Blackmailing Aria [Book 1 of the Stavros Series]

7

I never tell anyone about my childhood. Not after the years of torment that I lived through growing up. The first person I ever confided in was a man I met one winter's night in one of the greatest cities in the world.
He was hardly a stranger to me, other than those first couple hours in that bar. The moment I handed my body to him, he became a part of my world, my life, and my memories. I could never forget him, especially after spending three weeks together.
I never saw a part of his life, but the way he smiled at me, laughed at my jokes, and held me while I slept . . . Well I didn't need to know what his life was like, because in those moments, I knew that I was as much in his life as he was in mine. Forever.
He opened up to me in his own way, and I opened up in mine. While he felt free to tell me jokes and pull me close to him, I was telling him about my life. I shared with him the story of how when I was five years old, my father died while working as a police officer. I told him that my Mom couldn't handle losing the love of her life, so she left her only child the night after the funeral.
Xander knows that night as if he lived it, because I told him every detail. How I was awoken to the sound of a car engine starting. How my bedroom was basked in a shade of red as her tail lights faded down the road. How I spent the entire day waiting for her to come home, to walk through my front door, but she never did. I called my grandparents the following night and I lived with them ever since.
They gave me everything they could, but they were old and their only income was a farm that was slowly dying.
I expressed to Xander the many times that I watched as my grandparents sat around candle light, trying to calculate the bills. It's funny to me now, because when I told him of my struggle as a poor child, it seemed as if he understood. But as his private jet lands on the tarmac in an ancient and beautiful city, I finally realize that he'll never understand what I went through.
He can fly to any city in the world if he pleases, and in his own jet. It took me years of saving up,  and my grandparents retirement money, to send me to New York City for three weeks years ago.
"Aria," Xander calls.
My eyes leave the view from the window to look at him. He sits across from me in his own leather chair, a glass of finished champagne next to him. He looks at me with a concerned look, his bottom lip pulled between his teeth.  "I've been calling your name for five minutes. Are you okay?"
I take a deep breath and nod as the jet slows to a stop. "I'm fine." I'm just thinking about how incompatible we are. All of the odds are against us, but yet here I am, sitting in your jet in Rome because you blackmailed me.
"Are you sure?" He asks, trying to make me open up to him, but I can't do that again.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and stand up. I stretch my back and legs, yawning in the process. I hardly got any sleep during the nine hour plane ride, mostly because I couldn't comprehend that I was in the presence of a billionaire, on my way to Rome.
"Aria," Xander yells. I squeal and fall back into my seat.
I look at him incredulously, while he looks at me with a stern look. His eyes are slowly turning darker. "What was that for?"
He sighs heavily, looking royally pissed off. "You're acting weird!"
I stand up again, staring down at him with a stern look of my own. "That gives you no right to yell at me!" I stomp off away from him, getting only a couple feet before he calls after me.
"Your heels Aria."
I look down at my bare feet, wiggling my toes against the carpet of the jet. I cluck my tongue and spin right around. Quickly, and with as much dignity as I can muster, I grab my heels from underneath my seat.
Xander shoots an amused look towards me. I dare to smack his smirk off his face. Instead, I say, "It was a long flight and heels are uncomfortable to wear!"
He chuckles softly, making me stomp away from him once again. I wait for the attendant to open the door while I slip on the uncomfortable heels.
After a not so minor meltdown that I had about wearing my rags to Rome, Xander offered to buy me a small wardrobe for the trip. Well, really he gave up an entire work day to go shopping with me for fancier clothes.
I feel guilty that he paid for my clothes, but I'm more comfortable wearing stuff that will make me look like I actually fit in.
By the time the attendant opens the door and the stairs are attached to the plane, Xander is at my side. He lets me walk down first, following close behind.
We get into the SUV waiting for us and begin the nearly hour long ride to the city. I keep my eyes glued to the window the entire time. I'm not impressed by the modern buildings which are dirty and close to crumbling.
"Wait until we get closer," Xander comments, watching my expression in the reflection of the window. "It'll blow you away."
And it did.
Xander asked the driver to drive as close to as many historical sites as possible. I was completely shocked at what I saw, especially the Colosseum. I knew it was big, but I had no idea it was that big.
"Did you know that a lot of the marble from the Colosseum was used in the building of Saint Peter's Basilica?" I ask, my eyes trained on the marvelous piece of history.
"Yes, I knew that. My mother is from Rome. How did you know?"
I look over at him, an incredulous look upon my face. "Architect major remember?' I turn back to the window, watching sadly as the building disappears from sight.
"You changed your major?" Xander asks quietly.
I freeze, silently cursing myself. He wasn't supposed to know that.
"Aria," he demands.
I huff and turn back around to face him. "I changed my major from agriculture to architecture like you suggested."
He raises an eyebrow, a grin spreading across his lips. "And you said those three weeks meant nothing to you."
...
My time in Italy is well spent.
We stay in a villa near Vatican City, with an amazing pool and chefs permanently in the kitchen. I worry about gaining weight from the surmountable amounts of food they keep bringing me, but then I just drink some wine and forget about it.
I spend my mornings wandering around the city, seeing the sights with Xander. He tries to teach me a few things, but he's surprised by how much I have to teach him.
During the afternoons, Xander heads off to meetings while I lounge by the pool and drink wine till the sun sets.
By the time I head inside, Xander is always arriving home and offering me dinner. Sometimes we'll go out to eat, or have one of the chefs cook us something to have on the patio.
Tonight, a week into our stay here in Rome, we have decided to remain at the villa for dinner. My plate is left empty before me and my second glass of wine is half full. I stare dreamily at the beautiful space around me and listen to the sound of the fountain.
"You look beautiful," Xander says softly.
I offer him nothing but a glance. He has been complimenting me and trying to woo me for the past week. It always works, but then I remind myself of what happened four years prior.
That simple memory keeps me from accepting his repeated offers.