Busywith Claudius.
For two weeks. We’d been…
Okay… together. We’d been together for two weeks. If anyone were to ask me if I was with him, I would say yes. Although we were treading cautiously on any sort of discussion on the matter. Like when he’d mentioned what we’d be like in the next ten years. He seemed to have just said it without thinking, lost in the moment. As lost as I was in him.
I wished we could be more precise as to what we were doing, or just more. And, as for me, I still had a lot of issues to wade through.
There were hurdles I had to jump over myself. A person didn’t just wake up one day and forget all the pain they’d suffered. Pain and heartbreak. The truth gave me the understanding I needed to know what had happened, but it never actually healed my heart.
It didn’t make me suddenly forget all that happened, and it was so much worse when I thought of Marissa, and what she’d done. I couldn’t get past that part. The part where she’d wanted the guy who was mine. She might have changed, but no amount of change could eradicate what she’d done.
A foolish game to prove something, which had set about a chain reaction of hurt.
When I started thinking it, I felt bad because in her mind, I knew it had just been some game. She’d felt more entitled to Claudius than me. It was as simple as that. Growing up, she was the one who got everything, including her own way. Ma and Pa bent at her will and were a hundred percent stricter with me. Mainly because they saw my love for the restaurant.
I was Miss Goody Two Shoes, and Marissa was the wild child. The wild child who couldn’t be tamed and couldn’t understand why a badass mobster who ticked every box on her list took more of a shine to me than her.
It was thoughts like that that swirled through my mind, and then everything else after. It was raw. That was what it was, but I knew myself. It hurt but she was my sister.
It hurt like hell, just like she knew it would. It was just as Claudius said when she asked him not to tell me. Marissa knew I would be deeply hurt and hate her if I knew the truth. She wasn’t wrong. Only time could fix it. Time would lessen the pain, or so I hoped.
For now, I was happy. Claudius and I would see each other every day and spend the night at each other’s houses.
As for business, I agreed to him giving me the building and the money if he agreed to act as an investor and take a percentage of the profits.
He agreed, however, didn’t tell me what percentage he would take. My thoughts were that he wouldn’t take anything, but I’d cross that bridge when I got there.
The place was starting to fill out for lunch, and a lot of my regulars were already here. Ready to dive into my new treats.
This was what I’d hoped for years ago when I’d dreamed of running the restaurant. My parents were also going to be coming by on Friday before heading back to Italy. They’d come for the month. Spent a week with me here going over the place to be assured it was still in good hands, spent that day with me at the cemetery on Marissa’s anniversary, then they went to Florida. I was going to tell them in person about Claudius. I wasn’t sure how they’d take it. I knew they hadn’t outrightly blamed him for anything, but maybe that was for reasons I didn’t know. They’d been here when I wasn’t and had seen what I didn’t see. I knew for a fact that they would have found it strange that Claudius was suddenly with Marissa, but they’d never said anything. They also knew the dangers and darkness that lurked in the circles we travelled in. Asking too many questions or saying too much was never a good thing. They knew not to do that. So did I.
My parents were from Italy and knew the ways of the underworld. They knew the horrible things that could happen. It was what had brought them to Chicago permanently.
Ariel rushed up to me with a smile on her face.
“Ava, I just took a booking from the mayor’s office for Friday. He and his family want to eat here.” She squealed.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Jesus, really?” I tried to tamp down the excitement in my voice.
“Yes. Not just that. We’re full for reservations for the next two weeks. I have people on a waiting list.”
My eyes bulged. That had never happened before.
“Oh my gosh. This is really happening.”
She rested a hand on my shoulder and smiled wide, nodding her auburn head. “Well done, absolutely well done.”
“Not just me. You too.” We’d all done well. My success was theirs. We were a team, and whatever good happened should be shared amongst us. I was thinking that I’d do a mid-year bonus as well as the Christmas one. My staff deserved it.
The main door opened, and a shiver ran down my spine.
Three guys in suits came in, looked about the place, and waited at the service desk to be seated.
There was… something about them that gave me an uncomfortable feeling. It almost, almost reminded me of when I’d first met Claudius and Luc. Not in the sense that I felt uncomfortable around them, but I knew they were important. Just like Pa said. They looked like mobsters. Old school in their crisp suits and stature.
I’d never seen these guys before though. Not many mobster types came here much after Pa had handed the restaurant to me. Not like the past. These guys screamed trouble, just from the look of them.
There were Italian. I could tell from the olive skin and their sharp features.
