CHAPTER SIX

Coraline

He had a girlfriend? The tabloids never mentioned that.

I quickly began inputting the code to unlock the door.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, my employer’s warning words echoed ominously.

‘No one is to step into this place besides you while I’m gone.’

But his girlfriend must be an exception, right? And I could tell she was his type judging by how she looked like a Victoria’s Secret model but with way bigger boobs. Leaving her waiting would be the greater offense, right?

The door beeped and I pulled it open with a ready smile.

Her own dropped. “Who the hell are you?” All traces of her earlier sweetness were drained away.

“Hello. I’m Coraline, Mr. Castelli’s new cook.”

She eyed me up and down before stepping in, her high heels clacking on the vinyl flooring of the entryway.

“Alessio,” she called out with a slight Spanish accent, her voice a high trill. “Ale darling, I’m here.”

“Um, he’s gone out to work.” I muttered from my spot standing awkwardly to the side.

She whirled around to face me, her shiny bouncy hair flipping out mesmerizingly. “So he left you here by yourself?” Disbelief was stark across her features.

“Yes.” I didn’t understand it either. Mr. Castelli knew next to nothing about me. He had no idea whether I was an upstanding citizen or a rotten criminal. How was he sure I wouldn’t end up stealing from him despite his threats?

The amount of trust he put in a person he barely knew was baffling. Or maybe he was just arrogant enough to know I wouldn’t dare go against him.

He was a powerful man after all, with connections all around the country and beyond. Even if I ran, I was sure he was going to catch up with me in no time.

I was guessing he was banking on me not being stupid enough to try him.

And he was right. I believed in his threats and valued my life more than anything.

The Victoria’s Secret model slash Alessio’s very possible girlfriend approached me, her green eyes narrowed in distaste. When she got within two feet of me, she masked the expression with a fake smile, beaming too widely in my face.

“Just came here to get my favorite pair of lingerie. Forgot it last weekend when I stayed over,” she explained unnecessarily. I didn’t care why she was here. I just wanted her and her cloying perfume out of my breathing space.

But her words also confirmed what I already knew. She was dating my boss.

“Ah, I really hope it’s still in one piece though. The way he ripped it off me might just have given the flimsy material a tear.” She giggled obnoxiously as she finally spun around and headed towards the staircase. To get to the master’s bedroom, I was guessing.

Rolling my eyes, I headed to the kitchen to start making dinner. I needed to fix a monthly timetable so I wouldn’t be stuck thinking about what to cook next time.

I was sautéing the minced garlic for the alfredo sauce when I finally heard footsteps clicking down the stairs. I wondered what she had been doing up there for that long.

“Couldn’t find it. He probably took it with him to work, the naughty man.”

I was going to throw up. Why did she feel the need to update me on this kind of stuff? I was just the freaking cook for crying out loud.

“Ohh, makes sense.” I coughed out when I realized she was waiting for my response, eyes glued on me through the kitchen’s open doorway.

I hoped she didn’t ask to taste my food or decide to wait till it was ready or something.

“I’ll be off now. Gonna go surprise him while he’s at work.”

“Okay.”

“Bye, Caroline.”

“Um, bye.” She had totally used a wrong name on purpose.

The door finally beeped close behind her and I let out a silent ‘what the fuck?’

My phone rang right on cue and I slid the green button to answer Ashlynn’s call.

“What happened? Who was it?”

“His girlfriend.”

“What? He doesn’t have a girlfriend.” Ash said and my brows wrinkled in confusion.

“She said she was.” I paused, thinking back. “She implied it, at least. Her name’s Gigi. Don’t know what it’s short for.”

“Is she tall? A brunette? Has a slight Spanish accent?”

“Yeah…” I dragged out as I stirred the thickening sauce, wondering how she knew all of that.

“That’s Georgina Mendez. They went out on a date like two weeks ago. But it wasn’t confirmed that they’re together or anything.”

“He’s a private man, Ash. Don’t think he’d ever go out of his way to confirm or deny something like that. He’d just let the public keep speculating.”

“Actually, now that I think about it, you might be right. He hadn’t ever been seen out on a date with a woman before. He’s always just taking them as a plus one to his business events and dinners. So she might just be his girlfriend after all.”

“Thank God I let her in then.” I said as I added salt and pepper.

“She could have called him though, before coming.”

“She probably wanted to surprise him.” I heard the jingle of a doorbell through the phone which signaled a customer had walked into the florist shop she worked at. “Will talk to you later, Ash. Sounds like you have a customer and I have to focus on trying to keep my own job.”

“Bye, sis.” She hung up after I called back a bye and I went to grab the drained pasta to pour into the simmering sauce along with the cooked and seasoned chicken cutlets.

The entire kitchen was filled with the rich, savory aroma and my stomach grumbled, reminding me I haven’t had breakfast yet.

I decided to grab something when I go out to stock up on groceries so I hurried through the storage process, transferring the chicken rigatoni alfredo into a clean, airtight, labeled container after making sure it was completely cooled.

Then I placed it in the industrial-sized refrigerator and washed all the pans and dishes I had used, returning everything back to their original position.

Checking the time, I saw just two hours had passed.

I smiled to myself as I went to grab the card he had dropped, heading towards the door after taking account of what was missing or almost finished in the pantry.

This might just be the easiest, most laid-back job ever. Minus the employer.

His rules were shaping up to be in my favor though because I wouldn’t even have to see him that much except for in the mornings.

I would just do my own thing and be done within a couple hours, free to do whatever with the rest of my day.

Grocery shopping took about thirty minutes and I also got a deli sandwich to snack on. Not the most healthy breakfast option, I knew, but it was the fastest thing to consume on the go.

Hands laden with grocery bags, I struggled to input the code into the door then bumped it open with my hip when it beeped, stepping into the foyer and kicking it closed.

Then my phone started ringing and I groaned out loud at the disturbance. I stopped and managed to fish it out from my sweatpants’ pocket without dropping anything, grinning at the small win.

Shuffling into the living room, I flipped it over to see who it was when a calm but deep voice startled me enough to drop everything I was holding, including my phone.

“What did I say about letting strangers into my home?”