CHAPTER 25

Vittorio walked towards the kitchen, excited. Tommaso Grecco had fallen into his trap. The mafia boss reflected on the plan he had devised two years ago, where he would use Domenico Wild to get close to Grecco. He knew that Grecco would use Vittorio's revenge against Domenico Wild to eliminate the banker and take over the bank himself, becoming essential to all the families. In reality, all of this was orchestrated by Vittorio to make Grecco reappear. The reason was that for the past two years, his enemy had been hiding in the shadows, only allowing his representatives to act, which made it difficult for Amorielle to approach him.

But he won't escape this time, Vittorio thought before opening the kitchen door and coming face to face with Ellis, who was putting on an apron next to Antonietta. The brunette smiled at her future mother-in-law, who was taking a bowl of vegetables from the counter. Vittorio watched the two of them with a certain admiration. Deep down, he couldn't understand it, but that scene brought him a little peace... A little bit of something good and familiar that he needed. Don Vittorio started seeing two children running towards Ellis, who briefly crouched down and offered her cheek for them to kiss while smiling. Then the two children turned to him, smiling, and said together:

"Yay, Daddy's here!"

It was as if something had clicked.

"Vittorio?" Antonietta said, staring at her son frozen in the doorway. "Is everything okay?"

"It is," Vittorio replied, still staring at Ellis, who looked at him, not understanding why he was acting this way. He then shook his head and looked at his mother, saying, "I came here to confirm if you're going to make Zuppa all'omertà."

"I'm not... Your fiancée will take care of that. We'll see how she does," Antonietta replied, turning towards Ellis. Then she looked back at her son and asked, "Why the question?"

"I have a business matter to attend to, and depending on the menu, I may not be able to make it to lunch."

"Well, the advantage of this dish is that it takes three hours to be ready," Antonietta explained, receiving a surprised look from Ellis. "Would that give you enough time to sort out your affairs?"

"Yes, undoubtedly it will give enough time for all the issues to be resolved," Vittorio replied, serious. "See you in a bit."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Antonietta asked before her son walked through the door.

"Oh, of course," Vittorio exclaimed before turning back and kissing his mother's cheek. "Bless you, Mama."

"Il Signore ti benedica e ti protegga, figlio mio," Antonietta replied, noticing her son stepping away once again. "My son, aren't you going to say goodbye to your fiancée?"

Vittorio stopped halfway and then turned towards Ellis, who remained in place. He approached the young woman slowly, trying not to show any nervousness about the fact that she would probably have to kiss him again. Not that it had been bad, on the contrary, kissing Vittorio in the office had sent shivers down her spine, an excitement she hadn't felt in a long time. She could already feel her skin tingling as he got closer to her. Vittorio then placed his hand on Ellis' waist and pulled her towards his body, while his other hand touched the young woman's chin, guiding her face to face his. Barker closed her eyes, anticipating Vittorio's kiss, but he leaned in and touched his lips to her forehead instead.

"See you shortly," Vittorio said before stepping away from Ellis, who felt a jolt in her body as she left the embrace of the mafia boss.

"Goodbye," Ellis whispered, hoping her face hadn't turned red in front of him.

Apparently, he didn't like the kiss in the office, which meant there would be no change in their agreement. But if he wasn't leaving to deal with the office matter, where was he going? Ellis wondered.

"Darling, may I know where you're going?" Ellis asked curiously.

"Don't worry, I'll ask Rocco to take care of what he asked of me," the mobster replied, keeping it brief.

He nodded to his mother and then left the kitchen heading towards the hallway.

"Vittorio!" Antonietta called, deciding to follow her son. He turned to face her. "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Don't say that to your mother."

"I need to go to the bank, it seems Tommaso Grecco decided to take it from me. However, little does he know that I used the bank as bait to make him show up."

"And where are you going?" the mother asked, narrowing her eyes as if she could read her son's thoughts.

"Tommaso has taken a lot from me, it's time to return the favor," Vittorio explained, leaving his mother worried. "Besides, even though I know he orchestrated all this, I see it as an opportunity that has arisen and now I'm going to use it to get my revenge."

"My son, please, leave that man alone," Antonietta pleaded.

"I will never leave Tommaso Grecco alone. Neither him nor anyone involved in what happened to my father," Vittorio replied, serious. "In fact, despite knowing that he set all this up, I see it as an opportunity that has arisen and now I'm going to use it to get my revenge."

"My son, he thinks the same way as you, and it won't end well," Antonietta explained.

"What won't end well?" Eleonora asked as she entered the room.

"Speaking of the devil, he sent his secretary. Or rather, his secretary," Vittorio said, looking Eleonora up and down with contempt. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for lunch with your mother," Eleonora replied, ignoring the disdainful tone of her ex-fiancé. "Who is the devil you're talking about?"

"Tommaso Grecco, your lover, who else?" Vittorio asked, receiving a surprised look from Eleonora, who then glanced at Antonietta. "Don't worry, I told my mother everything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a little chat with your lover."

"Vittorio, please, don't do this," Eleonora begged, grabbing Vittorio's arm. "Don't meet with him

."

"Oh, how cute, you're worried about your boyfriend," Vittorio mocked as he pulled his arm away from the blonde's hand. "Don't worry, I'll hand Grecco over to you completely. Oh, if you want to stay for lunch, that's fine. I'll love to tell you how I made your lover beg for his life."

Vittorio then walked away from the two women and headed toward his vengeance. Eleonora watched the mobster leave the room and then turned to her ex-mother-in-law, saying:

"Are you going to let him do this?"

"What can I do? He was betrayed, Eleonora, by Tommaso," Antonietta replied, observing the blonde. "And not only in the death of his father..."

"I only followed what you said, Mrs. Amorielle: do everything for the family, remember?" Eleonora asked, crossing her arms.

"I remember the advice, but rest assured that nothing was said about betraying my son!" Antonietta exclaimed.

"Funny, you never questioned how I obtained the information I gave you," the blonde said with a slight smile.

"Be careful, Eleonora," Antonietta warned, approaching her former daughter-in-law. "This is not a subject to be discussed here."

"What's wrong? Didn't you tell your son about our conversation?" Eleonora asked, tilting her head slightly, not understanding the matriarch's words. She opened her lips, surprised, and then continued, "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Eleonora, I never asked you to sleep with Tommaso," Antonietta reiterated. "Don't you dare ever say that?"

"No, you didn't ask. But you asked me..." Eleonora admitted, fiddling with the gold bracelets on her arm. "But you asked me in return."

"Stop right there," Antonietta interrupted. "You don't need to remind me of what I asked of you."

"Then remember what I asked in return," Eleonora said, staring at Antonietta, seriously. "I want to be Vittorio's wife."

"It's too late, as you saw yesterday, he's already engaged to someone else," Antonietta said.

"Funny, because just yesterday you assured me that you would do anything," Eleonora recalled. "What changed?"

"I didn't know you had betrayed my son, Eleonora. He and I had an honest conversation. What mother would support such behavior from a future daughter-in-law?"

"I don't care. When I asked you, you said you didn't care either. So don't come up with this excuse," Eleonora retorted, pointing her finger at Antonietta. "You got what you wanted, now you need to reward me. Or else..."

"Or else what?" Antonietta asked through gritted teeth.

"Or else I'll have a talk with your son, and we'll see if he'll like to know who his real mommy is," Eleonora replied.

"Are you threatening me?" Antonietta asked, horrified by Eleonora's actions towards her.

"I never thought I would have to..." Eleonora replied. "But I need to secure what is rightfully mine. And right now, I need you to know that it's my right to be his wife and nobody else's. Now let's go to the kitchen because I came here to learn how to make my future husband's favorite dish."

The two women looked at each other, seriously. The silence in the hallway almost gave away Ellis, who walked over to find out what had happened and ended up overhearing the entire conversation.