Chapter 23
Giorgio
Iwalked over to the dress shop.
Bianca and Adriano were chatting inside. She was arranging a mannequin display, and he was cutting open packing boxes with a switchblade. Lucia wasn’t there today, apparently, and Raffaello must have already left.
Adriano looked over as I walked in. “That wasn’t an hour. What happened?”
“She knows what I do for a living.”
“You told her?!”
“No, she’d already figured it out.”
“…oh.”
“Who’s this?” Bianca asked, suddenly interested.
“He likes a girl who works in the café next door,” Adriano explained.
“Hey!” I barked.
He gave me a look like Don’t get your panties in a twist.
“The blonde?” Bianca asked.
“Yeah,” I said, surprised. “How’d you know?”
“‘Cause she’s gorgeous. I was even thinking about asking if she would model some of my dresses.”
“How much do you like this chick?” Adriano asked me.
“A lot,” I confessed.
“You barely know her,” Bianca said gently.
“Doesn’t matter,” Adriano said. “Not if he got hit by the thunderbolt.”
“The what?” Bianca and I both asked at the same time.
“That’s right, you’re both from Tuscany,” Adriano mused. “In Sicily, they call love at first sight ‘the thunderbolt’ – except it’s not exactly love at first sight. It’s more like obsession.”
I made a face like Oh shit. “Actually, that fits.”
“Well, don’t give up,” Adriano advised me.
“I’m not.”
“Good. Bianca fuckin’ hated my guts when we first met.”
“I didn’t hate your guts,” Bianca protested. “I just knew you were in the mafia, and I hated the mafia, not you.”
“Oh yeah?” Adriano said with a grin. “Remember our very first conversation? How you slapped me, then told me to go stick my money up my ass?”
Bianca sighed. “…okay, yeah… I hated your guts.”
Adriano grinned as he looked at me, like SEE? I was right!
“But you hated ME, too,” Bianca pointed out.
“No – you annoyed the hell out of me, yeah, but I liked how ballsy you were. Plus you were hot.”
Bianca smiled as she went back to arranging the mannequin display. “Well, I thought you were hot, too.”
Adriano smirked. “I know.”
She gave him an annoyed look. Then she glanced over at me. “So as long as she thinks you’re hot, you’ve probably got a chance.”
“Good,” I said, relieved.
“What are you going to do?” Bianca asked.
I grinned. “Kill her with kindness.”