Chapter Ten- Dior
I slipped my legs into the work pants, tucked in the shirt, and then slipped my feet into the high-heeled shoes. Walking over to the dresser that had a variety of designer perfumes, I looked at each bottle, wondering which would make me feel less nauseous.
After careful consideration, I decided that a cucumber-and-melon body mist would have to do. The fragrance was mild, and it shouldn’t make my stomach turn. I rocked my hair in a low ponytail because I had no time to do anything else, and these pregnancy hormones had me exhausted already.
Giving myself a final look in the full-length mirror, I decided I looked like the owner of a pizzeria.
It was my first day going to work at Buddha’s restaurant.
Picking up my Kate Spade handbag, I walked toward the front door with the keys to my Mercedes in hand.
Securing the door, I smiled at the security guard who had been assigned to me, waiting on the front porch.
His name was Alessandro. He was on the younger side, but I was told he had a black belt in Martial Arts.
I didn’t want him driving me, so he followed closely in his own vehicle as I made my way to work.
I had to return to mine and Buddha’s house to get dressed because I didn’t have the proper work attire at the main house.
I hadn’t planned on going to work at Buddha’s pizzeria just yet, but when I called yesterday after he and Snow left Francesco’s home, we spoke for almost two hours, and he eventually told me I needed to go in and check on things at his business before he got home.
I was a little sad to learn that he had to remain in Italy for a couple more days because Luca somehow managed to slip away from them.
He also told me that Snow finally found the mother of his soon-to-be baby.
Hearing that Catalina and Enzo also got away was a bit troubling because I was praying she was lying in a mortuary somewhere.
She was the one who had everyone basically fooled, everyone except Victoria, who saw right through her bull-shit.
Buddha said he had no idea where she, Enzo, and Luca had run off to, but it was believed that she would come back to the U.S. since she knew Edwardo had been killed.
Learning about everything that happened was a lot, and it took a minute to process everything that was told to me.
Then Buddha told me I needed to check in on things at his restaurant, since I wanted to start working there soon.
Even though I had been sick lately because of the pregnancy, I sucked it up and agreed.
It was crazy that I’d never one day set foot in Buddha’s business.
I asked a couple of times; he always promised he would let me spend an entire day with him, but it never seemed to happen.
So even though I wasn’t feeling my best health-wise, I was still a little excited to see how his business ran.
Buddha explained that the manager named Franklin was the person that I had to go to.
He would then show me around and teach me all that I needed to know.
I asked whether he had a supervisor who assisted the manager.
Buddha took a minute before he answered.
“Um, don’t worry about the supervisor. Franklin is the one that you need to focus on, nobody else.
” Those were his words to me, and something about the way he avoided my question made me lift an eyebrow.
I brushed it off, though, and told him he needed to hurry and get his ass home so I could have a good night’s rest. I had been tossing and turning on the bed at the main house ever since he left.
All I wanted was to get back to sleeping in our home on our bed with me wrapped up in his arms, with my head on his chest.
In less than twenty minutes, I was parking my car in the parking lot of the pizzeria. Alessandro parked next to me and waved me off as I got out to make my way inside. His job was to remain parked outside until I was done for the day… pretty boring, if you asked me.
With my handbag secured under my arm, I walked into the building and searched for Franklin, who was expecting me. Buddha said Franklin would be in the kitchen, watching over the preparations. I was told he looked like a skinnier version of Will Smith with cornrows.
Franklin was easy to spot; he looked exactly like Buddha described. I lifted my hand when I saw him, and he looked over at me and smiled. Excusing himself from the pizza makers, he came toward me.
“Mrs. Ricci, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.” I made a face in a joking way.
“Ugh, I’m not too certain that’s a good thing. Whatever my husband told you may not all be true,” I cracked as he led me out of the kitchen.
“No, no, only good things, I promise.” As we walked toward Buddha’s office, a young female caught my attention.
She was walking around the floor, stopping at tables, smiling, and asking the customers if everything was fine.
I lifted an eyebrow as I took her in, and there was a lot to take in.
She was very pretty; I couldn’t lie, she had a butt-length pink lace front installed on her head, and from where I stood, it looked as though she wore pink contacts to match her wig.
She had ass for days, and it jiggled a little when she walked.
“My, my, who is that?” I asked, turning to Franklin, who suddenly got a very uncomfortable look on his face. I lifted my eyebrow even higher at the way he looked.
“Umm, that’s just Diamond. Mr. Ricci’s office is this way,” I could tell Franklin had purposely changed the topic, but I wasn’t quite done asking questions.
“And what does Diamond do here? What’s her position?” I questioned Franklin, who had a facial expression that said he’d wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole.
“Di-Diamond is the supervisor.” He answered softly. Now I was really intrigued because this was interesting. This was the reason why Buddha had been so vague when I asked about the supervisor. He must have smashed sis and didn’t want me to know about it.
“The supervisor? I see…” I said, keeping my cool but taking a mental note nonetheless. “Alright, Franklin, show me all I need to know.” I plastered a tight smile on my face as I allowed him to lead me into the office.
The day at the restaurant was informative.
Franklin did an excellent job showing me the ropes.
I learned everything I was supposed to and then some.
I understood why Buddha didn’t like being here much.
This required paying close attention to detail, which Buddha sucked at, unfortunately.
Especially when it had nothing to do with illegal activities.
I had some time to myself, so I sat in the office staring at the Hoagie sandwich Franklin bought me. I slowly opened it up to peep inside, and all the ingredients made my stomach turn.
“Oh no,” I mumbled, covering my mouth as I jumped up from behind the desk. I raced to the employees' bathroom, trying my best not to draw too much attention to myself. I made it to the sink just in time before I started puking my brains out.
Just as I was about to be done, the door to the bathroom opened, and someone walked in. My head was down, so I had no idea who it was.
“Are you alright?” The soft voice asked behind me. I lifted my head and looked at a pair of pink contact lenses staring at me.
Just fucking great, it’s Buddha’s work wife, looking like a video vixen, meanwhile I’m looking like I lost a fight in the boxing ring.
“Yes, thank you, I’ll be fine,” I replied, cupping some water in my hands, dashing it just under my eyes.
Then I put some in my mouth, swirling it around before spitting it out.
I felt her eyes on me the entire time, scanning me from head to toe before she folded her arms. Ignoring her, I closed the faucet and got prepared to go back to the office.
“Would you like me to get you some sparkling water? It helps sometimes to settle the nauseous feeling. When I was pregnant with my son, it did wonders for me,” I looked at her in the mirror, deciding to keep my mouth shut.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry; I was trying to be helpful. Phillipe is a really nice man. He believed in me when nobody else did, and he took a chance on hiring me. So it’s only fair I look out for his wife.” Diamond said, smiling at me.
“You call your boss Phillipe and not Mr. Ricci?” That was the only thing I got from her story. She gave an uncomfortable laugh before clearing her throat.
“Look, I’m sure Phi — Mr. Ricci mentioned me to you; that’s why you’ve avoided me all day.
I can assure you that he loves you very much, and we only crossed the line that one time.
We’ve never disrespected your marriage, I promise you.
I don’t want my job to be in jeopardy because of what I did in the past with my boss.
I love my job, and as I said, Mr. Ricci was the only person who saw me as more than a stripper and gave me a chance.
” Diamond sure did suffer from word vomit.
She cleared up everything I was wondering about before I even asked.
I looked her over one more time. So she was a stripper at a club that Buddha usually frequents, and somehow, on one of his little escapades, he saw it fit to employ Rainbow Bright over here.
Meanwhile, he forgot to mention to me that his supervisor is an ex stripper that he used to fuck.
He’s lucky Francesco didn’t kill him in Italy, because I’m about to kill him when he gets back!
I smiled at Diamond. She seemed nice enough, and I could respect that she didn’t want to lose her job.
“You won’t have to worry about crossing the line anymore because I’m about to be the one who runs the restaurant from now on.
And there’s no crossing the line with me,” I said, laughing as I waved my index finger in her face.