The Nanny

•35•

"Oh come on I've apologised." Luciano exclaimed as he followed Emi around the bakery. "Forgiven but not forgotten." She mused as she rushed to set up the bakery for the morning.

"Why won't you move back?" He asked throwing his hands up in the air out of frustration. "Your missing the point." Emi murmured lowly as she rushed behind the counter away from him.

"I have a home, bakery and life here now. Surely you can't just expect me to move." She tutted as she refilled the drinks fridge.

"Think about the twins." He countered

"Think about my son." She bit back.

"I'm not leaving this town. It's my home now and Loai has made so many friends. He talks to everyone and anyone now. I have a proper career. I'm not dependent on anyone."

Luciano feigned offence.

"What was so wrong about being dependent on someone. I didn't think you depended on me that much.When you lived with me I gave you everything you wanted."

"Can't you see I don't want that?" Emi snapped at him as she pulled out a tray of cakes from the oven, hissing when the hot metal scalded her hands. "I don't want to be handed everything in life."

Why couldn't you see that I didn't want that?

Luciano rushed forward moving her out of the way as he pulled the sleeves of his jumper over his hand before taking it out the hot tray.

Emi grabbed a hot mat placing it down on the table before Luciano put down the tray.

"Luciano for once I have something that I have created. It's my name on every paper. It's my responsibility to keep it running. We can easily work on how to allow the kids to see each other often. If that's what's bothering you." Emi said letting out a deep sigh.

"It's not about the children." Luciano huffed sulking like a child at the lack of his name in Emi's sentence.

Emi let out a light laugh tapping Luciano's cheek before bending down to look in the drawers for something.

"How long are you in town for?" her head popping up briefly when she didn't hear an answer.

"A week."

"Do you have work today?"

Luciano had a mental debate. He had two meetings but he could cancel them if he had to.

"No"

"Put this apron on you need to learn how to make bread."

Luciano gasped when a red apron was pushed into his chest.

"Fuck"

Customers had filled up the bakery. They all chatted loudly as the three children who had been dropped off by Valentina weaved in between the tables talking to customers.

"I'm sorry but all our tables are occupied right now. Would you like to wait or maybe take some food away?" Emi asked wiping her hands on on her apron as she spoke to the next customer.

She noted their order before rushing off.

"LUCY are the tarts in the oven done?" She shouted as she rushed to package the latest order jumping when instead of a reply she felt a hand on her waist.

She turned as Luciano placed down the tray in his other hand on the counter.

"Where are the rest of the employees?" He queried wiping the of sweat that had settled on his forehead. He had been waiting for someone else to help him whisk cake batter.

"I'm the only employee." Emi mumbled through a tight lipped smile as she waved off another customer.

"You can't be serio-" He began to say before his mouth was covered by a floury hand. He was silenced by the annoyed look Emi was giving him.

"Less talking more working." She hissed at him before brushing past him and heading into the kitchen.

Emi let out a deep shaky breath once the last customer left, rushing to flip the sign to 'closed' before anybody would try to come rushing in.

Her feet felt heavy and sore as she made her way to the staff room. She twisted the handle slowly wincing when it creaked. She didn't want to wake up the children who were napping inside of it.

"Can we talk?" A deep voice whispered startling her as she whipped around.

Luciano stood in front of her, massive files in hand. In particular her finances.

"Where did you find those?" She asked suspiciously growing annoyed at the fact that he had been snooping. She grew more unsettled when he ignored her and walked to a table laying them out and sitting down.

She gave in walking over to him slowly before taking a seat. They sat in silence.

"You said we should work on talking about our problems. Here's one of them." He said quietly as he pulled out her now colourful statements, placing them on the table and turning them around to her.

"You highlighted them?" She asked incredulously her voice rising.

"That's the least of your worries." He mumbled.

"Finances are my expertise. The issues I am seeing here that need to be addressed are the fact that, 1.you have no employees, 2. this place is too big for only one person to serve and three your business is now bigger than your store, you need to expand."

Emi scoffed at his nonchalant attitude. It didn't take a genius to notice that. He noticed her unimpressed look.

"Listen."

For the next three hours Luciano and Emi discussed the ins and outs of the business. He pointed out how her suppliers were ripping her off and loopholes that allowed her to earn and claim more money.

Their talks continued even when the children woke up and began running around the bakery pulling and dragging chairs.

"Think of events you could hold. Children and cakes often bring in a lot of money." He suggested as he pulled Luna up onto his lap who had been pulling his leg for the past minute to get his attention.

Luciano and Emi may not have known it but the children loved what they were seeing. The tension hadn't gone unnoticed by them. They may not have understood exactly what was happening but they could read the room.

"Your company could be franchised in the next three months if we follow this plan." Luciano said confidently as he ran a hand through Lulu's hair who was now snuggled into his jumper.

Emi was surprised. Luciano had never been this talkative before.. She found it interesting and admirable how passionate and knowledgeable he was about his work.

"Where would my next bakery be?"

"A block away from my company." Luciano said quickly before moving on to the next topic.

"Ah ah you haven't told me why? Emi interrupted sitting forward and resting her arm on the table curious to hear his motive. She loved making him sweat over such basic questions.

"It means that employees from my business can also eat at your bakery. We could offer a sort of deal. That creates a large portfolio of customers already." He answered professionally before going back to what he was previously talking about.

Emi's smirk dropped at his response. He had humbled her.

The corner of Luciano's lip twitched at her reaction. He knew she was antagonising him and he wouldn't fall for it.

They continued talking until the shrill sound of his phone ringing startled them. He pulled out his phone noticing his secretary's name on the screen.

He excused himself making his way to the kitchen to answer it.

"Yes" Luciano said when he answered the phone.

"We got it." His secretary replied. Luciano let out a sigh of relief before cutting the phone and pocketing it.

His plan had worked.

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Sorry this chapter took me so long to get out. I've been having bad writers block 🤦🏽‍♀️.