Gabriele’s PoV
“I hope whatever it is… is good news for your own safety,” I hissed as I walked into my office.
Basilio was sitting with a smug face. He had his hands sprawled across the couch like he owned the place.
Of course, the news had to be good for him to be this cocky so early in the morning.
Yet I refused to make him believe I was no longer angry with him for disturbing my time with Arianna.
I scoffed and walked past him to my chair.
“It is good news alright,” He said with laughter coating his voice.
“Then let’s hear it!”
He left the couch and came to the seat across the table right opposite me.
“Why do you always get so cranky when I pull you away from Arianna and then at the end, you will say you don’t care about her? Huh?”
“She is just one of my women…” He said mimicking me -horribly.
“But your eyes tell a different story. One word from her and it will be searching the world!”
“You don’t act like this around your other women, hope you are aware of this?” Basilio went on.
My eyes narrowed on their own accord and I pulled my hands together on the table. My patience was slowly thinning and he didn’t realize his excited mood could get him locked up.
“Basilio, you have five seconds to say whatever you have to say or I will cut your tongue!” I growled.
The amusement died from his face immediately and he cleared his throat.
Good.
“The men from Asia, they came back,” he said sitting straight on the chair.
“Have they accepted our offer?” I asked, dropping my hands flat on the table.
We had been pursuing this deal for months now. It was one of my legal businesses and I would get a lot of good clean cash from it.
“Yes, they have even increased their order. We are talking about twenty ships filled with over a billion dozen of our product,” He said, his excitement returning as he reached for the table.
The news he gave me was enough to make me ignore him.
The Asians were getting so much?
Waoh!
“Over a billion dozen, you say?” I asked as my head worked the maths and the figure was looking amazing.
If I got deals like this twice a year, I might not even need to deal with arms or drugs.
“Yes, Fratello! It is amazing!” His face morphed into a bright smile and I couldn’t stop myself from mirroring his reaction.
“This is good…” I whispered as I rested my back against the chair.
“I know right? We should celebrate!”
He got up from the seat and went to the wine bar and brought out a bottle of fine wine. He went onto the cupboards and picked up three glasses.
“Sometimes I wonder where you keep your brain when you are overexcited?” I smirked moving my eyes suggestively to the glasses in his hands.
A grin covered his face so much so that it almost seemed like he was blushing.
“Fool, that wasn’t a compliment. Why do you have three glasses?” I pointed out as he seemed not to understand what I was saying.
“This,” he said raising one of the glasses, “is for Arianna.”
My brows rose as I didn’t understand what he meant by that. Why should we celebrate with her?
“Let me explain,” Basilio said as he dropped the glasses on the table and settled into his chair.
I also relaxed into the chair and prepared myself for the crazy explanation he was about to give.
“Now, the thing is this,” he started. “Remember we have that ball we are preparing?”
I nodded and he continued.
“So, while you and I have to keep our eyes on the threat coming from Demyan and his master. Someone needs to be following up with the Asians.”
My brows corked deeper this time. It was true that the Asians’ deal would need someone to follow up with them all the way to the end.
If I missed even one meeting, they might pull out. And tracking Demyan might be impossible for Basilio to do alone.
I wouldn’t want to leave any stone unturned. I needed the deal and I needed the kill.
“So who is this someone?” I asked him. I could have proposed to my godfather, but he would also be busy tracking Gianni.
He raised the third glass again and a smile covered his face.
“No other person but the smart and beautiful… Arianna,” Basilio said and my eyes dropped an additional inch close.
Was Basilio crazy? I mean I knew he wasn’t normal but this!
“Before you say anything,” Basilio quickly started with his hands raised.
“I saw the work she did for you last night. I also saw how she interacts with the maids and…” He continued with a finger still in the air.
“The party last time, she acted in total control. No one would have believed she was being held against her will. She is great with human relations. If anyone can do this… A person that we trust, then it’s her,” he finished.
If there was anything Basilio was good at, it was given good judgment.
But Arianna was held here against her will… As he had pointed out.
“Don’t you think she might want to make a scene?” I asked furrowing my brows. “She has tried escaping before. What’s the assurance that she won’t do it again when given such an opportunity?”
“Going to meet the Asians will be total exposure for her. She might tell them about our other deals or even go to the media or worst-”
“Why do I have a feeling you are more bothered about her running off with one of them than she ratting you out?” He suddenly asked with a grin.
“I am not-” I started saying but swallowed my words. Basilio was crazy and a total pain in the ass but he wasn’t stupid.
I couldn’t argue that particular point with him and be certain to win. Even I didn’t know what my heart feared most.
Besides, it was true that she had done a great job with that paperwork last night. I was impressed.
How Basilio knew this, I didn’t know because those papers were still in my room but either way, there was some truth in his words.
“Fine. But she will need training and briefing,” I pointed out. “Plus twenty-four-hour surveillance and protection.”
“We must not rule out the fact that Gianni might attack her instead…” I added quickly.
Basilio clapped his hands together as if that was all he had been waiting for.
“Perfect!” He exclaimed with a bright smile. “I should go get her right away and the briefing shall commence!”
He jumped off his seat and I watched as he hurried out. He didn’t even give me time to speak before he rushed out of the office.
I relaxed in my seat and let out a soft sigh.
“Arianna…” I whispered as I closed my eyes waiting for them to return.
She was a strange little woman. There was something about her that just made it special to spend time with her yet difficult to pick out what exactly I wanted.
When she was not being stubborn she was an angel. When she was being stubborn, I couldn’t find it in me to punish her.
Whenever I was with her, she made me feel things that I shouldn’t be feeling. I should be strong and fearless.
I shouldn’t ever feel concerned about anyone… About any woman.
But Arianna was implanting herself in every angle of my head, it was impossible to breathe without thinking about her.
“What are you doing to me?”
Last night when she said she wanted to be friends with me, I could have refused her. But I couldn’t. Because I wanted it too.
I wanted to get to know her -which was strange.
“And the woman of the hour…” Basilio said as he dramatically ushered a blushing Arianna in.
I pulled out of my thoughts and watched them approach.
“What’s going on?” She giggled.
I felt my heart stop.
I knew she was beautiful in every way a woman could be. But at this very moment, it hit me so hard, my heart stopped.
Her grayish-blue eyes were shining like a diamond. Her cheeks were flushed and as the corners of her eye squeezed, I couldn’t help but feel the excitement she felt also.
What was this woman doing to me?
“I am not the one to tell you this,” Basilio said and turned to me. “Fratello, common tell her about her promotion!”
Of course, Basilio would be overdramatic about it…
Talking to her was hard. I feared I would blurt out the nonsense my heart was feeling. I had to constantly keep myself in check, every second of the way.
I took a deep breath and said, “Arianna, you are going to handle one of my major projects from now on.”