A Baby for the Billionaire

53

KEREM

The situation is complex, even more so when I know that talking about Juliet is inevitable in these instances. I look at Massera and I know from the first minute that this meeting does not suggest anything positive for either of them. I even suspect that the fact that he was "by chance" in New York leaves me somewhat uneasy. Of course nothing that can come from such a powerful and despicable guy can be true. He doesn't have a bad reputation, but we will never be able to agree on the same thing since his starting point and mine are opposed, especially if we consider that in the past his relationship with my father was never the best.

"It's past midnight," I assert as I take a seat on the terrace of the bar where he made an appointment.

A man over seventy years old coming to places like this is not strange to me, they are issues that I see all the time and even more so when it comes to finding escort ladies. I am not a young lady, but I am the company that is required to talk long and hard at such late hours of the night.

"The famous Mr. Deniz, who took that title after the legacy left by his father" he tells me in fluent English, but with his obvious Italian accent that highlights the roots in his blood.

"I can say that I carry my father's last name with pride," I lie, but I blurt out the words firmly. He cannot say the same about his son, Paolo Massera, a true criminal who tried to steal everything from his own family, but for whom the world made room for him as if nothing had existed in that part of the Massera family history. .

"Oh my," he clears his throat. "That's a true Italian gentleman to honor your father's name," he declares. "Lying is serious, but speaking ill of the family is even worse."

I think the muscles in my face tense up when I hear him.

A waitress walks up and asks in my direction, placing a house treat appetizer on the low table in front of me.

"Goodnight Mr. What would you like to drink?"

"Bourbon on the rocks?" I ask for the classic.

"Of course. Anything else?"

"That's fine."

"Right away."

And she disappears.

"You even ask for the same thing when it comes to drinks, you and that man are two peas in a pod," says Massera.

The techno-house music plays in the background not too loud, but it is a sign that this place also attracts young girls.

I look towards the bar where two girls in sparkly dresses and bare backs are giving us sidelong glances in our direction while their drink straws caress their painted lips.

They are attractive, yes, but not the kind of women I tend to like. Wait, I'm thinking about which girls I like tonight? I hadn't thought about it for a long time since Zara, in fact, it's the first time in a couple of hours that I thought about her. I spent so much time living with anger and pain that it seems strange to me not to feel it for an instant.

"I suppose you know why I called you tonight," Massera chimes in, forcing me to look back at his wrinkled face.

"For business?"

"Investments. Especially in Human Resources, something that doesn't happen very often lately, but it tends to be one of the best points where everyone can secure a place. We have the same start-up in sight, but we are not interested in the start-up itself so much, but rather the person who made it grow from scratch."

"Antonio," I murmur. I know that he was also in charge of the initial business plan for CANDELA, the trend brand in women's fashion today. He vilely displaced Vittorino" I mutter, showing that although it's not my line of business, I was investigating.

"Actually, no. Because to go on to talk about my spoiled Antonio and Candela, we first have to talk about my new focus."

"Juliet."

"Yes."

"She will work with Candela, you defined it that way. In other words, they agreed to it without my permission or authorization."

"Very bold of you."

I have left the mobile on the table and it catches my attention to discover that I have a notification at the top.

Is it from the language app?

Is it a message?

Did we just call her or summon her as a demon?

Holy shit.

"It distracts me when people use their cell phones while I'm talking," he states.

"Excuse me, it's something important, I have to see it," I say with a lump in my throat that makes me feel strange.

I open the message and I get goosebumps.

"HELP!"

Juliet.

It's Juliet.

Massera also seems to be alarmed by my gesture.

"Man, has something happened to your baby?"

"No," I say, turning to him. "Excuse me, Mr. Massera, I have an urgent call to make."

I take the cell phone and dial Juliet. The message was sent to me twenty minutes ago, but I just came to see it now. Wow!

Once at the edge of the bar, I wait for the call.

Answer, Juliet, for God's sake, answer!!