow evening." He informed.
"That moron Alvaro." Liam spat with hatred.
"Alright, you're dismissed." Rafael said and the man went away while I stood there like I did in my math class in high school—clueless.
"We need to catch hold of Haden Evans. If he's really a part of the Invisible Army then we need him at any cost." Oliver stated.
"But how? If that's true then it means that he's well trained. Those people are super smart. We can't just go and get them. If anything, he'll escape if he knew we're after him leaving us with nothing." Toby said.
Thanks Toby! I know Mason is super smart.
"He's meeting with that son of a bitch Alvaro. Told you he isn't dumb like he pretends to be. " Liam fiercely slammed his palm on the kitchen counter.
This was the first time I'm seeing him like that. I was beyond startled. He noticed the look on my face.
"Alvaro Zanetti. Luca's younger brother. He stole my girl once. I hate him." His face twisted in disfavor.
"Really? Which one of the sixteen?" I asked.
"It was Ashley." He made a mournful face.
"No idiot, it was Brenda." Toby corrected.
"How do you know that?" Liam looked at him with narrow eyes.
"Because she accidentally slept with me. Damn she was good." Toby smirked.
"That doesn't make sense." Liam countered.
My eyes kept switching between them until I registered a dangerous thing. Oliver grabbed a ceramic bowl and hurled it straight at them, missing them just by an inch.
"Can we focus on the current issue please?" He scolded them.
"We're going to club Inferno tomorrow." Rafael declared. "We'll figure out something over there."
"No we can't make a wrong move in desperation Rafael." Oliver suggested.
"Damn yes I'm desperate now. Do we even have another option?" He argued back.
"Yes." I cut in shortly. All eyes switched to me. "I can help."
"How?" He asked but not before awarding me a huge eye roll.
"Ever heard of seduce and destroy?"
"Okay? So you know someone sexy enough to seduce him and lure him to us so that we trap him and get him to confess everything?" He asked.
"Yes."
"Who?"
I twirled around, doing a hairflip. All four of them collectively grimaced at my proposition.
"I'm sorry but kids can't seduce." Rafael smirked.
"Is that why you were so worried about the length of my skirt?" Now it was my turn to smirk.
"No means no Vittoria." Oliver said sternly. "It's your problem that you don't understand how dangerous these things are. I wouldn't let my sister do that and so I won't allow it for you too. That's final."
My heart soared hearing him say that. He really was a nice person. His words alone made me feel safe. This shows how much he misses his sister.
"You'll find her Oliver. And she'll be so proud of you." I assured him.
"The point is, you won't be going there little miss." He said.
"No. I will." I stomped my foot. "You guys, if this information is true then it means this Haden guy knows about Mason. What are the odds? They are both in the same gang. I'm not willing to let this opportunity slip away. I'm ready to face any damn thing if I get to find my brother."
Their faces tell me they're still skeptical about my idea. "Oliver at least you understand me. Please, I need my brother back." I pleaded.
"This isn't an action movie Miss Andress, where you go lure the villain and and kill him." Rafael scowled.
Is it? Because until now that's what I feel about everything recently happening with me.
"He's right Vittoria. If Haden knows Mason then he might even know you." Toby argued.
"Or maybe not. It's a risk I'm willing to take. Rafael isn't the only desperate one over here." If necessary I'll fight all of them into this. I just won't let a chance to find Mason slip away. "Look guys this is a win win game. You find a probable important link to your secret enemy and I find my brother. I swear I'll request him to help you. No one needs to get hurt. Think about it Rafael please."
I look at him, pleading. It didn't affect him one bit. I threw up my hands in defeat. "Is he human? Even puppy eyes doesn't melt him down." But somehow I managed to convince them after ten minutes of rigorous efforts.
While I was happy this was progressing somewhere at least, Rafael over here was sitting with an all to familiar annoyed expression.
"Come on Rafael! Now I'm starting to feel a little offended. Don't you trust me? I won't fail you."
"The major part of the plan depends on you. And no, I don't trust you. Your defense mechanism is a flying pussy and coping mechanism is going on a cleaning spree for god sake!"
"A flying cat!" I corrected. "I admit that was stupid but I didn't know what to do at that time alright?"
"I am not responsible if she gets herself killed." He points a finger at me.
"That won't happen." Liam assured.
"Yeah we aren't that lucky." Rafael made a snarky comment.
"Can you like, you know, accidentally shoot yourself or something?"
"No. But I can do that to you. Not so accidentally. Wouldn't even need much effort."
"It's funny how you underestimate a girl. You know what happens when you do that? Why don't you ask Daniel about it? He might be able to give you a perfect description." I stated proudly.
"Why don't we focus back on the pasta?" Toby interfered. We ignored him.
"That's because he didn't attack back. We saw what happened at your house when Luca's henchman was attacking you." He shouldered his way from across me, sending me staggering back.
How dare he! He opened the fridge door to get a bottle of water. I slammed it shut before he could get the bottle. "I was handling him pretty well alright."
"Um.. The pasta." Toby tried again.
He pushed me aside effortlessly. "Yeah by throwing penguin statuettes at the attacker. Quite a trick that is."
"Talk about him with respect. His name is Elvis." Liam interjected.
"See? The reason why he had sixteen girlfriends and you had none." I jabbed a finger in his chest.
He swat my hand away. "You are so much better when you're a choco chip muffin."
"A what?" Oliver exclaimed.
Rafael lips curled upwards in a wicked smirk and he inched his hand over to his phone. Oh my god! I know what he's doing. I ran behind him but it was too late. His phone screen already flashed my photo in that fancy dress costume and everyone laughed at me. Even Oliver.
"I love muffins." Oliver legit fell over the kitchen stool. He was laughing for ten minutes straight until his phone rang and he went outside, Toby and Liam following suit.
Now we were alone there so I instead focused my attention on the better stuff. Pasta!
"You know I actually made all this to thank you. And you keep fighting with me." I mumbled grumpily, garnishing the pasta with some oregano.
"For what?" He stood right behind me. The air around me carried his spicy cologne telling me how close he was.
Note to self: never be alone with this man. It's a question of my sanity.
"For helping me with the Luca situation and not firing me again. I know what I did was very embarrassing." I held my head down in shame.
"So you're telling me all this effort is for me?"
"For all of you. For tolerating me. I know I can get difficult at time." I said meekly.
"That's not true. You are always difficult to deal with." He smiled. I returned a small smile.
"You didn't make anything on the sweet side?"
"I can make later. What do you want to eat?"
"Hmm," He rubbed his chin as if deep in thought. "I want to eat..." He trailed his finger along my arm sending goosebumps down my body. He bent down to me ears and whispered huskily.
"I want to eat a choco chip muffin."
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