<-I-L-A-<<< I buckled my seatbelt in the passenger seat and looked at Matteo.

"Ready?" He asked, right as our eyes connected.

I opened my mouth to answer but the boys in the back beat me to it.

"Yee!" Giovanni said.

"Let's go!" Aiden hollered.

Marcella frowned."You guys aren't even buckled in yet."

After hearing two more clicks of the seatbelt, Matteo started driving. He offered to drive me back to my apartment and the rest of the group decided to follow. Aiden and Giovanni were curious about my brother.

"We have to go over rules," I said, turning in my seat to look at them.

"What do we need rules for?" Aiden asked, frowning.

"It's mainly for Giovanni," I admitted.

"Me?" He asked, pretending to be clueless, "Why me?"

We all laughed, knowing exactly why.

"One, refrained from making suggestive comments or jokes. I don't want him to be concerned with who I'm hanging out with. Two, don't bring up anything that has to do with Il Bisbiglio. My brother doesn't know about us being in the mafia and I want to keep it that way. I don't want him suddenly knowing something he probably didn't want to know and become responsible for it. Three, don't flirt with my brother."

"Wait, why would I flirt with your brother?" Giovanni asked.

"I added that one for Marcella."

She shook her head, rolling her eyes, and then stuck her tongue out. "No promises."

In all our laps, except Matteo's since he was driving, was the dinner that we took from the dining room to bring to the apartment. It was Marcella's idea to eat at my apartment. It reminded me that I should clean out my fridge before the mold in there spreads far enough to kill me and my brother in our sleep.

By the time we got to my apartment, the food was semi warm and Marcella was drenched in soup due to Aiden tilting his food bag on her when Matteo made a turn.

We all carried our bags of food into the building and went to my apartment by elevator. I opened the door and we entered my home. Matteo, Giovanni, Aiden, Marcella, and I walked into Emmet sitting on the couch, flipping through the television channels. He noticed our presence and turned his head to face us.

"Oh, hello," Emmet said as he got up from sitting to politely greet us.

"I brought some of my friends and food from work," I told him.

"I just had some takeout, but I'm never full." Emmet grabbed the plastic bag out of my hand. "Hi, I'm Emmet, Ila's only and older brother."

"Matteo." Matteo introduced himself, extending his arm out.

As they shook hands, Emmet turned his hands to examine Matteo's arm. "Nice tattoos, man."

Matteo nodded, accepting his compliment.

"Hey, Marcella." My brother smiled.

"Good to see you again, Emmet. You guys go ahead and introduce yourself. I'm going to go change into something less soupy." Marcella said, walking down the hall to where the bedrooms were.

"Aye, man," Giovanni said, turning Emmet's handshake into a man hug. "The name is Giovanni. You can call me Gio for short, but I promise you that nothing of me is short."

There goes rule #1. I mentally facepalmed myself and sighed disapprovingly. Emmet just forced a smile on his face and pulled away from Giovanni. My brother hesitated on extending his hand out for Aiden.

"No, don't worry," Aiden said, stopping my brother from offering a handshake. "I rather not touch anything that Giovanni touched, no offense. My name is Aiden by the way."

Emmet looked at me, sending me a weird and confused look. Uncertain and uncomfortable, he rubbed his hands against his pants. "You guys can set the food on the table and I'll go grab the plates after I wash my hands in the kitchen."

We were setting the food on the low coffee table in between the couches and the TV when Marcella came out. I was expecting her to be wearing my clean clothes that she found in my closet. Instead, she was in my brother's shirt and sweats, fitting her large and baggy.

"Does this look big on me?" She asked. The boys, who haven't sensed her appearance, turned to look at her.

"You look fine." My brother said, smiling. I could tell he was enjoying this very much.

"Actually, it looks a bit too tight on you," Giovanni said. Then, Aiden and him went back to eating.

Marcella rolled her eyes at Gio's insult and forced herself between me and my brother. Essentially pushing me into Matteo to get more elbow room for herself.

I looked at Matteo and said, "Wow." I was truly fascinated by Marcella and the nerve she had. I haven't seen Marcella flirt, but this was way bolder than I expected

"I'd love to see you in my clothes too," Matteo whispered, dropping his head to my ear. I slapped his shoulder, blushing, and he got out of my personal bubbles.

Emmet reached into a one of my packed container for him and pulled out a lamb chop.

"Where did you guys get all this food from?" He asked before sinking his teeth into the seasoned and cooked meat.

"I picked it up from work," I answered. "It's a pretty cool cafeteria."

"Speaking of work, what do you guys do?" My brother asked Matteo, Giovanni, and Aiden.

"I'm Marcella's boss," Matteo answered after swallowing the chewed up food in his mouth.

"We deal with money, sort of like accounting," Aiden said, speaking for both him and Gio.

They weren't lying; however, they weren't telling the whole truth. I listened with all ears, making sure there weren't going to be any slips of exposing their true occupation.

"I remembered Marcella telling me it was a business. Exactly what business?"

We all looked at Matteo for this question.

"It's a family trading business." He answered. "We work with drugs-"

"Matteo!" I tried to cut him off. My brother's eyebrows rose in suspicion.

"- medicine, of course." Matteo continued. "That's why hiring Ila was a helpful decision to our company. Even with her license removed, she does use that medical intelligence to push our business forward."

Matteo looked at me and gave me a small smile. I challenged him with a stare. Exactly what was he trying to play at?

"I hope, along with Giovanni, Marcella, and Aiden, that she'll be working for us for a long time." Matteo ended his sentence by setting his hand on my knee. I felt his sincerity, but I knew he was nudging me to bring up my medical license and the case.

I cleared my throat. "Emmet, I don't want to take my case to court."

"Why not?" He asked. "You don't want to your license back?"

"I can wait the suspension term. Taking the case to court or not, I still get my license back."

"But the whole thing will still be on your record."

"I actually like the job that I have right now. Bringing the whole thing into court would make me miss my job. I almost got to go to Italy this week. Would I have gotten that chance if I was still tied to that hospital?"My brother didn't look convinced. "Maybe even when I get my license back, I'll continue working for Matteo."

"I pay well and my employees get benefits of traveling around the world, eating foods like you're eating now, and housing without cost or deductions from their paycheck."Matteo tried to convince him.

Emmet thought about it for a while as he chewed his dinner. "That sounds nice."

"It is," I assured him.

"You should come work for me," Matteo said. "We could use a lawyer, just in case we get into some messy stuff. I can get you a house here in New York and easily move your belongings.

"No," Emmet, to my relief, declined his offer. "I'm running my own law firm back in California. If you do need my help you can contact me through Ila."

By the time we finished eating, it was ten o'clock. Giovanni, Aiden, Marcella, and Emmet stayed seated and continued to converse as Matteo and I got up to throw away trash in the kitchen.

I whispered to Matteo, angrily. "You almost broke rule #2!"

"I maybe didn't convince him to work for me tonight, but Marcella can definitely change his mind," Matteo said, tilting his head in the direction of my brother and my best friend. They were currently talking to each other. It was apparent that Emmet had just complimented her because Marcella's cheeks were flushed pink.

"She definitely threw rule #3 out the window." I frowned.

<~> Please like, subscribe, and comment down below:) Jk lololol... Please vote, comment, share, and follow <3