Penny For An Italian Thought

Part 16: Secret With A Price

Thank you sheili for your amazing suggestions. Enjoy reading and vote if you like it. This chapter is unedited.

Alexander's POV

I woke up before Brianna the next morning. I was a morning person and how much ever tired I might have been the night before, I always woke up early. I would get out for an early morning jog, when it would still be dark outside. But then, I didn't always have a beautiful brunette sleeping in my arms before that day. Her being with me, I wanted to just go back to sleep cuddling her. I didn't want to leave when she was right there. Somehow, she had managed to be facing me and her face was touching my bare chest. Her soft lips brushed my chest with every breath and I felt a rush of emotions go south. With this going on, I wasn't sure if I could keep up with the deal. I moved myself a little back, gently, to keep myself a good few inches away from her delectable lips. I turned my attention to her face. A few strands of her dark, chocolate brown hair were over her face. She took deep, steady breaths and her hand that was over my waist moved with them. My leg was over her's and I groaned at how silky and smooth they felt. My hand itched to roam over her leg, but I didn't, as it would throw my caution to the wind. I moved her hair away from her face and gently kissed her forehead. Her scent was overwhelming and I didn't want to do anything wrong, so without waking her up, I moved her a little to the other side of the bed. I  very quietly got out of bed and picked a t-shirt and a pair of jogging shorts for the jog. I hated getting out of bed and being away from her embrace, but I had to vent my raging emotions elsewhere. I got out of the apartment and asked the guard to tell Brianna that I went for a jog, in case she wakes up and asks.

    While jogging, once again my thoughts wandered to the woman in my bedroom. The out of control, feisty and short tempered woman, that in no time had managed to tame my Italian blood. Her smart mouth defied everything I said to her. She would never listen to me in a single go and I usually would have to bend my ways to get her to listen. No woman, rather no one has ever done that and gotten away with it. I once had fired a personal assistant only because she got me the wrong coffee and I fired the next one because she asked me a question. But with Brianna, all my senses would wreck. She had a hold over me that was too dangerous to offer someone just out of like. But, I didn't know if it was just like and I was too afraid to venture deeper in that thought. I remembered seeing her fall in the club and clenched my fists. My running speed involuntarily increased thinking of her that way. That moment felt like a thousand needles were pricked at me. Her distressed face made me want to strangle whoever did that to her. By then, I was running so fast, that I had outrun a moped going alongside me. I had a shooting pain in the calf muscle and in my side, but I kept running. Next was the break in inside her apartment. It couldn't be a co-incidence that she got drugged and had her apartment searched within 10 days. I had to find out what the the connection was. I had had detectives digging after Brianna from the day she got into the  hospital for drug overdose. Nothing different ever came up. She started working with Jonathan Burke straight out of college. There was nothing that stood out and said that she might have made enemies there.

Although, something told me that Brianna was hiding something from me and it could have been the root of the problem. She was a tough girl, didn't cry easy, but she's human after all. What struck me as weird was, that Brianna didn't even blink when she was told of being drugged or her apartment being ransacked. Her friend Elizabeth on the other hand, who portrayed herself as tough, broke down. Then why didn't Brianna? It was like Brianna expected it and the thought of that brought me to a stop.

I fell to the ground as my knees buckled under the exertion. I was panting like a dog and felt wet with sweat. I went up to a nearby fountain and splashed some water on my face. My knees hurt like shit, so I sprinkled a little water on my knees too, to stop them from hurting and then I gently massaged my calf muscles.

I sat on a bench nearby and looked up at the orange and purple hue creeping into the dark sky, while thinking how ignorant I had been in Brianna's case. I was so stupid to not notice it before. Of course, she was hiding something. She was mad after those incidents, but not broken down. I immediately took my phone out and called the one man I trusted. The man who was with me through thick and thin. He was with me when I didn't have these companies with me. He was with me on that eventful day 6 years ago, when I had run out of my parents home, when the biggest mistake of my life was committed. The mistake that could take all my hard earned things away from me. He pulled me out of those dark days and never spoke of it to anyone. Something that would turn the court upside down. Something that could be the end of Alexander Armenti.

"Joshua. Did you find something?"

"No, Alex, nothing. Brianna really doesn't socialize much outside her group of friends."

"Okay, keep searching. She is hiding something, I know it. I need to know what."

"Okay and Alex, someone just checked into your records at the unit last night."

I remained silent as I clawed into the wooden bench.

After all these years, who had remembered?

The word never got out, then who had tried to check in?

"Were they allowed to retrieve the records?"

"No, they asked for owner's permission which they did not have." I sighed.

"Find out who it was, now!"

Hey readers, this chapter is short on purpose since this book is mainly in Brianna's POV and in this case, Alex's POV was necessary for this new twist in the plot. In compensation for the short chapter, the next chapter will be uploaded tomorrow and would be a Valentine's Day special update. Stay tuned and vote. ☺