Arranged To The Mafia Boss

Chapter 19 • Shopping Encounter

Maria peeked around the corner, making sure no one was coming her way. She knew Daniel had gone somewhere so he wasn't her concern, but her daughter was. She took one last look around the corner before she pulled her phone out and searched for a phone number. 

She held the phone to her ear, and waited a few moments before the person answered the phone.

Meanwhile, Mireballa sat in the garden with Ariana, waiting for Daniel and Mathew to get back so they could leave since it was the last day at the villa. Bianca and Andrej had left an hour ago along with Antonio. 

"I hate waiting," Ariana sighed, as she threw her head back. Mirabella nodded. She hated when Daniel went off and she had to wait for him to get back. And sometimes it would be hours of waiting. 

"Anyways," Ariana said, changing the subject. "Do you having in mind that you might wear?"

Marbella frowned and tilted her head slightly to the side. "To what?" She asked.

"That brother of mine needs to speak up more," Ariana muttered under her breath. "To the opening of the casino,"she told Mirabella.

"Oh," Mirabella sat there for a shot moment and thought, but nothing was coming to her mind. "Dunno," she shrug. "You?"

Ariana shook her head. "But it's fine," she said. "We still have two weeks until that." Right after she said that, her phone went off. She looked down at the screen and read the text message saying that they were waiting outside for them. 

"Is that them?" Mirabella asked.

"Yeah," Ariana replied. "They're outside."

The two walked in the villa through the kitchen, and then made their way down the corridor, passing the courtyard. They were just about to head outside the front door, when Ariana spotted her mother in the living room talking to someone on the phone yet again. "Mum," She said, getting the woman's attention.

Maria quickly ended the phone call, and turned to face her daughter and daughter-in-law. She forced a smile and held her phone in her hands tightly, as though she was afraid they'd snatch it from her. "You're still here," Ariana stated. "I thought you had left right after Bianca."

Maria exhaled a laugh. "I had to check in on something," she said. "And also I wanted to stay here a little longer before I left. Memories."

"Oh," Ariana said. "And who was that on the phone?" 

Mirabella noticed how tense Maria had become, and it wasn't just her body language that gave it away, but also her eyes. A slight flicker of fear danced behind her smile. Maria laughed. "Just a friend," she brushed off. 

Ariana watched her mother for a moment in silence. She didn't know why, but there was something off about her and she felt the need to know why and what was going on. But she knew she had to be clever about this or her mother would deny the whole thing. 

"Are you two leaving?" Maria asked them, changing the subject quickly.

Still, Ariana said nothing and watched her mother. Mirabella looked at the two women, her eyes moving from one to the other and she knew someone had to clear the air out. "Yes," she replied. "Daniel and Mathew are waiting outside for us." 

Maria nodded with a smile that was paining her. 

"AURORA!"  Ariana bellowed. "Come on, sweetheart we're leaving!" 

Aurora came walking down the staircase and made her way towards her mother. "Say goodbye to nonna," Ariana said. Maria kneeled down to Aurora and hugged her as she placed her kiss on her cheek.

(Grandmother)

"Okay, lets go" Ariana said, holding her hand out to her daughter, who took it. 

••••

"Are you sure it's safe to open the casino?" Mathew asked Daniel as they waited for Mirabella and Ariana to come out of the villa.

Daniel stood silently against his car, and looked down at the ground. The reason he and Mathew and Diego went out was because they had to meet up with a man that they had infiltrating information for them from a rival family they had in America. The man had told them of their motives, but they weren't motives that wanted to harm Daniel or his family. They were simply dropping by Italy for some reason and no one— not even their own knew what that reason was. 

"Yeah," Daniel answered shortly.

Mathew and Diego looked away from Daniel and made eye contact. They were both thinking the same thing. "Are you sure?" Mathew asked him, and Daniel only nodded.

"Why don't you think this through?" Diego suggested. "They will be coming here in two weeks time," he said. "That's the same time you want to open the casino. Don't you think it's a little risky?"

Daniel exhaled a sigh and opened his mouth to speak, but the second he looked up he saw Ariana, Mirabella and Aurora walking out from the villa. 

"Papa!" Aurora chimed as she ran to her father and hugged him. 

"How's my beautiful princess?" Mathew asked before he kissed the little girl in his arms on the cheek.

Aurora smiled. "Good."

Mathew smiled and then turned to look at his wife who seemed like something was on her mind and troubling her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Che succede, amore mio?" He asked her.

(What's going on, my love?)

Ariana shook her head. "Nothing," she replied softly. "Just tired. Can we go?" Mathew nodded and kissed her once more on the forehead before they bid their goodbyes to Mirabella, Diego and Daniel.

The three waved to Aurora as the car drove out of the driveway and onto the main road. "Diego," Daniel said in a boss-like tone. Diego looked at him, ready to take any order he was about to be given. He held his head up high, his shoulders were relaxed and his facial expression turned serious. "Tomorrow. I want both you and Bruno to be at the house eight o'clock sharp," said Daniel.

Diego saluted and nodded. "Yes, Boss" he said.

Daniel then turned to Mirabella, who had already turned to make her way to the front passenger seat. He stood still and watched her for a moment as she got in the car. A smile smile danced in the corner of his mouth for no apparent reason.

"You're smitten with her," Diego said, taking his attention away from Mirabella.

Daniel shook his head at his friend. "Stai lontano da Bruno e Alessio," he said as he made his way to the drivers seat.

(stay away from Bruno and Alessio)

"Perché?" Diego asked.

(Why?)

Daniel open the door as he said, "Rovinano le brave persone."

(They ruin good people)

Diego only laughed as he turned to walk to his car.

Daniel turned on the engine, and then turned to Mirabella who was on her phone, scrolling down a chapter she was reading. He watched her in silence, debating if he was to ask her or not because that would be interrupting her reading. But nevertheless, he decided to ask. "Want to stop for some food?"

Mirabella made a face as she looked away from her phone screen to look at Daniel. For a second he thought that she was going to ask him why he interrupted her while reading, but that was not even close to what she said. "Is that even a question?" She asked him, and Daniel smiled at her before he pressed his door on the gas and moved the gearshift. Mirabella looked back down on her phone screen as she tried to hide her smile.

••••

It's been a few days since they got back home from the Villa, and the day of the opening of the casino was slowly approaching. Mirabella had woken up very early in the morning. It wasn't like she had set herself an alarm the night before to wake her up. Her eyes simply opened by themselves and her also her mind had woken up. She found herself staring at the wall for a minute or so, before she got out of bed and went to get ready.

Once she was all ready and dressed, she picked up her hairbrush and brushed her hair out before she went to grab her phone from her bedside table. As she reached for her phone, she pressed the side button and the screen lit up. She looked at the time: seven thirty read the time. Mirabella knew that the chef was already down in the kitchen with the other workers working. She pressed the side button once more and her phone screen tuned into a black mirror.

She looked away from the phone, and her eyes travelled back to the night stand. She stood still for a moment before reaching her hand out to the picture frame and sat down on the bed. The picture behind the glass was taken from the wedding, it was a picture of  Mirabella standing in front of Daniel with her back to his chest while he had his arms wrapped around her waist. They were both smiling in the picture because behind the scenes, Alessio and Antonio were trying to impress one of the girls who came as plus ones to the wedding. And just as the girl rolled her brown eyes at them and walked off, Antonio fell backwards with his hand on his chest and Alessio caught him before he could fall to the group. This made Mirabella and Daniel laugh, and the photographer took the picture.

Mirabella thought about the first time she met Daniel to the present. She loathed him. Words couldn't describe the hate she had for him. It was a passionate hate that darkened her soul and she wanted him dead. She wanted him to be erased from the face of the earth. 

But now that she was living with him and was around him there was something about him that made her think of him as a friend. But not the normal kind of friend. No, it was the friend that after spending more time with you start to feel this sensation in your stomach every time you're around them. The friend that makes your heart skip a beat when they smile. The kind of friend you still want a friendship with, but with something more. And she hated that she felt like that about him. She hated it because she didn't know exactly what it was. This feeling was foreign to her. She didn't know the name of it and she was hesitant to find out.

She still couldn't get that image out of her mind when he walked in on her at the villa. She turned into a statue with strawberry red cheeks. As she remembered the way he looked into her eyes and the way he held her close to him she wondered if something would have happened. Would she even have let him do anything. No? Maybe? Possibly? She didn't know herself. 

She shook her head and took a deep breath before she placed the frame back down on the night stand. She rubbed the palm of her hands on her legs, shook her head once more and then walked out of her room.

As she walked down the staircase and made her way down to the kitchen, Mirabella began to think of what she was going to wear to this opening. Sure she had dresses, but she didn't fancy any of them which was why she, Bianca and Ariana were going shopping.

••••

They walked around the shop, admiring every dress they walked past. They had been shopping for some time now and both Mirabella and Ariana had already bought their dresses in the previous shop. Expect for Bianca, who was in the changing room trying on different dresses.

Mirabella walked off on her own to the other side of the shop, checking the dress on that side while Ariana was on the other side on her own as well. 

But unlike her sister-in-law, Ariana's mind was some place else. It's been days since they left the villa and something about the way her mother acted was unsettling to Ariana. She wondered if she was the only one who had noticed the sudden change of behaviour in her mother. But most importantly, Ariana wanted to know who this 'friend' of her mother's was because something told her what whoever this 'friend' was they were nothing but bad news.

Mirabella looked at two pieces dresses in the shop, when she suddenly felt the urge to look away and out the massive window. She had gone out with Ariana and Bianca plenty of times, but this was the first time she felt a heavy gaze on her. The only other time she felt it was on her first day exploring the city with Daniel, but that was a while back. 

She watched as the cars drove by and people walking, and that's when she saw a man in the distance. He was tall and was well built. He had a tanned complexion, dark brown hair that looked almost black and brown eyes. He stood by a lamppost with his hands tucked in his pockets and a small smirk danced in the corner of his mouth as she watched Mirabella for a short moment and then he vanished into the crowd. 

Mirabella stood frozen as her eyes searched for the man. She wondered if he had left, or if he was still out there just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. She shook her head and went to find Ariana and Bianca so they could leave.

"Bella," said Bianca as she walked out of the changing room. "What's wrong?" She asked. 

Mirabella shook her head and forced a smile. She didn't want to tell neither her or Ariana of what had happened. She knew if she told them they'd tell Daniel and that would mean no leaving the house without him. "Just tired," Mirabella lied.

"What a coincidence," the two girls heard Maria's familiar voice gasp behind them. They smiled and turned around, but Bianca'a smile vanished almost immediately once she saw who was with her auntie. 

"Bianca," Juliette greeted with a smile. "Mirabella. It's so good to see you again."

Ever since the chat in the car, Mirabella felt slight envious of Juliette and you could even say disliked her. Maybe it was because she seemed too nice to her. Or maybe it was because of the her past with Daniel...

Bianca forced a smile as she looked at Juliette before she turned to Maria. "Auntie," she began. "You should have told us that you wanted to go shopping. You could have come with us."

Maria laughed and thanked Bianca. "Thank you, Bianca, but Juliette had kindly offered to come with me," she said. 

It's been a few minutes and Bianca was back in the changing room trying on her second dress. She really liked this one and Mirabella prayed to God that this was the dress so they could leave.

"What is she doing here?" Ariana whispered to Mirabella, as she eyed her mother and Juliette.

Mirabella shrug as she looked at the two women laughing. "A marriage is for two people not three," Ariana hissed. "What is my mother trying to do?" Mirabella laughed and shook her head. "I'll be right back," Ariana said and marched her way to her mother and Juliette.

Mirabella turned her head back to the massive window and searched for the man she had seen a few minutes ago. She still couldn't brush off that feeling of being watched or targeted off. 

"We never had the chance to properly talk," Juliette said, as she approached Mirabella.

Mirabella looked at her, and shot her a quick smile before she turned back to the dresses. Juliette watched her for a moment. She wasn't jealous often because she had everything, but knowing that this girl standing before her had Daniel made her blood boil and skin crawl. "So," Juliette began. "Daniel married you then."

"I believe he did," Mirabella smiled a little. She did not know what else to reply with.

"Growing up we were very close," Juliette said.

'I'm well aware' Mirabella wanted to say.

"I mean, Daniel had always dreamed of falling in love and then getting married," Juliette continued. Mirabella remained quiet, a mixture of jealousy and anger running through her veins. "He told me about his dreams, visions, thoughts and feelings..." Juliette trailed off and then smiled sweetly at Mirabella. "But of course, I'm sure you two are living a happy married life and that you are a wonderful wife to him." 

Mirabella forced herself to smile, and Juliette's smile slowly faded as she turned to the dresses. "He is an amazing kisser," she said, her eyes not leaving the dress she was looking at. "Being with him, it makes you feel so special. But I'm sure you must have noticed all of that, right?"

Mirabella's mind was whirling. Daniel had dated this woman. Juliette's words should not have affected her, but they did. Daniel used to talk to Juliette and he was intimately close to her...

"Bella," Ariana's voice snapped her back into focus. "Let's go."

Mirabella, without as so much looking at Juliette or saying goodbye, turned on the spot and walked out of the shop with Bianca and Ariana.