Chapter 5

Aurelia's POV

I couldn't hold back the scream that escaped from my lips, Owen and Lucia turned to me, wearing identical looks of shame. Lucia scrambled off Owen and they tried to arrange themselves. Before they could say anything, I turned on my heels and hightailed out of the bathroom. I could barely breathe, I needed air and I needed it immediately.

I ran towards the back door of the building. My eyes welled with tears and my vision was blurred, I pushed the door, luckily it wasn't locked, I tripped over the hem of my dress and tumbled forward, I closed my eyes waiting for the hard impact of the asphalt ground. But the impact never came, a pair of arms enclosed around my waist, holding me tightly to their chest. My muscles relaxed and I felt safe in their arms, I inhaled their cologne, and my chest fluttered. It was familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Why are you trying to run away?" Judah's cold voice tensed my muscles immediately. Of course, he was the one. I opened my eyes and raised my head to look at him.

His jaw was ticked and his eyes hard. He looked ready to snap my neck.

" I wasn't trying to run away. I was feeling suffocated, I needed air."

He didn't seem to believe me, " Liar, there was plenty of air in the hall, I knew something was wrong when you spent more than ten minutes in the bathroom. I never should have let you use the bathroom."

" I'm not lying, I really wasn't trying to run away. I'm not a runner, I stood before God and swore to be your wife, I would never do that to him."

Judah raised an eyebrow, " So if you hadn't said your vows in the church, you would have ran."

I growled, annoyed that he was twisting my words. I kept quiet, I didn't want to give him more chances to twist my words.

"We're leaving now. Because of your little episode, we're already running late." He let go of my waist and took my hand in his. He led the way towards the car.

"But I haven't said my goodbyes, what about my clothes, I don't have clothes with me." I protested. Judah didn't bother to stop and answer, we got to the car, or rather limo, and he opened the door for me to enter. I shook my head and stood outside like a petulant child.

"Get into the damn car, Aurelia. I'm already pissed at you."

" It's rude to leave a party without saying good…"

" Who the fuck do you want to say goodbye to? Is it your father that sold you off or your sister that betrayed you or your greedy ex-boyfriend? None of those people matter, I'm your family now. You are mine and no one else. Do you fucking understand? " I nodded my head, rattled to my core by his curt tone.

I got into the car quietly and turned my nose to the window, he entered and the driver drove off. Judah answered business calls from the moment we got into the car till we arrived at the airport. My chest burned with his words, he had said Lucia betrayed me. Was he aware of what Lucia did, he must have been.

"Where are we?" I asked. We were at another section of the airport.

"This is where my private jet is. Come on, hurry up." He had a private jet, of course, he did. He was practically the underworld royalty. There was no way he would fly commercially or economically like regular people.

We got into the jet, I was awwed, I'd never been in a plane and now I was in a jet. It was the epitome of classy and elegant. The cold gust of fragrance air that hit my face and a cherry voice brought me back to reality.

"Mr. Bianco, welcome onboard, it's a pleasure to have you with us today." A blonde bombshell in the tightest and shortest air hostess uniform I had ever seen smiled at us or rather at Judah.

"Thank you, Lola, this is my wife, Aurelia. Aurelia, Lola our air hostess." Judah said in a bored tone, he barely raised his head from his phone to look at her. Her flirty smile dimmed when she heard who I was.

She led us to our seats quietly and hurried away to busy herself. I took the window seat and stared outside, Judah had his laptop on and was busy typing. I chewed my lip wondering how I was going to bring up the topic.

Lola returned, I thought her skirt had been short when she welcome us but now it was even shorter. She stood next to Judah and placed her hand on the back of his chair.

"Mr. Bianco, what can I get you?" She asked in a saccharine voice.

Still typing, he answered, " I'll have a glass of red wine and Aurelia will have?"

Judah raised his head and looked at me.

"A glass of white wine and some pastries please," I said. Lola almost shit me a glare but she restrained herself.

"Of course, I'll be back shortly." She walked away putting extra effort into her strut, poor girl, Judah barely looked up from his laptop. I didn't care but I couldn't help feeling a little bit giddy.

Soon, we were flying and a rush of trepidation hit me, I had never flown before, what if the jet ran out of fuel and we crashed? What if one of the wings caught on fire and we crashed? I wasn't ready to die yet. I was so high up in the sky, there was no way I was going to survive.

My breathing became erratic, my vision clouded and I could feel myself shivering. While I was still having a mini panic attack, the airplane jerked and I couldn't hold in my scream.

Judah's laptop dropped to the ground.

"Shit, Aurelia, what the hell?" I felt Judah's eyes on me but I was too busy fighting for my life.

A pair of arms went over my shoulders and held me close.

"Aurelia, calm down, breathe in and out slowly." I shook my head, unable to do as he said.

"We're going to die, aren't we? Oh my God, I'm going to die." I chanted.

He rubbed my shoulders, " Aurelia, breathe. You're not going to die, it was just a little turbulence. Everything is fine." Tears rolled down my cheeks.

" Mr. Bianco, is everything okay?" Lola called out.

"Get out." He snapped at her. I heard feet scurrying away.

"Aurelia, please calm down, nothing's going to happen to you. Close your eyes and focus on my voice." His voice was low and soothing, I did as he said, I didn't hear a word he said but the humming sound seemed to calm me down.

We stayed like that for some minutes until I was completely calm, I realized I was in his arms and tensed immediately, pulling myself away. Judah cleared his throat and adjusted himself in his chair.

"Um, thanks for…" I started.

"Don't mention it. Why didn't you say you have a fear of flying? Is this how it's going to be every time you fly, I'm not always going to be there to calm you down." Judah's curt voice cut through my skin.

Of course, he was still an asshole, why did I think that because we had a moment he would automatically become St Nick.

"This is my first time flying, I wasn't aware that I had a phobia. Don't worry, it will never happen again because I'm never getting on a plane again." I pulled out my phone and opened my eBook reader. I chose a romance novel that I had started a day ago and started to read it.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Judah open his mouth to say something but he shut himself on and picked up his laptop.

Luckily for me, I ended up falling asleep and woke up a few minutes before we touched down. We exited the plane and a driver was waiting for us.

"Mr. Bianco, welcome back." The tall bald Italian driver said, he had a scar above his left eyebrow and his muscles were almost busting through his suit.

"Nico, it's good to be back. This is my wife, Aurelia. Take her back to the house. Gio is driving me to the office." My head whipped around.

" Excuse me, you're not coming with me?" I asked confused.

Judah exhaled and pinched the bridge of the nose.

"Did you not just hear me tell Nico that? Be a sweetheart and go home with Nico."

" You're just going to hand me off to a man I don't know, you can even be bothered to take me home."

" Look Principessa, I have a business to run, I can't leave it and go wait on you, hand and foot. Go home with Nico, do not anger me." I narrowed my eyes at him and kissed my teeth, how dare he call me a princess?

I turned to Nico and gave him my most dazzling smile.

"Hi Nico, it seems I'm going to be in your care, please take good care of me." Nico's eyes widened for a second, he grunted and turned away, entering the car quickly.

"Nico is not your nanny, he's just going to drop you off at the house. Don't pull any games with me, Principessa, this is LA, not Chicago."

I got into the car and Nico drove away, I tried to make conversation with Nico but it seemed his default setting was scowl and grunt, much like his boss, I wasn't surprised.

He pulled up in an estate, my jaw dropped as I came down from the car. A Butler was waiting at the door.

"Ma'am, I'm Gerald, I take care of Mr. Bianco's estate and his staff. He already informed me of your arrival. I'll take you into the house and introduce you to everyone."

Gerald led me into the house and introduced me to Judah's staff, his chef, and three maids and showed me my room.

I took a quick shower in the bathroom, Judah must have hired someone to go get me clothes because the walk-in closet was stocked with clothes that were my size, I grabbed nightwear and got into bed, feeling jetlagged.