*Elio*
“You were right,” I declared as soon as I walked into the upper room of the warehouse, seeing Leo and Franky both there. “She loved it.”
“Ha!” Leo didn’t even look up from the ga he was playing on his phone, legs stretched up onto the table as he tilted his chair back dangerously, almost equal with the ground at this point. I would never understand how he was able to do that without falling on his ass. “I knew it!”
“You booked the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana then?” Franky asked quietly, also not looking up from his sleek laptop as he typed away furiously like a man with a mission. “Good, I shall inform Alessandro and the family shall make preparations to be here at the chosen date. Invitations have been sent out?”
“Only digital ones so far,” I shrugged, grabbing a chair to sit on backward.
I slung my arms over the backrest, glancing between the two of them with an amused look. I never understood how they could both spend so much ti in here just not speaking to one another and only playing around on their devices.
Franky was at least working–but Leo....
“Yes! Diamond-level hero!” Leo cheered, pumping his fist into the air. “That last ten spins were totally worth it.”
“Leo.” I rolled my eyes. “Can you stop gambling all your money away into a stupid mobile app and focus? I’m actually getting married here, asshole.”
“Jeez, no need to get your panties in a twist,” Leo scoffed, finally putting his phone away as he pulled his attention to . “I know you’re getting married, kinda hard not to when it’s all you’ve been talking about for the past two months. I swear you’re more excited than your pretty blushing bride is.”
“He’s just excited for the wedding night,” Franky deadpanned.
Leo and I turned to him with stunned looks.
“Did you just make a joke?” Leo gaped. “Like an actual attempt to be funny?”
“I’ll have you know I am not utterly humorless,” Franky snapped back, finally glancing up from his laptop screen as he shut it closed. “I do have my own sense of humor.”
“Could’ve fooled ,” Leo grumbled.
“Oy,” I crossed my arms with a scowl, glaring at Franky offendedly. “I am not. I have a kid already, or have you forgotten?”
“And I’m sure your wife will not be returning from the honeymoon impregnated once more,” he shot back sarcastically.
I cringed, making a face at the word ‘impregnated.’ “Don’t use that word. It’s so crude.”
“I agree. Never say that ever again.” Leo looked a bit green, a disgusted look on his face as he rolled up the bag of chips he’d just opened and tossed it into the nearby trashcan. “We have to work with the both of them so just.... no.”
“Fine then,” Franky rolled his eyes. “With child, expecting, a bun in the oven, knocked up–put it any way you want.”
“Could you please stop talking about my sex life with my wife?” I interjected, really wanting the conversation to be anything but this.
Franky sent an annoyed look but didn’t say anything about my title for Cat.
He’d long given up trying to correct about that, but I just didn’t care anymore. She was my wife now, even if we hadn’t signed a little piece of paper yet. This whole ceremony was just a formality anyway.
I’d sign it today if I could. But then I’d have to deal with Cat’s disappointnt of not getting a fairytale wedding, the fury of my mother and mother-in-law, and the beat-down by my father and aunts and uncles–Alessandro probably being the first on that list.
Even my Aunt Dalia would probably fly over just to whap in the back of the head if I rushed the wedding. And I honestly didn’t doubt that her father would rise from the grave just to drag down with him.
So formalities it would be.
“How’s the security looking?” I directed Leo and Franky’s attention back to the task at hand. “I’ve talked to the cathedral people and they didn’t seem to mind the idea of guards and precautions so long as we pay for it and keep it respectful while inside. This ans we need to inform the family that if they bring a gun, make sure it’s concealed and only one per person.”
“Should I include that in the RSVP section?” Franky said sarcastically, opening up his laptop to type away again.
“Damn, you are a smart-ass today. I’m kinda digging it,” Leo said, impressed as I sighed yet again at how they could only get along when driving nuts.
“Just make sure the family knows. Don’t keep it from Cat but don’t make it too obvious either. So of our guests don’t know what I do for a living,” I grimaced. “I figured we should have guards stationed at each entrance and then so during the ceremony. It’s in the inner courtyard, so it should be pretty protected but we want a line of sight on the open sky just in case.”
“Snipers hidden in the nearby buildings seem like the best choice,” Leo said coldly. “Though I would suggest we have a few guys dressed as staff–ushers and so just general crew. For the reception, we already have a few volunteers for dishwasher, and Little Timmy wants to be the bartender. I said I’d ask you about it.”
“Little Timmy?” I asked with a wide-eyed look. “Like ‘little’ Timmy or ‘Little Timmy’?”
“Little Timmy,” Leo nodded. “Said he’d been working on getting his bartender license and wants a chance to prove himself.”
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Isn’t that the one with the ironic na?” Franky asked with a frown. “Little aning his–”
“Enough!” I cut him off with a direct glare. “Don’t even go there. Tell Little Timmy he can bartend poker night one ti and if he sses out, then it’s a hard pass.”
“Doable. However, I will say, I’ve had his margaritas. They are pretty delicious.” Leo grinned.
“Another thing you need to consider,” Franky interrupted, giving a pointed look. “Housing for your guests. I’ve picked out quite a long list of safe houses to use or just so real estate through the legal company that Leo suggested. I looked into it. A hotel is within the budget but will only be too much of a security risk. I figure the family would be more comfortable in temporary housing like vacation hos.”
“Good call. Buy them,” I nodded, flipping through the stack of papers he’d shifted over to .
Each house was a considerable price, but it was nothing but a drop of water compared to all the money we’d made and saved up. We hadn’t even dived out of budget from my own expenses yet, which was the first pile of money I had put forth to go through.
However, buying this many houses would certainly put a dent in that.
“Ah, did you decide on your caterer yet?” Franky glanced at and I could see the ‘say no’ ssage in his eyes.
“Yes,” I said hesitantly. “We decided on DCLA. They’re set up and everything. Why?”
“Alessandro called to inform that he is sending his best catering team from Italy,” Franky explained. “He said he ‘didn’t care what kind of Californian bullshit you were serving, but if you don’t serve so wood-fired, it’ll be your head.’ I told him you had no intention to do so but Alessandro is the boss. Unreasonable and stubborn like all of you Valentinos.”
“Great,” I sighed. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to serve both. The kitchens should be big enough and if not, we’ll just hire a private kitchen nearby for them to use.”
“Wood-fired pizzas at a wedding,” Leo drooled. “Al surely knows what’s up.”
“Most of the family is Italian,” Franky supplied helpfully but I snorted.
“Yeah, right. The family is, but that pretentious bastard was born and raised in Florida.”
“Semantics,” Franky dismissed it with a wave.
“Cat and I will make the rest of the preparations. Just make sure most of the family, if not all, is here on the day of,” I said to Franky and Leo, then turned the conversation to our real work. “What about MS13?”
“Quiet on all fronts,” Franky reported. He eyed pointedly. “I told you, they are gone for good without Ignacio. No one is left to mourn him, and that ans no one is coming for revenge. Everything is running smoothly.”
“Still like to be sure,” I shrugged. “Can you bla ? They terrorized and Cat with the safety of our daughter.”
“True, that was particularly low,” Leo nodded with a sour look. “I don’t get how anyone could look at that adorable little creature and say ‘Imma kill that.’ It’s like kicking a puppy. Only a monster could do such a thing.”
“Leo, you still had blood on your collar,” I pointed out blandly.
“Oh, would you look at that? My bad,” As Leo focused on cleaning up his collar, I shook my head, rising to my feet as I got ready to leave.
“Since everything’s going well, I’ll head off to the office and see if there’s anything I need to take care of there. Give a call if anything shows up or if you need .” I told them and both Leo and Franky waved goodbye as I left.
As soon as I shut the door behind , I heard Leo’s loud ‘Goddamit! Silver again!” and the sound of his stupid mobile ga playing.
I sighed, wondering how I got stuck with such an idiot as my best friend and right-hand man.
I sent a text off to Cat, letting her know I was stopping by the office before getting ho and she sent an update on Emilia and how they were doing at ho. Emilia was now starting to eat so solid food, but her hatred of carrots in any shape or form was now well-known to everyone.
It was a slow drive to the office and by the ti I was already halfway there, I was interrupted by a call from Franky. I was driving so I let it go to voicemail at first, pretty sure it wasn’t too important considering I was just there.
But at the next red light, he called again and I frowned. That was unusual behavior, for Franky, especially since he never called twice.
I grabbed my phone, answering it on speaker as I called out, “What’s up, Franky? Did sothing happen already? I just left.”
“You could say that.” His gruff voice ca out over the voice, sounding gravely like he was pissed off about sothing and was trying not to let it show. “We got attacked.”
“MS13?” I asked, alard. “You said they were gone.”
“They are,” Franky sighed. “This wasn’t them. The culprit left a ssage. Seems he didn’t want his work being attributed to soone else.”
“Who?” I demanded.
“Junior,” Franky said roughly. “Junior is back.”
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