Page 22 of Claiming Vanessa
Giulio has a soft spot for Elena, who more or less raised him. I don’t want to offend him by saying I’d never go for her, but she’s not my type. She’s too experienced, and I like them like Vanessa: soft and unsure and so ready to be taken advantage of.
“Hey, I’m not the one who wants to be a dad,” I say, holding my hands up in surrender.
“I’ll be the best dad ever.” Giulio grins widely. “I need to stock up on dad jokes. Oh man, I could start telling even worse jokes than I already do.”
I groan. “I’m not sure that’s even possible,” I point out to him. “Anyway, before you get all crazy for baby, you need to fill me in on what happened in Benton. I saw on the news that a church got shot up. And Angelo Guerra deserves a fruit basket for offing your dad?”
Giulio chuckles to himself. “Right, I need to send him that. Probably not too large though, I don’t want him to think I like him.”
I shake my head in amusement. “Kind of convenient for you, isn’t it? Now you’re in charge of… everything.” The diner affords some privacy, but I don’t want to broadcast the nature of our business too publicly either. I’m all too aware of all the ways somebody could be listening in.
Giulio laughs wildly. “Yeah, convenient. Almost likesomebodygot impatient and wanted to speed up my transition to power by secretly giving bad advice to my old man. But thanks to all that, I got to experience the wildest fucking wedding. And Vanessa’s mother just stone cold abandoned her.” As he talks, Giulio gesticulates wildly, as if trying to illustrate with his hands what had happened.
I arch my brows at him. “What about you? I bet you didn’t even try to save your old man.That’scold, dude,” I comment, going back to my bacon and eggs.
“Like you’d bust your ass to save anybody but yourself.”
I snort. He’s not wrong, really. There are very few people I’d step in to help. Giulio is one of those people, though. “I might try to get your ass out of the fire if you landed in it.”
“Aww. You’re making me blush. I’ll remember that next time I ask you to blow me.” Giulio smiles at me, but there’s something off about his eyes.
Sneering at him, I retort, “You know perfectly well that’s not a two-way street, Jules. It never has been.” It’s one thing to have him sucking my cock or taking me up his ass, but it’d be another entirely for me to go down on him.
Giulio shrugs and finishes off his food. “Anyway, we grabbed Vanessa, chatted a bit with Victor Corvi, then peaced out.”
“You talked to Victor Corvi?” I ask, incredulous.
“Yeah, he wanted me to hand over Vanessa. Like I was going to trust him not to shoot me immediately. And Damien would never have forgiven me.” Giulio smiles fondly. “He’s really into her. I can give him this much, at least. It’s not every day that there’s a girl who catches his interest.”
I roll my eyes. I couldn’t give two fucks whether Damien wants some bitch or not, and Giulio’s soft spot for Damien is going to get him killed one day. “So why doesn’t he knock her up?” I ask him, putting down my fork.
“Blah blah, family legacy, blah blah,” Giulio says, taking a gulp of his latte. “No clue, honestly. But if he wants to see my hell-spawn, why not? I’ll get to leave a mark on the world and make Damien happy. Plus, I get a little mini-me I can project all my dreams onto. Isn’t that what parents do?”
Shaking my head, I finish off my third cup of coffee of the morning. “So are you gonna expand your business in Benton? Seems like a lot of hassle.”
“The work’s half started, so I might as well see it through. There’ve been a few snags, but… I’ll figure it out.” Giulio looks over his shoulder and waves. “Hey, Estelle! I think we’re ready for the check.”
She walks over to us, smiling easily. “Hope you enjoyed the meal.”
“Yep! Tell Jorge that the omelet was phenomenal. I might even have it again.” Giulio takes the check off her and hands her his credit card without even looking.
Estelle smiles and shakes her head. “Why do I get the feeling you won’t be doing that?”
Because Giulio never orders the same thing twice, not if he can avoid it. But I don’t want to encourage the banter, so I keep my mouth shut until she wanders off.
“Well, just keep me updated,” I tell Giulio. “Let me know if I can… help.”
It’s been too long since I’ve had a chance to live up to my nickname, after all.
6
VANESSA
Ilie on my back in the uncomfortable excuse for a bed, shivering beneath the thin blanket. I wish I had something on beneath it to fight off the chill, and I consider getting back in the shower just to warm up.
But the night before, I noticed the steady blink of a green light in the corner, and it didn’t take me long to realize I’m oncamera. Someone is watching me, and that makes me want to stay in bed as long as possible.
Besides, it’s not like there’s really much room to move around.