"Aria, you had me hooked the moment you stood in front of me in the VIP booth back at Volt. Then you had me whipped when you were sprawled across my desk a panting mess." His lips brush mine and I want nothing more than to lean forward and close the...
After arriving back at the house, I packed away all the clothes and other essential things Lorenzo had brought for me. I'm currently sitting at the bay window looking out at the garden. Shame there are no roses. A knock at the door pulls me from my thoughts, I look over my shoulder to see Lorenzo open the door and gently close it behind him.
I turn back to the window with no interest in conversing with him. In the corner of my eye, I see him place a small bag next to me.
"What's this?"
"Open it."
I hear the bed groan, telling me that he's taken a seat. I pull the bag onto my lap, the weight of it confuses me. I pull out an iPhone, AirPods, and a charger. I snicker quietly to myself. "Do you give all you hostages this luxury? They're not even in their boxes."
"You think I'd let you set a phone up, I'm not stupid Aria."
Lorenzo stands from his place on the bed and takes long strides toward me.
"The phone has contacts of everyone here. Me, Dom, Gio, Carlo, Dani, and my Mother. You also have the number of security at the front gate, the chef, and the maid. You also have the number of the phone that's given to your sister. You will have daily phone checks." He says as he takes the phone from my hands and scrolls through all the contacts, all of which have been titled.
"You are not allowed a password or facial recognition. If any of us want to get onto this phone we have to be able to. You have access to music, which is why you have those." He motions to the AirPods in my other hand. "If you ever want to download an app you come to me, not anyone else. If you want any form of social media, forget about it."
"You've thought this through. But you do know I have memorized all my brother's phone numbers. All I have to do is call them and then delete the number from recent calls."
He chuckles evilly at my words and places the phone back in my hands. "Here's the catch Aria. Every call text and notification you get on that phone sends an alert straight to my phone. I can see all your texts and I can hear all your calls."
I look down at the phone, then back at Lorenzo who's already staring at the side of my face.
"Didn't your Mother ever tell you it's rude to stare?"
"Yeah, she has, but only with the exception of if the thing you're staring at is beautiful."
I shake my head muttering a string of curses to myself. "Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
I back up at him, his eyes still haven't left me.
"I swear you're fucking bipolar. One minute you're all serious and act as if you hate me, then you act like you want to be with me or some shit, you go all nice. It's fucking confusing because Lorenzo you may have forgotten but I'm your hostage and your enemy's daughter, you aren't supposed to be buying me shit and giving me a phone."
"Yeah well, I guess I'm still caught up on that night, back in my office at Volt." He smirks.
I can tell he's trying to piss me off.
"Oh my god, you can't be fucking serious."
"Oh I'm very serious, you still owe me for that night." He says lowly, taking a slow step forward.
I laugh bitterly at his words and stand from the bay window. "I don't owe you shit. I gave you twenty minutes, but I waited for thirty, just to give you the benefit of the doubt. I know what it's like, family before anything else. Whatever the fuck happened to your sister, I'm sure you dealt with it. But just so you know, I saw you drive past in the black SUV. I could feel you looking at me. And don't go thinking I want a redo of whatever the fuck was going to happen that night, because, for the record Lorenzo, I didn't even want to fuck you. You were just something to do to pass the time."
Although his face was blank, I swear I could see a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
"Why wouldn't you let me kiss you?"
I'm thrown off by his question. I just told him I had no intention of actually having sex with him and he asks me this.
"Kisses are meaningless. They are just something that occurs when two people don't want to talk."
"Then why wouldn't you let me kiss you?"
I contemplate whether or not I want to tell him. I can't really tell him that the men who kiss me on the regular make me want to throw up.
"It's not my preferred method of affection."
"It seems like nothing is your preferred method of affection."
I glare at him, annoyed with the conversation. "Yeah well, it's hard to show affection when you haven't had any since you were a fucking child."
Moving on from the conversation, he motions to my necklace. I made sure I was wearing it 24/7 ever since my Father told us about his plan. There was no way I was leaving without this necklace.
"Daniella told me about the story behind the necklace. A Mr. Lincoln rose petal. It's the same rose that's being carved into the men who mysteriously get murdered in hotel rooms. The last one was Bruno Romero. Looks like the killer is a woman, they posed as a prostitute."
Not letting him see through my facade I say, "You think my dead grandMother, who is well over 90 years old, is going around killing men and carving her favorite rose in their chests?"
"No, I don't." Lorenzo stares right at me waiting for me to break. I give him satisfaction. I know where he's going with this.
"Wait, you think I'm killing those men?"
"I don't know, you tell me."
I scoff at him. "You really think I, Aria-Marie Marino, a five foot five, weak little girl is going around killing men at least twice, if not three times her size?"
He obviously buys my act because his face immediately softens and he brings on a guilty look. Bingo.
"Your right. I'd expect you to be able to throw a punch, but I doubt you'd be able to kill more than 40 grown men." He says quietly. "I'm sorry, it was rude of me to assume. It just added up. The carvings are of a Mr. Lincoln rose and you seem to be infatuated with them."
I just nod in response. Lorenzo turns and goes to walk out the door, but he stops.
"Have you even had your first kiss yet Aria?"
"Yes, I have." I'm kind of offended at the question. Did he not realize that when I said kissing wasn't my preferred method of affection? The look he gives me, tells me he doesn't believe me. Oh well, he can believe whatever he wants.
