The Next Day
Giuliana was up early the next morning, she had her day to sulk but now it was time to buckle down and start working on the renovations. She put on a black and white striped dress and white sneakers. She had plans to go into the city and look at paint and carpet samples. The 'Tiffany situation' was Gio's doing, so therefore it was Gio's problem to solve.
She had not spoken to Gio since he gave her the flowers yesterday. When she found out that Tiffany was still alive she was livid. How can your wife be run off the road and almost killed, and the person who did it was still living and breathing? Giuliana didn't understand what Giovanni was thinking, and frankly she just needed to keep her distance from him for her own sanity.
She called one of the guards that were stationed at the guardhouse and informed him that she had plans to go into the city. He responded that someone would pull one of the awaiting Cadillac Escalades to the front door and that she'd be able to leave momentarily.
On the drive to Manhattan, Giuliana tried to focus all of her attention on redesigning The Atlantic Quarter. It was a fairly large space with a lot of potential and she had to prove that it wasn't a mistake to entrust her with this project. On the way to the city, Giuliana called her cousin Laura to see if she was able to meet up for lunch, they decided to meet around one o'clock.
The first stop Giuliana made was at a carpet store, the old drab carpet was one of the first things that had to go. She then had the driver take her to a paint store, where she selected various paint samples to compare to the carpet she had selected. 'So far so good,' Giuliana thought to herself as she looked over the samples that she had collected while driving to lunch. She had wanted to do well with this project before, but now after the events of the last few days she wanted to exceed everyone's expectations- especially Gio's. There was no doubt in her mind that everyone had known about Giovanni and Tiffany's relationship, so in a way this was her chance redeem her image. 'They probably all look at me as some pathetic, stupid little girl, who waits for her husband to come home while he's got his own personal whore at his disposal,' she thought to herself bitterly, "Well that's going to change, I'm not anyone's doormat." The driver pulled up in front of the restaurant in Queens, she could see Laura already waiting for her in a booth by the front window.
"Hey," Giuliana greeted when she slid into the seat across from her cousin. "Thanks for meeting me, I know it was short notice."
"It's fine, I get tired of being stuck in the house all day, it's nice to get out. So how are you?" Laura had an sympathetic look on her face.
'She doesn't know, does she? How could she possibly know? Her husband isn't apart of the Graziano Family!' Giuliana panicked, if Laura knew that meant that it was only a matter of time before the rest of her family found out, if they didn't know already. The last thing she wanted was for her father and brothers to find out about her current marital issues, plus Monica would probably be laughing in her face the next time she saw her. 'As if this couldn't be anymore humiliating.'
"How do you know?" Giuliana got right to the point, there wasn't any reason to beat around the bush.
Laura sighed, "Matteo told me that there was an issue with some girl named Tiffany that Giovanni used to fool around with. He said that you and her got into some type of altercation."
"Is that all he told you?" Giuliana asked.
"He said that you broke her nose," Laura tried to stifle a grin.
"How many people know about this?" The mob gossiped like a bunch of high school girls.
"I'm not sure. But Matteo said that you were at one of the Graziano businesses and then you left and the next time the men that were there saw Tiffany, her nose was practically mangled. He also said that Giovanni dragged her out by her hair. But some people don't believe that it happened, they say you don't have it in you."
Giuliana took a sip of her iced tea, "She deserved it."
"How did you do it?" Laura asked excitedly.
"She slapped me, so I grabbed a stapler and hit her in the face a few times," she shrugged. "I just wish that I would have had a crowbar instead."
"Wow! That's crazy," Laura shook her head. "Some of those whores just don't know their place. They would rather be mad at the wife for existing, than at the married man their screwing around with."
"Giovanni swore that he hasn't touched her since we got married," Giuliana told her cousin.
"Do you believe him?" Laura inquired as the waiter came to deliver their meals. "I know you probably want to, but what does your gut tell you?"
Giuliana sighed, "I believe he was telling me the truth, but he's going to have to work really hard to get my trust back. I know he feels bad about what happened."
"Good. You shouldn't forgive him automatically, besides if he's truly sorry you can get some good 'guilty conscience' gifts out of him," Laura winked and Giuliana burst out laughing. It felt good to smile and laugh after feeling like her home life was falling apart and that there was nothing she could do to put it back together.
"I'm definitely going to be getting a couple of Louis Vuitton pieces out of this, and maybe he'll need to make a quick trip to the jewelry store while he's at it," Giuliana giggled.
"You've got to find the silver lining," Laura said. "So what are you doing over here in Queens?"
"I was in Manhattan. Before this whole fiasco happened, Gio gave me a project to do. I'm renovating a casino he has in Atlantic City, so I was out looking at carpet and paint samples."
"That's cool that he lets you do stuff like that."
"Does Matteo let you work?" Giuliana inquired. She didn't know much about Matteo Ricci, he worked for her father and was a Made Man, but that was about it. He and Monica typically stayed away from the Bellucci household.
"Matteo prefers that I stay at home, he likes to know where I am at all times," Laura rolled her eyes. The mere mention of her husband made her stomach plummet, he was beyond suffocating.
"Oh," Giuliana didn't know how to react. Giovanni always knew what she was doing, but it was done mostly out of concern for her safety. He never told her that she couldn't leave the house.
"Let's talk about something else besides our husbands," Laura waved her hand as if to swat the topic of conversation away. "So what are you doing the rest of the day?"
"I didn't have any plans after this, what about you?"
"I'm supposed to iron Matteo's clothes but I really don't feel like it, I hate ironing."
"Let's go back to my house, we can hang out there," Giuliana suggested. She really didn't want to be alone in the house with Gio. She would much rather have her cousin as a barrier between the two of them.
"That sounds good," Laura nodded her head. "Just let me tell my guard that I'm leaving with you. After they paid for the lunch and walked out of the restaurant, Laura walked over to a dark colored sedan and had a short conversation with the guard inside who nodded his head and immediately picked up his cell phone.
They sat in the back of the Escalade as they were driven back to the Graziano Mansion, both women excited that they would have the whole afternoon to act like they were teenagers again. When all of the girls were together at the Bellucci Mansion it was a never ending slumber party, it wasn't uncommon to find them baking in the middle of the night or passed out in the movie room. Giuliana and Laura had both missed those times, when everything was so simple and their biggest problem was that Salvatore had banned them from wearing makeup.
When they finally pulled through the gate and up the long driveway, Giuliana and Laura headed towards the sitting room. Giuliana was eager to get her cousin's opinion on colors for the casino. She wanted someone else's point of view before she made any final decisions.
"I like the gold wallpaper and the red carpet," Laura said.
"Me too," Giuliana clapped her hands. "I'm glad that's settled, now I can start looking for the furniture."
"When do you think the casino is going to be ready for business?"
"I'm hoping in four months. I wasn't given a specific time frame for when it needed to be done, but I'm guessing that the Graziano's want it done as soon as possible."
"But the Graziano Family have hotels, so why would they need a casino to open so soon?"
"Gio said that when the casino closed a lot of their clients started giving their business to the mob in Chicago, so they want their millionaire customers back as soon as possible."
"Oh okay," Laura nodded. She tried not to involve herself in mafia business but she picked up quite a bit of information from her husband Matteo. The man didn't know how to keep his mouth shut, so Laura picked up more than her fair share of mob related news.
"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Giuliana asked.
"Sure, just let me text Matteo and tell him that I won't be home for awhile."
"You can invite him too," Giuliana added.
Laura waved her hand, "He's probably too busy. I don't think he was planning on eating at home anyway."
"I gave Cynthia the week off, so it's up to me and you." The two women went into the kitchen and started rummaging through the pantry and cabinets grabbing different ingredients. They settled on a chicken parmigiana with pasta, a side salad, and garlic bread. They spent the afternoon cooking, gossiping and laughing just like it was old times.
Meanwhile, Giovanni had shown up at his parents home unannounced. He had to convince his father to stop working with Senator Price. Senator Richard Price was a greedy, conniving bastard and his illegitimate daughter was the exact same way. Giovanni barged into his father's office, not bothering to greet the older man who was standing at the window with his back to the door. Anthony slowly turned around at the sound of the door swinging open.
"We need to talk," Giovanni said.
"Is this concerning your wife and a certain blonde puttana?" Anthony asked. "I already know about their confrontation, now what is it that you want?"
"We need to end our partnership with Senator Price," Giovanni demanded. "He's not holding up his end of the bargain, there isn't any reason to continue to deal with him."
Anthony sighed, "If I remember correctly, Senator Price asked that his daughter be provided with a job and be kept hidden from the public eye, in exchange for doing our bidding in Congress. It was you that decided to screw the bitch, this would have all been avoided if you had just kept your dick in your pants."
Giovanni was fuming, he knew that this was all his fault but he didn't need his father throwing it in his face. "I know all this already, Giuliana made me well aware of it."
"So what is it that you want me to do?" Anthony sat down at his desk. "It's not my job to fix your marital problems, Giovanni."
"I want permission to get rid of Tiffany," Giovanni said. "She tried to kill my wife and hit her. Do you really want your daughter-in-law to be disrespected like that?"
Anthony sighed, "I can't allow you do that, at least not yet."
"Giuliana's a member of the Graziano Family now, she's an extension of you. You wouldn't allow Ma to be treated like that!" Giovanni was seething now, his face was red and a vein at his temple was throbbing.
"That's because none of my whores ever met your mother, they knew their place. You could have had any other woman on the side, I warned you that Tiffany Moretti was a lunatic, you did this to yourself and to your wife!"
Giovanni heaved in a sigh. He felt like a child again, his father hadn't scolded him since he was a kid.
"If you can't handle this, how am I supposed to allow you to be the Boss?" Anthony questioned, he avoided the flash of hurt in his son's eyes.
"I'm ready to be the fucking Boss, I've been ready for over ten years!" Giovanni replaced the hurt he was feeling with rage. "I've done everything you have asked of me! I made one fucking mistake, and you're ready to replace me? This is bullshit and you know it!"
"No, I don't know it." Anthony watched his son carefully, he resembled a caged tiger ready to attack at any provocation. "I'm only thinking about the future of this Family."
"If you replace me, the Bellucci's will have my marriage annulled. They'll say that you went back on your word, that Giuliana was promised to the next Boss of the Graziano Family. Salvatore Bellucci will flip shit if he's made to look like a fool who sold off his daughter to a liar, and he'll unleash everything he's got onto you," Giovanni's face was now only inches away from his father's.
"I'll explain that I had second thoughts, Sal knows how important it is to have a capable successor." Anthony leaned back, needing to put some space between himself and Giovanni. "Besides, I doubt Giuliana will leave you. The girl loves you and she'll stay with you whether you're the Boss or not."
"I am capable!" Giovanni slapped his palm onto the wooden desk. "You know I am, but you'll look for any excuse to make me look weaker than you. You should have stepped down years ago!" He didn't bother addressing the fact that his father had pointed out that Giuliana would never go through with an annulment or divorce, deep down he knew that his father was right about that one fact.
"We'll finish this conversation another time," Anthony said trying to diffuse the situation. Giovanni always had a temper but he had learned to control it once he had reached adulthood, but Anthony had never seen him as angry as he was now. He was visibly shaking with rage, his hands kept balling into fists.
"Like hell we will!" Giovanni roared picking up a metal pencil weight from the desk and throwing it through the window behind Anthony's head.
Philomena popped her head with a worried expression, "What's going on?" When neither man bothered to acknowledge she walked further into the office, "Giovanni, are you alright? What's the matter?"
He shrugged his mother off, pointing a finger at his father. "You're not a replacing me as the next Boss, everyone on the East Coast knows that I'm more than capable."
"Anthony what are you doing? Giovanni has worked so hard," Philomena looked at her husband with wide eyes. She always turned a blind eye to what he did, except when it came to her boys. "He's helped you grow your business so much, why would you do this?"
"Stay out of this Philomena, this doesn't concern you," Anthony gritted his teeth.
"It's alright Ma," Giovanni said all the while glaring down his father. "I gotta go," he turned and stalked out of the house, slamming the front door behind him. His head was spinning as he sped out of the driveway and down the street, 'I'm the Boss of the Graziano's! Fuck him! He'll have to kill me before he replaces me!'