Chapter 17 - ۞ XVI ۞

IT TOOK THEM MORE THREE DAYS TO COMEBACK from London. To their luck, that was enough time for her to calm her anger down a bit. After all, she couldn't go to them and straight-up ask for an explanation about what they are hiding, because they have no idea that she was spying on them like that. She's aware that they would consider it invasive, thus she couldn't just do what she wanted.

For that reason, she held her shit and waited for them to come to her, knowing they would do exactly that. September would arrive in two days, and they would need her to be aware of their plans by then. But again, they were fearing her reaction.

However, they found the courage to come to her on dinner time, and by then, Chiara was getting anxiously furious again. They arrived in the damn morning, and are only coming to me now? 19h?

"Cousin, can I come in?" Khloe asked, swallowing hard.

Taking a deep breath, and putting a stoic face on, Chiara got up, locked all of her stuff, went to the door and opened it, staring at the blonde girl for an eternity. "Didn't you ask to come in? Why are you still standing there, stronza raggaza?"

Ugh, is she in a bad mood? "Do you only have black clothes?"

"Sí. So, are you coming in or not?" I hate when they insist on beating around the bush. Why can't they be straightforward? Merda, she knows I have anxiety. "If you don't decide in a second, I'll lock the door on your face, Khloe!"

"Come have dinner with us. You didn't eat anything, let's eat together. We want to talk to you about something important!" I said it. I did my part. Jesus, this is hard. She's intimidating.

Chiara blinked, "Let me get my slides. I'm only with socks on," them she turned on her ankles, put her sister's purple slides on, and left the room, locking the door behind, and putting the key on the front pocket of her high waist black sweatpants. "Happy late birthday," she mumbled.

Aw, she remembered? "Thank you, Chiara!" She beamed.

But her cousin didn't look at her, knowing that if she did, she would see her sister on her cousin again, and that was too much to bear. And to think this raggaza's two years older than me. What a joke.

"Did you miss us? We were out for almost three weeks!"

Why would I? "No. I was fine alone."

Ouch. "Yeah? What did you do? Did you go out? I saw a car down there. Is it yours? The black Jeep Wrangler!"

"Yes. It's mine!"

So, that's her type of car. "Did you get a driver's license?"

"Certo che sí. I already had one in Italy, but it's not like I can use that one in here. Thus, I took it. It was quite the quick process. I just think it'll take me a bit longer to get used to how you people drive in the opposite seat. I'm used to driving on the left one, but drive on the right. Weird!" UK and Australia with these weird habits.

Did that mean 'of course, yes'? "You'll get used to it." Chiara said nothing, so she took the cue and kept talking. "What song were you listening to? I heard it faintly."

Ugh, I don't want to talk. "Toxic by Britney Spears."

"A classic!"

As they went down the stairs, Khloe kept taking and Chiara kept praying that she would shut up, but as she didn't, she gulped her annoyance and kept walking. When they arrived on the dining room, she noticed how it was just Khloe who was looking like she was going to a fancy dinner with heels and a dress, but everyone was dressing fancy, making her stand-out. I look homeless and sick in front of them. She noted, but didn't bothered about it.

"You came!" They exclaimed.

"No. I'm a mirage," she mocked, as she sat down on Kevin's left, not bearing the idea of sitting with Khloe and all of her overwhelming happiness. "Khloe said you had something important to tell me," she broke the silence, as she smelled the glass of water and then the glass of wine in front of her. They all stared at her as she did that, and she bit her bottom lips, "It's good to always be sure."

"We would never poison you!" Millie exclaimed offended.

"I don't know that," she rolled her shoulders. "If I died, papa's properties and money would go to his remaining family member, and that is zio Kingsley. But don't feel personally offended. It's not that I am particularly suspicious of you. Rather that anyone could infiltrate your staff and poison me. Even people who hated me and my famiglia from Italy." Then she leaned smelled the food softly, "And I was trained to identify many poisons by it's smell, no matter how faint they are."

"Is it okay?" Khloe asked fearful.

A nod, "Safe enough," Chiara grinned, moved the drink in the glass for a second, felt the scent again, and took a sip of the wine. "Italian red wine. I see that you prepared this for me. It's a 'Sassicaia' Tenuta San Guido, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Italy, 1998, is it not?"

Kingsley raised his eyebrows surprised, "How did you…?"

"My famiglia has many vineyards, and I worked on them a bit during summer seasons. Plus, mama taught me a lot about wines!"

"Oh? I thought you were a vodka kind of person," Khloe said.

Chiara nodded, "I am. Vodka, champagne, gin, and whiskey. They are my favorites in this order. Nevertheless, I enjoy a good and old wine, and again, because of my famiglia, I know a lot about them. All types of wine. Maybe the reason why wine it's my favorite drink is because I was surrounded by it for too long. Not to mention that they let us drink wine from a young age, so I got bored. Nevertheless, sí, raggaza, I am a vodka kind of person. I enjoy strong alcohol."

Amazing. "What are you bad it?" Kevin tilted his head.

"I'm terrible at being patient, and at small talk," she glared at him. So, why don't you stop beating around the damn bush? "Thank you for making fettuccine in the right manner, by the way. I would freak out if you had broken it." As they began eating, she ate a bit. As she was just waiting for them to eat first, because that's how she was taught to do it. It's not spectacular as the ones I'm used to, but it's good. "So, can you be straightforward with me about what you want to talk about tonight?" She brought it up again, taking another sip of her wine.

"Your table manners are spectacular," Millie mumble.

Chiara turned her eyes to her zia. "I may be aggressive and have all problems in the world, zia, but I was educated to be a Lady. Nonna and mama were always strict about me knowing how to behave in parties and dinners, because I was the new heiress of the Di Matteo. And beyond being a Mafia famiglia, we were heavily present in the fancy business world. Thus, it was a necessary skill for me to possess. Don't be quick to judge just because they're Mafia!"

"Seems like they were right when they say the Italian Mafia is a different breed. They may be ruthless, but they have honor, and they are extremely educated. What's your religion, niece?" Kingsley asked, as he drank his water.