7: Face-to-Face

Chiara Moretti

The previous day went better than I had envisaged. It was nice to see Rowan and Alessia tear at each other after they had torn me down. It was almost like the accident gave me my chance at righting the wrongs that had been done to me. I was ready to take back everything that is mine, and there was no better time to do it than now.

Today was going to be a good day; the weather was calm, and I felt the urge to do a little something to celebrate my victory when my phone rang. I rushed to it, thinking that it was Alessandro who called, since he had merely dropped me off last night and zoomed off.

He wasn't the one calling; Marco's name displayed on my phone's screen as I fought back the wave of disgust that hit me. After all the embarrassment that Alessia had caused him because of me yesterday, he was still reaching out to me. Everything that he was doing made me question everything that defined the relationship we had.

“Hello,” I said calmly as I fought back the urge to rain curses on him.

“You must hate me now, Viviana?” He asked, his voice sounding softer than I remembered it, almost like he was trying to act coy so he could get me to forget everything faster. It was the same thing he used to say to me whenever he had offended me gravely at the time. Knowing the dishonesty laced in his act now, it didn't get to me at all.

“I do not hate you, but that was not what I  thought you would start with. But, if this is the highest you could think of, I think it really says a lot about your quality of women” I lashed out at him, partly angry that he had ruined my beautiful morning.

“Of course not, I just wanted to make sure that you were willing to sort things out with me. I know we started off on the wrong foot, and I was a bit nervous that you might not want to speak to me ever again” he said. His voice sounded like he was genuinely sorry, but I knew that beneath all of that was a man who had long sold his soul to the pleasures of wealth.

“Okay, I'm listening” I said, acting nonchalant even though I was beginning to ease myself into watching him try to sweet-talk me into agreeing to go on another date with him.

“I would rather not talk over the phone; that's why I am calling. Do you think I could take you to get lunch later today? Just to talk about what happened yesterday and see where we are moving to after this” he said, playing to the script that I knew he would try to use on me.

“Look, I'm not interested in the drama that happened yesterday. A woman of my class shouldn't even be talking to you in the first place, so having me embarrassed that way certainly puts you off the list. Goodbye,” I said as I hung up the phone, the satisfaction of having said that to him spreading across my face.

A knock sounded on my door, and I rushed to see who it was. Alessandro was standing there with a cup of coffee in hand; he waved at me through the peephole, and I wondered how he had known that I was looking at him from there. I eased the door open as I struggled to contain my excitement.

“Welcome. You didn't call me” I said and moved aside so he could enter the house.

“Good morning to you too, and I did try to call you, but the call kept saying you were on another call” he explained, and I felt bad that I had gone straight to that instead of welcoming him properly.

“Good morning, and Marco called; he was trying to reschedule with me, hoping he could take me out for lunch so we could talk about yesterday. I told him I wasn't interested in all that, as he was not even some of the people that I would consider myself in a romantic relationship with” I said, and he looked at me, visibly impressed.

Hell, I was proud of myself too. It made me realize just how much power I had and how ruthlessly I could use it. It was almost crazy.

“I got you two things; which of them do you want first?” He asked me, his face beaming brightly.

“Tell me what it is; I don't even think I can make any sensible guess right now” I said as I watched him shake his head like I had done something unthinkable.

“Alright, I will get you out of your misery; you do not have to worry about that. I got you this cup of coffee” he said as he handed the cup to me, and then from the designer's satchel that he had, he brought out some documents. “I'll be needing you to sign some of these for me” he said casually and set them on the table, spreading them out carefully for easier access.

“What is this?” I asked, not understanding what his intentions were.

“This is 17% of the shares at the company. We have a board meeting at 10:00 am this morning, and it is already 8:30 am. You have to hurry up” he said as he casually pointed to them.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure that I was seeing properly. Having 17% of my dad's company was practically impossible. For the past two weeks, I had even tried to gain access to that circle through other means, but now that the opportunity was presenting itself, there was no reason I had to take it. It was the only way I was being presented with.

“You bought me shares in my company? Does Marco know I'm the one?” I quickly asked him, but he shook his head.

“You worry this pretty head of yours far too much. I have told you to always reach out to me if you need anything to be handled. I knew you had been trying to get into the circle, and it's been hard.” Alessandro said casually, as if he had not just pumped resources and time into getting me something that I was still seeing as impossible.

“I…don't… I don't know what to say” I said, short of words as he laughed.

“Please don't be like that; go and get dressed. We have a meeting in about an hour and thirty minutes” he said as he chuckled.