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CHAPTER 18
MARCO
The next morning, after we woke, Juliana did her best to ignore me.
After getting dressed, I went to leave the bedroom as usual. But this time I stopped at the bedroom door and held it open, signaling for Juliana to go in front of me.
She looked at me, puzzled. “I thought we were having breakfast first before going on the dog walk?”
“Yeah, we’ll have breakfast first and then we’ll take him for a walk.”
“I’m being allowed to eat breakfast downstairs?” she asked with surprise.
“You’ll be going downstairs anyway for the walk, so if you have your breakfast downstairs that will save me a trip up with your tray.”
JULIANA
I tried to hide my excitement as I walked out of the bedroom for the first time in days. My pooch followed on my heels. He seemed as excited as me to see us leaving the room together.
When we got downstairs, we went to the main living area. Today I took a better look around me. Alessio and Debi were sitting around the big kitchen island eating breakfast, while Camillo and Danio were playing a video game on the big screen in front of the couches.
“Hey, it’s too early for that. Switch that game off and come have your breakfast,” said Marco as he walked toward the couches. I bet he didn’t ever say that it was too early for killing.
Debi gave me a shy smile. “Hi, Juliana. Me and Danio got some things for Mr. Fluffy yesterday. Do you want to see?” she asked eagerly.
“Sure, I’d love that.” Maybe Debi could be an ally and I should be trying to make a friend of her. Before I started on breakfast, I looked through the things that Debi and Danio had got from the pet store. There was a dog bed, dog toys, and a ball thrower that would come in handy when we took him for walks.
“These are great, Debi. Thank you so much for getting these. My sister was supposed to send his things over after the wedding but, you know, other things must have distracted her.”
“I’m heading out—I’ve got some business to take care of,” said Alessio, pushing his chair back and getting up. “It’s like fucking doggy daycare in here,” he muttered, stepping over the new dog equipment and toys.
Ignoring him, I sat down at the kitchen island and Marco passed me some homemade pancakes. I poured myself a cup of coffee and dug into my breakfast.
MARCO
After breakfast, we took the dog into the gardens for his morning walk, when I could finally get him out of the kitchen. “Come on, Mr. F, are you coming or not?” If you asked me, the dog needed some training about following orders.
As soon as the dog was through the back door, he ran off madly, doing a large circle and then coming back to Juliana. She bent down to him and ruffled his ears. Then he took off again around the garden, stopping every now and again to chase his own tail around in smaller circles.
I looked at his antics. “That dog is a maniac.”
“It takes one to know one,” Juliana shot back at me.
I felt the corner of my mouth lift in a small smile.
“So, did you always want to be a killer?” she asked me.
I chuckled. “You’re very direct when you want to be. And, yes, I always knew I would be a Made Man and a killer—although we only kill those who deserve it.”
“How very noble of you,” she said dryly.
“And what did you want to be when you were growing up? A doctor, to heal all the men tortured by the Società?” I said mockingly.
“No, of course not.” She hesitated. “Actually, I wanted to work with animals and be a veterinary nurse.”
“Ah, so I wasn’t far off with my guess. Although instead of helping humans, you see animals as being more worthy of your care.”
She looked across at me as we walked. “I used to volunteer at a dog shelter in L.A. It was something worthwhile to do and I enjoyed it.”
