"It really makes no difference," Silvio's gem specialist said, watching as Lia stared at the two small rocks on the table in front of her, chin resting on her folded arms as she contemplated which to use. The bright overhead light made each sparkle in its own, distinctive way... the gold nugget glittered upwards, and the rough, uncut diamond cast a tiny rainbow below itself. 

'

"A small handful of each will be rather expensive, as you cannot use imitations, or low grades. As far as damages, yes, the gold may take some, whereas the diamonds will not, but gold is valued by weight," he said, leaning down over her shoulder and pushing the two stones around as he spoke. 

"So. Whichever you prefer. Both could conceivably be found here in Nevada, but I think gold is your more realistic bet. Cheaper, as well," he said, straightening up. "I can get you some gold nuggets faster than I can diamonds, as far as quantity goes."

Lia sighed and straightened, herself. It went against everything in her to do awful things to pretty things, but the potential payout was too big to pass up. Silvio hadn't said as much, but Lia had the distinct impression that he was in need of a lot of money, and fast. 

And, well. She just really wanted to do this.

"Gold it is, then. Also, this little guy right here," she said, pushing the diamond with her index finger. "it would look beautiful, once processed and embedded in a tie-ciip, don't you think? Would you mind putting it aside for me? If all goes as we hope it will, I'd like to have it set, as a gift for Silvio. 'Violante diamante'," she grinned as the specialist nodded and smiled.

-

"Well, here they are! I'm sorry there are not more, but, well. You know," Lia said as she handed a small glass vial over to Silvio later that afternoon. Between earning for Beko, and her growing gambling problem, she'd blown through every bit of her money, and hocked nearly everything she had of worth. She still had enough good days at the blackjack table to keep her coming back, but it was a nauseating rollercoaster ride on her net worth. 

"Is the location all set? I've never fired a shotgun before!" She said, clapping her hands together excitedly. 

Silvio tapped his fingers on the table in a quick staccato pattern. 

"Si, there are many old gold mines here. It is good that we decided to go with gold, rather than something else. The site? You will love it. An old gold mine, as I said, but a new cavern was opened two years ago by an earthquake. There was gold there once- why should there not be again? And before you ask, yes it not going to drop on our heads."

Silvio grinned, as he always did when he had a plan- and Silvio always had a plan.

"Come... I want to show you the place first. There will be something you like there. Then... you can have your fun."

Fishing into his pocket, he handed Lia a pair of earplugs that were perfect for blasting a shotgun in an enclosed space underground. He also had a pair for himself. 

_______

Both Silvio and Lia had dressed for the desert heat as they called a cab to take them to the car rental place. They'd been taking cabs everywhere in the city, but "drive me out to my fake gold mine" didn't seem like a great move. So, why not rent a car? Silvio called up the most convenient car rental place.

"A nice one. One of those, how do you say, convertibles yes? I would like to see my wife's hair blowing gracefully in the wind and I- yes. Fine. Bene."

Twenty minutes later, Silvio was walking up to the counter of the car rental place.

"Do you  have a license, sir?"

He did not. But he did have $300 in cash. 

Soon, an expensive looking Duesenberg convertible lurched out onto the highway and blasted forward. Silvio had a few close calls, and he had no idea what most of the buttons or handles did, but after stalling a half dozen times and almost getting in a couple accidents, he'd figured out the gears, gas, brakes, and steering wheel... mostly.

When they finally pulled into the mine, both Silvio and Lia's hair was blown backwards, but they were both wearing large smiles. Silvio led Lia past the small, abandoned office building into the mine. He carried a small lantern to illuminate their way inside. After five minutes or so of walking, they reached the underground cavern that had opened up. 

The cave, frankly, was beautiful. The sound of flowing water filled the cavern, and there were a couple clear pools throughout the large, open space. Silvio walked around with his arms up, as the lantern bounced off the polished stone.

"Beautiful, no? Just the sort of place to tempt the imagination."

"Absolutely perfezionare," Lia breathed, the much cooler air pushing past her skin gently. She'd never been in a cave before, and suddenly understood why people made a habit of exploring them. It was a whole different world in here... and how many living souls had been fortunate enough to see it? 

"Silvio. This place... how ever did you find it? We'll have to come back again, after we... oh," she said quietly, her face falling, then springing back into a hopeful smile. 

"It took an earthquake to create. Surely a shotgun blast and some subsequent digging wouldn't completely destroy...?" Her own answers caught up to her, slowly. Of course a buyer would destroy it. After paying an exorbitant amount, he'd keep digging and blasting and burrowing until he reached the earth's core, desperate to find the gold he'd been told, had seen for himself, was there.

"Merde," she finished, then sighed. The echo of it bounced around the walls like a poorly-kept secret. Shaking off the disappointment, she moved back towards the entrance.

"Come on then, let's pepper this thing. Er, salt. Salt this thing," she said, turning her attention to what she anticipated to be the fun part. She's been around rifles and guns her entire life, but her father had never let her touch one, much less fire one. All pleas of learning self-defense had fallen on deaf ears. The notion of it, to Signor Mattaranzi, had been as ridiculous as a woman wearing pants.

So, Lia was prepared for the sound. She was not, however, prepared for the kick. Silvio had showed her how to snug her shoulder firmly against the butt of the stock, as he himself knew that much, but her stance was off, which meant her weight wasn't distributed correctly, either. When Lia pulled the trigger, the rock salt they were practicing with swung high and away, while Lia flew low, and onto her ass into the hot sand.

"Cazzo di merda! Come cazzo ... dannazione!" Lia yelled, sand flying everywhere as she tried to regain her feet. There would be a bruise later, but anger and adrenaline kept those things at bay, for now. Staggering back to her feet, she reloaded, if a bit clumsily. This, too, she'd seen time after time, in the company of her father's bodyguards. It had been an effective tactic when a wordless threat was needed.

"Questo cazzo di metallo..." 

BLAM!

She was ready for it this time, legs spread, feet staggered, knees unlocked, and the shotgun stayed in place, only one small jolt as it twitched violently in her grasp. 

"HA!" She yelled, then turned to look at Silvio triumphantly. 

Silvio raised his hand to his mouth to feign shock- but really to cover his laughter as Lia was knocked onto her ass. After ensuring that that particular part of her anatomy, one of his favorites, was undamaged, he permitted himself a quiet chuckle. After the second, much more successful attempt, he burst into applause.

"Bravo!" 

He grinned, removing his earplugs.

"So... shall we continue your assault on the cave with the real thing? We have quite a bit of dust and very small fragments here- perhaps for the walls and floors. There are also a couple... moderatamente sized nuggets. We could place them at the bottom of one of these clear pools. Perhaps. Can you imagine the excitement?"

"What is that?" Silvio mimicked, pointing dramatically at the bottom of the pool, "I saw a shine in there- a glimmer of something in the light!"

He chuckled.

"Well, perhaps we shall handle these many blasts of your fearsome weapon first? And then... se sei stanco, caldo o hai bisogno di essere rinfrescato, possiamo esplorare la piscina insieme."

A few more practice shots between them, and then the real thing. Silvio and Lia each took a single turn 'salting', as that was all that their meager stash would allow. With the lantern held high, they carefully examined their work, afterwards. 

"I can't even see most of it, but that would make more sense, no?" Lia said as she stood back from the wall she'd been examining. It was dark in here, and even with the lighting they'd brought, the crags and ridges of the rough surface hid all but a few tiny glimmers. Lia heard a small 'plop', and when she turned around, Silvio was studying the edge of the pool of water below him, a satisfied look upon his face. Lia moved next to him and looked down.

"Perfect. You can just see it there, not too obvious, but if one was to be looking..." she said quietly, then looked over at Silvio. Reaching out with a smile, she ran a finger up his forearm, then tugged at the rolled cuff of his shirtsleeve. 

"About that swim..."

Forty five minutes later, they were re-dressed and looking rather content, hair slicked back from the chilled waters of the cavern pool drying quickly in the heat of the sun above. The Duesenberg convertible sped along the hardpan with Silvio, more confident now, behind the wheel, guiding it back towards town. 

"Do you have someone on the line for this yet? Can I help?" Lia yelled across the seat towards him, in order to be heard over the wind. Parts of her were still feeling tingly and numb, but in a very nice and unexpected way. What they'd done back there in the water had been a first... but, hopefully, not the last. A private pool would be nice to own, Lia thought as she melted a bit further down into the seat, re-adjusting her sunglasses as her hair, drying even more quickly now, began slapping at her cheeks. Silvio's was everywhere all at once, and Lia desperately wished she had a camera. Her left hand found his free one on the seat.

"I think I would like to own a pool!" She yelled even louder, grinning.

Silvio cackled with near-maniacal delight.

"I have never shot a gun before. This is fun!

But it wound up being only the second most fun he'd have in the cave. That night, stumbling into bed in a state of near-stupor, he'd dream about the way Lia looked in that cave. It wouldn't be the last time, either.

"Of course you can help! We are partners! In all things, no?!"

He struggled to yell over the wind. 

"What sort of school do you want?!"

Mentally, he tried to figure out how much more money someone would lend him.

Lia's brow crinkled together, then relaxed again as she threw back her head and laughed. 

"Pool, Caro Cuore, a swimming pool," she yelled, then embarked on a series of graphic hand gestures and gesticulations before jerking her thumb back over her shoulder, indicating the cave they'd just left. "For more of that. Chi non poteva usare di più?" She said, giving his thigh a quick, firm squeeze before attempting to wrestle her hair into submission. 

-

The mark, as it so turned out, was a markette.

Diana Flynn was a talk drink of water, brunette, with such perfectly sculpted cheekbones that Lia wondered if they'd been tooled with a plastic surgeon's chisel. She came from money, but the money, if rumors were to be believed, was dwindling quickly. Silvio had met her at a charity function of some sort just a day or so before, and she was obviously interested in him just as much as she was interested in the little split in the earth that he'd mentioned to her over a shared drink afterwards. Her family was in construction, and all she needed was the location.

And, perhaps, Silvio. Lia and Silvio met her for lunch one afternoon, in the brightly lit restaurant inside one of the smaller Strip hotels. She was none too happy to see Lia along for the meeting, quickly ignoring her altogether as she air-kissed Silvio's cheeks in greeting.

"Muah. Isn't that what all you Europeans do?" She said as she took her seat at the table. Silvio had stood upon her arrival, Lia had not. 

"So. You've seen this place with your own eyes," she said, snapping her fingers at a waiter. Clearly, she was still used to being spoiled. Once she'd ordered some unheard-of concoction that it would take the staff days to find all the proper ingredients to, she returned her attention to the handsome Italian next to her. 

"Is it as good as you say it is?" She smirked, and Silvio jumped. Lia inhaled slowly, taking her time while deciding which one of her limbs Senora Flynn would have torn from her body and be beaten to death with. Had this been one of Silvio's lovers? Was it worth blowing the deal, just because this woman was getting handsy under the table? Lia was torn, and the only thing that came to her mind was a question.

What would Silvio do?

He was her guide in all of this, her teacher, her mentor. Silvio would fleece the mark first, then have his fun. Lia smiled quietly to herself while half-listening to the back-and-forth between the other two. Mining terms were being tossed around that she was unfamiliar with, and it was hard to keep up. So instead, she began daydreaming of revenge.

"More of that? Sì grazie!"

Oh. She meant the pool.

"Si! When we buy a house- yes for pool!"

_______

Silvio studied the woman's face with a pleasant smile fixed on his face. Diana Flynn was an attractive woman, to be sure. But she was beauty without warmth, whereas Lia was simply an outlet for the sun. 

"Are you listening to me, Silvio?"

"Si," he said, "of course. I understand that your family has many projects to choose from."

A lie, he thought; you are desperate. And desperate people don't do quite as much homework as they should. Still, he was bothered by the way she'd ignored Lia thusfar. During a break in her handsiness, shortly after they sat down, Silvio coughed.

"I'm afraid I've been a horrid host, Miss Flynn. This is Chiara Auditore... my boss. Although I have a great deal of independence in how I operate, all of my finances and deals proceed through her office. She will, of course, have the final say in whether a sale is made." 

Diana spared a glance towards Lia, her lips frozen in a small, predatory smile.

"I see. Well, I don't anticipate any issues arising. You have a mine, I have the money to buy it from you..." 

Just barely, Lia thought. With her own smile in place, she plunged into the conversation, doing a passable job, she thought, as an American.

"Yes. Well. As a keen businesswoman, I'm sure you'll want to see the goods before you buy them. We can escort you to the location, and you can see for yourself-"

"When can we do that, Michael?" Michael? "After lunch? I've got scads of meetings today, but I'm happy to cancel. Are you still driving that Duesy? I can't wait!" Diana tinkled laughter as her obnoxious drink arrived. She ignored it, ordering the most expensive lunch item on the menu. Lia rolled her eyes and ordered light. The faster they were out of here, the better. Flynn likely wouldn't touch her plate anyway.

-

It took an hour, but after watching Flynn push escargot around on a plate, and then getting stuck with the tab, they were off. Silvio drove, and Diana was riding passenger. Lia, tucked into the back, was prepared this time, and pulled her hair into a knot. She took great pleasure in watching Diana fighting with hers at it blew into messy knots during the ride. By the time they'd arrived at the cave, she looked as if she'd stuck her finger into a light socket. 

"As I mentioned before," Silvio was saying now as he guided the woman through the opening. Lia was just behind them, holding two lanterns high. "...the recent earthquake opened multiple crevices. Most, unfortunately, immediately refilled with the desert sand. This one, however, did not."

"And we hold the rights," Lia interjected as she moved ahead of them, lights held high. They were at the wall now, the one Silvio and Lia had blasted. Turning, she gave one light to Diana. "If you look closely, you might just see...there! Do you see the shimmers? Not much more than dust particles, but imagine what you'd find if your crew dug in," she said, standing back and watching as Flynn ooh'd and ahh'd, fingers picking and scratching along the surface of the wall as if she really knew what she was doing. She and Silvio engaged in more mine-speak that had Lia's mind floating off into the ether again, especially when her eyes fell upon the pool. Her eyes lost focus in the darkness as recent memories came into sharp focus. Silvio's hands on her slick, cool skin, pulling at her wet hair as his teeth-

"OH MY GOD! LOOK!" Diana yelled, practically dropping to her knees in the water. Like a starving bum reaching for a half-eaten sandwich, Diana was pawing and grasping at the water's edge, eventually coming up with the nugget Silvio had dropped there. 

"I'M RICH!" She hollered into the echoing dimness.

"Well. Not quite yet," Silvio chuckled. 

"We accept cash, money orders, traveler's checks...would you like a ride to your bank?" Lia asked sweetly.

Silvio drove mostly competently on their way out to the mine, having much less fun than he did on his previous trip with Lia. He made small talk, mostly asking questions to Diana and letting her lie about how well her varied investments were doing. He skillfully weaved a web as she talked about the many businesses she had; "Michael" tried to highlight her boldness, her strong instincts, and her unerring sense of business- one that was only derailed by her waffling group of advisers. 

By the time they entered the cavern, Silvio's words had painted a picture of a woman whose natural sense of good business was obvious; any successes she'd experienced were due to her boldness, and any failures could only be the fault of her overly cautious advisers.

"You have heard of Goldfield, here in Nevada? And Eureka County? There are several gold mines here in Nevada; why should there not be one more?"

After explaining the other succesful gold mines in the state, Silvio moved on to how well this particularly shaft could be developed.

"Ground like this... it is almost perfectly designed to receive a nice, long shaft. Can you imagine how far deep it will go? And with gold..."

Lia could feel Silvio's hand rise to gently run through her hair once behind Diana's back.

"... well, it is perfect."

As Diana made her way over to the pool, Silvio cursed under his breath and kicked his socks away from earlier- he'd forgotten to pick them up when they were drying. Flynn, however, was grabbing at the pool for the nugget. 

_______

Silvio called his lawyer when they got back to the city; it was better, he thought, to meet at Mrs. Flynn's hotel rather than his lawyer's office, which was a bit spartan and not on the most ideal side of town. The contract, of course, had been drawn up in advance and was ready- the only question was the price. 

Silvio's lawyer, flashing a predatory smile, reviewed the numbers. He unleashed a torrential downpour of statistic, evidence, and examples before arriving at $75,000 as a fair number- as he'd previously planned. The goal was to empower Mrs. Flynn by allowing her to haggle. Purchasing the rights to the useless old mine had only cost them $2500; anything over that would be pure profit. Thinking about how much he owed- and the interest accruing- on the money he'd borrowed to launch his first club and his movie theater.... well, Silvio needed profits.

"Those are some very impressive numbers you conjured up, but you forget that you're not actually going into the mining business. I am. And I am assuming all the risk."

"True," conceded Silvio, "there is always some risk in business." More than you know. "We will offer it for... 60."

Diana shook her head. "I like you, Michael, but I'm not going to let you rob me." Silvio suppressed a smirk. "40 thousand,", Diana emphatically concluded. 

Lia stood up in her chair, walking slowly around the table and lifting the gold nugget from Diana's open purse. She tossed it a couple times, leaning against the table.

"The fair compromise," said Lia, "is 50. We will settle for 50. After all, what you're buying- well, it's worth its weight in cold."

She placed the nugget onto the table with a thump.

And," she spoke as Diana was opening her mouth, "I will throw in a little something extra for you as well. I will give my assistant here, who you've been eyeing so much, then next three days off. If you provide me the funding, I'll speak to my man in Los Angeles and arrange a celebratory cruise for you. And that is the best offer we're going to make."

Glaring at Lia, Diana frowned- but she shook her hand. Ten minutes later, the paperwork was signed and Silvio was driving away with Lia in the passenger seat. He waited to get a couple streets away, then looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you just pimp me, fiore de Venezia? It was strangely titillating... but what am I going to do on a cruise with that woman for three days?"

Lia grinned as she watched the wind of the highway muss up Silvio's hair.

"You," she explained, "are going to have a wonderful time with Mrs. Flynn. We'll keep her so drunk, high, and knocked out with sleeping pills that she won't know what hit her. She'll be purchasing two cabins on this cruise. One for her to stay passed out in, and one for you and I to have some fun in. After all..."

Lia's fingers found the back of Silvio's head and neck and he couldn't help but smirk.

"... we've been working too hard. We deserve a vacation."