Prologue
“Claudia, please schedule my schedule for the day,” Andreas asked without so much as a glance at her, his eyes focused on the screen of his phone. “Oh, never mind—you’ve already updated it in the system. What you need to do now is cancel all meetings after lunch; I have more important matters to attend to.”
Hearing that made her frown.
“But sir, the meeting with Everest, Inc. is important and was scheduled well in advance,” she said carefully. “It’s about a mega-project that will be discussed at the next meeting, and determining whether they agree to our terms and other related matters.”
Andreas immediately took a deep breath, knowing full well that this meeting was crucial for his company and the thousands of people who worked for it. However, he had no choice but to postpone it for something more important.
“Postpone it, tell Edward it’s an emergency.”
“Mr. Callain wouldn’t be pleased.” She tried to warn him. “Can you give me some more information?”
“Code Luci.” And Claudia blinked, confused by what she heard. “Just that and he would understand.”
Hearing that certainly made her even more confused, because as far as she could remember, Mr. Callain disliked incompetent people who often canceled appointments, especially for unclear reasons. But now, her boss was telling her to just tell him it's code Luci.
What the hell is this code?
Seeing his little secretary so confused made him chuckle softly, “Don't worry, your pretty little head, just have a day off today and pamper yourself.”
Her blue eyes widened when she heard the word “day off” on the board of daylight like this. Well, it wasn't that she didn't like work or her boss. But a day off or two was enough to relieve the stress of not having had a vacation for two months after having to accompany her boss on a business trip to Switzerland.
“Really?!” she confirmed excitedly. “No change of heart and sudden calls?”
He shook his head with a small smile at her acting like a child. “Of course not, you’ve worked so hard for me and all of us—you deserve a good day or two to rest and recharge.”
Claudia gave him a full-blown grin.
“I will make the most of the day.”
And that was enough for a smile to form on Andreas’s lips and he whispered to himself.
“You are so easy to get distracted, especially when you are happy.”
But Andreas was Andreas; she should know it better than anyone else.
“I’ve sent a car to pick you up, be ready in five minutes.”
For f**k’s sake, it’s already ten at night, and she’s already in bed wrapped in satin pajamas, curled up in her thick duvet and watching Netflix after a day of shopping at the mall and going to the salon for various treatments.
Claudia whines, but she gets up and gets ready anyway.
As she expected, a limo parks in the lobby of her apartment and finds Alessio leaning against the car with a cigarette in his hand. Her lips curl into a smile as he opens the backseat door for her. “Evening, Princess. Did you sleep already?”
“If I were asleep, I wouldn’t have come here and been well-prepared for whatever the hell Andreas has called me for.” She rolled her eyes. “So, what now? An emergency meeting with foreign clients?”
“You’ll see, Princess.”
And the door slammed shut.
Alessio sat in the front seat with a driver beside him, and he also just noticed the presence of another car in front of him—it escort her car, and it made her frown. Never, ever, had she received such tight security, even during international meetings.
But why now?
The bright lights and bustle of the city had now fallen silent, darkness enveloping them. Occasionally, a park light would illuminate their car, and that was when her eyes caught guns and ammunition. Alessio, realizing this, gave her a faint smile.
“It’s for your safety.”
“From what?”
“You’ll see, Princess.”
The streets were very dark at night; she didn’t know where they were going. But slowly, she realized where she was—this was the road to Andreas's Villa Seraphim, located far from the city.
The luxurious villa was a large, imposing building, and not everyone could afford to visit freely, including herself. She wasn't allowed to come alone without Andreas, saying it could be dangerous for her to wander around the place, as they were in the middle of the forest far from any residential area.
But as the limo turned, there were many armed guards dressed in black standing guard behind the tall iron gates. Various dark limousines and vans were neatly lined up inside, belonging to unknown individuals. The car she was in stopped parallel to a stern-faced man.
“You saw the car, open the gate,” Alessio said coldly, “we're practically the owners of the place.”
The stern-faced man scoffed. “Biggest boss orders—your identity, Little Miss.”
Seeing the cold eyes of the cruel man on her, she immediately took out her company ID card, which showed she was the secretary of Andreas Moretti, the owner of The Mores Group company. With that, they allowed her to enter.
Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she was shocked again by the sight inside the iron fence. A row of men dressed formally in all black lined up, each holding a firearm, and a leopard acting as a guard dog tonight.
“What on earth is happening here?!”
“Welcome to the mafia meeting, Sugar.”
And she didn't expect that answer.
“Oh, f**k me.”
