Good Cop Gone Bad ~ Rewritten

52| party

•Matteo Rossi•

Aria has spent these last few weeks getting the house Christmas ready. There is a Christmas tree in the living room, a Christmas tree in the ballroom, in her sunroom and even one in our room.
        All of them are artificial and each one has a different color scheme. Naturally, the ones in our room and her sunroom are pink. The one in the ballroom is white and gold since the theme for the ball this year is 'White Christmas' as in the song. The one in the main living room is the traditional red and green color scheme.
       She is currently in the main kitchen helping the kitchen staff get ready for Christmas Eve dinner tonight. It will be us, mamma, my siblings, their kids and their spouses, Aria's siblings and their significant others, and Aria's dad.
Luca apparently just got a girlfriend and is having all of us meet her at the same time. Aria is nervous but I know she will be an angel to whoever the girl is.
"Just a little more.. There! That is perfect!" I can hear her excited voice through the door as I enter the kitchen. I see her standing there in her long dress that fits her body snugly until the skirt that flows the rest of the way down.
I walk up to her, placing a hand on her lower back. She turns around to look at me, her dark long hair swaying to the other side. I lean down to kiss her, "What are you doing, melodia?" I ask her.
"Experimenting with new recipes and new design ideas for the desserts. What do you think about this one?" she asks me, pointing to a cake looking thing with a simple but elegant and somehow intricate design on top.
I inspect it for a few seconds before smiling at her, "It's gorgeous, sweetheart," I say, kissing her again.
She giggles, kissing me on the cheek. "Thank you. Everything is almost ready, I just need to set the table." she tells me, pulling me by hand and leading me to the dining room. The plates are already at the table but they are not set.
"How do you want them set, melodia?" I ask her. She very quickly puts one setting together and shows it to me as an example.
I follow her example for everyone I set up. She set up more than I did but it was because I kept forgetting what order everything went in.
When we finish, she goes into the living room and I follow behind her. She is going around, rearranging things.
She talks to the maids, instructing them in what they will do that night for dinner. They all respond politely, smiling at her and most of them responding, "Yes, Ms. Marino,".
In Italy, it is not common for women to change their last names after marriage, however, in this family, the rules are never fucking followed. I cannot wait for my last name to be hers.
"Lovey, come on, they're almost here," she says, tugging at my sleeve. I smile at the nickname and follow after her as she leads us outside.
As we exit the house, the cars pull up and everyone starts to exit. Aria's dad walks up to her, "Ciao, principessa," he says, hugging her.
"Hi dad," she says, hugging him back. He shakes my hand and greets me properly as everyone else comes up to greet us.
       Aless is with Sofia every second. She is now around 37 weeks pregnant I think so she could give birth any day now.
       Everyone is here except Luca and his new girlfriend, so I see Aria and Laura anxiously waiting for them to arrive.
       When they do, my mind freezes when I see her. He's dating Lev's daughter?
       Fuck, Lev is going to kill me. Not literally but my brother in law is dating his daughter.
      "Inessa?" I say as she exits the car.
      "Who is that?" Aria asks quietly since I obviously know her.
      "My business partners daughter," I say and her jaw drops. She begins laughing, as do Inessa and Laura when they see my reaction.
Inessa walks up to us, hugging Aria. "Your dad is going to beat my ass," I tell her and she laughs.
"I already told him. He said you are lucky you two are business partners now and he trusts you because if you weren't he would force you to keep your brother in law away from me. And some other threats I will not mention out loud." she says, laughing at me.
Aria, Laura, Luca, and Inessa all go in together leaving me standing out here with my jaw dropped and speechless.
If this relationship goes wrong, Lev will beat my ass for not keeping them apart.
I go inside and head to the living room where everyone is settled. The maids are making drinks and I see a spot left open on the couch next to Aria, so I take it.
We all talk as the drinks are passed out, and we sit there enjoying our time. We all talk, laugh, and get to know Inessa more.
"Ms. Marino, dinner is served," one of the maids says, speaking to Aria.
Everyone stands and we make our way to the dining room. The food looks delicious, and as we all sit down, we begin eating and continuing the conversation that had begun in the living room.