The Two Families

Chapter Six

Luka beckoned me to follow him, leading me to the garage. Around ten luxury cars were parked there. He led me towards a black Bugatti and opened the door for me, smiling. I sat down and he closed the door behind me. The car had a distinctive wood scent, the same smell of Luka's perfume. He sat down, starting the car. He had ditched his suit's jacket and rolled his sleeves up, exposing his forearms.

He backed out of the garage and began driving. The silence in the car made my stomach churn. Why isn't he talking about what just happened?

I cleared my throat, "so what was that?"

He stared at the road, not saying a word. I saw him clench his jaw, knuckles turning white at the steering wheel.

"That was a gun shot, wasn't it?" I pushed.

"It's nothing you should be concerning your pretty little self with, Miss De Niro," he replied through gritted teeth.

"That's not an answer, Mr Marino," I retorted.

Luka swerved the car to the right, parking on the side. His head snapped towards me, glaring deep into my eyes. Even in the dark, I could see his green eyes twinkling with anger.

"I suggest you stop asking questions about things that don't concern you before something bad happens Aarina," he growled.

My heart pounded in my chest, "it does concern me because I was there, sir," I spat.

His eyes grew darker, running his tongue on the inside of his cheek. The car somehow became colder.

"Yes, it was a gunshot."

"Who was the shooter?"

"I don't know."

"How do you not know?"

Silence.

"Fine! Who was supposed to be shot?"

"Me."

"What?!" I yelled.

"Famous rich people have enemies Aarina. I'm used to it."

"Used to getting shot in your own home?"

He grunted, "drop it."

"No."

"Then get out of my car and walk home," he shouted. I flinched at his tone. His eyes flickered for a second from anger to worry. He started the car, driving into the night. I stared out the window, not uttering a single word.

After what felt like hours, Luka spoke, "I don't like being questioned. I'm sorry for yelling."

I stayed quiet and he didn't push back, yet somehow there was a sense of peace between us.

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I groaned, pushing myself out of bed. Another day of work. I got dressed and ran downstairs, only to be greeted by Julian. He opened the door for me and began driving to the Marino Investors building.

I got down, getting into the elevator and greeting the receptionist, who isn't actually a bad person.

"Ah! Aarina! Perfect timing," Luka announced, "come in my office."

He pointed at a door on the right side, "that is your office. We share a door for easy access, if I need you, but you obviously have your own door. You can decorate it however you want, just don't make it a pain to look at."

He opened the door, revealing a grey toned office, with cabinets along the walls. Right in the middle was a large rug, topped with a sofa. On the other side of the office was a desk with a large chair and two smaller ones in front of the desk.

"You need to handle all my accounts. Figure out a filing system that you like and keep all my files in the cabinets. Every morning, I want you to read the paper mails I get, only giving me the important ones. I want any important emails flagged and sent to me at 9am every morning. All calls will be directed to you and if its something important, press nine and it will be redirected to me. If I need you, I'll page you. Every morning at 9 am, you'll come into my office and read my agenda for the day, if I approve then you can make the appropriate calls, if I don't, figure it out. When you come at 9am, bring any important files or documents," Luka explained, "you will attend meetings with me, unless I instruct otherwise. You will be expected to make notes of what happened during the meeting and type them up, saving them all into a single folder. Is that clear, Miss De Niro?"

"Crystal clear, sir," I beamed.

He nodded, curtly and walked into his office, before closing the door behind him. I looked around the office, opening the cabinets to see stacks of files and paper work. Each file was labeled with the first initial and the last name. Inside each folder was investment receipts and bills, along with client information.

I walked over to the desk, sitting down in front of the computer, turning it on. I heard a rustling sound in front of me before a light knock. I stood up, making my way to the door, only to notice that there was a pile of mail on the floor. I picked it up, walking over to my desk.

I began to sift through them. Luka gets fan mail? I giggled, ripping one open to read the content. I heard a ping come from the pager on my desk. I got up, knocking on the door that separated our offices.

"Come in."

I walked in, "you paged sir?"

"Yes bring the mail you got. We'll go through them together so you know what I expect."

I went back, grabbing the pile and making my way back to his office.

"Fan mail?" I announced.

"Ah yes, send those down to marketing, they'll handle it."

"Alright," I scribbled marketing on the letter."Electricity bills?" I continued.

"Send those down to accounting."

"Server update?"

"That goes to IT."

"More fan mail...more fan mail...another fan mail," I looked up to see him smiling to himself, "Investment receipts?"

"Those you file into the correct folder and leave the folder on my desk before you leave." He picked up a black notebook from his desk drawer, handing it to me.

"Read out my agenda for today."

I opened the book, only to reveal the most elegant cursive handwriting I've ever seen.

"Alright. 10 o'clock: coffee with McGowan Confectionery. 12 o'clock: cooperate meeting. 2 o'clock: Lunch with Becky and Co," I read.

"Move my lunch to next Monday. Call them up and give them some random excuse."

I nodded, scratching out the lunch and scribbling it onto next week's Monday.

"Is that all, sir?" I asked.

"Yes, that's all."