2. CALL ME ALEX

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"Oh my god, he is freaking Italian?" Andria screamed from the other side of the phone. "So does he have a sexy accent?"

Natalia rolled her eyes. Give it to her hopeless romantic of a friend to completely miss everything else she had said and only fixate on what she wanted to hear.

"I don't know, Andria." She said as she looked over at the arrival section of the airport. "I have not met or talked to him yet."

"And yet, you are expected to pick him up from the airport?"

"Now you are catching on." Natalia rolled her eyes again.

"Your mom is playing you, Natalia!" Andria's voice was filled with drama, "You are going to get all sweaty and nervous, and he's going to be some kind of Adonis that makes your knees wobble."

"Whose best friend are you again?" Natalia huffed.

She did not even know why she was waiting there. The man was coming from Italy. If he was as rich as her mother made him out to be, then he should have a private jet and a chauffeur waiting at the tarmac. What the hell was she doing in the crowded waiting area? What kind of idiocy was this?

But Natalia knew better than to argue with her mother.

She did not want another row.

So she had gone with whatever her mother told her to, which was to basically follow whatever Alessio Gretto asked of her via email.

And here she was, dressed in a body-hugging dress that she knew showed off her curves - her mother's atrocious choice for an airport pick-up. She was supposed to dine with 'the catch' named Alessio Gretto in one of her late father's high-end hotels.

She sighed and talked some more with Andria before hanging up. She looked around for another thirty minutes but no one responded to the placard in her hand.

She was ready to leave when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned around, her eyes wide with curiosity.

A man in a black hoodie and a faded pair of blue jeans stood in front of her, a pair of thick-rimmed glasses framing his perfect brown eyes.

"Sorry, the flight got delayed." The man shrugged, looking so out of place in his attire. This man belonged in an Armani suit, not a college frat boy's hand-me-downs.

"Alessio?" Natalia raised a brow.

"Call me Alex." He lacked the accent Andria gushed over. Her best friend was going to be so disappointed.

"I am Natalia." She forwarded her hand, suddenly feeling overdressed among the airport crowd. Fuck you, Mom!

"Can I call you Lia?" He gave her a charming smile which made him look ten years younger.

Natalia rolled her eyes. She hated that nickname. Her mother called her that when she was feeling extra pleased with her.

"Natalia. Just Natalia." She gave him a tight smile. He was, as her mother put it, the catch. Extremely handsome, even in his poor choice of clothes and glasses. But that did not mean she was the least interested in him. Of course, she was willing to hear the story behind the misfit-looking man from the so-called Gretto family. But she was not interested in seeing more of him. "My late father gave me that name, and it is the most precious thing he gave me."

Too much information, Natalia. Too much information.

Alessio wanted to roll his eyes but instead, he just feigned a good-natured grin and gestured for the way out.

Natalia nodded and walked ahead of him, guiding the man to the car that was waiting for them.

"Sasha, Alessio. Alessio, this is Sasha. My assistant slash driver slash confidante slash everything."

"Call me Alex." He repeated before turning to the middle-aged lady and taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. "An honor to meet you, ma'am."

Sasha blushed at the quintessential Italian gesture, making Natalia roll her eyes. She was surrounded by idiots, she supposed.

"It's so nice to meet you too, Alex. My my, the American lads need to learn a thing or two from you!" Sasha gushed as she opened the car door for him.

Alessio got in first, and Natalia followed after giving Sasha an 'Are you serious, woman?' look.

Sasha shrugged with a goofy grin before slipping into the driver's seat.

"So where are we going?" Alessio asked after making himself comfortable in the SUV. He acted all naive and unbothered, but he was watching Natalia like a hawk.

So far, she had not shown any traits of the minx and the vixen that she had been hailed to be. Except for the ridiculous outfit.

But he wondered if that had something to do with the less-than-ideal look that he had gone for.

Maybe he had gone a bit overboard with it all. After all, this was far from who he really was, and not exactly fitting for a thirty-year-old criminal who sent shivers down his enemies' spines.

"Lunch at Robert's," Natalia muttered.

"Don't be surprised if Aria Wellington drops in as a surprise."

Natalia groaned. "Is she planning to?" She asked.

"If our ears at the Wellington mansion are to be believed, then yes ma'am."

Natalia sighed and looked over at Alessio, giving his look a once-over. "You are not dressed for the occasion. Don't take it to heart if my mother makes some insensitive comment about it. If she manages to get to us, that is."

Alessio raised a brow. It sounded as though she did not get along well with her mother. But that was not the case if his trusted sources were to be believed. Her mother paraded her around like she was some expensive meat meant for the pure-bed dogs in their high society.

"I was made to believe that she was very excited to meet me." Alessio feigned confusion.

Natalia looked over at him again and then shrugged. "See it for yourself then. Just don't take her words to heart, that's all the advice that I can give."

Alessio pretended to look thoughtful as he nodded. He turned his face to the window, looking out as he thought about the minimal information regarding the family dynamics of the mother-daughter duo.

He looked over at Natalia.

She was quite the catch physically. He wanted to know what made her tick.

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