Elena was on her way downstairs for water when she heard something hit a wall.
She stopped in her tracks.
Then she held a pair of heels. Fast ones, coming from the direction of Alessandro's office, and she pressed herself back against the wall just as Adriana came around the corner.
She was moving fast with her head slightly down and one hand raised to her face and Elena caught just enough of her expression to understand that whatever had happened in that office had not gone well for her at all.
She was crying.
Not loudly. The quiet kind. The kind that looked worse somehow. It showed she was in so much pain.
She didn't even see Elena. Just swept straight past her toward the entrance and then she was gone. Was that his girlfriend?
Elena stood in the hallway for a moment.
So Adriana had come here, gone into Alessandro's office, and left in tears. She thought about the way the woman had looked arriving at the house, put together and certainly beautiful without trying. She thought about the sound of something hitting a wall.
Her stomach Knotted as she swallowed then she walked to his office and pushed the door open.
Alessandro was standing behind his desk with his back was to her, one hand braced on the surface, head down. The pen was on the floor near the far wall. She looked at it. Then at him. Then at the pen again.
He heard her and turned around.
For just one second he looked almost shocked to see her. Then, looked at her from across the room like nothing had happened.
"What do you need?" he simply asked calmly.
Elena cleared her throat. "Nothing" she said. "I needed nothing actually."
He held her gaze for a moment then turned and walked to the small bar in the corner of his office and reached for a bottle of whiskey. He poured a glass, paused, and glanced at her over his shoulder.
"Would you like to join me."
She wanted to say no but before she could bring her thoughts to her mouth, her big mouth had already spoken.
"Okay" she said.
She settled onto the couch while he poured a second glass and brought it over, setting it on the table in front of her without a word. Then he went back to the window with his own glass and looked out at the courtyard.
He avoided looking at her.
Elena picked up her glass and took a sip and looked around the office quietly. The pen was still on the floor. She thought about mentioning it and decided against it.
"Who was she?" Elena asked finally.
"It doesn't matter." Alessandro simply replied.
"She left crying Alessandro" she said with a furrowed brow. "So she's definitely important to someone. And that someone is definitely you!"
He was quiet, swirling the whiskey in his hand, still looking out the window. "She's an old acquaintance" he said. "One who doesn't know how to stay in her place."
Elena looked at the back of his head.
Old acquaintance. Sure!
You didn't cry like that over an old acquaintance, right?
She said nothing.
She just picked up her glass and looked at the pen on the floor and thought about a man who made women cry and threw things at walls and then poured whiskey and stood at windows and called it nothing.
She needed to stop, she decided firmly. Whatever her stupid brain had been quietly doing over the last eleven days needed to stop immediately. This man was not good. All that day dreaming needed to stop at once! Good men did not make women leave crying. Good men did not lock you in your room without warning. Good men did not hold people hostage!
She needed to get a grip. Seriously!
She finished her whiskey and set the glass down.
Alessandro turned from the window finally and looked at her, he was quiet for a moment like he was thinking about something. Then he suddenly asked "how would you like to go to Rome?"
Rome? She froze, confusion flooding her. What the fuck did he mean by Rome? She didn't know how to reply. Her mouth opened, stuttered. She hadn't been there before, and the idea of going with him—her captor—made her stomach twist.
He looked at her, that piercing gaze that made her feel both trapped and alive, and simply said she didn't have a choice. She was going with him on this little "vacation" whether she liked it or not.
"I… I don't want to," she finally managed, panic edging her words. "What would I even tell my dad? Or Sophia?"
He leaned closer, voice low and controlled, giving her options that weren't really options. She could lie, he said, tell them it was a very important event. Tell her best friend it was her boyfriend taking her. Her mind flickered, remembering she had already told Sophia she had a boyfriend. That lie could stretch. That lie would work.
She nodded, a mix of relief and dread tightening her chest. "I'll… I'll try to sort it out," she said. She didn't ask why he was taking her, but when he added that he wanted her near him, her heart stuttered.
Her cheeks flushed. He wanted her near him. That was… suspicious. She had to know. "Is it because I'm a hostage?"
He smirked, the kind of smirk that set her pulse racing. He moved closer, deliberate and slow, and suddenly she was caged between his arms, the heat from him impossible to ignore.
She looked away, cheeks burning, body betraying her as the intoxicating proximity made her dizzy. But then she remembered the woman who had left his office crying earlier. She pushed him away sharply, her voice firm. "Stay away from me!"
He didn't argue. He poured himself another glass of whiskey, smirk never fading. He saw the blush still lingering on her skin, the subtle tension in her shoulders, and he knew—he had an effect on her.
What he didn't know was that she had already decided to stay away from him. After hearing what he had to say about that woman, about her being just an acquaintance who didn't know her place, Elena refused to let herself get tangled in whatever this was. She needed to stop day dreaming!
She stood, determination hardening her movements. "I'm going to tell my father and my best friend now."
He nodded once, like a king granting permission, and watched her leave quickly, his eyes dark and calculating.
Once she was gone, Alessandro dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out an expensive cigarette, lighting it slowly. Smoke curled around him as he stared out the window at the courtyard, mind already running through the next moves.
Lucas stepped into the office with a smirk, sensing the tension in the air. "Bro… what's up? What's the next move?"
Alessandro didn't turn. His voice was calm, cold, precise. "I'm taking her to Rome. Undercover."
Lucas froze, incredulity making his voice rise. "What?"
Alessandro's lips curved in a faint, controlled smile, smoke drifting lazily in front of him. "Rome. She's coming with me whether she wants to or not."