Affair with the Billionaire

The elevator doors swooshed open and I stormed out. My furious steps startled Miss Caige, the middle-aged secretary guarding the entrance to the office. "You're late, Miss Banks," she said without delay, her fingers dancing on the keyboard. "Only by two minutes." She looked at me with a wolf-like stare. "Twelve," she said, pointing to the round clock hanging behind her head. "The manager has asked for you." "Thank you," I muttered as I searched for my ID pass. My hands shook as they roamed through the contents of my handbag. I hope he won't hit on me again. I shivered from disgust as I remembered what had happened the last time he asked me into his office. Disgusting asshole! A sharp click made me jump. Miss Caige opened the doors and looked at me with a fake smile. I thanked her with a quick nod and entered. God, she must think I'm incompetent, I thought as I threw my bag onto my desk. Sofia popped her head over my cubicle and greeted me with a genuine smile. We star

Citta del Salvatore wasn't a big city. It was more of a fishing town situated between Florence and Pisa. And all the traffic between the two went through here. Nonno (Grandpa) used to own a fishing shack in his youth, somewhere along the Flux. And Nonna used to tell the tale of how he fished her out of the river one early summer and they fell madly in love. But she stopped talking about him after she found out about his affair with the baker's wife. Are all men unfaithful? I wondered as I locked gazes with Cosimo. He sat in front of me flashing his signature arrogant smirk. With no shame whatsoever, he eyeballed me the whole way to Porto Luce, while keeping his left arm extended on ‘Miss Top Model in Florence's’ shoulders. She was so invested in playing SweetSmash; she didn't even flinch when Cosimo adjusted his pants and re-positioned his penis. I quickly glanced away, but I could not unsee his swollen groin area. Besides this, that stupid sound the icons made every time they

I expected to see my life flashing in front of my eyes. My childhood in York and the summers spent with Nonna, or majoring in history and ending up selling insurance for the wealthy. That wasn't so bad, though. I took a couple of courses and put on my high heels at the right time to climb higher, landing an investigator position a year after. This mind of mine was full of mystery, for now, I found myself in the air on a ladder, thinking to myself, "I'm ready for this interview. Can't wait for my promotion." A lift waited with open doors at the top of the ladder. It was about to close, so I hurried up. "Wait for me, please," I shouted to the person inside it. He placed his foot between the closing gap and stepped aside when I rushed inside. In the reflection, I caught a glimpse of my glossy heels and fine silk stockings. Their darker shade accentuated my ankles and calves, making my legs look leaner. I turned around to thank the gentleman for his kindness only to gasp in sho

Padre Matteo drove us home. Slowly but surely, I thought while he kept giving out blessings whenever a regular churchgoer passed by. Or he did the holy cross every time someone drove past us at more than twenty miles per hour. Our street was so narrow, there was no way two cars could fit next to one another. There was a sometimes malfunctioning stop sign at each end of the street to avoid some very loud altercations between drivers eager to get home. And tonight was like many other evenings, with cars stuffing up the street, men acting pretty much like animals, shouting and honking aimlessly. We knew not to go down the rabbit hole. Instead, we asked the good priest to drop us off around the corner. It was faster to walk back on foot. "I hope to see you at Mass on Sunday," Padre Matteo said, hinting at my sporadic church visits. Nonna got out of the car first. I staggered after her, my head spinning from all the high-pitched Hallelujah songs on the radio. "She'll be there,

Because of shock, tingling nerves, and excitement even, I couldn't fall asleep. Instead, I scrolled my phone for articles on the SBS, the South Bank Syndicate, hoping to find something about their feud with the Maggio. There wasn't anything available in great detail, just a mere Wikipedia page and a couple of old sketches of the river. The earliest accounts mention them as a band of river pirates operating on the Flux after the Great Italian Plague. They robbed merchant boats and shared the spoils with the people—according to a four-hundred-year-old poem. The governing power didn't like this. The Maggio Bank, with the support of the Catholic Church (represented by a Maggio cardinal), lured the pirates into a trap, killed everyone, then sank their vessel, The Serenity, with all the treasure on it. I guess they didn't cut off the head of the snake if they're now seeking retaliation... I sighed, rubbing my eyes. I wonder if the ledger contains more information about this or perhaps