Never Giving Up

Chapter 30

I acknowledge the male standing by the entrance of Luca's London home with a single nod of the head. He doesn't bat an eye at seeing me, not that he would because he knows who I am. The only one to bat an eye at me is Trent who spins on the spot on his way to the kitchen with an empty cup in one hand, a jam-packed ring binder in the other hand, and a pen in his mouth. The pen in his mouth falls to the floor as he gawks at me walking in his direction.

"Miss. Fletcher," he says in shock. He looks at everything he's holding then rushes off to the kitchen and returns moments later without any of the items. He comes to a halt in front of me which is directly in line with Luca's office to my left. "Mr. Madden is currently in the middle of a meeting with an investor. If you wish to wait for him to finish, you can wait in the living room or-"

"Can you please interrupt him and tell him I'm here to see him?" I politely request.

Trent stares at me, eyes never blinking.

"It's very important I speak to him the now, Trent. Please."

"I can't charge in on an important meeting, Miss. Fletcher."

"Trent, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important but it is. You don't realise how important this is that I see him right away."

"I-" He glances to the closed office door then back to me. "You're putting me in a very difficult place here, Miss. Fletcher."

"And I don't want to do that. If it helps, I can walk in on my own and you'll have nothing to do with this whatsoever."

He glares at me, thinking of what I just said to him, then nods and walks away without saying a word.

I look at the office door, take a deep breath, and walk towards it. I knock softly and enter without waiting for Luca to respond.

"Looking at the list of locations available to us to branch out to, there is more of a potential to expand to the Asia, Australia or New Zealand areas."

I stand just off to the side of Luca's desk and watch him as he continues his meeting without noticing me. He's looking down at something on his desk, pen pointing to whatever it is he's reading. The sleeves to his white shirt are rolled up to his elbows, cufflinks clearly discarded to the side.

"Which one are you and Fredrick leaning more towards?" The male on the phone asks.

Luca's chest rises and falls on a silent intake of breath. "We were thinking Australia but we have a hotel there already so adding a restaurant outside the hotel wouldn't be a bad idea. We were then thinking maybe Asia."

"I see. Well, you're right about the restaurant in Australia but if you went the Asia route, there's the potential to add a hotel there which would include a restaurant."

"We could," Luca agrees.

He runs his free hand down the side of his face and looks at his cufflinks. He reaches for them and moves them to the small dark blue tray within arms reach. The cufflinks fall onto the polished metal base when his movements still. His head stays lowered and his eyes rise to look at me.

I don't speak and neither does he. We only stare at each other which has the man he's on the phone with calling his name repeatedly to get his attention back to their conversation.

"Luca," the male calls once more before our stare is broken.

"Sorry, Bert." Luca clears his throat. "Leave it with me and I'll discuss it with Fredrick. When we get back to New York, we'll arrange a meeting and go from there."

"Alright. Keep me updated. I look forward to speaking to you soon."

Luca nods and ends the call. He doesn't make an attempt to stand up or come closer to me which I'm not surprised by. I was just visualising that he would do that but I wasn't going to get my hopes up if he didn't.