Clara was upset today. She tried to scroll through the job offers but she couldn't focus on anything. She took a deep breath and closed her laptop aggressively. Poor thing.
She should have been spying on Desmond right now but because of Lorenzo, she didn't have time to do it. Guilt was weighing heavily on her chest. Why did she waste her time? She should've been doing something, working on something. She shouldn't be playing house with some damn mafioso.
Suddenly she couldn't stand being alone in her apartment so she stopped briefly in her hallway to put on her coat and shoes.
She decided to go to the grocery store and get some ice cream for herself. She will just spend the night lazing around on her sofa, watching movies. She didn't feel productive today at all. It was already late around 11 p.m. so Clara was grateful for the 24/7 convenience store she had nearby.
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She left her apartment, used stairs to go downstairs since the elevator was broken, she needed to use an extra force to open the front door while holding a car keys in her hand.
She was in the middle of the parking lot, walking towards her silver Toyota when someone stopped her.
"Clara?"
The familiar male voice made shivers run down her spine. She stiffened in fear and discomfort.
"Arturo? What are you doing here?" She asked, taking a small step back.
"Wait, don't be scared. Sorry, it must look a little creepy, me standing in front of your apartment building. Believe me, I know. But I really wanted to talk to you. Look I brought you flowers" he said with desperation in his eyes. He handed her an obnoxiously big bouquet of red roses.
"I don't like flowers but thank you... for an effort" she responded awkwardly and then cursed herself for the forwardness the last thing she needed was to antagonize this man. Did he wait for her? What the fuck. She needed to put on the nice act and get away from here.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I will remember for the next time" he said and smiled. That smile made her feel even more uneasy if it was possible at this point. "Listen, there's something I wanted to tell you for a long time. I was holding back but now I feel like it's my chance, to be honest with you" he said, his eyes glinting with excitement which was completely unfitting to the situation. Did he not see that she's scared? He was always a little creepy but from this side, she didn't know him yet. "There's no easy way to say this but I fell in love with you"
"Listen," she said trying to interrupt his thought process "Arturo I'm not interested, I'm really sorry but I don't feel the same about you"
"Why are you so cold? You have to give me a chance so I can show you how much I care about you. Vincenti is not worth you. He's a stuck-up bastard. They all are. They only let the closest family make decisions other people are just pawns they use. But you wouldn't do something like that, right? You're different I can see it. I admire you, Clara. Please let me show how much you mean to me"
"Listen... I will give you a chance" Clara responded awkwardly.
"Really?"
"Yes. We should meet over coffee sometimes. But today I am really in a hurry. I will see you around" Clara said in an apologetic voice. She turned away to leave.
"In a hurry to go on a date with Lorenzo Vincenti?" Arturo asked darkly.
She stopped. Something was very wrong.
"How do you-?" She asked, her eyes widened. Was he spying on her?
"He's not worth it Clara. He's not worth you. But you were going to meet with him anyway, right? You chose him, haven't you? That's why you rejected my invitation"
"Wait no that's not-" she took a step back not sure if it's the best time to run or not.
Was that a gun? Was he pointing a gun at her? She's going to die like that?
"I gave you a chance. I wanted things to end up differently but if I can't have you no one can"
She closed her eyes, she was trembling. She was too scared to even cry, her mind still in shock.
Suddenly she was lying on the ground covered by someone's weight. One man was covering her with his body while the other was pinning Arturo to the ground with a gun pointed straight at his forehead.
What was going on? Who are these people? She was breathing heavily. She took one breath after another but it felt like no oxygen was entering her lungs. Her attempts to breathe become more and more desperate. She stopped noticing her surroundings and she didn't hear what the person above her was saying.
Everything went blank.
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"How is she?" The doctor was asked as he finished performing the basic examination.
"She went through a nasty panic attack, hyperventilation lead to loss of consciousness but physically she's completely fine now. She just needs to rest" he responded.
Lorenzo nodded and then turned to Clara's father to let him know "She will be coming home with me tonight"
"That's not appropriate. You're not married yet. She will stay at my house tonight" Sirio responded.
"It should be her house too but isn't. She doesn't need to be in a place where she feels unwelcome after she went through something traumatic" Lorenzo said in a stern voice.
"She's not your wife yet, Lorenzo. Stay away from our family matters" Sirio warned.
"No, I feel like getting involved" Lorenzo didn't feel intimidated at all. His eyes just darkened.
"She's asleep, don't wake her up," Sante remained quietly, he also tried to figure out how to calm them down before they kill each other.
"Let's continue this conversation in the corridor then," Lorenzo said in a steady, quiet voice.
They didn't want to wake Clara up before she got a good few hours of sleep but she woke up earlier than intended.
So now there were three loud men in a hallway of a private hospital. They all behaved like they owned the place. Well, one of them did.
Perhaps someone would tell them to be quiet if the hospital staff wasn't utterly terrified of them. It was a total mess.
"Why haven't you told me you hired a bodyguard for my daughter?" Sirio asked in a loud challenging tone. "You think I can't take care of her?"
Ah, the funny thing with bodyguards. One bodyguard Clara was assigned by her father. The second one, by Lorenzo. One didn't know about the other and vice versa. So they were very surprised to see each other. The fight almost broke out when they were trying to decide who's taking care of Clara and who's taking care of Arturo.
At the end of the day Arturo ended up being taken by Lorenzo's assigned bodyguard to Himeros basement, the place had more than one secret door so it was possible to get him there without any of the guests knowing.
Sirio's bodyguard on the other hand took Clara to the hospital.
Lorenzo was experiencing growing anger. "Your daughter is living in a claustrophobic apartment on the outskirts city while you're driving around in Rolls Royce how the hell am I supposed to assume you care about her safety?"
"This is between me and her as I said before you're not married yet" he barked.
"You sure you want to threaten me, Sirio?" Lorenzo asked, his voice was calm but with a visible threat.
Sante stood up from his seat and decided to interfere once again.
"Let's relax. I know it's difficult to understand Lorenzo but our father is trying to give Clara space. Of course, we assigned the bodyguard to her the day after your engagement was set into motion. Thank you for taking care of her too" he said diplomatically because he knew damn well what Vincenti's were capable of. His family couldn't challenge them without serious consequences. "Can we focus on the piece of shit who attacked her?"
"I want to get my hands on him," Sirio said darkly.
"Just like I do" Lorenzo responded simply.
"You can both go to question him and I will stay with Clara" Sante suggested. "I will take her to our house if you're fine with it Lorenzo"
"Okay, fine. Just don't let her go back to her apartment. She shouldn't be alone today"
"Got it"
Lorenzo wanted to take Clara with him and spend every moment with her but he had duties. First, he needed to establish what Arturo wanted from her then he needed to murder him with his bare hands.
He also decided that it wouldn't be a bad thing if Clara had rebuilt her relationship with her brother.
"Fine. You can take her for tonight but I'm taking her with me tomorrow morning"
"Okay"
"-And we're leaving the country"
Before Sirio could respond the nurse came out of Clara's room.
"Ms. Castillo woke up" she informed timidity.
"I will be going in first" Lorenzo informed without waiting on anyone else's permission.