Contract War

Chapter 15

All the men clutching automatic rifles bowed their heads in respect as I descended the stairs with Joshua, Ken and Uncle George at my sides. In ten minutes Joe and I had changed into formal clothes, I wore a simple sleeveless burgundy dress with a pair of black heels and Joshua wore a grey checkered suit. When we had reached the bottom our front doors opened and a drop-dead-gorgeous man entered with a stunning young woman and a couple of bodyguards. The two seemed to be siblings as they had the same jet black hair and perfectly sculpted faces...especially their noses.

"Sister-in-law," The very sexy man called out in my direction in an Italian accent.

I wanted to raise a questioning eyebrow but restrained myself from doing so.

'Poker face. Poker face. Poker face. Poker face.' My mind chanted.

He gave me a smile that had an element of ruthlessness behind it and still I kept a straight face as I greeted him with a single nod and said, "Roman Vittori, Don of the Italian Mafia,"

His smile turned warmer as he replied me, "Miss Turquoise Knight...Mrs Vittori...The Queen Mother of the British and Italians, in all her beauty. It is an honour," he bowed and kissed my hand lightly with his eyes boring into my soul.

A felt a grin tugging onto my face...whoops. I let down the stone cold look I had but still managed to keep a straight face. You can't blame me, his words were capable of making any woman melt...and his voice *romantic sigh*.

The pretty woman gave me a respectful nod, "My name is Geneviève Vittori and it's a pleasure to meet you." Her eyes seemed to twinkle with excitement and she didn't bother hiding it.

"The pleasure is all mine." I replied.

"We apologise for the unannounced visit," said Roman, "we're around for a little business and we just couldn't wait any longer to meet you, plus we would be insulting our own family by sending an invitation letter to our daughter-in-law asking her to join us for a family dinner,"

"A family dinner?"

"Tomorrow night, at Charles' house. Our entire family will be there for a little reunion before we go back to Italy,"

What the?! This is my first family dinner with Derek's relatives and they're not even giving me time to prepare?

Geneviève immediately laughed, "We're not sorry for the short notice though, Italians are never sorry for such things...you'll get used to it with time,"

"We will be leaving now," Roman announced, "pass my greetings to Emilio,"

"Emilio?"

Both Roman and Geneviève looked at me with confusion and Roman began to curse in Italian.

"The little fu*ker couldn't even at least tell his own wife his name." He sighed and said, "His full name is Derek Emiliano Vittori...or Thomas whatever, I guess he didn't tell you about his middle name because he didn't want to be reminded of his mother. She always used to call him by his middle name, Emiliano. Now he doesn't like it and the last time someone called him by that name he sort of lashed out."

I really didn't know how to feel after being given that piece of information. "Thank you, for telling me,"

"Don't thank me...that little idiot should have at least told you in the first place. Bring your boy for dinner tomorrow, my grandfather wants to meet him. Goodbye...and next time we won't apologise for an unannounced visit." He finished with a laugh that actually sounded genuine.

They left and the 4 of us went into the office...my office.

"I guess I'll have to fly back home tonight and get ready to meet my in-laws," I sighed, dreading the thought of meeting my in-laws for the very first time.