6. PLAYING HARD TO GET

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It was no surprise that Aria was the least impressed by Alessio's dorky and humble personality. Which, in turn, meant that it was no surprise that she did not push Natalia when it came to follow-up dates with him, which really was not like her since she did not really care how Alessio was as a person as long as he had the Gretto surname attached to him. 

But Sasha had done her homework for Natalia and found out that there were more heirs contrary to Aria’s previous sources. "He is an only child. But his cousins are all shareholders. She probably doesn't think that Alessio is a good enough bait to get her claws into the Gretto business." 

Natalia sighed, blowing a stray strand of her brunette waves off her face as she scanned through files after files. "I don't know why she wants more money. There is enough money in her bank for some four generations to live with the same kind of extravagance as she does." 

"Probably the fifth too since the extravagance skipped right over you." Sasha snorted, licking the foil lid of her Greek yoghurt. "But, hey. I thought you actually liked the guy." 

Natalia looked over at her, and shrugged. "He never reached out." It had been two weeks since the first date. He was one week late for the second date.

Sasha raised a brow and as the smirk appeared on her face, Natalia mentally face-palmed at the choice of her own words which had her best woman grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You want him to reach out to you?" 

“No. But I do know that I sure as hell am not reaching out to him and it is only a matter of time before my mother comes up with some other billionaire, who I can only hope is in my age range.” 

Sasha cringed. That was true. 

The devil worked hard and Aria Wellington worked harder - when it came to selling souls, especially other people’s.

“Maybe, we missed an email.” Sasha said encouraging even though it was not even convincing to herself because she was an impeccable assistant who scoured through every spam mail of the multiple mails Natalia owned. 

Natalia shrugged. Was she disappointed? Maybe a little. But was she glad that poor Alex did not get stuck in this mess? Definitely. Which was weird - Natalia never thought that way. 

But to her, Alessio did not seem kind of the guy who belonged in the dirty corporate world. Little did she know- what his real intentions were. 

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“I think you should reach out to her now.” Dante rolled his eyes as he took a sip of his scotch. “I don’t think playing hard to get will work on someone like her.” 

“Elaborate on ‘someone like her’.” Alessio air-quoted before returning to his own glass of liquor. “From what I know, they are desperate for this alliance. There is no way they would hold out like this.” 

“You need to understand that we are as desperate for this as they are. Besides, you are the one who set the second date. I am pretty sure Ms. Wellington must be feeling pretty much rejected. Besides number two, Natalia Wellington does not have a history of chasing men.” 

“I thought she was said to be a vixen.” 

“Men chase her.” Dante corrected. “I am pretty sure her very existence is supposed to be the fishing net and money sharks are supposed to swim willingly into it.” 

Alessio was impressed, “That is some mighty deep analogy.”

“Thank you. I like to believe I am bettering my English every day.” Dante was satisfied with himself. “So why don’t you pick up that phone and send her a text, genius. Take this forward. We do not have time, because Aria Wellington does not wait. She will fight another fish to trap.”

Alessio sighed. That was true. He had to act fast.

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Natalia had just stepped out onto the basement parking lot when her phone pinged. 

She looked down at it. 

ALESSIO: Will I be forgiven if I said I had to fly between Italy and the US the last few days and I am back in the US just to keep my promise of a second date?

Natalia raised a brow at it, though she was actively fighting the grin spreading across her face. This was not typical Natalia Wellington behavior. She did not get giddy by a guy she barely knew, no matter how much he represented masculine perfection. 

She typed out a response.  

NATALIA: Who is this?

The reply was immediate. 

ALESSIO: Ouch. I guess I deserved that.

ALESSIO: This is Alessio Gretto, the asshole who stood you up?

Even though Natalia was practically sulking over the last few days because of his uninterest in any more communication, she was not going to give in. 

NATALIA: Ah yes, Mr. Gretto. I am sorry I did not have your number saved.

Lie. And she knew that Alessio probably knew that too. But she was petty like that. 

ALESSIO: So… About that date? 

NATALIA: Can’t. Sorry.

ALESSIO: Please?

NATALIA: Nope.

ALESSIO: Even if it means nothing and I just want to make up to you?

“Who are you talking to and why are you grinning?” Sasha asked as soon as she got off her phone with her teen son. And then she squealed like a teen kid, “Oh my god, oh my god. Please tell me you are texting Alessio Gretto!”

Natalia looked up and gave her over-zealous confidante a look. 

Sasha pouted. “What? I want my girly to have a happy ending.” 

This made Natalia snort, reminding her that people like her never got to have a happy ending. And it also reminded her that all of this was pointless. What was the point of acting hard to get when she would have to cling onto him until her mother saw fit?

She said, “Yeah, it’s him.” And then she finally typed down the message he wanted to hear. 

NATALIA: Are you free tomorrow? 

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