It was a stare-down between the boarding sign and I. My ticket in passport superglued to my hand, my suitcase with what felt like broken wheels, and my feet fit in cement shoes. I couldn't get myself to get on that damn plane to Forlí, Italy. I've spent my whole life in the UK, besides a weekend visit to my sibling's university in Rome, but even then, there was this gut feeling that I couldn't get rid of. One mini meltdown in the airport washroom stall, and a pill - who am I kidding, a couple of pills of Xanax, and I pushed myself towards the smiling flight attendant - I had to do it for my brother.
3 painfully long hours later, the plane landed. Honestly, I couldn't figure out if my body wanted out or if I wanted to stay in my seat, but we both know the latter would never happen.
I didn't realize how serious my brother's business interactions were until a black-suited bulky man with black glasses was holding a professional-looking sign with my name written on it - Ms. Markovic. I'm in some deep shit. I should've listened to my gut pre-flight, but there wasn't anything I could do now. I headed toward the driver with a poker face, hoping he wouldn't see the "I'm going to piss myself any moment" expression. I got into the tinted range rover with the slight thought that I might get kidnapped, but I still had to play cool. Another hour or so passed by and we pulled up at the gates of a not-so-small empire, and with that, a tall, brown-haired, young man standing at the entrance. My brother.
"Ćao, it's like we haven't seen each other in ages!" my brother exclaims. "That's because maybe I didn't want to see you, Stefan.". I always liked to rain on my brother's parade because of the facial expressions he would pull out of his ass. He showed me around the palace while catching up as much as we could. Two cascading sets of stairs accented with black carpet on each side upon entry, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling over a vast open space- I couldn't believe my brother had kept all of this a secret. The last time I saw him, he was a second-year university student living off of whatever was the cheapest meal to make, but now he was.. this. All he told me was that he needed some help managing his business, but I couldn't blame him for asking me because I'm pretty good at my trade, but if he has me working for some kingpin drug lord, I'll have his head.
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questionable business
Romance"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Markovic. I would like to start off by stating the focus of today's meeting - Adelyn". He said while slowly looking me up and down. I felt totally exposed even though this was the seventh second into our first interaction and I...
