Offical: Try to keep things discreet for now.

Giuseppe may have been an ass, but it was still a connected ass no matter how much he took said connections for granted these days. So for now Giuliana knew she should keep things below the radar. Machiavelli had said it best after all:

Men ought to be either well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of ****.

To simply fuck some random mook off the street may have been satisfying in the short-term, but even the most incompetent made men like Giuseppe knew what they were permitted to do to cheating whores, never mind whether he'd been getting his own piece on the side first. Much as it rankled her nerves and made her grind her teeth, Giuliana knew she had to put her grandfather Angelo's lessons on patience to work if she was going to teach that horndog bum a lesson.

The phone was ringing in her ear as she listened for the telltale clicking sign of someone picking up her call. After all, it wasn't as though the staff would be gone yet since it was still early in the afternoon.

There it was.

"St. Cecilia's Academy, how may I direct your call today?" Came the upbeat female voice over the phone. Giuliana recognized her, having been served coffee and water by her when meeting with Tommy several times before.

"Hello Mary, it's Giuliana Benedetti. I'm calling to speak with the headmaster today." She said, her natural charm coming to the forefront as she briefly wondered to herself in the red-headed woman was more likely to be a plant for the Ryan clan or perhaps just Tommy's personal squeeze.

"Of course Mrs. Benedetti, he's just gotten back from lunch. Connecting you now!" She answered happily before the line started buzzing again.

After four rings, there was an answering click again.

"Mrs. Benedetti." Came the lilting greeting. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, Mr. Ryan, I believe I need to speak with you about a home issue regarding my daughters that has recently come to my attention." She said, wondering if he actually believed the half-truth or picked up on what she deliberately wasn't saying. She would likely know within the first few minutes of meeting with him and would thus set the tone for what kind of information and work he could be trusted with going forward.

"Would it be a terrible imposition for me to meet with you when I pick them up from the Academy today?" She asked.

"Of course not Mrs. Benedetti." He answered easily. "I assume this is a problem they won't be comfortable knowing we're talking about?"

So far so good. It seemed he'd picked up on the fact that the girls might not be entirely aware of 'their' problem at home.

"You know how embarrassed growing young girls can be: never want to talk about anything happening until it becomes a dramatic display rather than an easily handled problem." She answered.

"Of course, of course." He said consolingly. "Than I shall expect you at five o clock. Unless there was anything you needed to discuss now?"

"Anything I need to say can be covered when we meet later." She said, pleased at the fact that she might not need to playact around at least one person going forward.

"Then I shall look forward to seeing you at five Mrs. Benedetti." He confirmed.

"See you then Mr. Ryan." She said, hanging up the phone.

Now that the meeting was set, she needed to be sure she had the approach she wanted to use prepared and ready. She could go dressed as normal or perhaps be a bit more daring to see if it would do her any favors when she spoke of the 'girls' having problems.