My Mafia Madness 2

Chapter 5 - Learning Italian

The sound of Dante’s phone ringing caused him to stir from his deepened slumber and he groggily reached his hand out from beneath his pillow, fumbling for his phone as it continued to ring.

‘Ring, ring, ring.’

Eventually grasping it, he pressed the green button and then pulled it in against his ear, speaking in a husky voice.

“Mm… What?”

“Dante, sono io.” (Dante, it’s me.) came the voice of his father, Diego.

“Ho bisogno che tu mi incontri tra un’ora. È importante.” (I need you to meet me in an hour. It’s important.)

Dante inhaled before growling his exhale and opening his eyes.

He peered around the room, noticing that the space beside him in his bed was empty and that Alexa was nowhere in sight.

He frowned at that before speaking his reply.

“Ho già dei piani.” (I already have plans.)

“Allora cancellali! Te l’ho detto, questo è importante.” (Then cancel them! I told you this is important.)

Diego almost shouted down the line at his exhausted son.

As Dante rolled over, he sat himself up in his bed and noticed that the glass doors leading out onto the balcony were both wide open, allowing the cool morning breeze into their room.

With an intrigued expression as to why the doors were open, he decided to end the call by agreeing to his father’s demands.

“Dimmi dove.” (Tell me where.) the Reaper enquired.

“Ti mando la posizione. Arriva tra un’ora, Dante, Voglio dire che!” (I’ll send you the location. Arrive in an hour Dante, I mean it!)

With those last words, his father hung up on Dante and the Mafia Don once again growled before shaking his head and throwing his phone down onto the bed beside him.

His father could be a real pain in his ass sometimes.

And this was clearly becoming one of those times.

Pushing aside his anger towards his father, Dante stood up and began making his way out onto the balcony to find Alexa.

Just as he was about to step out from behind the curtains and onto the balcony, he heard a voice speaking in Italian, followed by what sounded like her voice attempting to repeat what had been said.

He stood listening for a few moments longer.

“Ciao, piacere di conoscerti.” (Hi, nice to meet you.) the voice announced in perfect Italian.

Then Alexa attempted to repeat it.

“Ciao, piacere di conoscerti.”

Although her accent was a little forced, she seemed to be catching on and Dante smiled proudly at her efforts.

She was trying to learn his language.

He found it particularly sweet.

Instead of interrupting her, he decided to go and have himself a shower.

If he was going to go and meet his father as agreed in the next hour, he needed to get ready for it.

-

Ten minutes later Alexa had come back in front the balcony and noticed the bed was now empty.

Dante was nowhere to be seen, but the ensuite door was closed and the light showed in the small crack beneath the wooden door.

She decided she wanted to give her attempts at learning Italian a try and made her way into the ensuite after him.

Opening the door, she was surprised when she was met with the well-dressed Dante, combing through his dark hair in the mirror before him.

He was wearing one of his trademark expensive suits, a very dark blue one with a white dress shirt beneath it.

His tie was a mixture of different blues, and his bright emerald-green eyes peered back at her through the reflection as he finished his hair and smiled.

“There she is…”

“Good morning.” she smirked seductively.

“Is this how you’ll dress for me now that we’re in Italy, Mr. Romano?”

His reaction to her calling him that was immediate, as his eyes narrowed, and he let out a deepened growl of warning.

“Alexa…”

Alexa knew what calling Dante ‘Mr Romano’ did to him.

And what’s worse, he didn’t have the time to punish her for it right now.

He needed to get going if he were to meet his father at their agreed upon location in time.

Turning around and closing the gap between the two of them, Dante wrapped both arms possessively around her waist as he looked her in the eyes with a darkened expression.

“We’ll deal with your apparent lack of respect a little later, amore mio.” he announced sternly, causing Alexa’s left brow to lift in question at what he had meant by his comment.

“Right now, I have to go somewhere.”

Her brows furrowed inward and her ruby red lips pouted at the news.

“You’re leaving?” she asked, puzzled.

“Why?”

“I’m meeting up with my father. He needs my help with something...”

He lifted his left wrist to view his Rolex watch before adding,

“…and I’m already running late.”

“But I thought we were going shopping?” she asked, taking his hand with hers.

Pursing his lips together, he tried not to focus on how much this change in plans was hurting Alexa.

It was actually hurting him, the fact that she wasn’t happy with him.

“I promised you a trip out shopping, did I not?” he asked, squeezing her hand.

“I always keep my promises, bella…”

“I don’t understand.” she admitted bluntly, shaking her head.

“I have arranged for Nicola and some of the others to escort you down to the local Mall this morning. Your friend Willow can come as well.” he explained.

“Oh… ok.”

Although she felt abandoned and in a certain sense, betrayed by this sudden change in their plans, Alexa nodded her head and held her concerns back for the time being.

She knew that he had businesses to run and that he was primarily a very busy man.

“Will I at least see you later on?” she asked hopefully.

His expression softened at her evident concern, and he smiled, leaning his head in so that their foreheads were touching each other.

They both closed their eyes at this intimate moment being shared between them.

“Of course. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

“Promise me, Dante.” she insisted, lifting her eyes to meet his, her lips mere inches away from his now.

“Promise that no matter what happens, you’ll come back to me.”

He stood for a moment in complete silence, just staring back at her with admiration and pride.

This woman was everything to him.

And he would not let her down.

Eventually he smiled and spoke his reply.

“I promise.”

-

After saying his goodbyes to Alexa, Dante headed off with only Luca in the car to escort him.

Wherever he was headed, he was confident enough not to be surrounded by his men.

Alexa stood watching the car driving down along the winding driveway from her window with a saddened expression.

By now she had changed into the last dress she had left in her bag for their trip out this morning.

The dress was a peach colour and had a v neckline, with a tight-fitting skirt that reached just above her knees.

It was strapless but had some draping pieces of lace hanging down from the shoulders which gave the dress a much daintier appeal.

With her long cascading blonde hair down and in waves, she added a layer of mascara to her long lashes and her look was complete.

Just as she had finished, Willow stepped into the bedroom where Alexa was slipping on her beaded sandals, one by one.

“Hey girl, you ready?”

Willow seemed to beam with happiness as she stride confidently into the room and sat down beside her bestie on the edge of the bed.

“I never in my life thought that I’d be going out shopping in Italy! Seriously, this is unbelievable.”

Alexa forced a smile as she came to stand up.

Willow, knowing her best friend better than anyone else, immediately sensed that something was wrong and stood up to begin her interrogation.

“Ok, spit it out… what’s going on?” she demanded.

Alexa turned and looked at Willow with a clearly guilty expression.

“W…what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Lex. It’s obvious something’s wrong. You’re moping around this room as if someone died.” Willow pointed out, her hands on both her hips.

Stopping and letting out a large sigh, Alexa closed her eyes for a second before reopening them and turning back around to face her nosey friend.

She never could hide anything from Willow, not ever.

“I just…” she paused, shaking her head at the obscurity of her next comment.

“I thought he’d be with me today. You know, for our first day here in Italy. I had no idea he had plans to be elsewhere until the very last minute…” Alexa admitted.

“I hate not being told anything. It almost feels like he doesn’t trust me.”

Willow shook her head now as she wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulder and grabbed her purse, pushing it into Alexa’s hands.

“You’re overthinking this, Lex. That’s all this is. And more importantly, you’re forgetting where we are…”

Pausing her comment, Willow let her friend across the room to the balcony where she gestured outside at the splendid surroundings before them as she continued.

“…Italy. We’re in f*****g Italy Alexa! This has always been your dream, remember?”

“Yeah, it has.” Alexa admitted.

“So? Why not enjoy it?” Willow added, turning her friend around and leading her towards the doorway.

“Let’s go all Pretty Woman on this place, huh?”

That caused a massive smile to appear on Alexa’s face as the two of them continued on out into the hallway and down towards the main lobby of the castle.

If Dante couldn’t be there with her, Alexa would simply have to enjoy herself with Willow and make the most of their situation.

After all, she had Dante’s credit card…

An unlimited credit card.

This was going to be fun!