Silence in New York - Book One

~Chapter 16~

"Mike?" Adriana was shocked to see the man she had coffee with exiting her apartment building. She almost ran straight by him the next morning rushing to get to work. "Oh, hi Adriana!" He smiled happily from ear to ear, he was clearly happy to see her. "What are you doing here?" She asked very curiously, she had never seen him around before and it seemed quite a coincidence that the day after they had coffee he was standing before her practically in her home. "I moved in about a week ago" he announced now walking with her to the front doors. They were both on their way to work; Adriana was particularly rushing due to sleeping in from her late night. She was not supposed to be working today but was called in last minute leaving her little time to actually wake up.

"Are you going to work right now? I could give you a lift I'm headed there right now to get my coffee" Adriana smiled, she was a little taken back by his offer but it did make sense, she was going to use public transport but his offer was much more convenient. "That would actually be great thanks"

The moment they reached the café Adriana immediately made Mike a cappuccino on the house. It was the least she could do after he politely offered her a ride to work. Although he did not expect anything in return he was more than happy with the perks. "I think I should take you to work every morning if it means free coffee" he stated happily making Adriana smile in return. Mike was quite flirtatious yet very subtle about it unlike Salvatore who was right in her face with all the sexual innuendos. They were clearly two very different people; she really could not even compare the two.

"What time do you finish? I could pick you up on my way home tonight?"

"That's a very nice offer Mike but not necessary. I'm not too sure on the time today anyway, but thank you" he nodded not wanting to push her any further. They had only just met really so the last thing he wanted was to come off as a creepy stalker.

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Claudia did not even check her blind spot before pulling out of her parking bay. She was in a mad rush trying to get to get back to work after leaving at lunch time to run some quick errands. "FŨCK!" She screamed out loud and smacked her hands against the steering wheel a few seconds after the impact. Adriana was not going to be impressed; it was her car after all. She stepped out of the car with the feeling of rage over coming her when she saw the huge dent and one of the back lights totally smashed up.

"WHAT THE FŨCK?" She screamed at the top of her lungs throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. To her surprise she instantly recognised the person who hit her when he exited his car. It was Francesco Abandonato and he looked pissed off, that is until he too recognised Claudia. His face softened and he exhaled instantly getting a hold of himself. "Are you ok?" He asked knowing very well she was fine the way she was carrying on about the car. She nodded, "yes but, the car! Adriana is going to flip! What were you thinking?"

"What was I thinking? Are you serious?" He challenged absolutely mortified at what she was insinuating. She had quite clearly pulled out of the spot without a care in the world and now she was blaming him? The nerve of this woman. He thought to himself. "You pulled out without even looking" he accused back quite calmly, people were now honking at them for holding up traffic and Francesco was casually flipping them rude hand gestures in return.

"You're totally right" Claudia was quickly defeated, she knew very well that she hadn't bothered to look out for other vehicles, she was frustrated by how long her errands ended up taking chewing into her lunch break. Francesco could not help but smile at her. She was pacing up and down along side of the car mumbling incoherent phrases to herself as if internally trying to work out a solution. "So I know a guy" Francesco chimed in breaking through her thoughts. He walked over to inspect the damage of her vehicle. "He owes me a favour; I could get this sorted out today. How about you follow me to him and we'll get this sorted now? I'll drop you off wherever you were going from there. It won't cost you anything" Claudia's eyes widened suspiciously, "really? Is this guy legit" Francesco laughed out loud while twirling his car keys around his index finger. "Why what are you implying exactly Claudia? It is Claudia isn't it?" She nodded as he continued, "now it doesn't really matter if he's legit or not. Point is I get our cars fixed for free and you'll be forever in my debt, how does that sound?" It really did not take long for her to decide that being in Francesco's debt sounded like the most exciting thing that would ever happen to her in her life. Against her better judgement she agreed and slipped back into her car to follow Francesco to his friend's probably not so legitimate business.