"What are you doing here?" I ask stunned by the beauty of the literal God.
He was in a black shirt, his blazer unbuttoned, and perfectly fitted trousers. His flawlessly tied black tie was shining from the light in my house.
"Zio is stuck with the press, so he sent me before I arrived. Come on." he turns around and walks to the limousine parked up.
As he's getting in, I see him talking to someone and a black dress catches my eye.
He has a date.
Of course he does.
I roll my eyes at his coldness and get in the back, sitting away from both of them.
The woman is a drop dead beauty. Her straight black hair lays flawlessly behind her back, her chocolate brown eyes are captivating, and she the way the dress hugs her body makes her look so curvy.
"Un'altra puttana, Cole? Veramente?" [Another whore, Cole? Really?] she interrogates him.
"Stai zitto. Lei è la P.A. di zio." [Shut up. She's uncle's P.A.] he mutters.
"Oh. Vedo. Che bel cambiamento." [Oh. I see. What a nice change.] she sarcastically states.
"Parli italiano, amore?" [You speak Italian, love?] she asks, turning to me.
"No, not fluently. I only understand a few simple phrases." The lie rolls off my tongue.
I've been pretending not to be able to understand anything for the past year now. But I understand and speak it fluently because of how long I've been here, but they don't need to know that.
"Not a problem at all. So, how long have you been working for mi zio?"
The interrogation lasted for the whole ride and I answered them the same as I did for Livia.
I found out that she isn't Cole's date, but his stunning sister. She's kind, warm and fun.
I wonder why all of that skipped him.
Once we got there, she got out first. Lights and flashes start going crazy.
Paparazzi?!
Nonononononono!
I can NOT have photos taken of me. My breathing starts picking up slightly.
"Relax bella, you'll be fine."
Hey, there's that joke again! Perfect.
"Stay here, I'll get the door." he mumbles getting out.
By the time he gets round to me, my breathing returns to normal and I brace myself for the photos.
It'll be fine. They can't tell it's me.
I try convincing myself, failing.
Cole opens the door and I take his hand, getting out.
"Just play along." he whispers as I stand up.
He holds his arm out and I hesitantly take his arm, looping mine around his. A strange sense of safety and security washes through me, but I shake it off.
The hell is wrong with me?
We walk in, Cole ignoring any and all questions directed at me and him, and we walk into the mansion.
"Holy crap. This place is huge." I gape, taking in the exquisite design.
"Tell me about it. We only use this mansion for events like this. Other than that, it just sits here collecting dust." he shrugs.
"Seriously? How rich are you guys to have this just 'sitting here'?" I ask, faking shock at his riches.
"You'll never know." he smirks.
"Cass!" someone calls.
I turn and embrace Livia in a hug, leaving Cole to do whatever.
"Liv! It's great to see you again. Get my message earlier?"
*
An hour and a half later, and most of the main stuff is done. At this point, it's practically just socialising. I'm sat at the bar with a martini.
"God, I'm starving." I mutter to myself.
I feel a presence behind me and I can smell his dreamy scent.
"Wanna get outta here and grab dinner then?" Cole questions me.
I look around for Carlo.
"He just left with 'Liv'." he says, as though reading my mind.
Pity. I kinda wanted to say bye to her.
"Sure. Guess I got nothin to lose." I mutter the last bit to myself and Cole raises and eyebrow at me.
I wave him off and walk with him to the door, where the paparazzi are STILL waiting.
I swear, I don't know how celebrities deal with this.
He holds his arm out before we get to the door, and I hesitate again. I begrudgingly take it and walk out. We go back to the same limousine as before.
Cole instructs the driver to an Italian restaurant.
He makes a phone call and casually rests his hand on my thigh, making me tense up immediately. He unconsciously rubs his thumb in small soft circles and I untense almost instantly, relaxing into his touch.
Get your shit together Cass!
The cars eventually stops and we get out.
He leads me into the restaurant and walks straight past the waiter who bows his head at Cole.
What the-
"I already have a reservation." he says to me, leading me upstairs.
Furrowing my eyebrows, my legs take me up the stairs. The whole floor is empty and I turn to face a smug Santini.
"Did you seriously reserve the whole floor?" I ask in a 'duh' tone.
"What's the point in owning a restaurant if you don't take advantage?" he shrugs sitting down next to a window.
"Wait. What?"
"Yeah. You think my uncle is the only successful businessman in the Santini family?" he smirks.
I roll my eyes at sit opposite him.
"Remember what happened last time you did that, gattina?" he seductively whispers.
"No." I lie, my thighs clenching under the table.
"Should I remind you then,-"
"No thank you." I quickly get out, grabbing a menu.
He chuckles at me, looking at the menu too.
"The starters are-"
"What are you doing?" I query, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Translating the menu." he says, mimicking my earlier 'duh' tone.
"Well don't. I perfectly capable of doing it myself. Just takes me a little longer." I falsely state, recomposing myself.
After awhile, we chose our meals and drinks and I excuse myself to freshen up.
When I get back, the food is just being put down and Cole is refilling my wine glass. I sit down, thanking the waiter and begin eating.
We start talking about nothing important and soon we're finished.
To be honest, it was actually quite a nice dinner. We even shared quite a few laughs here and there too.
"We should go on a proper date sometime." he smirks, grazing my hand with his own, and I try not to shudder.
"We'll see Cole. We'll see."
Yeah that was definitely a lie. I am not ready to date any man. Regardless how kind Cole can be, he gives me whiplash.
First the car incident, then he ignores me for a week, not that I'm complaining.
Then he shows up at my door acting cold. Then I have to "play along" and link arms with him, only to be ignored for an hour and a half.
And now I'm here, having a great time at dinner with him.
God.
Something's wrong with me.
Cole gets a call and excuses himself and I go down to the bathroom.
On my way back up, I hear thud, followed by a woman scream.
What. The. Hell.
He tortures women?
Who in their right mind tortures anyone underneath restaurants?
Without thinking, I run downstairs and am met with a door, slightly ajar.
I open it further and see shelves upon shelves full of files and who knows what.
I walk around and find the woman cursing in Italian.
"Cartella stupida e itiota. I hope you burn." [Stupid, idiotic folder.] she groans, putting the folder back on the shelf.
"Are you ok?" I reply instinctively, mentally slapping my forehead for revealing my presence to her.
She spins around, pulling a gun out on me.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" she questions.
I gulp seeing the safety's down.
"Woah, relax. My name's Cassie, I heard you scream and I just wanted to check you wasn't hurt." I defend, raising my hands up in surrender.
I was actually telling the truth.
"Capo, vieni quaggiù adesso. Abbiamo una situazione." [Boss, come down here now. We have a situation.] she says into an earpiece I didn't realise she had in.
Crap.
"Seeing as you're fine, I'm just gonna go." I turn and go to leave when a pain to the back of my head erupts.
Well, shit...
*
I wake up with a slight stinging sensation to head, legs and arms.
I try and get up only to see I'm tied to a chair.
No.
Nononononononononononononononono.
NO!
Two figures appear from the shadows in front of me, revealing the woman and a man. I sigh in relief to see Cole, only to become scared when I see the look in his eyes and my eyes catch what he's holding in his hand.
My gut drops and I feel my face pale.
"Explain yourself. Now." he grits.