Page 51 of Spice and Revenge

“How did you even become friends with them?” Blanco huffs.

He seems to share the same sentiments as Hilda.

“Friends?” I snort. “We just spoke for some time yesterday.”

After Leo’s driver brought me back home in the early hours of dawn, I changed out of the t-shirt and jeans I’d worn to cover up the lingerie beneath, then I moved straight to the kitchen. A few minutes into making breakfast, the twins strolled in, asking me a bunch of questions. Apparently, they’d been arguing about Italian and Sicilian cuisine, and they wanted to get the opinion of a ‘well-seasoned chef’, as Fabio had put it.

Along the line of our conversation, they’d decided to join in the breakfast-making process. If joining meant them standing at acorner and watching as Hilda, Blanco and I mixed ingredients together, sure.

After breakfast, Aurora had complimented my cooking, and she told me she wanted me to teach her how to cook.

“They never speak to any of the other workers around here,” Hilda muses, before adding. “Stuck-up rich kids.”

“They don’t owe you that, Hilda. We are just employees here,” Blanco says as he rolls a stuffed sardine between his palms.

Hilda stares at him, an offended look on her face. “I thought you were on my side here.”

“Nope. I was just wondering how they suddenly started talking to Lorena, that’s all,” he says, flashing a smile at Hilda’s scowling face.

“Well, at least they’re not as bad as Carmela,” Hilda huffs and I chuckle.

Her beef with the teenager is amusing.

The two voices get closer, and soon, Aurora and Fabio step into the kitchen.

“Hey everyone,” Aurora exclaims at the same time Fabio says, “What smells so good in here?”

Hilda and Blanco immediately go mute, and I almost laugh at their innocent expressions.

“Hey, Aurora,” I greet, before tilting my head slightly at Fabio.

“You are late for your culinary lessons,” I muse, which earns me an apologetic look from her.

“I woke up late…”

“That’s what you get when you go to bed late because you’re watching Gossip Girl,” Fabio interrupts.

Blanco snorts, but he quickly masks it with a cough.

“The spices,” he mutters, his eyes watering.

“Ah. What if this was a bad idea?” Aurora asks, casting Blanco a sympathetic look.

I chuckle inwardly. What a damn good actor.

Fabio shakes his head. “Nope. This was your idea. You said you wanted to learn a new skill. Well, here we are…”

“And luckily for you, you don’t have to spend years in culinary school with rude professors and zero time for yourself,” I add.

Aurora sighs deeply. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

Grabbing her twin brother’s arm, they both move to where Blanco and Hilda are currently standing.

“We’ll take over from here,” Aurora says.

My kitchen assistants both look up at me, a mixture of shock and confusion on their faces. Hilda looks scared shitless. She’s probably scared that she will lose her job if she lets any of the Vitale kids take her place in the kitchen.

“It’s fine,” I say, and her chest visibly deflates in relief.

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