chapter nine

"please don't say that. You've came a long w-"

"Singora Aria, Anziano dinner is ready." Bianca barged in, looking rather happy to join us. "I prepared your favourite dear, Bolognese sauce with gelato for desert."

"You really didn't have to," I stared at her. "You're putting in so much effort just preparing for me." I felt a bit of guilt in my heart.

"Nonsense! Just look at you, you've lost so much weight. You need all the food you can get."

I couldn't help but smile. It's been a ages someone actually cared about my food. I'm really not a great cook, but I did try my best. Due to my work schedule -either way cooking wasn't my best option.

"Okay....okay... bambinaia. I've heard all you've said. I'm going downstairs okay." I turned to Anziano, "did you call Kim? What did he say?"

"Oh yes. He can't make it this night but he'll be here first thing in the morning. He said something about a purple pie."

I immediately understood the call. It was our code for meeting a guy. If only he had told me earlier.

"Hmmm... That's okay then." I wondered why he didn't tell me.

I went downstairs, the smell of fresh food filled the lonely mansion air. The table was loaded indeed and to be honest, it's was a while I had a nice meal. I wasn't much of good cook and I held no grudge. I really missed bambinaia Bianca's cooking so much.

I sat on the chair, my stomach growling. Ready to take a huge bite.

"-is it took late to join?"

I heard that ugly voice. The huge Hunger in my stomach reduced to bile, making me feel sick Instantly.

"Is it too late to join you guys?" Georgio spoke up again, louder, filling the whole room. "It's been a while I smelt a hearty meal. I felt it would be a good thing to join the family." He grinned. "Wouldn't you care to give your father a hug?"

I stood up staring at Anziano. This whole place was getting crazier by the minute.

"What's going on here? What is this man doing here?"

Anziano looked away.

" Aren't you supposed to be bedridden or something? Isn't stroke supposed to make you some sort of living corpse?"

"That's no way to talk to your father." He smiled at me. "So all it took you to come see me, was me being dead? You're a very fucked up person Aria, or should I say heather Martin."

It all started to click. I was a fool for believing them in the first place. it was obvious that I've been played by this man, By Georgio. Tension filled the air as everyone turned their gaze towards me, expecting I throw nothing but a fit. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of being right. Especially not after having a blackmailing crazed man on my tail.

"You know what, I'll just have my meal upstairs." I picked my food from the table, not still certain I'll have the appetite to eat it anymore.

"You don't really have to be childish about everything, Aria." I heard his voice trail after me.

If there's anybody acting childish it was definitely him, not me.

Shutting my bedroom door, I quickly dumped the food on my dresser table. I had really been looking forward to eating. But now, there was no need for it anyways, all the drama made me full.

I sank on my bed, allowing myself to feel the soft materials. I reached for my phone;

* Three missed calls from Kim

Kim: sorry babe. I got the call from Joshua but I was already on my date. I'll tell you all about it In the morning. Love you.

I sighed. I was all alone in this place.

This isn't the time to sulk heather, gather all your strength.

Georgio wishes he was the least of my problems right now. I couldn't stop thinking about him, the bartender. I needed to end things, once and for all. I mustered up the courage to text.

Let's meet up tomorrow. Pick any location of your choice, and I'll meet you there.

I glanced through the text before sending. I wanted to be sure I was in my right mind.

Bar: typing.....

Bar: okay. Same bar, 4:30pm Sharp.

Bar: Come alone.

I took a huge breath. Was I supposed to show up with my whole family? This guy really irritated me to the core.

Me: okay.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

As promised, Kim showed up as early as seven. There was a huge Ruckus going on outside the mansion. News reporters, bloggers, filled the whole yard. Literally almost breaking the gate off. For a small town, they sure loved news. And the juicy news of my father's sickness was enough to get them intrigued.

"How did you manage to get past them? " I asked Kim, unloading a huge amount of milk in the coffee before me. That was exactly how he liked it, extremely sweet. Bambinaia Bianca had prepared toast earlier and brought it to my room.

"It was sure crowdy as hell." He sipped a little of the coffee. "I had to go through the back, Joshua arranged it."

" Oh that makes sense." I agreed. "You didn't tell me you were going on a date Kim."

Kim chuckled timidly. "It wasn't really a serious date, I just met with an old friend."

"Hmmmmm.... That's okay. If he wasn't willing to spill, I wasn't going to pry. I changed the topic listening to the noise outside. "I didn't know people cared so much about us."

"These people want to know about everything heather, that's their job. The get paid to know stuff." He paused. "Speaking of stuffs, have you heard any word from him?"

"From who?" I feigned innocence.

"Don't you dare play dumb with me. You know exactly who I'm talking about."

I took a long hard sigh.

"We're meeting today."

I watched as Kim looked in awe. "You can't just meet up with him... ALONE!"

"I honestly can't do anything about that at this moment, Kim."

"What if he tries to act funny." Kim stammered. "and maybe he's a crazy serial killer."

"Well he didn't try to kill me yesterday."

"Heather, What are you talking about?"

"I ran into him yesterday." I confessed. "All I can say, he's a really crazy person. But not In a weird killer way."

I watched Kim looked at me in amusement. "It happened to fast Kim, but I'm alright." I reassured him.

Kim spoke slow, "You would have called me, heather."

"I tried to, okay! But he.... He's blackmailing me, kim. You were right."

"That sick fuck," he cursed.

"You see, that's why I need to get past this kim. Maybe then, I'll know exactly what he wants."

He shrugged for a minute. "Okay. Just tell me all I need to know when the time comes, okay."

Anziano barged into the room. interrupting the both of us. his hands clenched tight. he looked extremely stressed as he stared at Kim and me. There was a visible hint of fear in his eyes.

"I think you should come downstairs. There's something on the television you ought to see."