THE DEADLY FACADE

06|THE PROCESS

     "Are you sure that I should be here, Amore?" Leigh asked uncomfortably.

     "Yes, you were our source and the witness," Mark replied while holding her arm as he rings their doorbell.

     "Hey, man! I have missed you, Mark. Also, the twins have been asking if you would come and visit them." Agent Richard James 'Reed' Verne had greeted his dear close friend while Leigh awkwardly stood from Mark's back considering she is not that close to him. "It is nice to see you once again, Reed. Also, you remember my wife, right?" Mark replied.

     Reed nodded at him as they both shook their hands in terms of formality. Leigh was nervous about meeting Missus Verne.

     "It is nice to see you once again, Reed." Leigh formally stated while he nodded with a smile to her as they all walked inside of his home.

     "I believe, you have not met my wife and children. This is my gorgeous wife, Nicole, and my beautiful twins, Tavi and Thea." He introduced them while Leigh meekly waved her hand to them. She was unusually nervous. Mark then moved his hand as he pointed at her. "I have told you about my gorgeous and intelligent wife, Leigh."

     "It is a pleasure to meet you, Leigh." Nicole stated while their twin daughter's tried to state the same as their mother.

     "Actually, she wants to talk to your wife considering you have a topic to be discussed which is connected to my wife's great-uncle." Mark stated.

     They have walked towards their backward as Mark, Reed, and the twins [Tavi & Thea] are playing in some distance with them. "What did you want to discuss, Leigh?" Nicole asked while Leigh turned to her as she holds onto her hands. "I want to discuss about my great-uncle, Don Riccardo Conti. I want to settle the meeting schedule with him."

     Nicole looked astonished at her statement considering she has never realized that the wife of her husband's close friend was a close relative and the heiress.

     "You are a relative of Mr. Riccardo Conti?" She have finally processed the entire conversation which they have been having for a couple of minutes.

     "Actually, I am not a direct descendant of him but I am his first cousin's granddaughter. I am the only granddaughter of Donna Camille Arnaud-Chevalier. Also, I think I have been assigned as the replacement of my mother as the heiress and inheritor of The Count Corp." Leigh replied trying her best to explain her connection with a certain billionaire businessman.

     Nicole had nodded at her nervous explanation as she smiled towards her words considering it was pretty clear how she was connected with him.

     "So, you are the Donna Deirdre Lorelei Ventura-Meyer who he has been mentioning for the couple of meetings with the investors." Nicole replied as Leigh nodded with a smile as a response.

     "Why don't your grandmother or other relatives take the corporation?" Nicole continued while Leigh had let out a heavy sigh as she had been asked with those types of questions before. "Well, to be honest, I cannot just pass down the corporation considering my Nonna told me that it is my birthright to be the sole owner and leader of the corporation."

     "It sounds like she is passing down a Mafia rather than a set of companies." Nicole replied while Leigh could not help but to laugh out loud towards her statement.

     "Well, it sounds like my Nonna is giving me a chance to restart our Conti Syndicate Family." Leigh replied while they have both released their giggles.

     They had calmed themselves down as they watches their husband's and the twin's who has been playing for a while. "Are you planning to have children, Leigh?" Nicole had asked her such a common yet an unpredictable question for Leigh. "Well, I do not know considering we have been married for two years and we have been together for around four years so we do not know when we would have children."