|9|

Matteo's POV:

Sitting back in my chair, I pulled her to my lap and asked, "Oh really, what is it that you want?"

Swinging her legs over my lap, she replied: "A job, as a nurse in the main house. I'm getting bored here, Matteo..." Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pouted "...You don't want me to get bored do you?" 

Tilting my head, I mocked, "Oh we can't have that now, can we? Fine, but at the end of the day, you come back here to my home. " 

Smiling, she replied. "Okay, deal... and another thing, could I check on my sister? She's probably worried."

"I told you, I have people to deal with that, your sister is fine, she's going on holiday with her girlfriend," I responded, knowing she was getting worried about her. 

Standing up with her legs wrapped around my body, I walked up to the door and placed her down, "We have a dinner to get to" I reminded her

~***~

Talia's POV:

Well, that went extremely well. He's already being nicer to me and I haven't even let him hit it yet.

I told Matteo that I would meet him there, I needed to freshen up after that. Walking into my room, I went straight to the mirror, brushed my teeth, and re-did my makeup.

After fixing my hair up I walked back to the dining room and took my seat next to Kaycee. When she saw me she let out a drawn-out "Bitch.......".

Holding back a snicker, I replied: "It worked." 

I watched as the table filled up with the familiar faces of Jonathan, Alessio, Luca, Angelo, and Matteo. Every type of food was placed in front of us and thank God because I was hungry. 
Matteo was sat at the end of the table, while Angelo took a seat at his left side and Luca at his right. Everyone started digging into their food when Angelo and Luca started glancing at each other. 

Clearing his throat, Angelo started by saying, "So Talia, I'm surprised you can even eat..." 

Arching my eyebrow, I replied with a "What?"

"...Well you know, it's just that we thought the mouthful Matteo just gave you would've made you full."Luca snickered out.

Playing along, I tilted my head and looked at Matteo, "They're right you know, it was quite a mouthful"

This led to Matteo smirking at me and Alessio murmuring that he's trying to eat, while Jonathan pretended to gag. 

"You guys are so dramatic, but what did I expect? You literally go around decapitating people," Kaycee chimed in.

"Didn't you disembowel someone last week?" Matteo asked.

"Umm, these words are too big for me... English or Italian?" Angelo added.

"I promise you, you don't want that image in your head," I said wide-eyed.

"Oh my God, I'm trying to eat!" Alessio whined.

"You said to use any methods, as long as I found Nathan." She pouted.

"How about we stop talking about literally torturing people?" I widened my eyes at them, feeling sorry for poor Alessio.

"Sorry, I forgot that you're new here," Kaycee laughed.

After the whole torture talk dinner moved on swiftly, it was actually interesting watching these men interact. 
They looked scary but honestly: Jonathan is a sweetheart, Alessio is the sane one but is still insane, Matteo is actually pretty playful and Angelo and Luca were definitely the class clowns in this weird boy band.

Throughout the whole dinner, Luca and Kaycee were eye-fucking each other, which was hilarious to observe. 

By the time the chocolate cake got here, I was completely stuffed and Matteo theorized it was because he had given me dessert early, which led to me shooting a glare at him.

Jonathan was also completely stuffed but still forced himself to eat it, he explained that he wanted to treasure the taste and that he would regret not eating it later.

The boys then decided it would be a good idea to have a cake eating contest, which I can confirm was not a good idea. 

Alessio was the first out of the four to tap out, he stopped at two pieces of cakes. Then, Luca, he justified this by saying he didn't want to lose his abs, which made me and Kaycee give him an eye roll. Matteo was next with four pieces, he was literally groaning in pain. 

Angelo however, ate five slices and then ate another. 

"How the fuck are you still eating you fat fucking bitch?" Matteo groaned.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game losers," Angelo replied smugly while inserting another slice of cake into his mouth. 

Wrapping his arms over his abdomen in pain, Matteo explained the agenda for tomorrow and let us know that the house would be heavily guarded due to his Father's funeral.

He let us know that the family's closest allies and business partners would be here and that everyone should be in the garden by 11 am. He then got up and mumbled that he never wanted to set his eyes on chocolate cake again and gave Angelo the middle finger. 

I asked Kaycee if she had a black dress for me to borrow and she nodded in response, we agreed we would meet up in the morning and get ready together.

~***~

Matteo's POV:

Adjusting my all-black suit, I walked to the garden. Soldiers greeted me at every turn I made and the maids stayed out of my way. When I finally arrived, I saw Angelo, Alessio, Kaycee, Jonathan, Luca, and Talia all standing near each other. 
Placing a hand on my shoulder, Jonathan arched his eyebrow as a way of asking me if I was okay.

Nodding my head once, I looked over to Talia when I felt her eyes on me. She was wearing a strapped, tight dress that reached her lower thighs. On top of that, a black cardigan with a small pin in the shape of a rose. 

Opening her mouth to say something, she stopped when Kaycee pulled her to one side and whispered lowly in her ear. 

Okay then?

The service didn't start until 12, but I wanted everyone here so I could go over some things and explain to the bodyguards that if this went wrong, I would have their heads on a silver platter. 

At 11:30 people started to fill in, taking my seat at the front next to Luca and my Uncle Jerry, I turned my head slightly to look at Kaycee and Talia sitting behind me. 

The sermon was depressing and in the end, everyone was bothering me, trying to find a way to pitch some stupid business deal with me. 

It was aggravating. 

These people didn't care about my father, all they cared about was money and expanding their brand. 

I rolled my eyes when I spotted James Richard walking up to me, he wasn't part of a mafia but that didn't mean he was innocent. Turning around, I ignored him and walked towards my office when he started to call my name. Grabbing the whiskey that was placed on a tray in the back of the room, I took a swig directly from the bottle and exhaled. 

"Stressed?" 

I stretched my neck and sunk into my seat, sighing I replied, "Something like that."

Running my hands down my face, I looked back up to see that Talia was now sitting on the opposite side of my table with her arms crossed and a blank look on her face. 

Inhaling and exhaling she started, "I'm sorry about your dad, I shouldn't have given you hope."

Raising my hand to stop her, I muttered: "It wasn't your fault, how were you supposed to know he had cancer, all that fucking smoking caught up to him."

"You don't smoke?" She inquired 

"Ido but not excessively, my father smoked at least eight times a day, he did all the fucking drugs you could imagine. I'm not saying I don't test the products, but he was crazy," I responded.

Smiling she whispered, "Your dad sounds cool!"

Laughing I replied. "That's an interesting way to describe him."

Grinning, she looked at me and asked: "Wanna do coke sometime?" Lifting my eyebrow she continued "...I'm kidding, I'm way too cute to put shit up my nose" 

"Sono d'accordo" I added.

(I agree)

"What does that mean?" She demanded.

Smirking, I replied "That's for me to know, and you to wonder."