𝐺𝐼𝑆𝐸𝐿𝐿𝐸

8 | 𝑂 𝐹 𝐹 𝐼 𝐶 𝐸

CHAPTER 8

"your love will be safe with me"

<3

I hate Mondays.

And this particular Monday morning came more quickly than I would've hoped. On the bright side, I did absolutely nothing all weekend besides unpack and sleep. I had tried to apologize to Giovanni the day after the party but he was still in the hospital under supervision.

Currently I was in a taxi on my way into the city. My father would have driven me but Mrs. De Luca had some errands to run and would be out with my father until the late afternoon.

I had woken up to a text message from Vincent. I thought it was a long paragraph but it was surprisingly only a few words with a lot of spaces and punctuation.

V: "Good morning..."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Is it my last?

"Giovanni is heavily sedated and cannot take visitors per the doctor's orders...

I was called in early this morning to the office. Would you mind meeting me here so we can continue our conversation?

Thank you,

V.D."

Why does he use so many dots? He was only thirty-six but he texted like my father. I found myself wondering if he texted people often.

Most of the time when I saw him around the house he was always on the phone with people, actually exchanging words verbally. But Vincent De Luca texting seemed unnatural. I smiled to myself a little bit and giggled, imagining using a large pointer finger to type instead of just using his thumbs.

Since I was meeting him at his office I decided to dress in gray slacks and black long sleeve sweater that was off-shoulder, and decided to wear my hair down.

I shoved my phone in my bag as we reached the De Luca office building in the city, a 100 floor tower that contained separate sections for each De Luca Franchise. As CEO, Vincent's office was naturally on the top floor.

The inside was a mirage of tan and white marble and dark wood furniture. The bottom floor surprisingly smelled like coffee and cinnamon and when I looked to my left I saw a large café with a bunch of circular tables on the floor surrounding it.

The elevator ride was about 5 minutes, with people stepping on and off periodically. When I finally made it to the top, I was slightly nauseous and could barely comprehend what Vincent's secretary was telling me when I told her I had a meeting with Vincent.

"Are you okay, dear?" she looked at me concerned.

I was already nervous for this meeting and the lightheadedness I felt from the elevator didn't help. I swallowed and focused on the stray paperclip on her desk to steady myself.