Fall in love with an assassin

Chapter 8

"Come and have breakfast," Nikolaj said, but it didn't sound like an order.

Belle followed him like a child terrified of being punished if she hadn't obeyed him.

She had just finished making the first round of phone calls. The man had forced her to call Giò first, telling her she had decided to move because she had been offered a new job in another city. Nikolaj forced her to be superficial, without going into details. Then he made her call her boss, telling him that after what had happened she needed a break and she was considering a job in Cefalù Central Police Station.

Finally Sam. He was the one who asked the most questions. He wanted to know whom she was going to work for, where, how and when. She just told him what Nikolaj told her to say and then she hung up.

Nikolaj took her smartphone and locked it up in one of the drawers in the corridor.

They walked into the kitchen and Nikolaj pulled out a chair for her to sit on. She was surprised by his gesture and sat down embarrassed. Then he handed her a plate with a croissant and a cup of cappuccino. Belle started laughing and he wrinkled his eyebrows.

He sat down next to her with a cup of coffee, staring at her and waiting for an answer.

Belle flushed but could help but laugh. She put her hand on her mouth and, once she had calmed down, she said: "You have observed me carefully."

Nikolaj realized she was referring to the breakfast. In effect, he was a great observer. He had noticed that was her favorite breakfast when she wasn't in a hurry and understood that liked having a croissant and a cup of cappuccino when she had some time in the morning; when she was in a hurry, instead, a quick hot chocolate. Strangely, Nikolaj felt he had known her better than anyone else in the world.

In between bites, Belle tried to check him out; Nikolaj was tranquility sipping his coffee staring intensively at a fixed imaginary point, thinking about God knows what.

"Why don't you want to kill me?" She asked merely watching her cappuccino as if she asked the question to it. Nikolaj watched her, then put down the cup of coffee.

"I like watching you," he replied quietly. Belle was near to suppressed. She wiped her mouth quickly, trying to act ladylike, and noticed that there was a beautiful smile on the man's face. She stared at him incredulously of how that smile made him seem different. It was as if he were another man.

Not a professional killer, assassin, kidnapper, burglar; but a man...

Normal.

"If I were to kill you, then I couldn't stare at you anymore," he added. Then his smile disappeared. It was then that he said seriously and calm: "I don't know what you have done to me, little girl. But whatever it is, I need to find out."

Belle looked at him with one on her eyebrows arched, trying to find a connection to those senseless words.

I like watching you. How long had he been watching her? Did he watch her while she was in her apartment? Did he follow her when she went to work? Did he eavesdrop on her conversations with her friends at the bar? Naturally, she had noticed him staring at her when she went to the Poseidon with Giò, and suspected that the car with the dark tinted windows was his.

She wondered how long this story had been going on; if watching her was that he really wanted or if sooner or later he wanted more from her.

"I'm not a trophy," Belle replied lowering her eyes.

"Indeed you are not," Nikolaj cleared. He placed his elbows on the table, moving dangerously closer to her. He could see clearly how attentive she was to inspect his movement. He stretched a hand towards her, and Belle froze feeling them on her cheek.