Chapter 3: Bonding Session.

Daisy's POV

I can feel his presence behind me. The familiar scent of leather calling out to me. Begging me to turn and look into his eyes.

To run into the comfort of his arms and ask him why? But I don't.

He chose Zyla over me, our love and his promises.

I ignore him and keep on walking, even though my feet want to turn in his direction.

He doesn't stop me or call me back, just watches me leave like a coward or he simply doesn't care.

The moment I get into my cubicle, I collapse into my chair.

“Do you think the CEO is finally going to send her out?" Whispers make their way to my ears.

“I think so. Didn't you see the way she slumped into her seat when she returned from the CEO'S office?”

The voices grow louder and the chattering increases in the room.

Like the person they're talking about is not sitting right in their midst.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do?” A hand slams on the table, sending tremors in the room and the murmurs die down.

I glance up at Mae, our department head, who's glaring hard at everyone.

She locks eyes with me, and gives me a glare before she sits down.

I snort in a laugh. Typical Mae.

The room soon becomes silent, and everyone returns to their work.

The thought of Rome starts to trickle in my mind again and I almost wish they continued ‘whispering’ about me.

At least, I wouldn't have to think about the man who's just a few meters away from me.

‘Forget Rome.’ I repeat the mantra in my head for minutes.

I sigh, drawing my hands across my hair.

I need something else to draw my mind from Rome…

Kai.

I let my mind travel back to that brief moment at the club.

‘Cara Mia' His voice echoes in my head, and I let out a deep sigh.

It's not like I'll ever see him again anyway.

I exhale slowly, forcing the chaos in my head to quiet down.

I throw myself into work, crossing out every thought from my mind.

*****

“Hell No!” Carmela lets out a shriek as I hold up a dress in front of her.

I sigh, putting back the dress on the rack.

We've been on a loop since we got to this mall.

Me picking out dresses and Carmela rejecting every single one of them.

"Look," I say. “We've been at this for almost an hour. At this rate, I won't even be ready in time for the party.”

Carmela sneers, dusting off imaginary dirt from her skirt as she stands up from the couch at the corner of the room.

She heads towards me.“You wouldn't have wasted so much time if you had just asked me for help.”

I snort.

She's obviously getting revenge for that little chat we had at the office.

“Now, let me see."

She crosses her arms on her chest, and stares at me.

Minutes pass and I'm still standing, Carmela is still ‘seeing’ me.

“Okay. Time up." I turn in annoyance, ready to just pick up a random dress.

I might as well just show up in a bathrobe. The company's future be damned.

“Yes. I got it." Carmela does a mini jump, pumping her fist in the air.

I blink.

She freaking jumped in her super high stiletto!

“Give me a moment." Her voice is chirpy and excited. "Don't move from here. I'll be right back.”

I roll my eyes at her as she struts off.

I walk to the couch and let my body sink into it, closing my eyes as I bask in the relief of finally sitting down.

My phone’s buzzing snaps my eyes open and I groan before I pull it out from my bag.

My face lights up when I see the name and I quickly pick it.

“You won't believe what just happened." I hear a sniff from the other end, like she's been crying.

And one thing about my best friend : She doesn't cry.

In her words “Mafia Princesses Don't Cry, They Make People Cry."

I perk up in my seat, my brows scrunched. "What happened? Why’re you crying Brit?”

"Crying? I'm not crying. Why'd you think I'm… Ohhh.” Brit pauses, and suddenly laughter erupts from the other end.

I roll my eyes, sinking back into the couch.

"My Abuela made Callos today and she took the paprika a top notch higher today.”

A smile tugs at my lips when I recall the first time Abuella gave me Callos and I almost died.

“She made me eat two freaking bowls, Dee."

"Did you remember to take ice before eating?” I ask, even though a teeny part of me knows she didn't.

"No." She sighs. “Okay back to what I was saying. Can you believe Papi actually assigned Carlos as my bodyguard?

“Any other bodyguard would have worked but he just had to give me Carlos.” Brit pauses, before she brings down her voice a lot lower.

"He's right outside my bedroom standing still like a statue. I tried to talk to him but he didn't reply and was just staring at the blank space above my head. Gosh I'm so bored. Wanna come over?”

“I can't. Dad wants me to go to a company party in his place." I eye the clothing racks. “I'm at the mall and I can't even find a good fit."

“Wait… your Dad? Like Mr Ben Ripley. Gimme a sec." Brittany's end goes silent for a minute.

“There’s no UFO in the sky. Are you sure he's really your dad and wasn't switched out by his doppelganger this morning?”

I chuckle. “I suspected that too. Maybe we should do a sneak operation tonight. We'll go to his room, tackle him to the ground and find out if he really was switched."

“Yippee. Let me get my axe."

“You have an axe?" Of course, she does.

“Hush hush my dear. We don't need axes. Just one word to Papi and he'll send out his men.”

Brittany's Papi is one indulgent father and he doesn't play with Brittany at all.

Sometimes I envy their father-daughter relationship.

“Ya voy, abuelita.” Brittany yells in Spanish. I’m coming, granny.

“Day's eye, I'm going off now. I know that this party is going to be all business but try your best to have fun, okay?

“You're a good daughter and you deserve some good time too. And don't, I repeat, Do not think about Rome. You should think about that hot bartender at the club instead.” Brittany giggles.

Heat rushes to my face and I press my teeth down on my bottom lip.

I shouldn't have told her about Kai. Now, I'm never going to live the end of her taunts.

“I’m not going to think about anybody. I'll try to have fun. I'll fill you in later. Bye.”

The call ends and I put my phone back in my bag.

Talking to Brittany was all I needed.

Even though my telling her I was going to have fun was a lie, it was reassuring to hear that I'm good enough after today's episode at the office.

“Tadaaa." Carmela is in front of me, holding two dresses in her hands.

Blue and red.

The red dress on her right hand draws my attention and I stand up, striding over to Carmela.

I reach out for the dress, my hands caressing the sequins around its neck.

“It’s the red dress then. Quit staring already and go get dressed.” Carmela shoves the red dress into my arms, and I head to the dressing room.

I take off my clothes and put on the dress.

I stare at my reflection in the full length mirror.

The dress hugs my figure, accentuating my curves.

A slit runs high up, stopping right at my knee. The neckline dips low, revealing my cleavage a little.

‘Perfect.’ I mutter, my hands tracing the diamond studs sprinkled around the dress.

“Are you not done yet?" Carmela asks, her voice full of impatience.

I stop myself from sighing, and walk out of the dressing room.

“I'm telling the president it's your fault—” Carmela pauses, her eyes glued to me as she stares at my outfit.

"What do you think?” I strike a pose, my lips curled up in a smile.

I've never seen such a reaction on Carmela's face and seeing her like this really makes me feel like choosing this dress was a perfect choice.

"Beautiful,”Carmela says. I am about to mutter a ‘Thank you' when Carmela continues.

“Damn. I'm too good. I have eyes for beautiful things. I need to take a picture.” Carmela quickly reaches out for her phone and my smile drops.

I stand properly, cutting out the pose.

‘You expected too much.’ I say to myself.

“Okay. Let's wrap this up.” I ring the bell on the wall and a salesperson walks in.

"We'll take this.” I point at the dress on me.

The salesperson nods and flashes me a polite smile.

"This dress fits you perfectly, ma’am. I'll go get the check." She walks out, and I glance back at Carmela who's still taking pictures.

“Thank you for helping me pick this dress. It's lovely. I wasn't even expecting you to pick anything good." She stops, her eyebrows raised as she stares at me.

"You know what I mean. You hate me, remember?”

"Oh. I still hate you.” She shrugs. "But I have to admit. You look really good in red.”

"You should wear red often. You look really good in red, Daisybell." His voice overlaps in my head.

My heart clenches, like a hand is wrapped around it tightly and squeezing the life out of it.

I didn't want to think about him.

My mouth turns up in displeasure, and the dress suddenly doesn't look so pleasant anymore.

“Hey. You okay?" I nod and swallow down the lump in my throat.

“Let's go make payments and leave for the stylist."

"Okay.”

*****

*One glam session and Carmela's constant interruption of the stylist finally over*

“Thank you, Carmela." I say, as we walk out of the stylist's shop.

A blush creeps up her cheeks, and she quickly looks away from me.

“Umm… you are welcome. See you tomorrow.” She mutters, and quickly walks away, like she's fleeing.

My lips curl up, as I watch her get into the cab she ordered while I was getting my makeup done.

I didn't expect my going to the mall with Carmela would end up a bonding sesh.

She and Brittany would have made good friends, if I had met her before she became one of Zyla's minions.

I want to slap myself so bad. Why can't my mind just agree with me for once and not think about Zyla or Rome?

I get into my car, and pull out of the parking lot.

I turn the radio on, Style by Taylor Swift plays out.

I need good music to calm my nerves before I get to the party.

I'm bobbing my head to the rhythm of the song when I notice a car trailing behind me.

I press my leg to the accelerator, as I silently hope my suspicion isn't real and we're just going in the same route.

I check the mirror and relief courses through me when I don't see them behind me anymore.

We just happened to be going in the same direction.

However , I can't shake off the prickly feeling so I turn to pick up my phone, to send my live location to Brittany.

BAM!

My car swerves, my head shoots up immediately and I quickly slam down on the brakes.

Holy cow!

I turn off the car's ignition and swing the door open, rushing over to check the bumper of my car.

If it can even be called a bumper anymore.

My eyes snap to the SUV that just headbutted my car, rage fills me when nobody steps out of the car to even apologize.

Your car almost fucking killed me.

Anger ripples through me as I walk down to their tinted window.

I rap my fingers on the window, and it slowly rolls down.

“Excuse me…” My words get stuck in my throat when the window rolls down to reveal a man's face.

He has a mask on the lower part of his face, a scar cutting from below his right eye—the part visible to me— down to his lips.

Goosebumps rise on my arms, and every instinct in my body is telling me to run back into my car.

Having a Mafia princess for a best friend means seeing a lot of men like this, but this man is giving off an aura that is different from Brittany Papi’s men.

“Nevermind. Sorry for wasting your time." I apologize, and start walking back to my car when I hear the door of the SUV swing open.

Run!

All the instincts in my body scream at me, and I run…or try to.

My feet are stuck to the ground and I can't move.

My head grows fuzzy and black dots appear in front of me.

Please not now.

‘You're not 6. Your stepmother can't hurt you anymore.’ I try to calm myself down but it doesn't work.

I fall to the ground, holding my head in my palm.

There is a crunch on the floor as the sound of footsteps draw closer, and I feel someone crouch down besides me.

‘Help!’ I want to scream but my mouth doesn't move. Like it's no longer a part of my body.

Something pierces my skin, and I snap my eyes shut, my body already caving in.

‘I didn't send my live location’ is the last thing I think before everything goes black.