Taken By The Mafia Lord

771 Impressing Her Daughter-in-law

It seems everything was happening in turns. First, it was Marcel trying to make a good first impression on his in-laws and currently, she was the one trying to impress his sister over breakfast

“So you’re Chloe, right?” She told the girl, “Your brother was not himself after your abduction and did everything possible to get you back. It’s nice to know that you are home now and bonding.”

And her efforts to start a conversation – which was usually the pathway to great friendships – with the girl was met with silence. Arianna suddenly wished that she hadn’t said a word, because the atmosphere now was awkward. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, nonetheless, Arianna gave a fake smile when her gaze connected with the girl’s.

Unlike Rose, who was younger – and kinder – Chloe was a teenager, and if Arianna understood how the mind of girls her age works and the snobbish aura that she was giving out, she would say the girl didn’t like her.

It wasn’t hard to figure out that Chloe and Marcel were not biologically related, they looked nothing like each other. For starters, she didn’t have Luciano family’s signature gray eyes and was blessed with icy blues ones instead. She lacked color in her cheeks and her skin was so pale she could almost be mistaken for a vampire – at least as the folklore describes them.

The only thing the girl possessed was the fierce instinct to protect her family.

Marcel could not endure the suffocating tension either, it was like being stuck between the devil and the blue sea. So he said, “I think what Arianna is -”

“Don’t defend her, brother.” Chloe cut him off and Marcel’s jaw opened and closed on its own. She gave Arianna an accusing look, “I know that she’s the one that broke your heart.”

Arianna’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she heard that. So that was the problem, the girl was trying to avenge her brother. How cute, Arianna would have thought of it that way at another time, but not now. It seems that she was going to be at the receiving end of the blame from Chloe for a while. How did she even know about …. Oh right, that was the week Marcel brought home.

.....

“Chloe…” Arianna swallowed with difficulty. How was she going to say this? She lowered her spoon, the food in her mouth instantly losing its flavor. She told her, “I’m sorry that you had to witness that troubled part of our relationship, but conflict is a normal process. And you should know that I would never hurt your brother.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, you already did.”

“What?”

Chloe lowered her spoon as well and wrapped her arms in a business-like manner as she stared at Arianna with a detached expression, saying,

“You don’t know how much my brother suffered when you left him…”

At this point, even Marcel stopped eating and stared at his sister intent on fighting for him. Nor did he bother to interfere this time, it was between the ladies. That was his excuse.

With her unforgiving eyes boring into Arianna’s, Chloe continued, “My brother is all that I have, and thanks to you I almost lost him. It was much better during the day because he could distract himself with his work, but at night, he would always get drunk while calling out your Mmmm -”

Chloe could not finish the rest of her statement because Marcel suddenly pushed a fat slice of bacon into her mouth, shutting her up. Infuriated at being interrupted, Chloe turned to her brother with a glaring look, what the hell?

However, Marcel simply grinned while smoothing his hand down his sister’s head affectionately. He said, “You should eat before the food gets cold.” But in his mind, Marcel thought, you talk too much.

Arianna saw through Marcel’s gesture and let out a small smile, he didn’t want her to get the juicy yet embarrassing details of his actions during their time away from each other.

Chloe didn’t get the chance to say anything else because her brother kept feeding her continuously as if he didn’t want her to talk anymore.

“I understand your point, Chloe and I don’t fault you for disliking me nor would I force you to look at me favorably either. No, if I were in your shoes, I would torment whoever broke the heart of my loved ones. However, all I ask is that you give me a chance to prove to you that I love your brother as much as you love him.” Arianna told her, hoping that the girl sees the sincerity in her words.

And this time, Marcel didn’t cut Chloe off with food so they could hear what she had to say concerning the issue.

“Well… ” Chloe shrugged haughtily, knowing she had the upper hand here,

“Samson is a good judge of character and since he hasn’t eaten you amid what you did to Marcel, I’ll trust his judgment as well.”

Hearing that, Arianna’s face lit up like Christmas and she reached for Chloe’s hand, almost startling her in the process. So excited, she gripped her hand firmly and declared, “I promise you that you would not regret this.”

Now that she has Chloe on her side, Arianna had no use for Daniel, nor was she interested in bringing him to her side either. Arianna was satisfied with Chloe and Marcel and Samson and Redhead and Victor and a lot more; Marcel had more family than she thought. With these people on her side, she had nothing to worry about knowing they had her back.

Now that she and Chloe settled the dispute between the both of them, Arianna realized that the girl was chill. She had a big warm heart like her brother – even though they don’t show it – and Marcel raised her well.

Chloe let her in on a lot of secrets Arianna didn’t know about Marcel like the fact that he was scared of Chickens because one of them chased him when he was a kid and nearly left him traumatized.