‘Mmm…’ Sarah moaned, pissed by the warm light hitting her skin. She
was exhausted. “5 more minutes…” she mumbled as she begged herself“just five more minutes and then we’ll get up and get things done.” Butthere is no more sleep for her now that her overly anxious planner sidewas awake. She slowly opened her eyes, grumbling to herself as thebright sun rays graced her vision. The first sight was a little blurry, shehad been so drunk last night and now her head was pounding. Sheyawned, and rubbed her eyes, the second sight was unfamiliar. It didn’tlook like her hotel room or any of the ones she remembers from thedays before. She blinked a couple of times before analyzing the room. Itwas large and elegantly decorated, the detail was too precise, not like ahotel. If it were a hotel she’d have to break her bank to pay for such aluxurious room. But if it wasn’t a hotel……. The realization that she was at a random person’s house andcould possibly have been kidnaped hit her hard. She was quick to jumpout of the blankets and check herself. After confirming that she had notbeen abused she hastily let out a breathe of relieve. Her heart rateplummeted again, she was in Italy which was unchartered territory forher and now she was at this house and didn’t know how to get back toher friends. Why was she here? What if the home owner was a humantrafficker? What if they wanted her organs? No. she had to leave, rightaway. She looked around the room for her phone and the purse shehad last night. She couldn’t find either of them. “Never mind. Let’sleave this place first. What was the hotel name? Muz…, lux? Ruz……….Something. Damn I can’t remember? Why did I drink so much? Is thedoor even open?” her mind was all over the place. Eventually she madeit to the door and upon pulling once it opened. She somewhat regainedsome of her composure. It can’t be that bad if the doors are not closedor tightly guarded. Staring at the long hallway extending on either sidesof her vision she chose to go right. She was panting, what if she gotcaught? She still didn’t know how she had gotten here in the first place.In her panicked state she tried to figure out her next move andremember the events from the night before, simultaneously. “Ruzzini Palace” her lips when ahead and blurted, at least now sheknew where to go from here all she had to do was get out. She hadwalked for what felt like 20 minutes but she was still in that damnedhallway and for some reason she felt like she had walked past the exactsame spot three time by now. In another corner of the mansion, a man looked down at thesecurity footage on his tablet with a face full of amusement. Being ableto get lost so much must be a skill on its own. Suddenly the littlewoman in the video dropped her jacket to the ground and walked on. Asmile traced his lips. It seems the little woman had figured out that shemight be caught in a loop. At his time a wicked thought crossed hismind. What if he had someone go over and pick up the jacket beforeshe gets back? She would be so confused walking through an endlesshallway. But that was just a thought. He didn’t wish to act on it, justthought it would be funny. At this moment a man in a suit came up tohim and announced that breakfast was ready to be served. “Well I guess its time to feed her now. She must be tired from allthat walking.” He said to himself. With that he left his sit and walkedinto the house. Going straight towards the young lady who was justabout to pick up her jacket after figuring out that she was stuck in a loop “Are you lost?” A husky voice sounded from behind her, slowand deep, an extremely sexy voice. She’d have been simping right nowif not for the fact that she wasn’t sure what fate she would have andthis man could well be her abductor. The thought flashed through hermind again and she felt her throat dry up. Without turning around shereplied in the most fearful voice ever, she did not even know that shecould sound so pitiful. “Yea it seems so. Hi. I don’t know how I got here” Hearing what a scared little cat she sounded like the man couldn’thelp smirking. “I know how you got here. In my car, I brought youhere.” He said casually. She panicked, her eyes shut tight. This man wasindeed her abductor. What did he want? Money? Was he a humantrafficker? Would he murder her? Her mind was spiraling. Two secondsfelt like forever. She suddenly decided to negotiate for her headbecause she wasn’t about to die in a foreign country and ruin her bestfriend’s wedding. Slowly she turned around, her hands glued to her face, covering hereyes tightly. “Kind sir, I don’t know why you brought me here but I canassure you that you have the wrong person. If you want money, trustme, you are richer than me. Plus no one will pay a ransom for me, Idon’t have a family. I only have one kidney and my lungs are lousy socutting me up won’t do you any good either.” At this point he was cracking up inside, he tried so hard to hold backhis laughter and to stay in character, “hmm. What if I don’t wantmoney? I never planned to cut you open.” He said somewhatmysteriously. “What do you want then?” she asked anxiously her handsstill glued to her eyes she was getting really scared now. She didn’t likehow unbothered his tone was. It was like he’d done this before. Was hea psychopath? With such a nice voice? What a shame. “If you want me…....You… deserve better.” She said quite hesitantly.“Look my eyes are closed and I can’t see you. I don’t know what youlook like or where I am. If you just blindfold me and drive me out ofhere, we can pretend we never met. I won’t go to the police, I don’teven know your name.” she was almost most pleading at this point. Hearing the reason why she had her eyes closed, he could not holdhimself back and let a low chuckle escape his throat. To her it soundedquite intimidating, although it was pleasing to the ears. Composinghimself once more he took a couple of steps towards her. He bent overslightly and whispered into her ears “my name is Aldo Aicardi. I didn’tthink you would forget so soon, Sarah.” “You know my name?” “Of course. Ndolo Sarah Etoundi, 28 year old female, Camerooniannational, former figure skater, studied at Harvard business school.You’re here for your best friend’s wedding.” She almost fell to theground hearing a stranger calmly tell her own biography.He was quick to grab her. Her hands were still glued to her eyes and there was nothing to leverage her fall. Realizing that he may have gone too far with this little joke he explained himself. “You can open your eyes we met at Julia’s party last night.” Her heat calmed almost instantly Julia is her friend whose wedding she was planning. If he knows Julia then she has to be safe. Sarah slowly opened her eyes. But the man had not yet let go of her and so she found herself in a rather odd position when she opened her eyes. One of those cringe scenes from romance movies when the female lead trips and get caught ever so gracefully by the male lead. She had always hated those melodramatic story lines but here she was living one, it was ridiculous. As if he had been reading her mind he made sure she was standing properly and then slowly let go. Maybe he wasn’t the romantic type, either, but boy was he fine. He looked like he was sculpted by the Gods, no, like he was a god. S
“Thanks for bringing me here I have been exhausted these past few days.” “I would expect that, considering, you are planning a wedding that you are also maid of honor at. Justino is so thoughtless for putting you through this.” He said and sipped on his coffee, his expression was different for a second. It gave of a bit of annoyance, like he was mad. “Not Justin, Julia, she is the one who is putting me through this. So I suggest we don’t blame him, Julia can be quite persuasive when she wants something. “Sarah replied with a sigh. She suddenly remembered something and gasped. “Today I need to supervise the video dairies. What is the time now?” “9 AM” he said calmly. A maid walked in and he gestured for her to come closer and deliver this things in her hands. She bowed politely to Sarah and carefully placed her phone and purse on the table next to her before rising and walking out. A gracious smile laced Sarah’s lips as she said thank you to the maid with a whisper and
Aldo offered Sarah a ride to town. Of course she accepted it, it’s not like she had another means of getting there. There was so much work to be done, she was quite proud of herself for getting this far. Without, you know, breaking down. She tried her best, it was bestie’s wedding after all. The car ride took almost two hours and the whole time Sarah was going over her duties in her head trying to create the schedule in her mind and get things in order. The sited next to her, Aldo was quite busy himself, staring endlessly at his tablet. Seemed to be going over some work. Sarah stopped for a moment. He was so focused, if she stole a glance he wouldn’t notice would he? She took one look, just one look, and quickly retracted her gaze. He was too beautiful, too much to comprehend with just one glance so she looked again. Unfortunately the second time wasn’t as stealthy as she had hoped it would be. Their eyes suddenly met, caught up in a super tensed atmosphere, there was
‘Act surprised, act surprised, act surprised’ Aldo thought to himself as he walked to the hotel lobby. He had spent hours researching how to create a meet cute ‘unintentionally’. Now that he was marching into the lobby on one of the hotels he owns he suddenly felt nervous, like a teenager meeting his crush. He planned this out himself why was his mind acting like this? The plan was simple and everything was ready. He called Julia earlier and found out where Sarah was staying, drove there before Sarah returned, got rid of his guards so he could appear more approach able and stood in an inconspicuous position. He was constantly monitoring the revolving doors. As soon as she walks in all he would have to do is call out to her like he wasn’t expecting to see her , make small talk and then invite her to dinner –all while acting like he had work to do here.it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with something, I mean, it is his hotel after all. As he sat, eyes fixed to the front
It was an entire hour later before the luxury car diverted off the high way and on to what seemed to be a secluded road. Sarah wasn’t scared at all, after all, this was the same journey she made to get to town in the morning. However she started to wonder why he would choose to live so far away from everything. ‘It has to be a rich people’ thing she thought to herself. Both Julia and Justino’s families’ had houses that seemed somewhat secluded. She had the pleasure of traveling a little during this little wedding expedition. Whether it was Sicily, Rome or Madrid, the characteristics of old money families were similar, if not the same. Pre-modern archetechture, a not-necesarrily-old mansion with elegant (colorless) interior decoration, a huge yard which sometimes includes a garden and no technology in sight—no remote control doors or sliding gates. Oh, and a fuck load of security. Yeah, because everyone is trying to murder you when you are rich. However impressive those had
Aldo led Sarah to the room where she would be spending the night. It was spacious and well lit, equipped with a bathroom, dressing room and a balcony; neatly decorated with timeless furniture and a few potted plants. “I get why you would talk shit about my lodging. That hotel’s got nothing on this—” she remarked as she let her eyes enjoy the beauty that surrounded this room. “It is beautiful, thanks for letting me stay.” A smile of satisfaction crossed his lips. A sense of accomplishment that came from knowing that his efforts towards impressing her were paying off in the only way he wanted them to, the way only she could. Her smile, the contentment in her voice, the admiration in her words made his heart do a couple of leaps. Just then two young women walked in and greeted them with a bow. “I’m glad you like it. They’ll help you freshen up just ask them for anything. I’ll be at the table in half an hour, take your time.” He said. He then gave the two maids a thoughtful gl
The morning was beautiful for most, some more than others. Isn’t that you would expect on your wedding day? While some rose early, others lingered in bed, yet a few were awoken by a sour taste in their throat. However the method, Venice was especially beautiful this morning. Among the early risers, were Aldo and Sarah. After all it was the long awaited white wedding. As the wedding planner, of course, she had to be at the church early to check on the decor, ensure that the priest had arrived and greet the early guests. She also had to play her role as maid of honor by checking on the other bride’s maids and the groom’s men too. She was doing quite well. Before long, the groom had arrived, justino in a gray tux—clean shaven with a wide smile plastered to his face. Upon his arrival, Sarah resigned the job of receiving guest to him and went to check on the bride who had been waiting in a room somewhere in the church compound. “Nervous?” she asked when she saw Juli
The reception came to pass. It was so much fun for everyone, again, some more than others. Aldo, for example, wasn’t exactly having the time of his life for the most part. He sat and stared intently at the side passage door, as if he wanted to leave. But in all honesty, he had been expecting his special someone to walk through the door and sit by his side. That was one the reason why he chose to attend the reception party. He cared about Julia but, to be fair, the marriage had been concluded the day before; when she got the marriage certificate. Walking her down the aisle was to show support and that’s a pretty important tradition. He didn’t have to be here and he wouldn’t be, if not for Sarah. He seemed to lose his mind when it came to this woman. He may have gotten used to seeing her at breakfast and dinner, riding to and from home with her—whatever the case, he felt very reluctant to leave without her. After an entire hour of nothing but noisy conversations, go