A seven hour long plane ride later, which Sofia had spent marvelling at the luxurious aircraft and reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye that Vincenzo had snagged for her from his extensive book collection, they were now making their way towards the hotel they would be staying at for the duration of their stay in Paris.
Again, the car ride was spent with Sofia looking around at the large buildings around her with wide, fascinated eyes. She had never been out of Boston and now, being there in the City of love was like a dream come true. It was everything she had imagined it would be and much more. The grandiose buildings, the numerous beautiful bridges built over the Seine were a marvel she couldn't pull her eyes away from. It was chaotic and calming all at once.
"Two of my bodyguards will accompany you while you go shopping," Vincenzo's voice pulled her out of her wondrous ogling.
She turned to him, only to see him tapping away on his phone. Her eyes narrowed before she shook her head. She couldn't comprehend how someone could ignore the view outside and scroll on their phone instead. But then again, unlike her, this probably wasn't his first time being here.
Now that he had himself presented her the opportunity to wander around on her own, she had thought that she would try and contact her boss which she still hadn't found the nerve to do. Even though she had managed to get Vincenzo to take off cameras from her bathroom, she had still been too paranoid to try and contact anyone.
Besides, it wasn't as if she had had a cellphone to do so in the first place. Sure, she could've taken one from one of the maids in his house but the place was rigged with cameras everywhere. It had been too risky of a move, specially when she had told him that she didn't have anyone to talk to.
But if he sent bodyguards along with her, she wouldn't be able to do what she wanted. She had to play it cool, though. She didn't want to risk him getting suspicious.
"Is it really necessary for me to take bodyguards with me? It's not like I'm going to run away somewhere. I don't know anyone here besides you," she said.
Vincenzo looked up from his phone, his lips twitching up into an amused smile. "You're not a prisoner, gattina. The guards will be there for your protection."
"I've been just fine on my own so far."
"I never said you won't be fine on your own now either," Vincenzo replied, his lips pulled into that same amused smile from before.
"Then why do I need guards?" Sofia asked, getting irritated, even more so when his smile turned smug.
"For your protection."
Sofia glared at him while he simply went back to scrolling on his phone, that stupid smug smile still in place on his stupidly handsome face.
Soon enough, the car rolled to a stop in front of a tall building with a marbled archway.
A man, who she was assuming was the hotel's valet opened the car door, welcoming her into the hotel.
Vincenzo followed her in soon after, greeting a hoard of men, all dressed in suits as soon as they entered.
"Good to see you, Don Vincenzo," a man who did not seem much older than Vincenzo said with a heavy Italian accent, coming forward and doing one of those man hug things that all guys somehow seemed to know.
"You too, Gabriel," Vincenzo greeted the man back, a welcoming smile on his handsome face.
Then, turning his head back, he gestured towards Sofia. "This is Sofia, the translator I was telling you about. And Sofia, this another one of my cousins, Gabriel. He's also in the business with me."
Sofia smiled at the man, fidgeting a little in her place when gave her a slow once over, practically eye fucking her on the spot. Unlike when she had met Dante, she didn't particularly like the way being in Gabriel's presence made her feel— unsafe and slightly disgusted.
She couldn't help but hide herself a little behind Vincenzo. Even though she was fully covered, being in Gabriel's vicinity made he feel like she was anything but. Much to her dismay, though, Gabriel stepped forward and grabbed her hand, placing a kiss on the back of it while giving her a pearly white grin. "A pleasure to meet you."
Sofia pulled her hand away from him as soon as his lips touched her skin, not wanting to prolong contact with the man than what was strictly necessary. "Yeah, me too," she muttered, looking at Vincenzo to see if he had noticed the exchange, but he was too busy greeting the rest of the men around them to pay her much attention.
Then, the door to the elevator behind them opened with a ding and out came a woman dressed in a flowy emerald green gown. Her sharp features gave her a regal look, though her smile was the fakest Sofia had seen so far and that sure was saying something, given her line of work.
"Zia!" Vincenzo said, greeting his aunt with a smile, placing a kiss on either side of her face. Though, Sofia noticed, his smile was much more genuine than his aunt's had been.
Another round of introductions were made as the woman who Sofia now knew as Rosetta, Gabriel's mother, gave Sofia a slow once over, much like her son had done moments ago. Though, her look was more calculative than anything else.
That, Sofia could deal with easily enough. She knew how to handle that and handle it she did, never breaking eye contact or showing any signs of weakness as the two women greeted each other.
Soon enough, her, Vincenzo and Dante were making their way towards the elevator with a few bodyguards in tow, with strict instructions from Vincenzo's Zia to 'rest up well' before the meeting at night.
"Don't we have to check in?" Sofia asked, looking puzzled as the elevator began to ascend.
Dante chuckled quietly as Vincenzo replied, "I own the hotel, gattina. The top floor is always reserved for me."
Of course, it was. Sofia wondered why she was even surprised anymore. But she was. She'd known he was rich, of course. But she hadn't really given it much thought, not until the reality was smacking her in the face every couple of hours, be it his fancy private aircraft, personal security detail or his opulent hotel with the penthouse suite always reserved for him.
She took in the muted tones of the furniture as they got off the elevator and walked into the penthouse suite. Somehow, it suited Vincenzo's personality well with it's whites, greys and beiges.
"You can take that room," Vincenzo said, nodding towards a door on the left.
Sofia nodded, making her way towards it without another word, with Vincenzo hot on her heels.
"The meeting is at eight tonight," Vincenzo told her.
Sofia nodded, taking in the queen sized bed. "Where are we going?"
"To a club."
Sofia's brows raised at his words. Interesting. "Do you own that, too?"
Vincenzo smirked at her. "If all goes well tonight, I will."
"So, what? You're going there tonight to buy it off of whoever it is that we're meeting?"
"That, and some other things."
Sofia shook her head. "You need to give me more information than that if you want me to report something of consequence."
"You're an intuitive woman, gattina. I'm sure you'll figure out what could be of importance to me."
Sofia couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Don't blame me later if I don't. It's not my fault you're hell bent on being secretive."
Vincenzo let out a low chuckle at her words. "Give yourself a little more credit than that, gattina. I know you'll figure it out."
Sofia simply shrugged in reply, as if to say 'We'll see'.
Vincenzo turned to leave, pausing at the door to look back at her. "Wear a dress. Preferably something black."
Obviously, she chose a red number while she was out on her shopping trip. And yes, she took two bodyguards with her like he had told her to.
Mateo and Juvi were cordial enough and kept their distance but they were making it difficult for her to contact anyone like she had planned to. She couldn't quite go into a phone store, buy a burner phone amd call someone, not while those two were watching. She had to get crafty.
An hour or two into their shopping spree, after a hefty lunch, they were on their fourth store at the mall where she was browsing through some dresses when the idea came to her.
It worked like a charm, too, when she asked a woman in the trial room in rapid fire french to lend her her phone for a moment to send a text to her husband who was probably worried about where she was since she had forgotten to get her own phone and the woman happily handed it over.
Having sent a quick text to inform her boss that she was right where they had wanted her to and would send over any information she got whenever possible, and deleting it from the woman's phone's history, Sofia was making her way out of the trial room when she spotted Vincenzo standing right outside with his legs crossed at the ankles, casually leaning against the opposite wall.
"Who were you talking to in there?" He asked.
Shit.