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By the time Leonardo found Lolita in the hallway on the second floor. He'd already found himself a clean shirt to wear, searched the ground floor of the palazzo for her in a frenzy, searched four other rooms on the second floor, and was about to turn in the opposite direction when he caught a glimpse of her.

He hid by the threshold of one of the rooms he had searched before and gauged at the distance between them, feeling impatient.

However, no matter how much he would like to meet her halfway in the hallway and hurl the answers he needed from her. He still wanted to conduct his business away from prying eyes.

And so he waited till she got close. Close enough that he shot out a hand and dragged her into the empty room behind him. Slamming the door hard, he pushed her against it and caged her there.

Immediately, she reached out a hand to cradle her head, her face twisting in pain, and Leo realized it must be hurting. The alcohol and his little exercise put together were making her pay.

Good.

That serves her right.

Her damp hair was plastered all over her face, and she had swapped her two-piece bikini for a sexy green gown, which was as well scandalous. And with her eyes clenched shut, Leo almost didn't believe she was the same woman who had caused a disaster for him today.

How innocent she looked!

A frown marred Leo's face, and he pulled away from her, folding his hands under his chest. Feeling like he was wasting precious time with her.

The time he should have spent resolving his issue with Paige. At the thought of Paige, her face came to mind, and he swallowed, remembering the way they had parted. As though she was breaking things off with him, and they weren't even dating.

Leo sucked in a huge breath, feeling the need to rush off to Paige. But he had to be here. He needed to deal with this. If not, it will forever gnaw at him.

He needed to find out what happened here today. He knew Rosa was behind all the mess today. Rosa has done many bad things, but somewhere in his mind. In a little corner of his heart, he always held doubt for her. Maybe it wasn't her doing this time. Maybe it was different this time. If he should conclude without confirming and later find out it has nothing to do with his sister, he did hate himself.

Wasn't that why he was here? To confirm from Lolita's lips before he made any lasting decision. But with every minute and second that passed, his body sang with anxiety and nervousness.

Something tells him the more he delays here, the more his unresolved issue with Paige becomes more complicated.
And that's the last thing he wanted. Because he has plans of dating her, of wooing her, and eventually becoming all she can think of.

Now he had allowed himself to dwell on it, he realized he wanted it more than anything. And that's why it irritated him so much that Lolita tried to sabotage his plans, not just with Paige, but with his parents as well.

Tired of waiting for her head to stop spinning or hurting or whatever was happening to her. Leonardo stalked towards her. His patience snapped and gritted out harshly. "Why did you try to seduce me in the pool? Who put you up to this?"

Fair lashes fluttered open, and green eyes rested on him, on the harsh lines on his face and her face broke into a gentle smile, "Leonardo," she breathed out. "So it's you."

That naïve smile, and that gentle way she spoke his name, did not fool him for one bit.

Golden brown eyes, engraved in a face as hard as marble, squinted in annoyance. Drawing Leo's brow together.

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