Elena woke up to the sound of heavy boots moving fast through the hallway outside her door.
She lay still for a moment, blinking at the ceiling as she tried to figure out if she was still dreaming. Then she heard voices, low and clipped, then more footsteps, something heavy being moved somewhere below her, and she was fully awake now.
She threw the covers back and crossed to the door.
The handle turned but the door didn't open.
She tried again.
Still Nothing.
She cursed under her breath. "Wtf… is it now they want to start keeping me locked up or what?"
She stood there staring at it for a second like it had personally offended her and then banged hard three times. "Hello??? Marco? Someone?"
Footsteps stopped outside. Then Marco's voice came through the wood, calm as ever. "Good morning Miss Rossi. Please stay in your room."
"The door is locked Marco."
"Yes."
She blinked in confusion. "Did you just yes me?"
"Everything is fine. Someone will bring your breakfast shortly."
"Marco I am not interested in breakfast right now, why is my door locked? what is happening in this house—"
But his footsteps were already moving away down the hallway and she was literally talking to nobody.
Elena turned around and pressed her back against the door.
The room looked exactly the same as it always did. Morning light coming through the curtains, her books on the shelf, her laptop on the desk. Everything completely normal except for the muffled sounds of what was clearly not a normal morning moving through the house around her.
She ran to the window.
The courtyard below was unrecognizable.
Men she had never seen before were positioned at every visible point, dark clothed and still, the kind of still that wasn't relaxed but ready, ready for what exactly? Two black cars were parked near the gate. As she watched, another pulled in.
Her stomach dropped.
"What the hell is going on?"
She pressed closer to the glass trying to see more and that was when Alessandro walked into the courtyard below.
He had his back to her, phone to his ear, dark shirt, no jacket to match… he was walking unhurriedly as he spoke Italian rapidly as if giving instructions. Fuck… he was so hot when he spoke Italian like that. She quickly shook the thought out of her mind and scolded herself.
"Oh goodness Elena, he locked you in the room and you're admiring him?" She murmured rubbing her temples.
He stopped in the middle of the courtyard and turned slightly and now she could see the side of his face, jaw set, eyes moving across the space with that assessing look she had seen him use countless times.
One of the men approached him and said something. Alessandro responded without looking at him, still scanning the courtyard, and whatever he said made the man turn immediately and walk away quickly.
Elena watched all of it from behind the glass.
Now, She had spent eleven days in this house telling herself she was probably starting to understand this man.
She had built a picture of him out of small moments and loaded silences and the way he spoke sternly when a conversation was finished.
She understood now that she had only ever seen the edges of him.
What was in that courtyard was the rest.
She stepped back from the window.
She turned to look at her phone on the nightstand. She picked it up and typed a message to Marco.
'Tell him to come up here now!'
She put the phone down and sat on the edge of the bed and waited.
Fifteen minutes passed. Then Twenty. She had almost given up when she heard footsteps stop outside her door, unhurried and very familiar, and then the sound of a key turning in the lock.
Alessandro opened the door and leaned against the frame looking at her.
He looked tired.
"You locked me in" she said.
"Yes."
"You locked me in my room Alessandro."
"It was necessary."
She stared at him.
"You're safe" he said simply. "That's all you need to know right now."
Elena looked at him standing in her doorway looking like a man carrying something heavy and not planning to put it down anytime soon and felt a pang of intense worry for him.
"Are YOU safe?" she asked searching his eyes.
He looked at her for a moment, and then the corner of his mouth moved just slightly like he was about to smoke but concealed it quickly.
"Go get dressed" he said. "Sera is making breakfast."
He pulled the door open wider and stepped back.
Elena stood up and Walked past him into the hallway before stopping and turning around.
"Next time you lock my door" she said, "at least leave a note or text me."
He looked at her in amusement with a raised brow.
"Something like good morning Elena, armed men in the courtyard, do not worry!" she said. "Just so I know what I'm waking up to."
He stared at her for a long second.
Then he walked away down the hallway and she was almost sure, almost completely sure, that she heard him exhale something that in any other man she would have called a laugh.
She watched him walk away as she watched that strong back flex under his shirt… mmm so sexy. She couldn't help but wonder what his exercise routine was.
She quickly shook off the though before walking back into her room to get dressed.