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“Who’s asking?”
“It’s me. Alessio.” Her pretty face contorted with confusion and her gaze flickered from me to the two huge SUVs parked outside of her house and back. She looked uneasy. “Panther?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know who you are. You have the wrong person,” she answered, her voice shaking a little. A voice that sounded very different from the one I had been hearing on the phone every day. She started to walk briskly up the steps towards the door, scrambling to get her keys out.
“You are Flora? You worked at La Casetta?” I asked sharply, following her up the steps. Her hands were trembling now as she tried to get the key in the door. Her brown eyes looked up into mine and I knew at that moment this was not the same girl.
“I’ve never worked at La Casetta. You must be mistaken. Sorry,” she mumbled quickly in Italian as she tried to step inside the building. I grabbed the door and her upper arm, yanking her back into me. She gasped, dropping her shopping bag on the floor and stared up into my eyes in pure fear.
“I am not going to hurt you. I swear. But I need to know, if you weren’t the girl working at La Casetta using the name Flora. Who the hell was?”
“Look, I don’t know anything! I swear. I just took the money. I never even worked a shift there. She just wanted to get inside for one night and paid me to use my identity,” she stuttered, her whole body visibly shaking now.
“Who? Who paid you?” I growled. I needed to try and get a handle on my anger because the girl was about to burst into tears if I didn’t.
“I don’t know. She had an arrangement with Rico. I only met her once.”
“Rico?” I questioned, that name ringing a bell. The male worker that ate her pussy on my command. I released her arm, realising I wasn’t going to get anything more from her and she whimpered in relief.
“So, you haven’t been texting me this whole time?” I hissed.
She shook her head. “I gave her my phone.”
I inhaled a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose to try and calm myself down. “I apologise for scaring you, Emmeline. Thanks for your help.”
I turned abruptly and stormed down the steps to my car. Climbing in the back, I slammed the door as hard as I could and started punching the headrest in front until I was out of breath. Running my hand over my shaved hair, I fell back in the seat and closed my eyes.
Who the fuck had I been speaking to this entire time? Who was this girl who paid a worker so she could take her place for one night in a sex club? It all made so much fucking sense now. The innocence. The lack of training. The reason she quit at the club on her own terms. I rang her number again, whoever she was, but it was still disconnected. She had cut me off entirely. And I had no way of finding her.
I groaned in frustration before I remembered Rico. He had an arrangement with her. If I found him, I would find her. I told the driver to head back to the hotel, knowing Isabelle would have left by now and texted Lorenzo asking for Rico’s contact information. Now more than ever, I had to know who she was. And nothing would stop me.
Distractions
Cecilia
“Do you have a bikini, mamma?” Elle asked, rifling through my neatly folded clothes in the suitcase.
“What will I need a bikini for while I am at the ski slopes, Elle? Honestly!”
“You know we have a hot tub outside the chalet,” she winked and I dismissed her with a wave of my hand.
“Don’t go getting any ideas,” I gave her a pointed look.
“And what kind of ideas would they be?” she asked innocently, shooting me a cheeky smile. I scoffed and closed the suitcase, doing the zip up just as Marco strolled into the room.
“Signora, shall I take that for you?” he asked, pointing to my overstuffed suitcase on the bed. I stepped back and smiled.
“Grazie, Marco.”
He reached forward brushing his arm against mine as he picked up the heavy weight in one hand effortlessly. Our eyes connected momentarily and he gave me a discreet wink. I quickly moved my gaze around the room, pretending I might have forgotten something as he left with my suitcase.
“Oh, he is just so… chivalrous,” Elle teased in a gushing voice which I ignored as I started to put my diamonds in my ears. “So, will there be any more kisses in France?”
I knew it. I knew Olivia wouldn’t have kept her mouth shut. I bet these two were plotting this the entire time. I turned to see Elle biting her bottom lip with a smile, trying to suppress her amusement. She thought she was so funny. My deviant daughter.
“That is none of your business, Elenora.”
“Good answer. I like that answer,” she grinned and I rolled my eyes. Since our kiss in the kitchen a few days ago we hadn’t even discussed it. Marco and I had carried on as if nothing had happened, except we had been far more flirty. Touches and caresses when no one is looking. Eye contact from across the room. I knew he was putting the ball in my court so to speak. He was letting me take the lead on this. The problem was… my mind and my heart were saying very different things.
