Gia's Pov

I spent that morning going in and out of costume shops with Adrian trying to keep my mind off of Taylor's "meeting," or at least I tried to. For some reason I couldn't shake this feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it was partly my fault. If I wasn't trying to make Taylor jealous that night, he would have never gotten into a fight with Ray. My childish games had gotten him on my father's bad side, and that was not a good place to be. I know Taylor is this big tough guy and can handle himself, but he's only one man, and one man alone can't go up against Sonny Moretti.

"Are you paying attention to anything I'm saying?" Adrian's voice brought me out of thoughts. I looked up from the clothes rack to see her standing there holding up a flapper and a playboy bunny costume. "I asked you which one do you like best?"

"Oh I'm sorry, my head was somewhere else just now." I checked out both outfits as she held them in front of her. "The place is gonna be packed with bunnies, so I wouldn't go with that one." I replied. Adrian nodded and hung it back on the rack. As we continued to search, I thought back to the other events of this morning that Adrian was pretending didn't take place. "So… you and Matty huh?" I asked suggestively.

She smiled looking at me out the corner of her eye while flipping through the clothes. "I didn't sleep with him Gia." She replied in a voice that wasn't too convincing to me. I just smirked shaking my head. "I'm serious. We went out and had a few drinks, it was late so I told him he could stay over – that's it, no sex." Adrian stated making sure I believed her. "How you felt about me dating Matty." She asked out of nowhere.

"Well at first I didn't know how I would feel about you dating my boss, but from what I've seen, Matty's a decent guy - better than most of the assholes that hang around the club."

"I take it you're not including Taylor in that group of assholes?"

"No, not today at least." I replied. "Don't get wrong, he can be an asshole when he wants to, but he's not so bad. No he's not the most gentle guy in the world, but something about him just feels right. That's the only way I can explain it."

Adrian stopped moving through the racks. She turned to face me with a slow smile gracing her face. "Holy shit… are you falling in love with him?" Adrian stood there in awe waiting for me to respond, but I didn't know how to answer, because I didn't know the answer.

The thought of him alone made me smile, and every time I saw his face I got a warm feeling in stomach that made me yearn to feel his touch. Little habits of his became so familiar to me. The smell of tobacco didn't seem to bother me anymore, and that scary looking van of his wasn't so scary anymore. I actually enjoyed riding in it, it was quite cozy. At that moment it hit me, it's been happening for a while, and I didn't even notice. Adrian was right, I was falling in love with Taylor Reese.

Coming to this realization, I handed Adrian the outfits I was holding. There was something that I had to do. "I'm sorry Adrian, but I have to go."

"What do you mean? You can't leave; I didn't find a costume yet." She griped, and I knew I wasn't going to hear the end about me ditching her later.

"I'm sorry, I promise I'll explain everything later." I hugged my friend and rushed out of the store. Since I drove over with Adrian, I had to flag down a taxi in the street. As soon as one stopped, I slid into the back seat and told the driver my destination. When the vehicle started moving, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number that I only used in emergencies. The line rung twice before someone picked up. "Hey uncle Vinnie, listen I'm heading over to Rosa's, could you meet me there? I need to speak with you, and it's really important."

"Come on down kid, I'm already here." His easy going voice boomed through the phone and I just knew he was smiling on the other end.

"Thanks uncle Vinnie." I said before hanging up.

I walked into the small family owned Italian restaurant and headed straight to the back. Just like I thought, uncle Vinnie was sitting at a table in the far corner sipping a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper. This brought a smile to my face as I approached him. It reminded me of when I was a little girl and he would take me out for dessert. We always had this connection where I could talk to him about anything. He was always my go to person, especially since my father was never really around.

As I neared the table, Vinnie closed his newspaper and stood up with a warm smile on his face. "Giana… hi ya doin' kid?" he exclaimed in his thick Italian accent as he wrapped his arms around me pulling close into a hug. When he released me, he smoothed out the wrinkles in his tailored black suit and pulled out a chair for me before sitting down.

I sat took a seat across from him, he sat with his back to the wall facing the door, as usual. "Hey uncle V, how's everything going?"

He shrugged his shoulder with his cup up to his lips. "Same old same old," was his normal reply. He held his hand up and flagged over a waitress. The woman came over and stood between us with a pen and pad in hand. "Ciao bella. Another cup of coffee, and could you get me a big slice of chocolate cake, and a glass of milk." The waitress smiled and nodded before walking away.

I looked at him out the corner of my eye seeing the mischievous smirk on his face. "I hope that's for you."

"C'mon Giana, you used to love chocolate cake when you were little. I remember when you used to sit her with your feet swinging back forth because they couldn't touch the floor, and you would always end up with more cake on your face than in your mouth."

I smiled taking that trip down memory lane with him. "Yeah, but that was a long time ago. I'm a grown woman now who has to watch her figure."

Vincent shook his head from side to side with a teasing grin on his face. "You will always be that little girl with a sweet tooth to me." He replied in his thick accent. "So what's so important that you just had to talk to me about?"

"It's about a guy…" I said innocently causing him to raise an eyebrow. The waitress came back over at the most perfect time and sat the orders down. When she walked away the silence was still hanging in the air.

Uncle Vincent slowly emptied two packs of sugar into his piping hot cup of coffee. He picked up his spoon and stirred the liquid around a few times before taking a sip… all the while staring at me over the steam of his cup. He sat the coffee down and there was nothing but silence as I waited for his reaction. "This guy's name wouldn't be Taylor Reese now would it?" he asked.

"It would…how'd you know that?" I was really curious because it's not like Taylor and I are out in the open with our relationship, or whatever is it we're doing. In fact only Matty and Adrian truly knew that we're "seeing" each other.

"Well when the word got out about that whole altercation between him and Ray, we needed to have a talk with him."

"A talk?" I asked sarcastically knowing full well that their "talks" were usually involved brass knuckles and sound proof rooms.

"I'm not gonna get into that with you Giana." He replied in his straight forward business tone that I didn't dare to question. "So anyway, after hours of driving around Brooklyn my guys finally located him. Image my surprise when I find that his van is parked outside of your apartment at five o'clock in the morning." Vincent's chastising glare found me once again making me shrink in my seat. "What was Taylor doing at your place so early in the morning?"

Doing what I did best, I put a fork of the rich chocolate cake that was sitting in front of me into my mouth, and avoided his question. "Mmm, I forgot how delicious this is." I was just hoping to avoid the topic of Taylor and I, but this cake was actually really good, even better than I remembered.

Vincent's hand reached across the table pulled my cake plate away from me, and just as I was about to go in for another bite. "Don't change the subject. What's goin' on between you and this guy?"

Bereaved of the gooey goodness, I had no choice but to come clean and get it over with. "Honestly… we're kind of dating." I reached for my plate, but he swiftly moved it out of my grasp.

"How exactly do you kinda date someone?" he asked and I had no real answer.

"It's complicated."

I could tell he wasn't too pleased hearing this. His fingers tapped non-stop on the table only coming to a halt when he reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a crushed pack of cigarettes. Vincent searched the pack for his last smoke, and balled up the empty remains. I watched as the red glow on the tip brightened as he inhaled and blew a cloud of smoke into the air. "Dating? Your father isn't going to like this."

This I already knew. Uncle Vincent was the calm one, and if he was freaking out, my dad was likely to have a conniption fit. "Speaking of my father, that's the other reason why I called you. I know Taylor's meeting with him today, and I want you to make sure my dad doesn't do anything to him."

Giving a glance at his surroundings, he leaned into me a little and lowered his voice so no one would pick up on our conversation. "Listen kid, Taylor crossed a line. He beat up a made man, not just any made man, but one of our own. In this business there are repercussions for those actions. If your father lets him slide, it makes us look weak."

"But it was sorta my fault." I blurted out. Something in me made me want to jump to Taylor's defense.

"And how is that?" He leaned back in his chair taking another puff.

"Well I was upset with Taylor and I was trying to make him jealous." The look on his face said spoke all of the disappointment that his lips didn't. "I know, I know… long story short, Ray got a little handsy with me, and that set Taylor off."

Something in his eyes changed when he looked at me, it was now concern in them. "Now when you say handsy what exactly do you mean?"

'Here we go' I thought to myself letting out a sigh. This wasn't something that I wanted to talk about. If I were to go into detail, Taylor wouldn't be the only guy that Ray had to worry about. "Uncle Vinnie, please let's not."

He mashed his cigarette into the ash tray sitting next to him. "Alright, alright… don't tell me these things if you don't want me to ask questions."

"So are you going to help me out with my dad?" I asked with the most cheerful smile that I could muster.

"I'll see what I can do, but he'll want to know why I'm goin' to bat for this kid."

I shook my head profusely. Was he serious? "You can't tell him about me and Taylor… please don't do that." My brain was on red alert with alarms going off. The last thing I needed was my dad prying in my life after all of these years.

"Giana, your dad's my oldest friend, I've never lied to him a day in my life."

"You don't have to lie, just skip the part about me and Taylor dating."

"He won't hear it from me." said Uncle Vinnie. When he said those words I was relieved, but then his eyes zeroed in as he pointed his index finger at me. I knew something was coming next. "He won't hear a thing from me, as long as you tell him first." Ah, there was always a catch, I should have known. "Those are my conditions kid, take it or leave it." He folded his hands on the table waiting for my reply. This was it, I had no other choice.

"Fine." I gritted out while looking at the smirk on his face knowing he had won.

Vinnie nodded his head. "I'm glad we could come to this agreement." He said, as if I had an actual choice in the matter. It was either have him rat me out, or rat myself out. Either way, I was getting the short end of the stick. Having met his terms, he finished holding my food hostage and slid my plate back in front of me. "Now finish your cake you looking a little thin."