Athena
I could swear that the air crackled with electricity the minute he stepped out, The fire blazing in his eyes was enough to make the air warmer. Okay perhaps that was a lot of bull but I held my breath as he walked towards us. I glanced at Marcus who shuffled farther away from me with a clenched jaw.
Well, that was a very interesting reaction, now wasn’t it?
Luciano stopped right before him, breathing heavily. “For some reason Marcus, Whenever my assistant goes missing, she’s always found with you.”
Marcus looked hell as hell guilty. What on earth was he guilty about? It wasn’t like he was found with his tongue stuck in my throat. Besides, we hated each other’s guts. Luciano was simply being a jackass.
“I’m sorry Boss. I just came all of five minutes ago and found her here.”
At that minute, I truly detested Marcus. Really? He might as well have thrown me in front of a fucking train. The arrogant man turned his glare on me and I had no other choice but to glare back.
“Have you truly sunk this low?” He demanded, reaching for my arm. I stepped away almost immediately.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” I snapped, glaring at his hands. The same hands he had used on that Sophie girl. Who knew where those fingers had been?
Luciano’s eyes seemed to darken even more though at my reaction. “Miss Gonzalez,” He said darkly, eyes holding mine in a glaring battle. “If you’re not in my office in the next five fucking minutes, I’ll tan your fucking hide.”
“You cannot touch me.” I spat. Someone had to wake this jackass up. The world wasn’t his to plunder and if anything I was here to ruin his world of plundering. To bring an end to him. If he was wise enough, he would sit tight and have a fucking care about it!
“Who says I can’t?” He whispered, reaching for my face. His fingers brushed my cheeks lightly, rough hands caressing my face so lightly, I almost thought I had imagined it.
“Me,” I whispered in return and stepped away from him before I did something as stupid as asking him to touch me some more. That would be the dumbest shit to ever leave my lips.
Luciano chuckled and stepped away. “My office now, Raven. We have work to do?”
“You’re done with your whore?”
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Why the fuck had I asked that, Now he would think I was interested in him. And I sure as hell wasn’t! I just wanted to be sure he wasn’t trying to bait me into watching him shag her again.
Luciano’s face held an amused look and a smile played at the corner of his lips. Oh, he was enjoying this, wasn’t he? He was enjoying my flustered face and stupid questions. Bastard.
“I found her lacking,” He said simply. “Now we must hurry, Miss Gonzalez. Marcus, get the car around. Tell Max he’s driving.”
As I walked past Marcus, I noticed the sour look he gave me and gave him one in return too. Whatever his problem was, I didn’t give a shit about it. I had bigger things to deal with. Like the man who walked before me, a smug look on his face like won a lottery.
Enjoy it while you can Luciano. One way or another I will finish you.
***
We arrived at a construction site. A huge gigantic building was being erected right in the middle of the city. It was nothing as I had ever seen before. It was the shape of a semicircle, gleaming tall and proud in the sun. It was barely two in the afternoon and though I wore a white cotton shirt and a black skirt that had a slit on the thigh, I felt so hot and bothered.
As Luciano discussed with the contractor, I used my binder as a fan, watching all that went on the site with keen eyes. I doubted the FBI knew the owner of the state-of-the-art building found in the middle of the city belonged to Luciano. I browsed through the list of properties he owned mentally. Some houses, an orphanage, four affiliated companies, shares in all the important places in the world…but Nope there was no gigantic building on the list.
It had to be a recently acquired property then.
“What do you think?” Luciano asked suddenly, looking at me.
I hadn’t paid attention to shit. I’d been busy drawing maps in my head, trying to figure out why he bought the building and what he wanted to do with it that I had forgotten for a minute who I was.
His PA.
“About what?” I asked, arching a brow.
Luciano gave me a look that said he would deal with me later and I shuddered at the thought. He was quite creative when it came to giving me weird ordeals. It was a good thing that he was not a god. Mortal lives would have been playthings for him.
“The building,” He said simply, the stone expression back on his face.
“It’s large?” was all I could say in response.
“It is? Oh, I hadn’t noticed.” He said, voice thick with sarcasm.
The contractor snickered, earning a glare from both of us. Ah man, I wasn’t at the top of my game. I was sloppy, I was losing ground and it was all because of the giant brute in front of me.
“Wake the hell up Athena,” I whispered, resisting the urge to slap my face. The jackass had no right to walk all over me. And I would not allow it.
“What is the building for?” I asked, slipping a calm look on my face.
“We’re thinking of converting it to Palace. One filled with many apartments.” The contractor explained.
I studied the building, trying to figure out what this would mean for Luciano. Obviously more money, but the mafia lord wasn’t one to venture into things just for the money.
“Hmm, who is the target audience?”
“None of your business Miss Gonzalez,” Luciano replied before the contractor could,
“Hey, you’re the one who looked at me weirdly when I said nothing about the building.” I defended myself.
Luciano gave me an irritated look. “That was because you were so still and quiet, I thought you had faded to dust.”
“Oh,” I drawled. “I’m sorry for wanting to have a few minutes respite from you and your troubles. I hadn’t realized how much I mattered to you.”
The idiot chuckled.
Chuckled!
“Is that what you want Raven? A confession about an undying love for you?” He taunted.
I snickered. “You’re hilarious. Are we done here? Some of us haven’t eaten lunch and we would like that very much.”
Luciano grumbled something under his breath and walked ahead of me to the parked car, ignoring the contractor altogether. Two could play in this game. If he wanted fire, I was walking gasoline!
Stalking to the front seat of the car, I had barely opened the door when he barked at me. “The back seat Miss Gonzalez!”
I pursed my lips in anger and did as he said. Just breathe Athena, Just a little while longer and he’ll be gone from your life forever. I took care to plant my butt far away from him. I had no desire to play games today. I just wanted the work day to be over as soon as possible so I could investigate this new building. Maybe I’d have the FBI look into it.
Hold up, I frowned, a thought slowly occurring to me. Since this property wasn’t on the FBI’s list of properties that he owned, It meant they didn’t know about it yet. If they happened to know right after he had shown me the building, It would be easy to figure out I was there to spy on him. The odds of that happening were slim, but I didn’t want to take chances.
I would have to look into it myself.
Well, that was a good thing. It meant more work to distract myself from thinking about Luciano-
“Stop the car!” Luciano ordered, jolting me out of my thoughts. When I looked at him, his eyes were on the slit on my thigh, boring holes into my skin. Then he looked into mine, “Get out,”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Get out,” He spat again, harder this time.
I glanced out the window. We weren’t at the office yet. Why the hell was he kicking me out? “Did I do something wrong?”
“Damazione!” He cursed and turned to Max. “Max, get her out before I do something we’ll both regret!”
“Sure thing boss!” Max replied promptly.
A few minutes later, I was on the sidewalk, watching Luciano’s car zoom off with a small smile on my face. The last time I heard him swear like that was at the ball.
Before he went berserk.
It would seem then, that all hope was not lost. Yet.