Luca met hundreds of different pretty girls. He had bedded them, made them pleasure him, but no one had ever intrigued him other than the woman sitting beside him in the plane who was so eager not to throw a glance at him.
Luca couldn't deny it. He found Juliette Ervings physically attractive. Very attractive, to emphasize. The moment her rare pair of large round eyes landed on his blue ones back in the car, he got smitten. Not to mention her sultry plump full lips, her slender neck, and sexy well-defined collarbone. Her creamy complexion glowed in Luca's eyes. And the citrusy scent she carried with her that lingered in the air and seethed in Luca's nostrils.
He never expected John Ervings' daughter to be as sensually appealing as this.
"Stop gawking," Juliette simply scolded Luca without looking at him.
"I was looking at the window, not at you," Luca lied and snickered inside his head when it made Juliette glare at him.
Lurking at the back of her mind was her father. When the plane landed on Gracia, Juliette's worry doubled.
Gracia was the capital city of the Kingdom of Maharlica. Due to its long history of crimes and corruption, the kingdom had become home to many underground activities, with underground working people, specifically mafias.
"I'm guessing you already know that your life is in danger," Luca spoke. "From now on, Salvatore will become your personal bodyguard. He will keep you safe when I'm not around."
She couldn't understand why someone would kill his father and why would that someone go after her as well.
Immediately after the plane landed, Salvatore drove them along with Dante to Jaguar's Dungeon.
When the famous alternating shade of emerald green and white Dungeon came into sight, Juliette's mouth gaped at the gigantic building.
"Wait, you live here?" She blurted out in disbelief.
The building was comprised of three separate buildings but merged together. Everyone in the kingdom knew about the Dungeon. It's the most luxurious and expensive apartment building in the whole kingdom.
The building in the center was taller than the other two. The other two buildings had eighty floors each, and the one on the center had a hundred.
The central building was shaped in a way that made the other two buildings look like they're mirroring each other.
"I heard the king lived here when he was still a prince," Juliette exposited though she only heard it from rumors. Her eyes never left the building as she was too shocked to believe she's in front of the famous Dungeon.
"Yes, His Majesty lived on the 85th floor." It was Salvatore who answered.
"What? Just on the 85th? Why not on the penthouse?"
Dante laughed then eyed Luca so Juliette had to look at Luca as well.
"The penthouse is mine," he calmly informed her.
"No way!" Juliette gushed.
The penthouse was the most expensive one among the most expensive units in the Dungeon. So if he could afford the penthouse, Juliette wondered, 'Who is he? And what does he do?'
"Miss Ervings, let me inform you," Salvatore uttered before he stopped the car in front of the main door of the building. "Boss owns the whole Dungeon."
The news literally made Juliette drop her jaw in disbelief.
'No fucking way!'
Juliette pointed her finger at Salvatore and narrowed her eyes as if to threaten him. "If you're fucking with me Salvatore, I will kill you."
Salvatore just shrugged his shoulders and immediately stepped out of the car.
Dante cackled. "I like your language, Miss Ervings." He turned his head to Juliette and continued. "The lord finally has a match."
"Get the fuck out of here," Luca threatened but Dante just snorted before stepping out.
Luca and Juliette were left alone inside the car.
"You have such a dirty mouth, Miss Ervings."
Juliette rolled her eyes. She didn't care if he thought she had a dirty mouth.
"If you say fuck again, I will fuck you right there and then."
"What?" Juliette was almost screaming because of how nasty Luca sounded.
But opposite to her annoyance, Luca laughed. Like it was so funny to him.
"Easy on me. I was just kidding."
"Well, it wasn't funny," she retorted in the nastiest way she could possibly do.
Luca suddenly reached his hand to Dante's coat Juliette was wearing. He tried to cover her chest by closing the coat's opening with his hands.
"If it wasn't funny, then maybe I half-meant it." He smiled mischievously at her. "So you better not misbehave. Or else I will punish you."
She opened her mouth to say something but Luca immediately placed his index finger on Juliette's mouth to prevent her from saying something a smart-ass would say.
"And," he added, "talk back and you're dead."
Juliette groaned and pushed Luca's hand away harshly as if his finger on her mouth disgusted her.
The door on both Juliette's and Luca's sides opened simultaneously. It indicated that they had to get out.
Juliette was startled by the number of bodyguards enclosing them. This only made her question even more about Luca's identity.
'Maybe he's a really wealthy businessman who came from a very wealthy family,' she assumed inside her head.
While Luca was talking to one of the bodyguards, Juliette went near Dante and Salvatore to quench her curiosity a bit.
"Hey, what does your boss do? What's his job? Does he own a company?"
The two men looked unsure of what to answer her.
Dante, with hesitation in his voice, tried to answer Juliette. "He does a lot of different things."
"So what is his company's name? So I would know. What industry does his business belong to?"
Dante smiled awkwardly, showing one dimple on his right cheek. "That is such a hard question, my lady."
'What is so hard about that?' she thought. 'Unless his business is something unspeakable.'
They headed inside the building with guards circling them. When they got to the elevator, all of the guards started going inside the elevator one by one, including Dante and Salvatore.
"All of you, get out this instant," Luca ordered in an authoritative voice.
As per the order, all the bodyguards went out of the elevator at once, but Dante and Salvatore remained. Luca eyed the two with irritation. "When I said 'all of you', you two included."
Dante looked like he got what his boss wanted. Whereas Salvatore looked clueless and insisted on going up with them.
"I need to make sure you get to the penthouse—"
Dante dragged Salvatore out of the elevator and disabled him from continuing what he had to say. Before the elevator closed, Juliette saw Dante smile at her meaningfully while the rest bowed their heads to Luca.
When the elevator closed, Juliette faced Luca. "So you mean, I'm going to live in this Dungeon's penthouse? What about our house?"
As much as how she was tempted to get a glimpse of the glamour awaiting in the penthouse, Juliette preferred their house.
Luca sneaked one hand on her waist and pulled her closer to him, startling Juliette. "Believe me if I tell you, you're safest when you're next to me."
Juliette frowned.
"And I warned you not to touch me," Juliette countered to conceal the skipping of her heartbeat.
Luca immediately raised his two hands in the air as if in surrender, then took a step back away from her.
When the elevator opened, they came to a hallway leading to the penthouse. The door looked basic but, it had a much more sophisticated security system than on the Ervings' house.
It had an iris detection security system, hence, only Luca Romano could open the penthouse. When the scanner detected his iris, the door opened.
The sophisticated ash-and-rust-colored living room came into sight. It has a sophistication that fitted Juliette's taste, however, the color choice was definitely not up to her alley.
The colors had a grim feeling to them. Ash was the end result of something that completely burned, and rust indicated rotting. It just didn't feel nice to Juliette.
Everything in the area, the walls, and the floor were of the shade of either ash black or rust.
A huge glamorous shiny crystal chandelier was dangling above the ceiling.
"Don’t worry about your things. I'll provide you with everything."
"You don’t have to. I can—”
"And you can't refuse."
As stated, Luca didn't give her the chance to refuse. He led Juliette upstairs towards the room she would use.
Luca pointed to the room on the left side of the hallway. "You will use that room," he informed Juliette.
Then he pointed to the room across the hallway. "And that's mine. Don't even think about running away."
Juliette's distaste about their rooms being next to each other showed on her face, and Luca saw this.
"Why? Are you bothered that you're just a few steps away from me?"
Juliette freed her face from any expression and answered with confidence. "No, why would I be?"
"Then, if that's the case, shall I take you on a house tour?" he suggested.
Juliette couldn't find a reason to say no. So…
"Well, if you're gracious enough to do that, then why not?" She gingerly accepted the offer.
"Great!" Luca tried to wrap his arm around Juliette's shoulder, and he chuckled when Juliette immediately ducked down to avoid his hand.
She definitely intrigued the mafia lord.