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"You have shit timing," I informed him as Gigi shot me wide eyes, embarrassed at the insinuation.
"I am all for some kitchen fucking, but have the common courtesy to hold off until everyone in the household gets a cup of coffee," he told us, giving Giana a sly smile as he moved beside her to get a cup. "Were you about to cook?" he asked.
"I, ah, yeah. I was going to make some pastries for you guys. And all the men in and out all day."
"Did you hear that?" Emilio asked, looking over at me. "She is going to bake for us."
"She wants to bake for me. You just happen to be here," I corrected.
"I'll still take it," he said, shrugging. "Well, Giana, sweetheart, we will get out of your hair, so you can get right to that. What?" he asked when I glared at him. "Oh, keep it in your pants. When was the last time you had a woman bake for you? Exactly," he said when I had no answer to that. "Besides, we have some things to talk about. You can get some afternoon delight with her," he added, leading me out into the hallway.
I glanced back over my shoulder, finding Giana's cheeks pink with embarrassment, her eyes still hungry.
Yeah.
I could get used to seeing that woman in my kitchen every morning.
What's more, I was looking forward to it.Giana - 1 Week"What is all this?" I asked, sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the massive stack of magazines, fabric samples, and paint swatches that Celeste had dropped down in front of me.
Celeste had jumped back into life with both feet.
She'd been to the DMV to get her IDs renewed, had been to the family attorney to get access to all the accounts again, had gotten her nails done, went shopping for a whole new wardrobe, hit the doctor, started at a gym, spent time with both her sons. She'd even gone to the salon to fix the patchy job I'd done with the box dye back in the prison house when she'd insisted that she couldn't go back to New York without her hair done, some makeup to play with, and a nice dress and heels to wear. Luckily for her, she was incredibly charming, and Christopher and Anthony had agreed without even thinking twice.
I knew she was trying to make up for lost time, but I felt so lazy compared to her. I'd ducked into the bakery once, flanked by guards, telling the workers about my father's disappearance, hiring one of the part-time workers as full-time now that the business was no longer indebted to the Costa family. I'd filed the missing person's report with Lorenzo at my side. And I had managed to go to the grocery store, stocking the house for all the hungry men in and out.
I thought it was a lot.
Until I heard what Celeste had been up to.
She'd also, apparently, been to the home improvement store.
"The house is being renovated, darling," she told me, dropping down into the chair across from me, giving me a smile. Her new long layers did wonders to frame her face, made her eyes look brighter, her features sharper.
"I, ah, yeah. Are you decorating?"
"Me?" she asked, brows scrunching. "Why would I ever redecorate the brownstone?"
"Because, technically, it is your house," I reminded her.
"Oh, that," she said, waving a hand in the air. "That is a formality. This house belongs to the family, Gigi. I won't stand in the way of that. Besides, I don't have great memories here. I am happier in Lorenzo's penthouse. It is nice to be up above the world after being below it for so long. Lorenzo and I decided to swap. But the brownstone will stay in my name. At least until he marries you. Then it will go in your name. The houses are better off in the woman's name," she clarified. "That way, if something happens and the war gets bad and the men don't make it, they still have some stability for themselves. For their kids."
"You know a lot about the families," I said, shaking my head. "Arturo didn't seem like the kind of man who shared that information."
"He wasn't. But his father was. And his mother. And my uncle. That was how we met. Through my uncle's connection to the Costa family. I was a Lombardi," she said, lowering her voice like the name was a sin, and I was starting to understand the power dynamic of the families after a couple long talks in bed late at night with Lorenzo.
The Costas were the upper echelon. Their closest allies were the Morellis and the D'Onofrios. The other two families, the Lombardis and the Espositios outwardly played by the rules, but did a lot of things behind the backs of the other families, were always hungry for more money and more power, maybe even the seat at the top.
