Heart Of Protectors {#2}

Part 18

[Part 18]

The cold void had now taken so much over his heart that Jean-Jacques knew his every waking moment that wasn't spent with him engrossed in work would be every torturous moment. He had never understood the idea of love -never had a proper girlfriend -but this time, he did learn something else. He learnt how it felt to be wanting to protect something and someone, and sacrifice his own comfort and ease about it. He learnt how it felt to be operating with a icy cold heart, to find his previous goal seeming like a shallow focus in the back of his mind.

How was she doing? Did she have her dinner yet? Was she happy? Was she enjoying her life and her work? Was she being disturbed by the Russians? Was she safe?

A million questions flashed past his brain in the span of a few seconds, and he realized that he was no longer concentrating on the laptop screen. Algorithms that once took up hours of his time now seemed like endless strings of data as he stared, not making meaning to anything. How much he longed to be in the field again; how much he longed to be doing something to protect everyone he cared for.

In technicalities, he was protecting them by sitting here and processing algorithms for a newly improved advanced security system within his mansion. But what did it matter; he felt like he wasn't doing enough.

Deciding that a break would be the best, for he could no longer find solace in the world of data processing, Jean-Jacques saved his work in a secure system and left the office. Zanetta was working furiously -as seen by her figure sitting straight behind her own desk in her own office -as Jean-Jacques stood in her doorway; watching and admiring. Cian had been right -he had never truly seen Zanetta as a woman. A fact so true and obvious had never struck him so plainly before, as he watched her flip seriously through the file, reading its contents seriously. The candidates to join Leconte Securities's secret army had already been shortlisted, and the four humans of Jean-Jacques's vampire family were prepping them up for exposure. Things had to go smoothly, for if not, one of them could easily cause them a whole load of trouble, especially in light of the war going on.

Minutes passed, and still the engrossed woman refused to look up. Italian by descent, Zanetta had the sharp features of a seductive hunter. In fact, she held a sort of dangerous charm that Jean-Jacques wagered only she could pull off. It was a pity that Zanetta had grown up the way she did -made a servant maid since young -for Jean-Jacques could easily see the woman in front of him as a high-classed courtesan in their era. It was a pity that Zanetta was as hard and sharp as her look, as piercing as her eyes and gaze that instilled equal fear and admiration from strangers.

In no way did the woman look relatively like a motherly figure in Jean-Jacques's eyes, and yet Cian had spoken so. She considered herself a motherly figure to him; to take it upon herself to care for his well-being along with everyone else he was trying to protect? It seemed to make so much sense, yet not made any at all at the same time.

The silent contemplation that Jean-Jacques found himself lapsing into was broken when the woman finally seemed to notice eyes on her, looking up with a politely confused smile. Cian was right: he hadn't seen her like a woman. And now that he had, he was constantly surprised by what he had been missing from his vice-president. Even the smile held a sexy caliber to it, a certain type of wild, dangerous charm that would no doubt tempt many men who liked challenges. Jean-Jacques could almost come up with a scenario where the young human Alvron Casanova chased after Zanetta's skirts.

"Is there a problem?" She enquired nicely, and he was surprised at how... serene she sounded. Ever since the start of the everything -with Lexi and the war -Jean-Jacques had not heard the soft tone of voice for quite some time. Zanetta had always been sounding flustered or angry, annoyed or irritated with securities.