Seventy

Athena
“No!”
I glared at the overlord who sat behind his desk matching the look on my face with a similar one. The evening sun could be seen through the window on the side of the office and I resisted the urge to look at my watch. I had done so all day ever since the call with Frederick. A few minutes more and it would be five o’clock.
“What do you mean no?”
Luciano narrowed his eyes until they were nothing more than slits. “Exactly what it means. No, you cannot get off work by five.”.
I looked around in disbelief. Who the hell was the guy bullshitting? Okay, calm down Athena. You won’t gain anything if you lose your shit now.
“Luciano,” I said in the most patronizing voice I could muster. “Work closes by five normally. I can get off by five,”
“You’re my assistant,” he replied stubbornly. I watched him lean his back against his chair and fold his arms. “My assistant closes from work whenever I close from work.”
“Come on!” I groaned, “Don’t be a jerk.”
“A jerk?! Woman, do not tempt me!” He bellowed, surprising me. What the hell was his problem? He was acting as though I had shoved soldier ants down his pants.
I just wanted to get off work earlier than I did normally so I could meet up with Damian or whatever the heck his true name was. “Where are you going?”
“Really?” I asked, folding my arms. “I don’t see how that is any of your business.”
“You’ve never asked to get off early before,” Luciano grumbled. “Where are you going?”
“Away from you!” I snorted. “Last I checked, you’re not my father. I do not answer to you-”
“Last I checked, You’re my woman and I deserve to know where you’re going. ” he interrupted in a deep dark tone that had me mute for a long minute. His woman?!
Was he fucking delusional or simply out of his mind? Maybe it was the bare-death experience of getting assassinated. Ah yes, it had to be. He had gotten shot at and had almost kissed the sky, hence he was behaving crazily. I had suspected that right from when he began clinging to me the night before.
“Luciano,” I mumbled, rubbing circles on my forehead. “Stop being unreasonable. I just want to make a quick stop, drop something and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Where is this stop?”
“Luciano-”
“What do you want to drop?”
“This is unnecessary!”
“It’s a man, isn’t it?!” He demanded, rising to his feet slowly. “You’re going to meet another man!”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?!” I screamed, unable to take his stupid as hell questions anymore. “You’re not my father!”
“Answer the question, Raven! Trust me you won’t step as much as a tiny toe out of this office if I don’t get the answers I seek.” He threatened.
Fuck what was with this man? He stood on the other side of his desk, towering above me. Veins bulged in his neck telling me I did not want to piss him off.
Luciano never gave empty threats. I could already imagine him holding me back by the neck just because he had no idea who I was meeting with or where the hell I was going.
Possessive much?
“I’m going to drop a letter,” I replied finally and watched confusion flicker over his once harsh and determined face. “For my cousin. He’s pretty distant but he’s been around lately. I don’t want to see him, so I’ll be dropping a letter instead.”
“Is that true?” He murmured, staring holes into my face most likely waiting for me to fidget or blow my cover. Ha! Like that would ever happen. I was trained for this shit. Pretending, lying with such a straight face, anyone could believe me, Frederick had drilled all these into me before tossing my ass into spy work.
Well anyone except Luciano. I could see he wasn’t buying my story. Hell, the aim wasn’t for him to buy the story anyway. I just wanted an excuse to leave the office without him getting all worked up as if I told him I was fucking his dad or some shit like that. He would have me followed anyways so what was the need to hold me back?
I suppose it was time to kick things up a notch.
Sighing, I pressed my lips in a pout and walked round the desk. Placing a hand on his chest, I pretended to be picking lint off his suit.
“If it’s any consolation, I’ll take your driver with me.”
His eyes followed my movement, before shifting to my face. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Will you now?”
“Yes. Just give me thirty minutes okay?”
I watched the range of emotions that passed across his face and sighed in relief when he finally nodded. “Fine. But Max will take you.”
“I don’t have much of a choice now, do I?” I mumbled, pulling away from him when he grinned maniacally.
“No. No, you don’t.”
***
Carlington’s diner stood by the road on Crosby’s street, looking every bit like a pompous place. It was quite weird, setting up a meeting in a place as mundane as that. I watched from the car window as families trooped in and out of the diner, the children laughing and giggling over whatnot together with their parents. It was such a wholesome sight. Perhaps too wholesome.
I glanced at the watch tapped on my wrist. It was forty minutes past five which meant that Damian had to be on his way to the diner or he was there already. I had promised Luciano I wouldn’t take so long or else I would have looked for him. I hated that he was quite skillful at camouflage. I’d relish hunting his ass down and showing him just who the real boss should be.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Max who grinned widely at me and watched me slip out of the car. There was no way Luciano used him to spy on me. He was too damn obvious. I looked around me before stepping into the cafe.
Bingo.
Three men were scattered around me but I had seen them once or twice guarding Luciano’s home. They had the homeless person costume but this was Crosby’s street. Of course, homeless people would stand out!
I gripped the envelope in my hands tighter and walked into the diner, heading straight for a smiling waitress at the counter.
“Hello, welcome to Carlington’s! You’ll be directed to your table as soon as possible- ”
“Thank you,” I interrupted with a smile. “I don’t need one. I’ll be ordering to go.”
The waitress gave an aww, a pout then whipped out a notepad like a pro. She looked rather adorable with her chin-length black hair and baby-brown eyes. “Can I get your order then?”
“Yes you can,” I stated, staring at the menu then slid the envelope across the counter to her as I spoke. “I’d like a club sandwich- a friend of mine will come to pick up this letter. Blue eyes, blonde hair.”
“Oooh,” the waitress cooed. “Sounds sexy. Is he single?”
I gave an outrageous fake gasp. “My goodness, how did you know?”
She shrugged, her hair swishing with the movement. “Just had a feeling.”
Grinning widely, I leaned forward to whisper. “And there’s more. He’s super single too.”
Her brown eyes flashed when I told her that and she cleared her throat awkwardly, most likely to control herself. Oh man, I was having a blast. Damian, if that was his real name was going to have a hell of a time getting out of this woman’s clutches.
Good. He deserved it. After holding me in that stupid lock position and threatening to harass me, he deserved to be harassed as well.
“You mean that?” She mumbled. “How can he be good-looking and single?”
I gave a sad sigh and shook my head. “Because he’s super shy. And women are quite intimidated by him.”
“Sounds like all he needs is a lot of love.” The waitress said and I nodded.
Go, girl. Go suffocate him with all that love.
When I stepped out of the diner with my order wrapped up in a brown paper bag, there was a shitty grin all over my face. Someone was going to have a really bad evening.
“Ready Miss?” Max asked when I opened the car door.
I almost responded with something snarky. If I wasn’t ready, would I be getting into the car?! Humans and asking dumb obvious questions.
“Yes,” I replied tersely and slammed the door a little harder instead. Glancing at the dinner pack in my hands, I stretched it out at him. “Here you can have it.”
Max thanked me profusely and proceeded to launch into a speech until I yelled at him to drive or Luciano was going to have both our heads. A tiny smile played on the corner of my lips. I suppose I could only wait for the night to get interesting.