CHAPTER THIRTEEN: INSIDE HIS HEAD

Didn’t they say ‘know your enemy’? In order to successfully manipulate someone, to have them perfectly under your control, you have to first know them. Now, how would you have that knowledge of your enemy if you don’t keep them close? That was what Natalie was doing, strategically planting herself in Rafael’s life in such a way that she could get first hand information of what happened in his inner circle—systematically, she was positioning herself as a constant, so that nothing that happened within got past her. What other way could she possibly plan her revenge?

And that was exactly what she told Lorenzo as he expressed his displeasure on her recent closeness with Rafael.

“You are going to the ball with him again tonight? Isn’t that a bit too much?” Lorenzo asked, his voice was calm, but the slight trembling of his lips as he brought the wine glass to it only showed that he was barely keeping it in.

He was sitting on a couch in the sitting room, one of his legs crossed over the other.

Natalie stood facing the window, stroking her phoenix tattoo with one hand, and holding her wine glass with the other. She wouldn’t turn to her brother, maybe because she thought she could get betrayed by her face and he would see past her lies.

She wasn’t exactly telling a lie by saying she had it all under control, but she also couldn’t completely ignore that part of her that still got affected by Rafael.

“Do you know what would happen if Rafael somehow finds out about your identity before our plans mature?” Lorenzo asked. He uncrossed his legs and walked towards Natalie,

The city outside was calm, cars drove past, oblivious of the tense conversation going on between the De Luca siblings.

“He won’t find out.” Natalie said with an air of certainty. 

She turned fully to face her brother, setting her glass on the table.

“I have it fully under control.” She added.

Emma Swanee appeared then, her hills clicking on the tiled floor, every single sound served as a reminder that there was something which laid ahead—duty.

‘Revenge.’ Natalie thought as she turned to face Emma.

“Your outfit is ready, ma’am.” She announced as she approached, slightly bowing towards Lorenzo.

Natalie exchanged glances with her brother, giving him a reassuring look, then she turned to Emma. “Let’s go.”

She had no idea why, but maybe because it was the colour which best represented vengeance, that fully symbolised the amount of rage that burned in her heart, maybe that was why red had become her favourite colour after her rebirth.

Natalie stood in front of the mirror, watching the fierce woman in red that stared back at her from the mirror, lips painted a crimson red, her hair falling in loose curls over her shoulder, coated with the smell of lavender.

Picking up her purse, she was ready to leave.

At the same time, a limousine pulled up in front of the house, just as agreed, Rafael had showed up to pick her.

Now, what Natalie did not understand was why her heart fluttered at the thought of him.

As she grabbed her purse and stepped out of the house, one thought remained in her head, she couldn’t ruin this.

He could have stayed in the car and waited dir her to approach, but he stepped out and stood outside of it.

Rafael caught his breath when the door opened and the strangely familiar figure of Natalie stepped outside, in front of the door. His eyes grew wide as she stood outside there in a red dress that hugged her curves in the right places.

Why did she look so familiar? And he didn’t mean familiar as in someone he had just met recently, he meant familiar as I’m someone he was already so accustomed to, someone that was a part of him that he just couldn’t ignore. The heavy beating of his heart with each syeo she took towards his direction, the way his pulse jumped when she smiled at him, and the warmth that spread through him as she approached.

“Hello, Rafael.” Natalie’s face lit up as she approached him. Standing just a few inches shorter than him, she only had to slightly raise her g to meet his, and that again, set his heart aflutter.

“Hello, Natalie.” He managed to chog out the word. “You look…” he paused, doing a quick once over through her body, then realising that the word to describe how she looked did not exist in his vocabulary. “Lovely…” he finally settled for the word.

“Thank you.” She said and extended her hand for a handshake.

“And of course,” Rafael almost stuttered as he reached out to open the door.

The drive to the ball event was spent in an awkward air passing between them as they sat side by side in the backseat.

Natalie suddenly broke the silence after a few minutes' drive.

“Do you think Isabella would be okay with this?” Natalie suddenly asked, instinctively avoiding Rafael’s gaze.

“I mean, she seems to be all over you, and overly protective of you.” She added, her voice wearing an amused undertone.

“Isabella would be fine.” He said simply.

The car pulled up in front of the ballroom then.

They were welcomed by camera flashes from enthusiastic photographers crowded in front of the ballroom, each photographer falling over themselves to take the best shot of them both. Natalie gave her best smile to the camera, knowing fully well that the pictures would make the front page of the magazine tomorrow. 

And Isabella would be mad.

Natalie reached for two glasses of red wine, offering one to Rafael.

“Thank you,” he told her.

Just as he brought the glass to his lips, a business partner approached them.

“Mr Moretti.” Mr Roberto exclaimed as he approached. He threw a quick glance at Natalie before he turned to Rafael again.

“It is a pleasant surprise to see you at the ball.” He said.

“I was invited,” Rafael cut in, while noting that he wasn’t just there because he was invited, he had turned down several invitations in the past. Maybe he was here because this was one chance he had to spend time with Natalie.

Maybe he wanted to be around her more, but instead of the strange attraction for her that was slowly beginning to rise in him, he tried to convince himself that he needed more time to unveil the mystery that surrounded her.

Natalie knew this, she could sense from his lack of hesitation to succumb to most of wish that she almost had him wrapped around her little fingers. 

Maybe that was why she wasn’t surprised when he asked her to come for a drink at his house after the party.

Several thoughts crossed each of their minds as they both stood in Rafael’s terrace, peering into the city. It was a few minutes to midnight, but the streets were still bubbly.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it?” Rafael voiced as he came to stand beside Natalie, close to the railing. Natalie froze at the sudden closeness, goosebumps covered her skin, but she knew it wasn’t because of the cold breeze blowing softly.

“Of course.” It took all of her self control to not stutter. Her hand tightened against the railing.

Rafael had settled for a mildly alcoholic drink, and since the moment they both arrived at his place, he had taken a good quantity of the drink, but he was uncertain if it was the effect of the alcohol that caused the lightheadedness. But he did know that someone had suggested playing chess. Ans did a moment, he thought he was daydreaming. He thought he could see Alina sitting in front of him and playing chess with him.

Whenever his hands slightly brushed Natalie’s, he would feel this chill—chills that would sharply cause memories to flood in. He xould almost reminisce back to over two years ago, and Alina had sat in this same position and has played chess with him late into the night.

“I won again.” Natalie’s voice cut into his thought.

Startled, he looked up to find her watching him.

Her hair, which was initially styled neatly in the beginning of the night was now scattered all over her face, after being blown around by the breeze in the terrace. 

“Natalie,” he called softly, his voice deep and hoarse.

 Natalie swallowed hard, fighting hard to steady her voice. “Yes?”

Rafael moved his lips, like he was about to say something, but the words didn’t come instead, he slowly began to lean towards her, reaching out slowly to touch her cheek.

A whirlwind of emotions stirred up inside Natalie immediately as Lorenzo’s warning began to play in her head.

Maybe she was moving too fast, but she had assured Lorenzo that she had everything under control.

Rafael’s face was only inches away now, he thumb softly brushed her cheek, his eyes locked into hers like he was searching for some missing treasure.

Natalie felt herself melting under his touch. She should look away, she should step away from him, she needed to have this under control.

But at that point, it felt like her whole system had developed a kind of their own and was working to revolt against her, or maybe it was a part of her that was curious to find out what happened next.

Just when she though her heart was going to explode inside her chest, that her cover was about to be blown, Rafael softly ran his thumb over her cheeks and leaned backwards.

“There was a speck of dusk on the side of your face.” He finally told her. He didn’t get his eyes off her face.

Feeling wobbly, Natalie lifted herself up and picked up her purse.

“I should be on my way now.” She smiled at him, regaining her composure.

Rafael stood up after her immediately. “I will drop you off, then.” 

“No,”. She cut in immediately. “I mean… don’t bother, I already called my driver.”

She looked down as her phone lit up.

“He is here already.” 

“I suppose I’d see you tomorrow, then.” Rafael gloated.

The only response he received was a smile as she walked away.

He still found it difficult to stop his heart from beating even after she left, even as he watched her car drive away.

He still felt overwhelmed by the strange familiar sensation he got around her, the way she felt and talked like she knew more about him than she should. He was still occupied in his thoughts that he didn’t realise when Matteo walked in.

“She is coming around too often these days,” Matteo said as he came to stand beside him.

Rafael still felt lightheaded from the alcohol. 

“There is something strange about her.” He confessed.

Matteo adjusted his standing position, wondering why he still let her come around even after noticing the strange things about her.

“It's like she knows me.” He acknowledged, noting how she easily knew the things he liked without him having to mention them.

“Like she's been inside my head, my heart."