Chapter 1

"Elliot, the deliveries of the guns have been completed. While another round is being requested by the Russians." I looked up from all the paperwork to see Kyle enter my office without even a knock to announce his presence. He went straight on giving the status reports of our organization's transactions.

"Good. I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. How about the brothel? Are the girls still being bothered by the Lucios?" I asked.

He shakes his head, then gives me a smirk. "Do you think they would still bother to visit the brothels after what you've done to their men? You almost killed his son."

"It's a payment they have to make after what they did to those girls. He's lucky that I spared the life of his son."

"Everything's good with the underground, El! We can focus on the legal businesses now."

Yes, this is my life right now. Elliot Allister is now the fucking mafia king. I rule the underground, and everyone is afraid of going against me. This is not the life that I want, but this is the life that has been handed to me. I have no choice. I cannot stray away.

"Report." I command to Kyle.

"Well the stocks for Allister industries have been increasing the past few weeks. We are slowly penetrating the market in the IT technologies. Aside from that, the hotel group, as always have exceeded the profits for the last quarter."

Kyle Conner is my best friend and the right-hand man in my family's mafia business and my legitimate business. He is the only person I can trust with the hard and cruel life that I am living to not betray me.

He is my best friend and most trusted confidant now. After Ariella Gregory, that is. Ariella and I used to be the best of friends. We are next-door neighbors, but her family moved away, ten years ago. And I've been in love with her all that time.

And ten years later, I am still the lovesick fool waiting for her. Waiting to see her once again. Even though I have the connections and the power to find her, I don't want to initiate. I know how dangerous my life is and I don't want her in it. But I promised myself that if fate would let us meet once more, then no mafia life nor the underground could prevent me from going after what I like the most: which is her.

"That's good. Any updates on the expansions we're planning?"

"Ah, yes. We'll be meeting with the new architect from Gio's team."

"A new architect? Why? What happened to the previous one? Why did you agree to this, Kyle?" I'm starting to feel somewhat frustrated. I don't like it when changes happen. I don't like dealing with new people all the time. I prefer to stick with who we have been working on. Needless to say, I hate new people.

"Hep, before you get all pissed and angry, I have already advised Gio that we won't be repeating what we initially discussed with the old one, so he is in charge of explaining it to her."

"Her?" My brows instantly lifted upon hearing the word "her". I don't like working with a woman. They tend to gush over the small things, but Kyle here being the obvious playboy that he is, enjoys it all the time.

"Yes, she is a her. Gio told me she was a definite babe. Maybe, just maybe, you can forget that chick of yours."

"Who says I haven't forgotten her?"

"Well, you haven't been going to the brothel yourself. Marga has been looking for you for quite some time now."

Marga is one of our brothel girls. I used to go there and let out steam with her. But in the past few months, I've been more focused on the underground transactions, especially now that we are dealing with the Russians. Aside from that, Marga has been very clingy, which I hate the most.

"Marga's being very clingy. And you know how I hate it when they start acting like a girlfriend. I don't need a girlfriend; I just want someone to release, and that's it."

The reason I don't want a girlfriend is that ever since high school, I have set my heart and my mind that only Ariella will be my girlfriend. If it wasn't for the hard lives we both have, I know we could be together.

"Yeah, right, we both know your reason. Save it for someone who'll believe you."

"Shut up and do your work! I don't pay you to annoy me." Kyle stood up and raised his hands in surrender. He sure knows how to piss me off all the time.

"Always the hot-tempered, are we?" Kyle said while still grinning. "I hope this new chick from Gio's team, can sweep you off your feet and tame those tempers of yours!"

"Whatever! Now go and leave me the fuck alone." I shooed him away, getting annoyed at his childlike antics.

"Buzz killer." He said this as a last resort before walking out of my office.

 ---

"What the fuck is taking her so long? The meeting was supposed to be twenty minutes ago. You know how I hate waiting? It fucking pissed me off. Call Gio and tell him I want to replace this architect."

I am really trying to keep my patience at bay, but the new architect that we were supposed to meet twenty minutes ago is still MIA. We are currently in A Hotel, one of the many hotels in the A Group, or the Allister Group.

"I've already texted Gio. And he, too, is not sure why the architect is still not here. He'll try to contact her and update us." Kyle nervously explained.

He knows how I get when someone pisses me off. And right now, I am on the verge of releasing the monster in me if that lady architect doesn't show up in a matter of minutes.

"The next time this happens, you and Gio will both get it from me. You know how valuable my time is, and yet here I am, the CEO of Allister Industries, waiting for some fucking architect!"

"Keep cool, man. She's the best in the field, as per Gio."

"I don't give a shit how good she is! She's late and you now I'm barely keeping my cool right now, Kyle. Do something or we terminate the whole contract with Gio!" I muttered angrily.

I took a sip of the coffee that was placed in front of me, trying to keep level-headed. But whatever I do, it's still getting to me that someone had the nerve to keep me waiting.

"Does she even know that she's meeting me? That she's meeting Elliot Allister? For fuck's sake where did this woman even come from?!" I slammed my fist on the table, really pissed off at how this lady who I haven't even met is getting on my nerves big time.

 "El, she's-"

 Kyle's words were cut when the door to the private room that we are occupying burst open. We both turned to see a breathless lady walking in without a care in the world. Her cell phone is placed between her ears and shoulder trying to explain something to the other person on the line.

My mouth flew open as surprise engulfed me. The lady has not yet noticed that I and Kyle are staring directly at her. She's still trying to explain something to the person on the other line, and she seems to be getting an earful from that person based on how her face twitched and her emotions changed every time.

Kyle, realizing that I had been stunned and was gaping at the woman in front of us, gently shook me from my trance. "El, you're staring at her. Correction! You're fucking gaping at her."

I immediately furrowed my brows at him, while he just gave me a lopsided grin. This is typical of Kyle, very annoying. When I turned my attention back to the woman who had just entered, she was mirroring the same expression that I had earlier.

I could see the shock on her face, with both her eyes and mouth wide open. Kyle tried to break her trance as well by speaking. "Ehem, Ms. Architect, we believe you're late!"

She immediately blushed upon hearing what Kyle said. She tried to talk, but no words came out of her mouth. She tried to open and close it several times, and we just stood there watching her. A few seconds later, she tried to compose herself and release a deep breath that she had probably been holding.

"Oh! Oh, my gosh! Elliot Allister!" She shouted and immediately ran to me with arms open wide.

I stood there, too stunned to move or make any reaction. She quickly hugged me, and due to the sudden reaction that we might fall, I immediately wrapped my arms around her. The action we both took was not left unnoticed by Kyle, of course. He threw me a questioning look as if trying to ask me what the hell was happening.

Realizing that she was still in my arms, I tried to breathe in her scent and everything came flooding back. She's back, and she's here in my arms. "Ari! Ariella Gregory." These are the only words that left my mouth before I engulfed her with my warmth.