Picture Of Laura
One Week Later
"So the wifey wants to start working?" Dante chuckled from the chair that was in front of Gio's office desk at The Granada Hotel.
The Granada Hotel was the official headquarters of Graziano Enterprises, it was located on 5th Avenue with a spectacular view of Central Park. It was important to have legitimate businesses to cover the illegal activities that the mafia families were involved in. The Grazianos had chosen hotels as their main venture, and they were incredibly successful at it. They owned and operated hotels all over the country, and were making plans to expand globally, preferably into Europe.
"Yeah she says that she had become bored of staying at home all day," Gio ran hand through his hair. Giulia had not stopped talking about getting a job for an entire week, when she wanted to something she knew how to get it. The fact that her family lived two and a half hours away in Long Island didn't help the situation.
"Are you going to give in?" Vincent asked pouring himself a drink from the bar cart.
"No, she's going to have to get over it," Gio said adamantly.
"You can't keep her locked up and hidden away from everyone forever," Vincent reminded him.
"I'll find something that will keep her occupied," Gio turned back to the papers that were spread over his desk. He was going over the profits from the family's various small businesses that were spared throughout New York and New Jersey.
"Doesn't she have that cousin that lives in Queens? We went to her wedding a few years ago," Dante said. "What's her name Lauren? Or Lori?"
"Laura," Vincent answered lighting a cigarette.
"Yeah that's it," Dante nodded. "Why don't you invite her over? Giulia would probably get off your case if she had a friend around."
Gio thought about it. Laura Bianchi, now Laura Ricci, had married Matteo Ricci five years ago. Matteo was a soldier and a made man in the Bellucci Family, he had risen through the ranks starting from when her was a teenager and had eventually gotten close enough to Don Bellucci to ask if he could date Laura. Laura's mother was Donatella's older sister, and once Laura's father died when she was a toddler Salvatore and Donatella had insisted that the young widow and her child move into their guest house. Salvatore loved Laura like a daughter and raised her right alongside his own children. However, ever sent Laura had gotten married she had distanced herself from her family. She barely ever saw them anymore, except on holidays.
"I have some business in Queens later on this afternoon, maybe I'll drop by and ask her to come by the house sometime," Gio picked up the office phone and told his secretary to get him Matteo and Laura Ricci's home address. Gio was notorious for showing up somewhere unannounced, it was originally a tactic to catch people off their guard and unaware, but over the years it had developed into a habit.
"I've got to head out to New Jersey and then to check in on business at the warehouse, so I won't be going" Dante announced. Dante had been officially assigned to keep watch on Tiffany, he had a few from his own crew watching her around the clock. Tiffany was never not being watched.
"Fine," Gio said. "Vinny and I will go, we've got to keep tabs on the bookmakers out there anyway."
"Yeah those punks are sneaky little bastards," Dante replied.
Vincent was puffing away on a new cigarette and staring out of the floor to ceiling window that overlooked the busy streets of Manhattan. He didn't seem to be listening to his brothers talk and continued to gaze down at the hustle and bustle of everyday life in the city. Vincent was typically a reserved individual, he always kept his personal life a secret. He almost never bragged about his sex life to his brothers or friends, whereas Dante was more than happy to gloat about all of the girls he had at his disposal. Vincent kept every aspect about himself close to the vest.
"Right, Vinny?" Dante turned to look at his older brother.
"Yeah, right. We need to keep them in check," Vinny responded.
"What's up with you?" Gio asked, taking note of his brother's distracted state.
"Nothing, I'm tired," Vinny said.
"Are you sure?" Dante questioned skeptically. "You're on your fifth smoke in an hour, that's a record even for you."
"I'm good," Vincent narrowed his eyes. He hated being badgered, he already got it from his mother he didn't need it from his little brothers.
"Then why are you-" Dante was interrupted from knocking from the office door. A middle aged woman with a light brown bob popped her head in.
"I've got the address that you asked for Mr. Graziano," the woman handed him a post-it note scribbled with an address. "It's a white house with a white picket fence."
"Thank you Felicia," Gio glanced down at the piece of paper as his secretary exited his office.
"Well I have to go," Dante said heading to the door seemingly forgetting his earlier conversation with Vincent.
"I have to some stuff here and then we can head over to Queens," Gio said.
An hour later Gio and Vincent were in Vincent's black Cadillac Escalade headed towards Queens. As Vincent drove slowly through residential streets Gio examined the houses they passed, searching for the house that Laura and her husband Matteo Ricci lived in. They had driven in almost complete silence until they spotted the modest white house with the matching white picket fence. There was a dark colored sedan parked in front of the house.
Vincent parked the SUV and Gio opened the door. "Who do you think that is?" Vincent gestured to the car they were parked behind.
"Probably security for Laura, Matteo is pretty high ranking in the Bellucci Family. Are you getting out?"
"No I'll stay here, I've got some calls to make," the oldest Graziano brother said.
Gio shut the passenger door and headed up towards the house, nodding in acknowledgment to the man in the sedan. He opened the gate and walked up the paved walkway. The house and yard were well maintained, the flower beds around the fence were full of the last remnants of flowers before the fall season arrived. He rang the doorbell and stepped back, so he didn't frighten the young woman. From what Gio had heard from his wife, Laura was always the leader of their little group and she was considered to be Salvatore's favorite of all of the girls, even though she was not one of his daughters he loved her like she was. When Laura had married Matteo, she had pulled away significantly from her family.
Gio saw a curtain move and then heard the sound of a lock turning. When the door opened quizzical dark brown eyes stared back at him, framed by perfectly arched dark brown eyebrows.
"Can I help you?" the woman asked. She had dark brown hair cut just below her shoulders and was dressed in a green button up top and a pair of jeans with black flats.
"I don't know if you recognize me but I married your cousin Giuliana a couple of months ago, I'm Giovanni Graziano," he extended his hand.
She returned his handshake, "Yes I remember you Mr. Graziano. How is Giuliana? I haven't spoken to her since the wedding."
"She's fine, and please call me Giovanni. I was in the city and decided to come by because Giuliana seems to be getting a bit restless. It isn't safe for her to work right now and I know you two grew up together."
"So you want me to go see her?" Laura quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes," Gio admitted.
After several minutes of silence Laura answered, "Alright, I'll give her a call tomorrow."
"Grazi, I know she'll be happy to see you," Gio turned to leave.
"I look forward to seeing her as well," Laura said. "I apologize for not inviting you in but the house is a mess and my husband wouldn't approve."
Gio gave her a smile, "I understand." He continued backdown the walkway and towards Vinny's awaiting Escalade. Laura closed the door and let out a long sigh, she looked around at the broken glass that littered the carpet. She had managed to cleanup the majority of her husband's tantrum from that morning but still had work to do. She would have just died of embarrassment if Giovanni Graziano had come into her home to see that it was trashed, she would not have even known what excuse she would have given him.
When Gio got back into the SUV, Vinny flicked his cigarette out of the window and started to drive to Tuxedo Park. Giulia had invited Vincent to dinner earlier that day, she said that she felt bad that he always ate dinner alone in his empty apartment. When Gio tried to explain that more often than not he wasn't alone she had simply rolled her eyes and ordered that her brother-in-law come to dinner.
"Are you going to tell your wife about visiting her cousin?" Vincent questioned as they pulled onto the highway.
"No, I'll let Laura handle it. She said that she's going to call her tomorrow and hopefully it will keep Giulia distracted."
"Yeah that would be good."
"Of course she was talking about finding you a wife, so if meeting up with her cousin falls through, then she can always entertain herself with that," Gio smirked at his brother. Giulia had quickly developed a reputation of being persistent as hell, she was like a dog with a bone.
"I don't want her trying to play matchmaker. Why doesn't she do it for Dante?"
"She said that Dante's not ready for marriage, but you are. She also said that you were hiding something and she was going to figure out what it was."
Vincent snorted, "If she's so bored why don't she have a baby? That'll keep her occupied all day and all night."
"We decided that we're going to hold off on having children for a few years," Gio explained.
"Mama's not going to like hearing that," Vincent chuckled. "She's expecting a grandchild within a year."
"If you would get married than maybe she would get one from you, then she wouldn't be so focused on me," Gio said. "Now that I think about it maybe I will support Giulia finding you a wife."
"Anything to get Mama off you back?" Vincent cracked a smile. The two brothers bantered back and forth until they pulled up to the front door of Gio and Giulia's home.
Once they entered the mansion they were hit with the intense smell of marinara sauce. They followed the smell into the large kitchen where they found Giulia wearing a white apron covered in tomato sauce and cooking grease. There were various jars, bottles, and boxes scattered around her.
Vincent tried to bite back a grin while Gio crossed his arms and smirked.
"Are you having fun?" Gio teased, startling Giulia who had not heard them come in.
"Shut up," Giulia said. "I've been doing this for hours and I'm exhausted."
"I didn't know you knew how to cook," Vincent said stepping to inspect what was on the stove.
"I've actually never done it before, this is my first time," she said.
"Oh great," Gio muttered cutting his eyes over to look at his wife. "Did Cynthia at least help you?"
Giulia shook her head, "No I sent her home early." The men shared a look and chose to remain silent as she opened the oven door and pulled out a glass dish.
"What's that?" Vincent dared to ask as he peered into the dish that she had placed onto the white marble countertop.
"Veal parmesan," Giulia answered. "I have spaghetti with marinara, garlic rolls, and caesar salad to go with it."
"That's a lot of food for someone who has never cooked before," Gio observed.
"Yeah I know, but everyone has to start somewhere," Giulia continued to get dinner ready. She grabbed a bottle a red wine and proceeded to dish out the food on plates for herself, Gio, and Vinny.
When they were all seated in the dining room Giulia waited to see their reactions when they each took their first bite. Gio was more hesitant to eat than Vincent was, of course Vincent was probably trying to be polite and keep his manners in check. He liked Giulia and didn't want to hurt her feelings, especially after she had worked so hard on it.
As he was cutting into his cutlet of veal, Gio glanced over to his right where his wife sat. She was sitting there with wide eyes and a hopeful expression on her face. 'Fuck,' he thought. He finally popped a piece of veal into his mouth and chewed, as he did he glanced over at Vinny. They both shared a surprised expression.
"This is great Giuliana," Vinny complimented popping another piece of veal into his mouth.
"It's delicious," Gio said. "Where did you learn to make sauce like this?"
"It's an old recipe from my mother's side of the family," she explained. "Once a girl gets married then she is allowed to get a copy of the recipe. It's usually only for Sunday dinners or holidays but I wanted to try it out. Do you really like it?" Giulia looked between the two men who were devouring the meal in front of them.
"Yeah it's delicious, " Gio said. "Can you bring the rest of the veal out here?" She popped up out of her chair and hurried to the kitchen.
"I can't believe she actually made this," Vincent said.
"I know, I didn't know that she could do this," Gio said.
"Don't tell anyone I said this, but this is better than Mama's."
"I'll take it to the grave," Gio promised. "Mama and Giulia get along well, the last thing I want is for Mama to hate her."