BURNT: THE MAFIA QUEEN

Chapter 2

Stephan's POV

“Dammit!”, I cuss.

“Stephan, that's a lot of cussing you're doing in my house today”, my mom sighs, tired of reminding me that she doesn't tolerate cussing in her Christian home.

“I'm sorry mom. I just don't understand why the universe is against me, I keep knocking down the spoon for tasting”, I explain admittedly.

“Which shouldn't be something happening to a professional chef like yourself. Tell me, did this keep happening at Alicia's yacht birthday party??”, my mom teases. “You know that didn't happen mom, you were there. And for the last time she didn't dumb me okay. We had a mature conversation and decided to go our separate ways,” I say genuinely for the hundredth time, as I stir up my soup.

“That's what you keep saying,” my mom pushes. “Cause that's the truth”, I sigh.

It is really hard to change my mom's mind on something, but if I ignore, she'll take my silence as a sign of heartbreak.

“So you're telling me that..”, she gets interrupted, and I've never loved my uncle more than I do now.

“Well hello family!!!”, he shouts, accompanied by his cheerful and deep laughter. “Robert, thank goodness. I thought you wouldn't make it”, I turned down the fire and walked to give him a hug.

He's a broad man, a few years ago I had to stand on my tip toes to hug him, and my arms barely reached his back. But here I am now, almost as broad and macho like him, but definitely as tall as he is.

“Aah! Stephan, I'm guessing my sister-in-law is giving you a tough time cooking, yeah?”, he jokes and I can't help but nod to it.

“I'm not. I'm just making sure my son is okay after the heartbreak. Even though he doesn't want to admit it”, mom says, as she continues to slice the vegetables.

“Oh c'mon Laura, look at him. Does he look like he's heartbroken?”My uncle defends me. “Thank you”, I say.

“He keeps knocking over the same spoon!”, my mom defends.

“Because you keep distracting me and pushing for attention”, I point out. “I don't!”, she retorts. “You so do”, I tease, and plant a kiss on her forehead.

“Oh such affection”, Little Laura teases and laughs as she steps into the kitchen.

“Oh piss off”, I joke. “Hi auntie”, Little Laura, who is 24-the same age- as I am, says with a bright smile as she hugs my mom.

“Hello my darling”, my mom says with so much love in her voice, Little Laura has always been the daughter she never had.

“Where's your mother?”, my mom asks, and Laura's smile drops a little as she shakes her head. It's been years, and her mother, Ophelia was still not back to her old self after the death of her only son, Laura's twin brother, Luke.

“Oh I'm so hungry. How long do we have to wait?”, my uncle breaks the sad mood.

“It'll be ready soon “, I tell him.

“Perfect?”, he says and claps his hands, “I'll go check on the barbeque “, he adds and leaves humming.

“She'll come around soon “, my mom repeats the same sentence she's been saying to Little Laura over the past 10 to 11 years.

Laura simply smiles, obviously drained from all this, but still puts up a smile.

That's one thing I love about my family, no matter what we've been through, we still keep going. With a smile on our face and hope in our hearts.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

“Mm, this tastes so good nephew”, my uncle praises from the far end of the dinner table.

“Of course, he's the best chef. Always been since we were little”, Little Laura adds, with an assuring smile.

“Thanks guys, you've always been supportive”, I admit.

“And I have not!?”, my mom questions. “Please Laura, wait for another day to pick up a fight with him “, my uncle Robert comes to my defense.

“Yeah, seems like I'll get plenty of days to do that since he quit his job. Saying, ‘it wasn't meant for me ‘,” my mom mimics me.

“You didn't know it wasn't meant for you all this time until you and Alicia broke up. Or is it because she knows the family you worked for “, my mom keeps pushing.

“Please auntie, I know you're concerned but it's starting to sound like you're doing something else because of how hard you're pushing. Plus Stephan has his own restaurants he needs to give more attention to”, Little Laura comes to my defense.

“Plus, he doesn't live under your roof. And nephew, I've got a job offer for you in a mansion. A friend's mansion, apparently their chef died two days ago and they need a new chef”, Robert adds.

“Really? Where?”I ask, intrigued.

Everyone knows I prefer to cook in family homes or simply homes, than in the restaurants I own. Plus, I have hired chefs there and Little Laura as my manager, I barely go to any of them.

“I'll text you the details. But you have to really abide by their rules, they are a really strict family, very serious about their rules”, Robert warns.

“Copy “, I answer.

Every house has their rules, especially wealthy ones. They are obviously three times wealthier than my family, even though we are also seen as elites in the society.

“If you'd be interested after going through the details and contract which I will also send to you, then you let me know so I have my friend Rod set a date for your interview”, Robert adds.

“I will, thank you very much uncle”, I nod, and he returns it.