Married To The Mafia

10. Cut The Cake!

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|| OLIVIA SMITH ||

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Ava giggled as I held her up while she stuck the birthday cake we drew onto the wall next to the 'Happy B'day' banner.

"Ladies and Ladies!" We turned around to see Joanne walk in.

"Hey gorgeous!" She took a giggling Ava from my arms after placing the bags and cake on her play table.

We quickly put up the rest of the decorations and unwrapped the treats Joanne had brought.

"It's so pretty!" Reema said opening the cake.

It was circular strawberry flavored cake with 'Happy Birthday Mommy' written on it.

Ava clapped her hands in delight. Her surprise was turning out perfectly.

"Let's go get everyone." Stella said. "Reema, stall Anika until I call you."

"I will get dadda."

The three left the room.

I turned to my best friend.

"Anything?"

"I have no solid proof yet but the Kings are definitely not what they seem to be."

She sighed.

Olivia blinked. "I was asking about the robbery."

"Oh, no progress on that either." Joanne shrugged.

I rubbed my temple. This was so frustrating.

Suddenly I snapped my fingers and turned to her. "What about the file Rodney sent you? Did you check it yet?"

"My laptop was stolen, remember?" She shrugged.

Ugh. Come on!

"And now she's on a ship." Joanne pursed her lips.

"Can't you do something?" I asked her hopefully. At the end of the day, she was also a hacker.

"I promised Mom that I wouldn't do anything illegal without her supervision. I know it's a stupid excuse, but after Dad died, she has been paranoid and she asked this one thing from me, and I promised her I would do as she says." Joanne bit her lip. I knew Joanne was a Momma's baby. She never went against what Rodney told her to.

"f**k!" I sighed.

"Olivia Smith, language! Also Anthony truly loves Stella. Everything's gonna be fine." She sounded so sure. "Even I was able to figure out there was something wrong with the family, but love is all that matters."

Why is this girl so f*****g naive?

"That only happens in movies, Jo. Also, how will Stella feel when she finds out he's a liar? If he isn't anything worse, that is." I sat down on one of the mini stools.

"Hey girls!"

I looked up to see Leon standing at the doorway.

"Oh wow!" He exclaimed, looking around the room.

"All credits to your niece." Joanne grinned as he threw an arm around her shoulder. When did these two get so close?

Soon, everyone filed in. Gregory stood behind the cake with Ava in his arms. Ava looked gorgeous and so so happy while Gregory looked lost and.. nervous.

I realized that these people never have celebrated Anika's birthday before. For all I know, they never celebrated anything with her.

Stella called Reema and she pretended that Ava got hurt and the duo rushed in.

Joanne and Leon were stationed at either side of the door and as soon as they hurried in, they burst the party poppers and everyone screamed 'Surprise!'

Anika looked around in shock and then at Gregory and more specifically at Ava who was literally dancing in his arms.

Anika hurried forward and hugged the little bundle of joy. And I saw Gregory raise his arm to wrap around the two but hesitate and move back.

Okay, there was something in the way of their relationship.

"Cut the cake!" Joanne and Leon yelled. Oh my god, these two are so much alike!

We all laughed as she cut the cake and fed everyone.

"This is from me.!" Rubina said sweetly, a bit too sweetly. She put a diamond pendant around her neck. That looked pretty.

"I am sorry I didn't have time to get you anything." Leon pouted.

"This is the best gift ever." She hugged her daughter and cried.

Aww.

Stella side-hugged me and we pouted together. So cute.

"I have gifts." Joanne raised her hand.

"Please no!" We said in unison.

"Real gifts women." She rolled her eyes and took two bags she had kept aside and handed it over to her.

"Mommy, open it.!" Ava clapped.

"Thank you so much Joanne." Anika looked overwhelmed.

"Open it open it." Joanne jumped in her place. "Oh and call me Jo."

Anika opened the bags.

The first thing she took out was a huge box of chamomile tea?

She looked up at her confused.

"Because you said you have insomnia."

Everyone looked confused, like they didn't know it. They probably didn't.

Gregory looked a bit annoyed and Anika looked at him like she just got caught.

Uh oh Jo, I think you did something there.

Then she pulled out a recipe book, smiled and looked at Joanne.

"Because you are an amazing cook and the author of that book is the best chef in Australia."

"Thanks Jo." She smiled warmly.

The next item was, A Louis Vuitton clutch. It was the prettiest off-white color I have ever seen.

Now we are talking.

"Joanne, I can't take it."

"You don't like it?" She pouted.

"No it's not that-"

"Ava, she doesn't like it!" Joanne made her teary face while we both laughed.

"Momma don't be mean!" Ava scolded.

"Yeah mom, what are you doing?" Leon laughed.

Anika cried and hugged Joanne.

I just realized. Gregory, Xander and Anthony was not even speaking. Gregory watched it all like it was new to him while Xander and Anthony looked plain uninterested.

"Definitely no!" Anika said looking at the gold earrings.

"It's not real." I said. It's just high quality white gold.

"You sure?" Stella asked. And I gave her a look. That shut her up.

"And the last one!" Joanne took out an envelope.

Anika looked at her suspiciously before taking the envelope.

She opened it and gasped and looked at Joanne in utter shock.

"How did you get this?"

"Pulled some strings."

"What is it?" Rubina asked.

"Tickets to Panache."

"What's Panache?" Leon asked.

"Only the most exclusive art exhibition in New York." Stella smiled.

"Thank you thank you thank you!!" She hugged Joanne and she was hopping in her place. That's so sweet.

Stella and I looked at each other. That's our Joanne being Joanne.

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"You know I am not really into the family business. But I am not bad at it either." Leon said as we chatted over wine.

We had taken the celebration to the living room.

"Hm.. So what are you really interested in?" I asked.

"I guess you could call me a Physics geek. I am a computer geek too, a hacker if you may call it. But my heart lies with physics. Though I did my majors in business, if I had a choice I would take physics." He shrugged.

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't a science geek.

"Attention everyone." Rubina clinked her flute of wine with a spoon.

We all turned to her.

"Happy birthday dearest Anika." She smiled angelically at Anika who gave her a polite smile.

Joanne came and stood next to me.

"What is this woman up to now?" She whispered. I was glad to see that even she felt the way about Rubina the way I felt.

Joanne had definitely improved. She used to be so naïve and clueless about the world before; now she was able to read people pretty well.

"You don't like her do you?" I chuckled.

"Nah.. I just about hate her for some reason." She said.

"I have a very bad feeling about whatever announcement she's gonna make."

"I know this is not the right time but.." She clutched her heart all dramatically.

One eyebrow of mine raised as I made my ultimate 'What the actual f**k?' face.

"I had a horrible dream!"

She sat down dramatically and everyone except Ava, Anika, Joanne and me went to her side.

"It was so inauspicious that I don't dare say it out loud."

"They say if you share your dream, it won't come true. So just say it Rubina." Joanne said.

"That's wishes, you idiot." I pinched her.

"Same thing." She shrugged.

"So I approached a spiritual guide and he told me a solution." She continued completely ignoring Joanne's comment.

"That's one big pile of s**t she's spewing." Joanne said under her breath, taking a sip from her wine.

"I second that." I said, my lips pursed as I nodded. What is she trying to say?

"So I have preponed the wedding to tomorrow."

Joanne spewed the wine back in the flute.

"What!?" Anthony and Stella said in unison.

"It will be a private affair and.."

I tuned her out and turned to a coughing Joanne. I took the glass from her before she decides to drink it again.

"What do we do?" I whisper yelled.

She caught her breath back and looked up angrily and then at Xander, giving him a death glare. And for the first time, I saw some real emotion on his face: he was smirking, challenging her to do something about it.

Did she forget to tell me about some exchange she had had with the second eldest son of the Kings family?

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