Game on (Stefanielle)

Chapter 8

"It's okay, bella. Let's get you back to hotel now."

—O—

"Bonjour, ma belle!" Stefania internally groaned as she heard a particular french speak.

The meetings regarding the proposal had been going on smoothly for the past 4 days, both the companies discussing about their respective ideas for the collaboration. Today was their final conference in Paris, but they still had 2 days to spare until their flight back to Los Angeles.

The CEO watched as the two hugged a little too long for her liking. But she couldn't do much about it than just trying to keep her jealousy at the bay.

She watched as Natalie subtly took Danielle away from the other's earshot. She watched as the two flirted, the blonde chuckling and nodding over something the other had said. She watched as the French woman delicately pressed her lips on her ex's cheek, making Danielle's face go red. And she watched as the two joined their group back, but all the while she couldn't say or do anything. She had lost the right to years ago.

Stefania had to accept the bitter truth that Danielle was no longer hers.

"It was so refreshing to meet you all. I hope you enjoyed our service and we look forward to working with you." Mr. Dupont spoke in his gruff French voice, shaking his hand with the CEO of Itroza.

The brunette plastered a fake smile, trying to hide her grimace after she had heard his assistant not so quietly whisper to Danielle that 'Her services were yet to start.'

"Thank you for having us! You may shortly hear from Mrs. Scorsone and myself regarding the further procedure about this project in a few days, Mr. Dupont." Stefania remarked.
Their team soon exited the firm's office and were waiting for their ride to arrive.

"Jesse, Oak and I are planning to go a club right now, Dani and Miss Spampinato would y'all like to join us?" Camilla queried, only to be met with two rejections.

"You guys enjoy, I have a dinner date to get ready for." The blonde announced as she  shimmied a little in her place, the Brit gushing with excitement on hearing this too.

However, the Italian's stomach wrenched upon this revelation. The once fierce and flirty Stefania, suddenly felt her heart slowly cracking as tears were daring to fall out of her eyes. She turned away, quickly wiping them and thanked the universe as she saw their van arrive.

"Miss Spampinato, are you sure you don't want to join us?"

The taller woman was quick to deny, "N-No, you all have fun. I can feel a g-growing headache, so I'm just going to rest at the hotel. Stay safe tho." her voice cracking as she was trying to hold back her tears.

Camilla and the two guys decided to walk to the club instead of taking the van, effectively making Danielle and Stefania the only ones in the car. And of course, the chauffeur.

The ride back seemed awfully slow and dreadful for both. Danielle could hear the little sniffles coming from the brunette's direction who was trying to suppress them to her best, but wasn't succeeding much. She had her head lowered which blocked the younger woman from seeing her face, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that Stefania was in fact upset over something.

As soon as they reached their hotel, the Italian was quick to get out of the car and practically sprinted inside. Danielle followed her swiftly, meeting the brunette just before she got into the elevator.