Part 5/7 Still fluff and nonsense.

Nico brings huge bags of chips and snacks, Zo brings enough beer to float a small boat, and Vanessa brings Giuliano, much to the groans of everyone else there.

He holds up his hands in mock surrender. "You really know how to make a man feel welcome."

"Well, if we see a man enter, we'll be sure to welcome him," Zo says, and Vanessa levels a glare at him. "Don't give me that look. We told you this was a council of war to figure out what we're going to do, and we sure as hell don't need a Medici in on it."

"Are you declaring war for us or on us?" Giuliano asks.

Zo shrugs and opens a beer. "We haven't decided yet."

"As much as I hate to interrupt another one of your pissing contests, Zo, I think we all need to figure out what's best and what we're going to do. Things are really out of hand," Leo says.

"The only problem seems to be between your brother," Zo gestures to Giuliano, "who is too stupid to sell a business that should have gone bankrupt years ago and your boyfriend," he levels the beer bottle at Leo, "who is a stupid fucker who brings out the worst in everyone. I don't see what we have to do with it."

"He is inot/i my boyfriend and even if he were, that attack from Lorenzo was totally unprovoked."

"His face is provocation enough," Zo mutters into the beer.

"Boys, stop," Vanessa stands up and walks between them. "The problem is that Lorenzo doesn't want to sell the coffee shop, and we need to make sure that he doesn't have to. Not because we will lose our jobs, but because it's the right thing to do. He needs something to believe in, and Giuliano and I are going to do everything in our power to make sure the shop remains his."

Giuliano reaches up and takes her hand with a grateful smile, and she sits down beside him again.

"It's not that simple," Leo says and briefly explains what Riario had told him.

"So it's all personal, because our grandfather was a dick?" Giuliano shakes his head. "Why is he punishing us for that?"

"Because that character trait skips a generation?" Zo says sweetly, and Vanessa whallops him with a throw pillow.

"Vanessa was right about one thing. Lorenzo shouldn't have to sell the coffee shop if he doesn't want to," Leo says slowly. "And what is the biggest obstacle to him keeping it? Or rather, what would be the biggest reason for him to actually sell?"

"Money," Nico speaks up. "The coffee shop hasn't actually turned a profit in forever. It's only kept afloat because Clarice was using money from her family's trust fund to keep it going. As a favor to Lorenzo once she quit working to raise the kids."

"Didn't Lorenzo used to work at a big bank?" Zo asks.

Giuliano clears his throat. "Yes, he did. But when the economy crashed, the bank downsized and apparently Lorenzo went in every day for months, acting like he still had a job because he didn't want to worry Clarice. But, he couldn't find another position in banking, and that's when all the trouble with all the other women started."

"He felt the pain in his ego so he used his dick to—"

"Zo!" Vanessa cuts in.

Giuliano shook his head. "I'm not saying he was right, just that things were difficult and he was ashamed to let Clarice know. The horrible thing is, she wouldn't have cared at all that he'd been let go, but finding out about that along with all the lying and the women...I can't say I blame her for being angry."

"So he's been unemployed for quite a while, and I'm sure he has no savings left," Leo thinks out loud.

"And the shop's accounts are a mess," Nico adds and turns red when they all turn to stare at him. "Well, who do you think pays the vendors for supplies and cuts your paychecks? It's not the accounting fairy."

"I had no idea there were such hidden depths to you, Nico," and he blushes again at Vanessa's compliment.

"It wasn't really hard," Nico says, "but Clarice thought I could help out, and things weren't bad at first. But now, Lorenzo has been taking money from the business accounts, and I've had to get creative to make sure everyone gets paid on time or it will be really hard to make coffee without water, power or employees."

"Well done, Nico," Leo says. "So you know roughly how much money we would have to come up with to get the shop back in the black and make Lorenzo think twice about selling."

"But then we'd have to keep sales high in order to maintain the profit. Otherwise, we'll just be in the same situation again in a couple months."

"Maybe," Leo muses, rubbing his chin briskly as he thinks. "Or maybe, we'll just have to come up with a plan to make the coffee shop so irresistible, so beloved, that the very community will rise up and fight if anyone tries to buy it and close it down."

"And how, pray tell, are we going to manage that?" Zo watches him suspiciously, and Leo's evil grin is confirmation enough of the undeniable genius of his plan.

"I have an idea."

"No, no, nope," Zo slams down the beer and jumps to his feet, but Leo anticipates his move and they're locked in a dance, left-right-feint to the left, as Leo blocks Zo in between the coffee table and the couch. "Let me out, you son of a bitch, I swore I'd never be part of one of your nefarious schemes again!"

"You never swore that!"

"I did! I swore it when I was in a sinking canoe in the middle of the lake in the park. I swore it when we were being chased by a group of very angry women who thought we were perverts in that shopping mall. I swore it the last time we spent the night in jail after you made me try to steal a llama, and I really meant it that time!"

"Zo, it's a fantastic plan! It can't go wrong!"

Zo claps his hands over his ears and shouts, "Don't say that! You always say that and it. Always. Goes. Wrong."

"I promise," Leo stands straight, left hand crossed over his chest and says, "Cross my heart."

Zo glares and Nico points out, "Your heart is actually on the other side—"

"Shut up, Nico," they both yell, neither taking their eyes off the other.

Leo speaks in a low, calm voice. "Zo, I promise, this time it will be different. I know what I'm doing."

"Leo, if I had a dollar for every time you've said that—"

"But, this time, I mean it. It'll work."

"And you promise I won't end up in jail?"

"There's no way."

"Or maimed?"

"Never."

"Or potentially embarrassed in any way?"

Leo hesitates. "You have a pretty high tolerance for humiliation, right?"

"Leo!"

"I'm kidding. No humiliation for Zo. I'm telling you, this is one of the best ideas I've ever had. Wait and see."