Serendipity

Chapter 36

Raffaele

Five days later, Elodie and I are eating lunch in my office. She came in about five minutes ago, a brown paper bag with a yellow M on the front in hand and claiming she was horribly bored, hence the interruption.

Now I'm staring at her as she starts shoving fries in her mouth as if her life depended on it, moaning softly after each bite all the while my food stays untouched. When she realizes I'm watching her, she swallows her last bite, takes a sip of her coke and looks at me tentatively.

"You don't like your burger? I didn't know what your order was so I went with the classic. I have a McChicken if you'd like that. I don't mind switching," she says and when I don't answer, she just adds, "Or is your highness too rich and fancy to indulge in fast food?"

"Actually, I've never had it before. And I'm not used to women barging in here to demand a meal with me so this situation feels rather bizarre. Nice. But bizarre," I reply, ignoring the flutter in my stomach when she starts beaming. Then she bursts out laughing.

"And to think I was joking," she wheezes right as there's a knock on the door. The sound startles her and she pulls herself together, watching me closely. She's probably waiting for me to tense, remembering our talk those days ago, but I don't since I know who's at the door.

I get up without a word, opening the door and taking Matteo from Sarina with a quick "thank you" before returning to my desk with him on my lap. The little guy plays with the hem of my suit jacket but turns at the female voice.

"Oh, yay. Hey, Matteo," she squeals excitedly, face drawn in a wide smile as she scurries over to our side of the desk. The flutters in my stomach intensify. Especially when Matteo coos happily and reaches for her instead of me and she sends me a gloating smile.

"He likes me better than you," she mouths as she picks him up and cradles him to her chest. "Thank fuck I'm here to introduce you to the world of cheap food that's most likely the worst possible thing for your body or this little dude would have grown up to be the biggest outsider." She says, sitting back down and still holding him to her.

I don't tell her not to swear near him since I definitely have done that before. Actually, I don't say anything at all, too busy watching them mess around. "Unless you're going to homeschool him? I mean, is this the part where you turn him into junior you? All serious and mafia-ish?"

I chuckle, finally unpacking my burger. "I haven't figured all that out yet but no, I won't raise him like my father did me. Now, tell me. What ingredients are in this soggy monstrosity?"

And so we eat. The food, though certainly unhealthy, is not as horrible as expected. Flavor-wise. We don't talk about presentation or consistence. As I'm throwing away the trash, a ringing phone interrupts our conversation.

"It's Dubois." I turn around to exchange an uneasy look with her. The man hasn't contacted her in any way since his deal two days ago went wrong. I tipped the police off and as hoped, they went to the right location and stopped the trade before anyone was shipped off. Despite that, Dubois somehow managed to get away without getting caught.

We haven't heard from him since which made it easy to forget that my plan didn't go as it should have. That he's still free. Now a rush of anxiety damn near makes me dizzy. Does he suspect anything? Were we caught?

Elodie keeps a level head, at least, and answers the phone even as her other hand runs over Matteo's soft hair.

"Dubois, it's been a while," she says in greeting, keeping her voice light.

"Yeah. Had to lie low for a while," he grumbles. She put him on speaker and at the sound of his voice, Matteo turns his head slightly. I recognize the look on his face while Elodie's hand stills in his hair obliviously. That seems to agitate my little guy even more and before I can do anything about it, his first cry pierces the air.

Fuck. I'm ripped out of my stupor and lurch forward, taking the screaming child from Elodie's lap with an apologetic look and quickly fleeing the room. Right as I close the door, Dubois asks, "Who's that? Where are you?" He sounds cautious and a little suspicious and I curse our bad luck.

"Oh, I just walked through the lobby where some idiot forbade a child some candy or whatever. Sorry about that," I hear Elodie reply calmly. My ear's pressed up against the door and I softly try to get Matteo to calm down in my arms. "Anyway, you said something about lying low. What happened?"

"Just a deal gone wrong. Lost a lot of money and quality goods." His voice is nearly inaudible through the thin wood and although my boy has stopped crying, I don't want to risk going back in. This will just have to do.

"Sorry to hear about that. But at least you got away, right? That's something," my actress replies. In the pause that follows, I can feel my muscles tensing up despite not knowing why. There wasn't anything wrong with her reply as far as I can tell. Yet, Dubois speaks even lower than before, making it impossible for me to hear.

"So, why did you call?" Elodie asks, bringing the conversation back on track. Again, I don't catch his reply but soon after, Elodie says her goodbyes and the call ends. I reenter the room, looking at her expectantly.

"He wants to meet me," she says slowly.

"He what?" I repeat slowly because let's be real, I must've misunderstood that.

"He said, he wanted to see me," she repeats provocatively slowly but I don't go along with the game and stay serious instead.

"Why?" I ask to which she shrugs.

"Said he had a more important job to do he'd rather tell me in person about since he was trying to stay off all radars," she replies seriously.

"You're not going," I state. Fuck if I sound like an asshole, it's obviously a trap. I'm not letting Dubois hurt what's mine. So I'll be a jerk if that's what it takes to get this through her thick skull. Hell, I'll lock her up if need be. No way I'm losing her.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, you're not going. It would be a senseless risk. Just come up with a lie" I insist, wishing I'd sounded less demanding when the girl's eyes flare up with defiance. If I know one thing, it's that Elodie doesn't like being told to do and I just gave her a challenge.

"Actually, I think I am," she protests. I blow out a breath and run a hand through my hair while adjusting Matteo on my hip with the other.

"Elodie, nothing good could come of this. The only reason he could want to see you in person is because A, he's onto us or B, he wants to fuck you. He trusts these phones. He's been using them for years. It's a trap," I explain, glad when the knock on my door.

I sent a quick text to Sarina when Matteo was crying earlier, sensing I'd have to take care of some things that don't surround the little guy. So I hand him off to her and take a deep breath before returning my attention to the fuming lady in my office.

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Okay I am back!! Been posting drafts I'd written weeks ago until now but now we're all caught up:)

Hoping to be able to keep up the schedule lmao. Anyways, y'all can look forward to the next chapter...
Have a lovely day and don't forget to vote<3