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“I’m inviting you to have lunch with me,” chuckled Dante. “Is that so scary?”
Yes, for Eden, it was. Still, she did not want to admit it.
However, she had to decide. The mafia lord was waiting for her.
“I can wait like this all day,” he added, as if he’d read her thoughts.
Eden’s feelings were mixed.
It didn’t mean anything to sit at that table with him. Yet, she felt like if she gave in just a little, the Tiger would swallow her whole. She took a deep breath and reluctantly approached the chair with a defiant glare. De Luca smiled and stepped back to let her sit. Although Eden was his bodyguard, she felt a sense of relief when he moved away. They both took their seats, facing each other in that strange atmosphere.
Eden couldn’t relax at all. She couldn’t forget about the men posted all around them, the nervous waiters, and their strange, romantic setup in a big empty restaurant. She even grabbed her pups to put them on her lap, like a buffer between her and Dante. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He quietly poured the champagne into their glasses, very casually, and put his napkin on his lap.
“To our new collaboration, then!” he said, toasting all by himself.
Eden barely looked at her glass. She watched him drink the fizzy liquid in silence, petting Beer and wondering what the hell he was trying to do with her.
Dante had impeccable manners. After only one sip, he put his glass down and wiped his lips carefully. His posture was very straight, showing off his square shoulders and body sculpted for action.
“For someone who works as a hostess, you don’t seem very used to this.”
“My clients are not Zodiacs,” she retorted.
“Oh, I’m your first in at least one thing, then.”
Eden frowned. She really couldn’t understand this man.
The starters were brought by a young waitress who couldn’t help but send a flirtatious glance toward Dante, despite her nervousness. He caught it and responded with a cold smile. Eden was even more annoyed. That bastard was just playing around with his arrogance laid out on the table.
“Why work as a hostess?” he asked.
“Why not?”
“How much were you paid?”
“Enough.”
“I’ll pay you triple of whatever ‘enough’ was, then.”
The mention of money made Eden’s lip twitch. Her mother. She had forgotten about that massive debt above her head, and it wasn’t a matter that was going to wait just because her employer had suddenly changed.
“I want it up front,” she suddenly said.
De Luca raised an eyebrow, actually surprised this time, and put his fork down.
“So you’re in it for the money. It’s funny; that was maybe the last thing I would have tried to get to you.”
“You don’t get to anything. It is just the same for anyone here. We all need money.”
“Mh... What if I’m not willing to pay upfront? After all, you haven’t proven anything yet.”
“I can ask which other Zodiac wants to beat Ghost, then.”
This time, he lost his smile.
Eden felt good about that. So he hated having competition. After all, it was known that most of the Zodiacs didn’t get along at all. Of course, some had agreements so trades could continue, and one could avoid being completely isolated with a shortage of food or supplies, but the territories existed in the first place because they did not get along, and the communities had grown wary of one another. The difficulties that came from living outside the Core in the Suburbs reinforced the hatred between the various communities. Those born with a clear cultural background were luckier than the mixed ones or those whose people were not protected by one of the Zodiacs. Eden was one of those people. As a white woman with few clues about her own background, she had to go from one territory to another with extreme caution. She had gotten into fights before simply because she was mistaken as Italian or Russian.
“You’re my property from now on,” suddenly said Dante De Luca.
