6

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Charlotte

"Hey." I said, finally mastering some courage and walking over to where Anthony was seated completely engrossed in whatever was in the black colored manila paper folder.

"What do you want?" He asked rudely not even bothering to spare as much as a glance my way.

"You’re so rude." I rolled my eyes before taking a seat opposite him.

I knew for a fact he didn’t want me there but seeing him so serious gave me the desire to bother him. Anthony was always serious but this was the first time I was seeing him doing actual work and it intrigued me.

"I don't have the slightest idea of what we are going to do in London." I spoke after minutes of blabbering and him not giving me the attention I desired.

"Did your boyfriend not explain to you?” He grumbled.

Anthony always had a tendency of calling Matteo my boyfriend, I tried making the fact that we are not together countless times but it just never seems to sink in but then again I couldn’t really blame him, Matteo and I are very close and fond of each other, in fact, we were together 70% of the time whenever our families got together, it had been like that before I was even able to form any sentence.

Matteo was two years younger than Anthony and three years older than I was but for some unknown reason we connected best, he was my best friend and I was his, they even had a nickname for us growing up, the terrible two. Every single time we were together I would almost forget the existence of my irritating brothers, unlike them, he never got on my nerves.  

"No, he did not explain." I retorted not bothering to correct him, I had done it way to many times and at this point I was sure he knew that but the only reason he ever did say it was to annoy me.

“Who goes on a business trip oblivious as to what it is all about.” He taunted. “What if it was a killing spree.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’d do anything to spend some alone time with my “Boyyfriiend”.” I stated while bouncing my left leg which resting on top of the right one as I was seated cross-legged.

Though it was barely visible I saw him clench his jaw quickly before he reached over to the table and grabbing a navy colored folder and handing it to me.

"Everything you need to know is in there." He spoke dismissively.

"OK, thank you." Taking that as a sign he no longer wanted to be bothered, I got up and moved to my previous seat which was behind his.

 Upon getting comfortable in my seat, I opened the folder and begun skimming through the content of the folder. In as much as I agreed to go on the trip as a way of escaping my family, I did genuinely want to learn more about the family business and in the long run show my father that I was actually fit to run bigger projects than those which he let me at.

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"For fucks sake, what's your problem, can't you shut up!" Anthony growled at me for the 10th time in the space of 2 hours which had gone by with me whining and making irritating noises since I couldn't seem to fully comprehend what was in the folder and he had refused to explain.

"I don't understand this clause." I pointed at the black ink that littered the crisp white paper, to him when I was close enough.

"What don't you fucking understand, everything is clear as day here." He huffed annoyance evident in his tone.

"To you it is." I rolled my eyes. "Explain." I demanded. I needed to ascertain what my role was on this trip and to do that, I had to fully understand the document he had handed to me.

"Why don't you call your boyfriend, I'm sure he'll gladly do it." He cocked his eyebrow at me and from just that simple look I knew he was not going to help me out.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes giving up and going back to my seat. Scanning through the content of my purse, I finally managed to locate my phone. I took it out and dialed Matteo’s number which was on my speed dial but he wasn't picking up.

"He's not picking up." I mumbled after ringing him for the fifth time and it still went to voice mail.

"Then read the file till your brain decides to understand." Anthony retorted.

"Elio-"

"god don't call me that!" He growled the second the four letter word left my lips.

"But it's your name." I retorted.

"Charlotte-" he warned.

"OK, OK" I raised my hands up in surrender. "Just explain everything to me so we can get over with this, promise I’ll leave you alone if you do." I told him sounding almost desperate.

"You are disturbing me, do you know that." he pointed at the stack of files beside him.

"It's not my fault I don't understand, plus when you explain, I'll be out of your hair for as long as you want." I reasoned.

Let out a frustrated sigh he downed the whisky in his glass before patting the seat beside him and I hurriedly sat.

"I'll only explain this once and you better understand." he told me before beginning to explain the content of the file clause by clause.

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Not long after I was woken up from my nap, we landed and got out of the jet. The second I stepped outside, the cool air swooshed against me and I shut my eyes savoring how good it felt against my skin. I took a deep breath and placed the designer sunglasses my brother had recently gotten me as an apology over my eyes before slowly making my way down the steps. The suit clad men watched my every movement as though I was celebrity a celebrity of some sort but yet again, thanks to my family’s popularity, I was to a certain degree.

I heard Anthony mutter something under his breathe in Italian but I was unable to decipher what it was.

"Julio, ensure she reaches the house safely." He told the man beside him who nodded to show he understood.

"Where are you going?" I frowned at Anthony's now retreating figure. He did not even bother to say goodbye or offer an explanation of where he was going and why he was leaving me in the hands of total strangers, in a country unknown to me.

"A meeting.” he said simply. “He'll take you home." Not bothering wait for my reply before he got into one of the cars and drove off.

"Let's go ma'am." Julio, the man whose care Anthony had left me spoke.

Nodding.  I and took his hand and he helped me into the car before driving off.

"Julio right?" I asked looking into the rearview mirror and he nodded. "Do you always have a convoy?" I asked after noticing the car we were in was in between 3 other cars. He nodded again.

The rest of the ride was really quiet and I kept myself busy by scrolling through I*******m.

"Ma'am." The feeling of a rough hand tapping against my skin pulled me out of my sleepy state.

"Hmm." I murmured slowly opening my eyes and rubbing them.

"We have arrived." Julio told me.

"Oh, I must have fallen asleep." I sighed as he helped me out of the car.

I was still quite sleepy but it all vanished when I saw the beautiful building in front of me.

"Wow." I gasped.

"Follow me, I'll show you go your room." Julio told me and I nodded as we walked into the building.

"This is where we'll be staying?" I asked and he nodded “I thought we’d stay at a hotel or something.”

"Yes.” He nodded. "Mr. Santoro doesn't like hotels so he opts to stay here, in his villa."

“This place belongs to Anthony?" I looked at him wide eyed.

"That's a shocker, but then again the bastard is filthy rich" I mumbled.

After the end of the tour, showing me to my room, Julio gave a brief tour of the villa.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" He asked as we stood at the door of what was to be my room during our stay here. I shook my head no and he gave a curt nod. "Alright, if you are in need of anything I’ll be down stairs."

"Thank you" I smiled and earning a curt nod from him, I bid him a good day and entered my room before closing the door behind. walked into my room, it looked really nice, there was a king sized canopy bed in the middle of the room with blue beddings giving it a royal kind of feel. The floor was marble white while the walls where blue, my favorite shade of blue which made me smile, I walked into the walk in closet and all my things had already been unpacked and placed neatly inside. I moved to the adjoint bathroom and it looked like heaven. I smiled at the sight of the Jacuzzi already filled with water and red rose petals floating on the top with an ice bucket, wine and a glass beside it.

I walked to the counter in an attempt remove my jewelry and makeup when I found a note stuck to the mirror which read,

Don't get used to this

Adriano

With a small smile plastered on my face I went on to remove my makeup and discard everything on my body till I was bare before immersing myself in the water.