Mafia Princess

Chapter Ninety-Three

Twilight...not mine (sigh).

Chapter Ninety-Three

The next morning, Bella left with Emmett. I stayed in bed. I stayed in the room, hiding from Charlie, until Bella came back with our cat nearly six hours later, who was adorably dopey due to the medications they gave her in order to spay the poor thing. She put Carino on the bed along with three brochures.

"What's this?" I asked as I closed my crime novel.

"Choose one. It's where we're going for your birthday, Edward," she said, crossing her arms, daring me to fight this.

"Bella, we don't have to do anything for my birthday," I said, looking at the three brochures. One was for Rome, another was for Capri and the final was for Venice. "It's another year older..."

"Hush. I want to do this. Pick one or I'm going to and you'll be stuck at a spa, getting a facial and beauty treatments," she giggled. Carino scowled at her for making so much noise. Drunkenly, she crawled over the blankets and made herself comfortable on my lap.

"I can just imagine getting a manicure and my brows waxed," I snickered.

"You do have some hair there," she said, rubbing her thumb between my eyes.

"Stop it. Leave my unibrow alone," I snickered.

"Pick. One," she said, poking my arm. "Edward, let me do this, tesoro!"

I held up the three brochures. "Which one, Carino?" I asked the snoozing cat. She grumbled and swiped her paw across the brochure for Venice. "That cat has spoken. This one."

"You're a pain in my ass, Edward," Bella laughed, taking the brochure. "You watch the baby and I'll get this all set up, okay?"

"Are we driving?" I asked.

"Hell, no. Flying. It's a seven hour drive," Bella cringed.

"So, you're paying for airfare, a hotel and other things?" I asked, my face flushing. "Bella, it's too much."

"Hi, I'm Isabella del Cigno. My dad's a gazillionaire. Let me spoil you," she quipped, dancing out of the room. "Get used to it, Edward!"

I wanted to follow her and make sure she chose the equivalent to a Motel 6, but when I shifted, Carino gave me the death glare. Huffing out a frustrated breath, I fell back onto the pillows, gently stroking the downy fur of the purring kitten and trying to figure out how to accept whatever Bella was going to give me gracefully. However, after thinking for some time, I decided to just go with the flow and let Bella do what Bella did best. It's her world and she just lets us live there.

The rest of the weekend was fairly quiet. Charlie was battling jetlag. Emmett was just tired from getting up early with Bella when she had to bring in Carino. Carmen and Eleazar were relaxing, too. Carmen was enjoying Bella's cooking and Eleazar just relished in the fact that he didn't have to do the work here at the house in Sorrento. The neighborhood had its own in-house landscapers that took care of the yard work.

Jessica and Angie arrived the following week. Their boyfriends were in tow and were staying in Angie's parent's villa down the road. After they came into town, we spent the next couple of days at the pool. I felt more like I was on a vacation as opposed to working. However, I did maintain contact with Carlisle. In one of his emails, he said that Aro flew to Sicily shortly after I left. However, he was back and he was planning something. What? He wasn't sure.

The Wednesday before my birthday, we were all laying at the pool. I was rocking a pretty decent tan, too. My pasty ass never looked so dark. Yeah, random Edward. You're losing your marbles. Anyhow, Jessica mentioned that she wanted to go to a club.

"I'm bored. I want to go out dancing," she whined, playing with Mike's fingers.

"Me, too," Angie said from the pool. "Let's drive to Rome, find a club and spend the night in a hotel. It'll be fun."

"I think that's doable," Bella said from her spot between my legs, lightly scratching her fingers along my thighs. "We have to be at the airport on Friday anyway. It'll save us a trip."

"Emmett, you should come, too," Angie said, wrapping her legs around Ben's waist. Ben growled lowly, grabbing Angie's ass and devouring her mouth.

"I can't. It would leave Uncle Charlie vulnerable," Emmett frowned.

"Don't use that excuse Emmett McCarty," Charlie said as he sat down on the chaise opposite of Bella and me. "You do not need to stay here in Sorrento while everyone is having fun."

"I don't know," Emmett said.

"You could come with us, Uncle Charlie," Jessica mentioned. Bella glared at Jessica, who held her hands up in defense. "Just suggesting it."

"I'm fine. Perfectly fine. Emmett, I'm ordering you to go to the club with people your own age."

"They're not my age. They're younger," Emmett argued.

"Emmett, I'm older than you by a year," I snorted. "I'm the old man in our little group."

"I'm going to stay home, eat some of the leftovers from dinner yesterday and go to bed. The jetlag is still kicking my ass," Charlie snickered. "If I get ambitious, I may invite Mario and Francesca over for some limoncello*."

"You better stay armed, Charlie," Emmett growled, looking at Bella's dad. Charlie pulled out a pistol from the waistband of his shorts. "Good."

"You coming with us, Em?" Angie asked.

"Yeah. I'll go make arrangements for the hotel while you girls get dressed," Emmett sighed resignedly.

"Let's head back to the villa," Jessica said. "We'll shower and change, pack a bag and be ready to go in two hours?"

"Works for me," Bella smiled, threading her fingers with mine.

A/N: No pictures for this chapter, but I will have some for the upcoming chapters. Some time in Rome, at a club and some 'alone' time in the hotel in Rome. Then, Edward's birthday in Venice. Pictures from Rome, the club and Venice will be on my blog. The 'alone' time pictures will be on my tumblr.

*Limoncello – a lemon liquor that is POTENT, like drinking a very drunk lemon drop.

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