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“Yes, it is, I couldn’t be more pleased.”  Turning back to me he gets a little glint in his eye, “Can I have you for a few minutes, Ms. DiStefano?”

“I’m all yours, Mr. Bond, shall we go?” I smirk at his naughtiness.

When we enter my office I decide to close the door.  I can’t wait until we get home to find out what’s going on with KMD Enterprises, I want to know now.  Taking my seat across from Marco, he’s his usual classic business gentleman who never shows any signs of stress, I jump right into the questions.

“So, what’s going on Marco?”

“Actually I can’t discuss everything yet, I promise I’ll tell you all of it tonight though.  I haven’t addressed the entire situation this morning but I had to come and see you and I wanted to give Carol a little thank you present, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”  He’s so cool and relaxed and it’s killing me, I’m dying to know.

“Alright, I suppose I can wait a few more hours, but you promise you’ll tell me everything tonight, right?”

Dropping his head back and laughing at my childish behavior he laughs, “Yes, I promise, now Ms. DiStefano, let me see that prospectus again.”

“Absolutely, Mr. Kastanopoulis, and there are some other things I’d like to discuss with you, I understand you might have some concerns if you should have a fire in your home,” I tell him as I put on my glasses and begin clicking open some screens on my computer.

His fingers begin to drum on the arm of the chair as he’s looking at me.

“Have I told you, Elizabeth, that I want to fuck you with your glasses on?”

Fuck.

Marco

“Mr. Kastanopoulis, there are two gentlemen here to see you.” 

“It’s Marco Christine and I’m coming, thank you,” I remind her again to call me by my first name.

I can hear the nervousness in Christine’s voice and it’s completely normal, Vinny and John always make people nervous, it’s gotten them to where they are today.

I walk out to the lobby and find Christine stealing glances at the two imposing men talking quietly amongst themselves.  I’m sure she’s never met anyone like these gentlemen before.  If you’re not from the ‘neighborhood’ then you don’t meet these type of people.  Vinny D’Angelo is a bear of a man in size but his presence is even more commanding, it’s intimidating and you can feel there is a dangerous element about him.  John Mikelson, Steve’s father, is a bit more outspoken but is also every bit as intimidating, he’s usually the one who speaks for the both of them.  His talents lie in his verbal manipulation and he always gets what he wants, Steve gets this gift from him.  There is not a person who was ever able to say no to John.  If they did, it was handled.  Both Vinny and John are in custom tailored suits and designer Italian shoes, there isn’t a hair out of place and their nails are manicured, looking like the epitome of business polish, almost old school style.

“Marco my boy, come here,” Vinny sees me first and opens his arms to embrace me.  I know I have a special place in this man’s heart, Vinny and my dad were childhood friends.  Once when they were kids they were involved in something that could have gotten Vinny into a lot of trouble but my dad took the wrap for it.  Because my dad didn’t have anything prior on his record he was released.  At that time people knew each other in the neighborhood, they looked out for each other.  Families would come and sit on the front stoop after dinner and socialize while the kids played together.  No one messed with the people from the neighborhood, nobody.  After time, while I was growing up and the older generations died off, people started moving away, things changed, and that’s when Vinny moved to Florida.  But he believed that you take care of the people who take care of you so he made the offer to my dad, along with John, to come with him but my dad wanted to stay close to the rest of his family so he refused.  Vinny wanted to give my dad a chance to get out too so he lent my dad the money to open the restaurant upstate.  We left the neighborhood and started a new life, it was a good life, my parents did well, and maybe all because of that day my dad and Vinny got into trouble.

Vinny still never forgot this favor even after lending my dad the money and that’s why he gave me the opportunity to go down to Florida and learn the business with him. When I first got started in it I immediately loved it and learned everything I could, absorbing whatever these two had to teach me and anyone else that would talk to me.

Vinny holds my face in his two hands and kisses me on both cheeks.  When he releases me John pulls me in and does the same thing, while patting me warmly on my back.  His look is a bit more serious than Vinny’s, I’m sure this is not a trip he wanted to make.

“It’s good to see you, Marco, we miss you down in Florida but you’re doing a great job here on your own,” John tells me warmly.

“Well, to be fair gentlemen, I’m not really alone.”

“Yes, you are, Marco. But we know what you mean just as you know what we mean,” Vinny corrects me.

“I understand, Vinny,” I turn to Christine to introduce her to these two men, I know she’s dying to know who they are.

“Christine, I’d like to introduce you to Vinny D’Angelo,” I turn to her and nod indicating it’s ok, he’s not going to bite.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. D’Angelo,” her voice is a little high showing her nervousness.

“Thank you very much for keeping our boy straight, Christine.”  He is charismatic and endearing, there is no denying it.

“And this is John Mikelson,”

She looks at me with a question in her eyes, “Mikelson?”

“Yes, this is Steve’s father.”

“I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Mikelson,” she doesn’t seem as nervous to meet John, maybe because of Steve and how amicable he appears to be.  She might not feel this way if she knew what this man has done.

“You are a very lovely young lady, thank you for all of your hard work with these two boys.”  He’s a bit of a charmer like his son.

“Christine, these men are the M and the D in KMD Enterprises, Vinny is the man who started it all in Florida and John made the baby grow.  They are like fathers to me, they’re my mentors and partners in the business.”

Her eyes are as wide as saucers, I think she’s afraid to make any assumptions.  Good girl.

“I need you to call Liana and Steve in, Christine.  Tell them that Vinny and John are here.”  There is nothing else that needs to be said.  She nods her understanding.

“Come, let’s go inside so we can talk.  Would you like some espresso?  Christine makes a delicious cup of demitasse.”

“Really?  Of course, three cups please Christine.  Just like home, Marco, that’s a beautiful thing,” Vinny beams.

We go into my office and close the door.  The two men take the seats in front of my desk and I sit behind it.

“Things look really good here, Marco, you’re doing a great job.”

“Thank you, Vinny, I appreciate it.”

John, speaks next, “So you know why we’re here then.”  His expression is somber.

“Yes, how long have you known?”  I look back and forth between the both of them.

Vinny speaks up, “Probably since just about the beginning.  The contacts I reached out to when we first started discussing this project caught wind of the situation as soon as things got held up and the other ‘relationships’ were being made.”

“I see,” I say wondering why it took me so long to find out.

Vinny continues, “We knew that you would find out on your own and would handle things so we didn’t want to interfere.”  He pauses and looks over to his old friend John, “And maybe we were hoping that things would right themselves before it went too far.”

“The situation has been taken care of and things are moving forward.  Now that you’re here, they’ll realize the entire situation and the attempt to sabotage it are exposed and stopped.”

“Yes, and I’m glad you made local connections on your own, they will be very useful to you, as you’ve already found out.”

Christine knocks on the door and I get up to let her in with the tray of our three cups of espresso and sugar being balanced on the black lacquer tray. 

“These look perfect Christine, Marco has taught you well, you would make a fine wife for a good Italian boy,” Vinny says.  Some things never change.

“Thank you, Mr. D’Angelo,” she answers him blushing then turns to me.  “I spoke with Liana and Steve, they’ll be here as soon as they can.”

“Thank you, Christine, let me know when they get here before they come back, and close the door behind you when you go, please.”

She looks at me with a puzzled expression before saying, “Yes, sir,” and turns to leave, closing the door behind her as instructed.

I turn back to Vinny and John and ask, “The question is what do we do now?”

John sighs, sitting back in his chair, as Vinny answers, “This is an unusual situation.  Normally, as you know, the person would have already been taken care but in this instance we’ve decided to wait until we speak to them directly before moving forward.”

I let out a deep sigh, this is what I’ve been dreading. 

“I appreciate it being handled this way, I just can’t believe it’s actually come to this.”  I can’t help but feel torn.  I wanted to ‘take care’ of this person myself but my personal feelings outweigh all of my anger.

“Well, in the old days it wouldn’t have come this far but thank God, things have changed a little.”

I fill them in as to the progress we were able to achieve even with the problems we had getting started and I show them the timeline Elizabeth prepared for me, it’s useful in getting Vinny and John up to date on the situation.  I even told them about the Bid On a Date function I’m doing and, God knows, I haven’t heard them laugh that hard in years, which is a good thing because we all needed a good belly laugh.

The phone rings breaking the light mood, “Yes?”

It’s Christine and I can tell she’s tense, “Liana’s here.”

“Excellent, have her wait to come in until Steve gets here.  And don’t worry, sweetie, everything’s fine.  Ok, Christine?”

“Ok, Marco,” she sounds a little less tense.

“Good girl.”

I look to the men sitting anxiously quiet across from me.  “Steve’s not here yet.”

They each nod their head in understanding. 

The minutes are beginning to drag by so loudly.

My phone alerts me with a text from Elizabeth.  I can’t help but smile as I read it and I’m relieved at the brightness it brings to a very bad moment.  I don’t know how this is going to work out, the fate of the traitor is not up to me finally, but up to these two men.  And they did not become the well-respected powerful men they are by being nice and complacent.

Hi Sexy, was just thinking about yo
u


Vinny asks, “Is that a girlfriend Marco?”

I look up at him, “Yes, it is.  We’ve been seeing each other about a month, she was the one who prepared the timeline I showed you.  Her name is Elizabeth DiStefano.”

He looks at me and the corner of his mouth turns up as his eyes uncharacteristically soften. 

“A nice Italian girl, this will be the one you will marry, Marco, I know that look.  I remember when I first had it, so many years ago,” the look in his eyes is of nostalgia of long ago memories of a new love.

He’s just knocked the air out of me.  Me, married?  No fucking way!  But even as I try to deny it the idea alone warms my heart.  I push it aside not wanting to think about that now, I don’t want to fight with myself about the possibility that I could feel like that about Elizabeth, finally.

“I don’t know about that, Vinny, but she is an amazing woman,” I can’t stop the smile from spreading across my face thinking of her, picturing her face, her voice, her smile, her laugh, the way she smells and bites her lip when she gets nervous or turned on.

“Vinny knows, Marco, he gets that sight from his grandmother.  She knew who all of us would marry as soon as she saw our faces.  He should have been cupid or something,”

The absurdity of these two tough guys talking about marriage and cupid and hearts and flowers is too much to resist and we all have another good laugh at the idea of Vinny dressed up in a red leotard with a bow and arrow and wings.  Holy shit, that’s funny!!

The phone rings again and we all stop, getting jerked back to what is going on and why we are all here. 

“Yes?”  I answer it again.

“Steve’s here now,” Christine states, I can tell she’s nervous again, she’s probably picking up on the tension in the air.

“Thank you, bring them both in together if you please, Christine.”

She lets out a little sigh before answering, “Ok.”  She does not want to be a part of this, even though she doesn’t know what ‘this’ is, she can feel something is going on.

The three of us sit and wait silently for the door to open.  The few seconds seem to drag on forever.

There’s a light tap on the door before it opens, initially just a crack then it slowly opens all the way.  Steve enters first, his jaw is clenched tight and his brows are pulled together above his eyes that are shooting back and forth from each of us.  He steps to the side and allows Liana to come in from behind him.  She, of course has her nose up in the air and saunters in, daring anyone to confront her.