Married To The Mafia

4. These Are My Brothers

__________________________

.

.

.

|| OLIVIA SMITH ||

.

I was a wearing a simple full-sleeved floral dress which reached just above my knee. My hair was up in a ponytail and I wore a pair of white sneakers to go with it. And I was seated on Stella's bed as I watched her change her hairstyle for the third time.

She was wearing a peach top and matching pleated skirt. She looked gorgeous as always but she still was not content with it.

"Stell, I haven't seen you try so hard even on your dates with Anthony." I chuckled.

Stella stopped and turned to me, a flat look on her face. "Because he isn't Rubina King. But his grandmother is, and I want to make an impression."

I rolled my eyes. "She is going to love you."

"Of course she is." Joanne walked in with two identical pairs of jeans. She was wearing an off-white tube top, but underneath she still had her pajamas on.

She turned to me.

"Light black or dark grey?" She held up the jeans.

I blinked.

I genuinely could not see the difference.

"Whatever you liked, I guess." I tried.

Joanne rolled her eyes. "Why do I even try?" And she turned to Stella. "Stell?"

"The dark grey one." Stella said, looking at the mirror.

I blinked again as I watched Joanne skip out of the room. How do they even tell?

It was another half an hour before the three of us left the apartment. We took Stella's car because mine was at the mechanic and Joanne had a two-seater.

"Stella, chillax." Joanne said as she took another turn. We were ten minutes away from the location Anthony had sent us and Stella was fidgeting with the lace on her top.

"Maybe we can come back another day." She turned in her seat, looking at me and Joanne.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh come on Stell, where is your confidence?"

"He is an idiot." Joanne sighed, making me give her the death glare but she continued. "But he loves you. And I guess that's all that matters, so stop worrying about it for the time being."

"But-"

"They will love you." I said. "One would have to have some major issues to not like a wonderful woman like you."

"I have the same opinion." Joanne said as she brought the car to a stop.

A guard jogged over to the car and to Joanne's side. She lowered the window.

"May I know who you all are?" He asked.

"Stella Martin and friends." Joanne said coolly. This girl sounds so professional when she is talking to people she doesn't but talks like a total nutcase when she is home.

"May I see your IDs?"

Joanne looked over at Stella with a confused look, but took out her wallet anyway and showed him her driving license.

"And the others?"

Now, I was totally confused. Who did they think we are? Some burglars or terrorists?

Stella and I showed him our licenses and finally he cleared us to enter the compound.

"That wasn't sus at all." Joanne said under her breath, but I think only I heard it because Stella was looking out at the house... or more specifically, mansion.... her nervousness knowing no bounds.

More guards came to open the doors for us as soon as we reached the entrance of the house.

"Yep, this is a palace." I commented as I took Joanne's hand.

"Well, they are the 'Kings' after all." Joanne winked at me while I giggled. We walked over to the other side of the car, joining Stella.

The Kings were waiting at the top of the stairs.

"Go on." I gave Stella a nudge and the three of us ascended the stairs.

"Welcome." Rubina King, a renowned fashion critic who was always an amazing designer herself, came forward and embraced Stella. "Oh, I have waited for this day forever." She grinned, and then turned towards the two of us.

There was a sudden change in expression for a second, as if she recognized us from somewhere. But then it disappeared. Maybe she must have seen us at work. Or maybe she realized she mistook us for someone else.

"I have only heard good things about you two." She smiled kindly. But I couldn't help but think how fake she seemed. Maybe I shouldn't overthink this and ruin it for Stella.

"Good things about me?" Joanne chuckled under her breath. "From whom? That i***t?"

I nudged her on the side while Anthony came forward and took Stella's hand.

"These are my brothers." He pointed at the three other men, two with passive looks on their faces and one with the sweetest grin on his face. He seemed like a nice guy. AND he was handsome. I mean, they all were. Oh my god Olivia, shut up! You have a boyfriend. "Gregory, Xander and Leon. That is Xander's girlfriend, Daniella." A gorgeous blonde waved at us. "Greg is married. Sis-in-law is with my niece."

We nodded.

"These are my friends, Olivia and Joanne." Stella said and looked over at us, "But they are more like sisters to me."

She smiled, and so did we.

.

.

.

"So Olivia, what do you do?" Rubina King asked as she cut her steak. Well seasoned tender delicious steak!

"I work at Her with Stella. I am in charge of Self-Care and Relationships." I said politely, which is my normal way of speaking.

"And you, Joanne?" She turned to the crazy human.

She cleared her throat and said, "Digital Media ma'am. I am in charge of our website maintenance."

"Ahh.. So you are the ace card." Daniella said. Daniella was Anthony's second elder brother, Xander's girlfriend and did I mention how gorgeous she was?. "Her Magazine soared after they launched the website."

Joanne smiled at the platinum-blond-haired supermodel-figured woman. "Yeah, and made my relationship with a lot of people sour." She nodded while the table laughed light-heartedly.

My Joanne and her jokes.

"I see a future for you in writing." Leon, the third brother said.

"She does. She criticizes our articles." I smiled at him. And he had a different expression on his face when our eyes met. A lingering stare.

The table fell into a comfortable silence. At least for me. Everyone else were talking amongst themselves but I wanted to quickly finish my food so that I could go play with the little kid. I loved children so much. And I am pretty sure that the exact same thought was going through Joanne's head. Her asocial ass didn't like adults. They were old and boring and thought speaking politics was cool.

The Kings had a beautiful family.

Anthony was the youngest.

His eldest brother was Gregory, 32. His wife was Anika, 22, and they had the cutest daughter, three -year-old Ava. Quite the age difference but they were in love and had such a beautiful family. That's all that mattered.

What a joke!

Gregory didn't even acknowledge Anika's existence and she couldn't care less.

I am so sure they married only and only because of the kid. What I read about Gregory King and his scandal from four years ago must be true.

I wonder how it would have been for Anika to be in a loveless marriage for this long. Gregory had his family. She must feel quite alone. I hope Stella becomes a good friend for her after her wedding.

The Kings were a joint family so they all were going to live here after the wedding.

The second brother, Xander, was a silent brooding fellow. I would have thought he was mute if he hadn't introduced himself to me when we entered the house. His girlfriend, Daniella, made up for it by talking non-stop. She was a sweetheart.

Wait a minute, how come they are not married when it's a 'family thing'?

I will have to ask Stella later.

I remember her telling me that Anthony wanted to marry her so soon because the family was quite old-fashioned.

Baby, I don't want Baaad Blood.

I improvised the song in my head as I thought of the tension that may develop if I asked that question out loud. But I was itching to do so, the only thing stopping me being the fact that this family was going to be Stella's and thus I will have all the time in the world to ask the questions as I pleased.

The third one, Leon, was a nice funny guy. A little bit shy but still comical with a tolerable sense of humor.

Anthony being the youngest was pretty much the Granny's boy. He pretty much acted like a nervous teenager all through the evening. And I didn't blame him for it.

The grandmother. She was guarded. I couldn't figure out her character, and I was supposed to be good at reading people. But I could tell that she was sitting there and figuring out all three of us.

Joanne looked up at me, raising a brow, and I found Rubina watching her like a hawk, a curious look on her face.

Joanne looked over at the older woman and gave her her toothy grin and got back to her food, not letting her smile falter because that's a mistake everyone make. You should never drop a smile as soon as you flash it. Let it linger for a bit and let it fade.

What the hell was that?

Why was Rubina so hell bent observant of Joanne?

Joanne is probably the simplest and unproblematic of us all. But the way Rubina looked at her made me uneasy for her.

She was looking at her like how a lion would look at its prey.

"What are you smiling to yourself for, young lady?" It was the Grandma's voice. Everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to Joanne.

Jo hated it when all attention was on her.

"Well, it's a little something." Joanne said smiling, acting all cool and composed.

"I would love to hear it." I heard the edginess in her voice. No one else did.

Joanne narrated to her the story about the bet and how Anthony had sent her 20k.

"I sent it back though." She held her hands up in surrender.

"Why? You should have just robbed him!" Leon said making all of us laugh.

"Stella blackmailed me emotionally." Joanne pouted.

"When?" Stella laughed.

"You called me family. I was too touched I sent it back. I think it was her plan all along. " She fake sniffed and everyone laughed.

But the grandma's eyes still lingered on her.

From my first encounter with her at the entrance, I did not like this woman. She better not be try something funny with my Jo because she will have to go through me first for that.

.

.

.

_________________________