The line at Mocha Joe's wasn't long at all. In less than a minute, Gianni was giving his order. He could tell by the way the barista was staring at him that she was attracted to him. She made it a point to look him up and down as he spoke and center in on his lips.

He smiled to himself and shook his head as he thanked her and went over to the area to wait for his drink. He looked at the text he just got from his cousin and groaned. Of course, they would be late. He thought to himself as he sent off a snarky reply.

Work was already adding to his stress levels and the day had barely begun. Gianni just needed his coffee to power through. He knew once he got a sip that everything would level out. Moments went by and he was getting further involved with messages from work.

He was so engrossed in work emails and getting annoyed by the second that when he heard vanilla latte he just went up and grabbed the cup. He took a sip and was preparing to walk away when he felt a slight tap on his shoulder.

He turned around ready to snap when his breath caught in his lungs. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life stood before him. She looked tiny compared to his 6'4" frame. She couldn't be more than 5'4" and he wanted to protect her instantly.

Gianni was so engrossed in cataloging everything about her from her heart-shaped face, rich mocha skin, deep brown eyes, subtly pointed nose and full, plump lips that he didn't realize she was talking to him. "I'm so sorry. What did you say?" Gianni asked his face slightly reddening with embarrassment.

The young woman chuckled. "Oh, I just said I think you have my drink." Gianni looked in confusion at the cup he held and immediately saw the name Cara Mia written in all caps. Even her name is beautiful...and Italian. He smiled down at her. "I'm really sorry. I was in such a hurry I just heard vanilla latte and ran with it."

She smiled in understanding. "It's totally fine. I'll just get another one." At that moment a barista called out "large vanilla latte for G." Gianni grabbed it and handed it to Cara Mia. "Large, huh? That kind of Monday?" He laughed and shook his head.

"I have so many meetings today it's insane." Cara Mia nodded in understanding. "I get that...Mondays can be hard. But are you sure you don't want your drink? I'm not sure my medium latte can power you through like this large can." He chuckled and nodded.

"I'm sure. I hope this cup brings you lots of success today." She smiled up at him. "Thank you so much, G..." He laughed. "Gianni. My name is Gianni." She shook his hand and it was as though Barry Allen himself hit them with a lightning bolt.

Cara Mia seemed to look into his eyes and see something that even he didn't know existed. She was beautiful and sweet. She was all the things he wanted in a woman and failed to experience due to the types of women he encountered.

There was never a shortage of Italian women that wanted to be the next Queen or Wife to the boss, but he didn't want that. Gianni had settled on living a lonely life if it meant not dealing with fake women and even faker in-laws, but staring down at Cara Mia he was willing to bet it all on her.

There was no awkwardness between them despite the fact that they were standing in the middle of a coffee shop holding hands and staring at one another. The softness of her hand wasn't lost on Gianni and he found himself stroking it. He was so lost in her eyes that he almost missed his phone ringing.

She let go and he swore he would kill whoever it was that interrupted their moment. "I'll see you later, Gianni." She smiled once more before heading out of the coffee shop. He watched her walk away and was enamored. His phone began ringing again and he cursed.

Gianni groaned as he saw his brother's goofy face pop onto his screen. "What do you want, Gio?" He growled as he got back into the town car and Luca took off. "Who the fuck pissed in your Cheerios?" Pietro retorted with a laugh. "What do you want Pietro? I'm on my way to the venue now. How late are you guys going to be?" His annoyance was growing by the second.

If Giovanni was bad in terms of partying and socializing, Pietro wrote the book on how to be worse. Gianni and Pietro were the same age, but that's where the similarities ended. Pietro like him had his first kill at 16, but where Gianni felt guilt and shame afterward Pietro felt little to nothing. He told Gianni it was like flipping a switch.

He could turn the emotions on and off whenever he pleased and when it came to killing the scum that were their enemies, he had no emotions to give. Gianni appreciated this logic as they got older and embraced it from time to time, but Pietro was such a wildcard when it came to certain things and they all knew it.

Pietro's major downfall was women. He may have had a sex addiction and was a flirt with any woman regardless of age, race or size. There were many moments where Gianni, Giovanni, or Giorgio had walked in on Pietro and his various orgies. The man was insatiable and his Uncle and Father chided him many times on his actions, but to no avail.

Pietro was however brilliant. Their fathers learned at a young age that he could handle any technological device with ease and grace. By the age of 13 he was able to crack into the FBI's systems. His apt for technological musings only continued to grow from there. He got the Petrillo family into the 21st century when it came to technological warfare.

Everything tech worthy was under the complete control of Pietro Petrillo and he took pride in his work. Gianni was happy that his specialty in the family business was in something he loved. He knew his cousin had a hard deck of cards dealt to him with the loss of his mother and wanted him to have as much good as possible.

"If you must know, cousin, we are already at Vagabond. Where pray tell are you?" Gianni rolled his eyes as he heard his brother snicker in the background. "I'll be there in 2 minutes," he barked hanging up the phone. He couldn't believe he was later than those two idiots. But it was worth it. He thought with a huge smile.

"What's with the face? Did you fart?" Luca asked seriously and Gianni leaned forward to slap him upside his head. "No idiot!" He opened the door to exit. "We should be done in two hours, but I'll call you if we're done early." With that he closed the door.

Gianni took a look at the once dilapidated club. After Giovanni's pitch to his parents about getting involved in the nightlife they had allowed him one pet project to prove it would be a worthwhile investment.

Gianni was proud of his brother. He remembered what this place used to look like, but now it was something straight out of a movie. The surrounding area was also on the come up so that would be great for business. He looked up to the sign that read VAGABOND and smiled.

They had come up with the name as an inside joke between brothers. It was a word that Giorgio would always laugh at when he was an infant no matter what was going on around him. Gianni and Giovanni don't even remember how or why the word was brought up, but Giorgio had laughed so hard the first few times that he'd make himself throw up. They still laughed about it until this day, which made it the perfect name. Something to bring laughter.

He made his way into the fresh and clean club and took a seat in chair next to his brother. "There he is! The man, the myth, the legend!" Giovanni cheered loudly. Gianni could see the bartender behind them laugh. "What is wrong with you? Are you drunk at 8:30 am?" Pietro laughed loudly. "No, he's not, but I will take a whiskey neat," Pietro addressed the bartender.

"Pietro it is literally 8:30 am," Gianni scolded. "Yes, and it's 5 o'clock somewhere," he deadpanned. "What took you so long? You're the one that's always chanting..." Giovanni and Pietro both put their hands in a salute. "...To be early is to be on time and to be on time is to be late." They burst out laughing and Gianni already knew what kind of morning he was going to have.

"I got caught up at Mocha Joe's. Can we get these interviews started already?" Pietro rolled his eyes. "Testy, testy!" A woman brought over a plate of Belgian waffles and sat it in front of Giovanni. Gianni could slap him. Giovanni knew that look in his brother's eye and shrugged.

"We need to make sure the kitchen is at its best. Do you want to order something?" At that moment Gianni's stomach growled loudly. Pietro laughed and ordered a mushroom, ham and peppers omelet for himself and French toast for Gianni. Gianni hated that they knew him so well. His mother used to call them, along with Luca, quadruplets with how close they were.

They could read one another like no one else and it was only those three that could bring Gianni back from the darkness. They were a light for him just like they each were a light for one another. They had many moments where they had gone into the darkness to accomplish what was necessary for the Petrillo name and without each other death and destruction would have been rampant. Gianni shuddered at the thought of the last time he had gone dark. It was Pietro that brought him back and he was forever thankful.

"Okay, so these are the final five that we narrowed down to. They can all dance, which is obviously the major point. But I want them also to be able to sing to give this club that added je ne sais quoi." Gianni looked at his brother and rolled his eyes. "Spell je ne sais quoi," Gianni taunted.

Giovanni scoffed and fanned out resumes of the five women that would be interviewing for the Lead Choreographer position for the club. They had been interviewing dancers and singers for months and these were the five that made the final cut.

"I'm just going to have them go in this order." He said as he got up to head to the back of the stage. Gianni didn't waste time looking at resumes. He wasn't a part of the process when it all started and knew that his say in the pick only mattered to their father.

Gianni was the real estate man. He found the building for Giovanni and knew it would work as the area was being gentrified. They would get an influx of money for a variety of reasons, including the venue was top tier and would be a prime hotspot in no time once opened. He was there to appease his father and support his brother. He wasn't sure why Pietro was there other than to find a new woman to have underneath him.

They listened to girl after girl and though they sounded beautiful, Gianni hated to admit they all lacked that certain je ne sais quoi. "This is the last girl and I'm not feeling very hopeful," Giovanni said. "Those other girls were good, but it just felt flat. I'm hoping this girl will save the day." Pietro smiled. "Why so much faith?" Gianni asked. "She's Italian." Pietro responded looking at her resume.

"You sure?" Giovanni asked looking at her picture. "Yeah, her name is Cara Mia DiLaurentis." Gianni almost choked on his orange juice. Giovanni and Pietro looked at him like he was crazy. Pietro grabbed her picture from Giovanni and smiled like the Cheshire cat. "I've heard of Black Italians, but I've never seen one and she is beautiful." Pietro said looking down at her picture.

Giovanni snatched the picture back and handed it to Gianni. "I have a good feeling about her," he stated. Gianni was just as breathless looking at her picture as he was when they first met. What was she doing auditioning for this? She can't work here it's just a front and I don't want her anywhere near this world. He thought frantically. "I'm going to go get her," Pietro began to stand. "No, sit your horny ass down. I'll go get her." Giovanni stood and went to retrieve Cara Mia.

"I hope she works out. She is fucking beautiful," Pietro swooned. Gianni couldn't help the flare of jealousy that rose. "I think this was a mistake. We don't need a singing element to the show. We can just play music," Gianni offered trying to dissuade them from this hunt. "It'll be fine, cousin. The Petrillo Trio always get the gold, don't we?" He smiled again as he noticed Giovanni walk back over to them.

The woman had all three of their attention as she made her way to the center of the stage. Each one of them couldn't deny her beauty. Her mocha skin seemed to shine, while her smile did something to lift the darkest of moods. She looked at their faces individually and then a familiar face came into view.

She went to speak, but stopped herself. Gianni hoped that his expression would let her know that she needed to act as though they didn't know each other. After a beat it seemed to work. He didn't want her knowing anyone in this world, including his brother and cousin. He wanted to pick another girl and just go on with life as though none of this ever happened.