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"Nooo! Jay, please don't!" the addictive laughing of our little brother rings through the house as Jade continues to tickle him. He's hunched over on the sofa to block Jade's hands, but, so far, he's failing. "Willa, help me," he calls out to me desperately in between laughs but I just chuckle and take a bite of the sandwich I made a couple of minutes ago.

His laughs are one of the main things I missed about the little guy. It's like music to my ears.

"You can't get away now that I've gotcha," Jade says to him, giggling when he manages to slip a little away from her, but my mind suddenly wakes up a memory I thought I had forgotten.

"You can't get away now when I finally got you, Jade Maxwell."

That's what Silvio said to me when he kidnapped me, thinking I was Jade.

Shit, what am I doing thinking about him again?

These past few weeks I've tried ignoring the probing thoughts of him in my mind, but they come and go as they please. And they happen to surprise me in the most uncomfortable moments, just like they did on my first date with Lazzaro.

"Jade, let's go," mum breaks up my chain of thoughts when she yells out for Jade. "The boutique is opened for two more hours and you still haven't chosen a wedding dress. The wedding's in a week, damn it!" she wooshes from the kitchen, through the living room, and gets to the hallway to put on her jacket.

Groaning, Jade leaves Christopher alone and he can finally catch his breath.

"She's more stressed about the wedding than I am," Jade turns to me and says to which I nod.

"Her daughter, who she thought wouldn't get married, is marrying, sis, so she's bound to be like this," I tell her jokingly and sneak another bite of my sandwich. Jade laughs.

"To be honest, I'm still in shock that I actually said yes to Gio," she, now, chuckles as she grabs her jacket from the sofa.

"Jade, come on!" mum's voice can be heard again from somewhere outside now.

"I'm coming, mum. Jeez," Jade mutters as she quickly puts on her shoes.

As Jade's about to step outside, mum pops her head back in and points a threatening finger my way. "And you. Don't forget to grill the meat and make the salads with your dad. We're having the boys over for dinner." she quickly says and closes the door behind her before I can give her an answer.

Sighing, I get up, leave Christopher to watch his cartoon, and go looking for dad to start the dinner.

***

Dad and I surprisingly got well about the food preparations. He went outside to grill the chicken and the steak and I made the salads and side dishes relatively fast. Everything was smooth even when the boys came, and by boys, I mean Giovanni and Lazzaro.

Giovanni, I can understand why she'd invite him over, but Lazzaro not so much. We haven't even been dating for very long. We went on that first date just last week and it seems too soon for him to be coming over for family dinners, but mum insisted.

I thought it'd be tense, all of us sitting at one table and having casual dinner, but strangely it's been normal so far. You'd think that dad, being a man of the law, would mind that one of his daughters is marrying a mafia member and his other daughter is dating the brother of the man who kidnapped her, who also happened to be a mafia boss, but he doesn't seem to mind it at all.

"Lazzaro, honey, you said you were a professor? What kind?" mum tries to include Laz in a conversation since dad and Gio are talking about the politics in Italy for some reason. Laz quickly chews the piece of bread he has in his mouth and nods.

"Yes. I've been teaching Italian at Georgetown for a couple of years, but I'm currently in the process of transferring to a new job," he explains to mum in short lines and she seems puzzled for a short moment.

"Sorry for asking, but didn't you say you were 23? That seems like a young age to be teaching at a university."

He nods again. "It is, but I graduated college at 18, and by the time I was 20 I got my doctorate. It wasn't long after that that I landed my first job."

Mum looks amazed by his accomplishments but then turns to me.

"You hear that, Willa, honey? He graduated at 18," she tells me with a grin and it takes everything in me not to groan.

I know what you're trying to do, mum. I know I'm not a genius like Laz.

Shooting her a look, she ignores me and strikes a convo with Jade about the wedding catering.

As I listen to them chatter, Laz leans to my side and whispers in my ear, "You okay?"

"Yeah," I put a smile on my lip, which assures Laz.

The dinner continues without any problems, just as before. Dad switches up and strikes a few conversations with Lazzaro while mum asks Giovanni about his mum and what she's like. The food's slowly but surely disappearing and when it comes to an end at around 7pm, everyone takes the chatting to the living room while Jade and I quickly clean up. While we do so, she tells me about the dress she finally chose and shows me a picture of her in it. Being in awe with it is an understatement.

Pearl white, lacey and mermaid style with long train, long sleeves and a low back—it's simply stunning. I don't doubt it that everyone will see her as a princess on the big day.

Still in amazement by the dress, I follow Jade into the living room after we're done with the dishes and make a mental note not to spill anything to Gio about the details of the dress. They say it's a bad luck if the groom knows. Or sees.

"You should visit Italy after the wedding then." We plop on the couch as Gio suggests to my dad after he told him he's never been there. Dad ponders for a hot second and then clasps his hands in excitement, agreeing.

Mum laughs at his childish behavior, as does Jade. Christopher has put us on ignore, though, as soon as he turned on his iPad so he isn't as cheery.

"What do you say, Willa?" dad looks at me, a beaming smile running across his face.

I'm ready to say yes when Lazz looks at me, reminding me of his proposal.

"I'd love to, dad, but Lazz actually invited me to Paris for a week right after the wedding." I tell him apologetically and he frowns.

"Why haven't you mentioned that? Did you think on asking us first? " he raises a brow at me.

He doesn't usually forbid us anything, but ever since the whole fiasco with Jade and I, he's been overprotective over us. He's just scared of something like that happening again so he's being careful and I don't really blame him for acting like this.

I open my mouth to answer him, but Lazz beats me to it.

"That's my fault, sir. I only asked her this morning and I assume she just didn't have the time to tell you." Lazz lies for me.

The truth is, for a week I thought of telling my parents a few times about it, but I didn't know how they'd react. I knew for sure they wouldn't be too happy to let me go to Paris for a couple weeks after what had just happened a month ago.

"Between lunch, playing with Christopher and preparing the dinner, it totally slipped my mind." I join Lazz and watch dad's reaction. He sighs.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," is the only thing he says, which means he'll probably agree in the end, but will be grumpy for a few days about it.

I look at Lazz, who shoots me a sweet smile, telling me not to worry about it.

Half an hour later, Christopher becomes a little sleepy so he and mum walk upstairs so she can put him to bed. Knowing him, he'll stay awake for probably a little while longer watching youtube on his tablet, though.

Lazz, then, tells us he should head out just as mum returns. He says goodbye to everyone and I get up to walk him to his car.

It's around 8 pm, but the weather is a little bit colder than last night. Lazz sees me shivering as we approach his car parked on the street and hugs me, letting himself lean on the hood of the car.

"You should head back, tiger. It's cold." he tells me, but I just snuggle closer to him as his cologne invades my senses.

Jeez, why does he always smell so good?

"I know, I'll go inside in a minute," I tell him and pull back to land a quick kiss on his lips. Lazz smiles and gives me back a proper, longer and legs–weakening one. The movement of our lips is synchronized, bodies are glued to each other and hearts are beating fast.

When we both pull apart to take a breath, I notice Lazz has that look in his eyes, the one that makes you smile and realize how much that man actually holds love, adoration and care for you, the one look every girl deserves.

I can't help but kiss him one more time before I let him get in the car.

Lazz breaks the kiss only to land one on my forehead instead and then unlocks the car.

"Drive safely and text me when you get home," I tell him as he starts the car.

"Deal," Lazz sends me a last smile for the night before driving down the road.