CHAPTER 44

Sharon woke up the next morning wet between her legs. The slick damp discomfort was what had her up

But it wasn't what she feared

It was blood, her blood

Sharon sighed. Of all the days it had to be the day she was sleeping in Luca's bed

She sat up to inspect the damage

It was bad, really bad. Her white nightgown was stained, so was the duvet

Luca's pyjama bottoms weren't spared.

“No no no”

It was really, really bad

Sharon made an attempt to stand up. She wanted to clear up the evidence before Luca was up

But he pulled her to the bed, and she fell on his chest

“You— you weren't sleeping”

“Nope”

But— but

She felt like she had tainted him. He was supposed to be disgusted or something, but he acted like it was totally normal

Luca wrapped his robe around her and took her to his bathroom

Then he stripped the bed of the soiled sheets

In a few minutes, Luca was rummaging through her drawers, until he found a pack. He took underwear from her drawer, but he was wide eyed

When he stumbled across her stash of lingerie

When he got back to his room, Sharon was seated on his bed, wearing his robe.

Her hair was in a messy bun, her turquoise green eyes stared direct at him.

The robe was meant for a man, it wasn't really intended to conceal cleavage. And she just happened to have a lot of it

Luca tried to take his eyes off

She already hated him as it was, she would hate him more if he came off looking like a pervert

He dropped the supplies on the bed

“I'll head to the store and buy you some pain relief”

Sharon took what she needed and went to the toilet, but she stopped in her tracks

“But you should have pain relief in your medicine cabinet or something”

Luca groaned inwardly

“It's not specifically for period pain”

“But you're rich, you have servants. Why don't you send them?”

“I want to go by myself”

“Don't you have to go to work?”

Luca ran his hands through his hair as he walked towards her, locking eyes with her

“Just— let me take care of you Sharon”

They were too close, far too close. Sharon moved a few steps back, but their eyes were still starting intently into one another

“Knock yourself out Luca Pavilochenki”

She opened the door to the toilet, and went in as quickly as she could

Like she wasn't the same girl who melted in his arms the previous night

It was payback, for all the times he switched personalities. Sharon had her guard up

He needed a lot more convincing to do, before she would eventually open up to him

*********************

“How do you get a woman to trust you?”

“Nope, that's way above my pay grade”

“Stop being a dick and answer the question”

Arman sighed as he drove

“Listen Luca, if I were Sharon, I wouldn't trust you”

“Not helping Arman”

“Do you know how traumatized that woman is? You start acting nice for a time and you expect her to just forget about the past like it didn't even happen?”

“I guess”

“Listen, your looks aren't going to get you out this time. I'll be honest with you. The only way Sharon can ever trust you

Is it she falls stupidly in love with you”

“She will”

“She won't!”

“You do know your marriage is only going to last twelve months. You're selfish for wanting her to love you—”

Luca's mood changed, like he was suddenly reminded of reality, again

The drive to the store was silent from that time

Till Luca's phone rang on the way back

“Luca where the fuck are you?

You can't just skip work because you're the CEO. Grandpa's looking for you at—”

Luca hung up the phone

“Bad news?”

Arman asked

“Bad news

Take us to the Pavilochenki family mansion”

In a dimly lit room, Mr Rufus Pavilochenki sat on a chair, a table with an ashtray in front of him.

By his right was Palmer, and another man. By His left was Donald

At the centre of the room was a kneeling man, who's face was covered in blood

His hands were tied behind his back, and he had lost a few fingers

Luca walked in with Arman, a dark aura surrounding him, adding to the eeriness of the room.

“You're late”

Mr Pavilochenki said, his hands weaved together on the stool in front of him

“I'm here now”

Luca replied

The atmosphere was tense

“I'm beginning to think you're enjoying this fake marriage a little more than you're supposed to”

Luca's cold expression turned into something colder, and darker

His grandfather was rage baiting him

“Why am I here?”

Well, while you were living a fantasy, Donald messed up my plan

He beat up the bitch who happened to be our informant, and now we have another loose end

Also—

Mr Pavilochenki stood up from his seat and slowly walked to the centre of the room

“This man here is your newest employee, do you recognise him”

Luca walked closer to take a better look

“No”

Mr Pavilochenki chuckled

“How will you recognise him? You're too distracted with that piece of shit wife of yours”

Luca clenched his fists

“Can you guess who this morherfucker works for?

Let me help you with that”

Mr Pavilochenki stretched out his hand, and the man who was standing beside Palmer brought him a knife in a tray

Mr Pavilochenki took the knife and gave the already bruised man a large cut on the side of his face

The man screamed

“Hillary Gray, I work for Hillary Gray!”

Mr Pavilochenki cleaned the blade on the man's suit, and dropped the knife back on the tray

“Would you look at that”

He walked up to Luca

“You must be aware of the enemies that are right under your nose

You don't want to get caught off guard”

With that, the old man left the room

Donald walked past him, only stopping to tap him on his shoulder

Palmer walked menacingly towards Luca but stopped at a safe distance

“Tell me Luca, if the bitch is good in bed—”

In a split second, Luca's fist landed on Palmer's face. The cracking of his jaw echoed, and blood spilled out of his mouth.

Luca breathed hard, struggling to contain his anger

But Palmer laughed through the pain

Luca walked out with Arman to his car

“Someone is spying for my grandfather under my roof”

“Who?”

“It's Clarette—”