Chapter-26
Lucas Alberto's POV
My hand grabs her wrist and I pull her down into my lap. My nose is instantly filled with her scent and her body is plush against mine. She relaxes in my arms and I push her hair to her right shoulder and kiss her neck. The hickey I gave her last night is still there. She giggles as it tickles her and I meet her eyes. She looks tired.
She gives me a smile and kisses my cheek. She is getting less and less shy with me and I am loving it. Her confidence in our relationship is increasing. That's what I need. She can only find that if she trusts me. Now I know that she does.
"I missed you." I breathe in her scent as she leans her head back on my shoulder and lets me kiss her neck. Her eyes are closed as she enjoys me kissing her. That sends pleasure to my heart. It feels so good to know that she needs me as much as I need her.
"I missed you more." She whispers.
"So, are you going to keep me?" I want to tease her and remind her of what she said when she was drunk. I think I will keep you. Those were her exact words. A smile makes it's way on my lips whenever I think about that. Her eyes flutter open and she looks at me in confusion.
"What?" She asks as she raises a little to get a good look at my face.
"Nothing. How did the appointment go?" She went to get Mr. Piccolo checked. She took a day off to deal with all of this. So much is going on.
"It went well. Papa was so stubborn. He keeps insisting that he is fine. We will get all the results tomorrow." She informs. Her hands wrap around my neck. A sigh leaves her lips. She looks so tired. I bring her face closer and kiss her plush lips. I missed her. Last night was so beautiful. She is so beautiful. My Angel. She is finally mine! All mine! Every inch! We didn't plan on getting caught, but I am glad.
What? My eyes question her.
"Papa spoke to Felisa." I guess it didn't go well. "They had a big argument. Melody, our head chef at the palace, called. Felisa didn't deny wanting to separate us." She informs me. That's a surprise. "She agreed to it." Well, that is a surprise. It's like she doesn't care to even hide her bad intensions. "I am worried what she might do to Papa." Her brows crease as she worries.
Does she have this same look when she worries about me?
"I am thinking about going back to the palace." She tells me as she meets my eyes. No! I want you to move in with me! How am I supposed to stay away from her? "I can't leave Papa alone there."
"Angel, I want you to move in with me." I don't care if I sound selfish. "I can't stay away from you. We both know this is not casual. We are serious." I meant what I told Mr. Piccolo last night. I am dating her with marriage in mind. There is no more doubt here. Even before last night it was fixed. There is on one other than her. I want my Angel beside me! No question in that.
"Lucas, isn't this moving-"
"Too fast? Don't say that. We have been waiting for each other for many years. If at all we took it as slow as possible. We need to be together." My eyes stare right into hers. My hand roams down to her ass and I give it a good squeeze. Her eyes sloe and she exhales. Fuck! She is a sight!
"I know what you mean. I want to be with you too. You don't know how much I am in love with you." She smiles down at me. "But I can't leave, Papa alone in that place."
"He is not alone. We can tell Gemma everything-"
"What can we tell her? That we suspect her mother might be doing harm to her father?"
She's right!
"Lucas, look at me." She holds my face and makes me look at her. "Give me one more day. I will find a way. Once we have Papa results, I will know for sure what is happening with him. The whole world already knows about us."
It's all over the news today. The media is blowing up the news like crazy. I wanted to hire a security member for her for a few days at least. This is what I always wanted. I wanted everyone to know we are dating. But I don't like the way they portray her. The illegitimate daughter. The outcast. The silent one. All of them are concerning. Even the silent one. No one knows how intelligent she is.
The more time I spend with her, the more I learn... about her, about world, about everything. I like the way she thinks. I like the way she understands people. I love how she tries to find the good in people. She is an Angel! She is actually an Angel!
She is definitely not a silent one. She has a lot of ideas. She has a whole different perception. She makes me look at things in a different angle. I like our conversations. She has so much confidence in herself and in what she does. I see that it's building more every day since she started working here. Her fire is lightening up every day. Her sweetness is still intact. How can someone like her exist?
"Lucas. Are you okay?" She calls as she kisses my cheek. Her face is so close to mine. Her blue eyes are all wide as she looks at me wondering what I am thinking. Her pink plush lips are parted open lightly. Her hair is let loose and my heart beats loudly.
"I am so in love with you." The words leave my lips before I can think. She blushes and bites her lip. I get up with her legs still around me. She slowly slides off my body. Oh, Angel! I take her hand in mine and kiss it. "Let's go meet my parents." She sucks in a breath. "Relax!"
I hold her hand and we walk out of the building. My car is waiting outside today. The paparazzi are all out. I slip my hand around her waist and pull her to me. She tries to move away. "Lucas, no." Her protests are a vain attempt. I have her now and there is no one stopping from taking her, even her. I usually wouldn't allow paparazzi to stay this long around my building, but today is special.
"I need to show you off to the world, Angel. I can't hide you. I don't want you." She gasps at my words. We reach the entrance and they start clicking pictures. The flashes and the clicks of their cameras doesn't distract us. My eyes are looking into hers. "You are not an avoided Angel anymore. You are mine and you are my Queen." She smiles that gorgeous smile of hers and I want to kiss the heck out of her.
"Oh Lucas." She fills the gap between us and places her lips on mine in front of the whole paparazzi, that means in front of the whole world.
This is a declaration.
Of her Love.
Of our Love.
Of her confidence.
Of her confidence in me.
Of her trust in our relationship.
Of her Strength to face the world.
I respond with as much passion I could muster. All the voices asking questions, the clicks of the cameras, the gasps and the nervousness that I felt in her a moment ago... All are gone. It's only us now. No one existed in this moment.
We stripped ourselves bare in front of the whole world and we don't care.
My lips move along her in a passionate dance. She kisses me back with the same passion. We pull away and rub my nose against hers and she blushes. Fuck! Now they are going to capture her blushing and put that picture out for the whole world to see! It's only me who can see her like that! I put on my shades and hold her hand before tugging her along.
Together. I telepathy and her hold on my hand tightens showing that she heard me and responded.
We start walking towards the car and the mics are thrust in our face, question after question are being thrown at us.
"Mr. Alberto, are you both really dating?!"
"Mr. Alberto is it a publicity stunt to increase the share rate of your company?!"
"Mr. Mr. Alberto, how long have you both been together?"
"Annabelle, is this real? What do you think of this relationship?"
"Annabelle, how did you seduce him?"
The last question gets me. Not only are they calling her with her first name and now they are accusing her. I stop and turn around still holding her hand in mine. My body moves towards the reporter who asked that question. My face is inches away from him. He can't see my eyes with my shades on, but he stills at my advance.
"You speak one more disrespectful word to her and you will find yourself with no job." My voice was enough to threaten him. He nods frantically and steps back. His eyes turn to My Angel.
"I am sorry, Annabe-Ms. Piccolo." He apologizes. He looks afraid. He better be. How dare he talk to her like that?!
"It's okay. Come, Lucas." She tugs my hand and I can hear the plead in her voice. Whenever I get angry, that scares her. I don't want to scare her. Keeping my anger in check, I turn away and lead her to the car. Opening the door for her, I put my hand on the small of her back as she gets in. Once she is in, I go to sit in the driver's seat.
She is biting her lip nervously and looking down at her fingers. The cameras are still flashing and she doesn't want that. Fuck! I have been so selfish to show her off to everyone that I forgot how much she is not used to attention! But she needs to get used to it! Cause I am going to give all of mine to her! I take her hand in mine again and start the car.
"You don't have to be nervous, Angel. I love you and they just want to meet you. My mother already loves you." My mother is scared for her actually. I thought she loved me, her dear son, so much. "My father doesn't mind actually. This is just a formal meeting." I kiss her hand and she still looks nervous. "All is going to be okay. Nothing can separate us now."
She needs to understand that!
"You are fucking mine now! I don't care who doesn't accept us! Fucking mine!" Her face is close to mine as I put my hand behind her head. Her eyes are staring deep into mine. She nods her head. "We came this far, Angel! We fought all of them." Her confidence comes back and she smiles.
"Always with you." She tells me and kisses my lips.
Always.
Hand in hand, we walk in and find my parents sitting in the private dining room of the hotel. They were talking to someone and I find Mr. Piccolo and Gemma sitting opposite to them. Gemma looks bored. A gasp escapes from my Angel's lips. She looks at me and gives me a nod saying that she is fine and we walk in. All of their eyes turn to us and silence spreads the room.
"Well, look who came in." Gemma's sarcastic comment breaks the tension. Angel's hold on my hand tightens and I hold her back to assure her. Mr. Piccolo smiles at her and she smiles back instantly relaxing with her father in the room. Jealousy runs in my veins and I clench my jaw. Why can't she be so relaxed with me? It's me! Her Lucas! Am I seriously jealous of her father?!
"Papa." She leaves my hand for a second and goes to hug her father. He hugs her back happily. Gemma raises her eyes brow at me as she comes to me.
"What crawled up your ass and died?" She asks folding her hands near her chest. My eyes are on my Angel. She pulls back with a smile as she looks at him. "Seriously you are jealous of our father now?"
"Fuck yeah! I am!" She is all grinning now, feeling safe in her father's arms. I know the times she looked at me like that.
"Woah! Slow down there, Tiger!" She tries to calm me. "You are one Possessive Duke. Man, she is too sweet for you." She is right. She is too sweet for my Devil ass! Too fucking sweet! She talks to her father for a minute and then looks at my parents. Her grin slowly fades to a smile and she gives them her polite smile. My mother smiles back. Her gazes meets mine and she moves close to me.
Gemma goes back to her father and my Angel is back in my arms. My arm lays possessively on her waist. That doesn't unnoticed by anyone in the room. I pull off my shades and hold her close.
"Good evening, Mr. Alberto and Mrs. Alberto!" She greets them and Mom comes forward to pull her in for a hug.
"Oh, please! I always knew my boy had a crush on you!" She gushes hugging her causing her to blush. She pulls away looking at her. "Always asking how you are, what you are doing and if you would be coming to the gathering." Leave it to my mother to embarrass me in front of everyone. "I am so happy you both are together!" She smiles at my woman and I pull her back in my arms.
"Thank you, Mrs. Alberto." She is thanking her for accepting.
"Good luck with my boy. I know he is handsome, but he is The Devil." My father sounds rather proud about it.
"Thank you, Mr. Alberto. He is handsome, but he is not a Devil that everyone says he is." My Angel comes to my rescue. My mother coos and Gemma rolls her eyes.
"Just wait till you see his true face." Gemma scoffs. Mr. Piccolo just stares at us in silence. No one knows me better than her. "I don't understand how you managed to get her." Gemma's words make our father's laugh and my mother nods her head. It's official! Now I am just The Devil who got His Angel! Everyone loves her! She loves me! "You guys kissed today?" Gemma asks looking at her phone.
"Yes." I reply casually. It's already all over the news. The news spreads fast these days with the internet. "We are official now." I kiss the side of her head. She blushes, feeling shy with this kind of affection.
"Finally!" Gemma sighs. "You won't be asking me anymore. How is Annabelle? Do you know where she is? How is she doing? Did she grow taller than you? Is she still reading those novels? Urgh! Now you will finally leave me alone!" Everyone laughs. My woman looks at me in surprise and I look away. Mom smiles.
"You take care of my Bell, Lucas." Mr. Piccolo's voice is sharp and I nod my head.
"Of course, Mr. Piccolo."
"You better. If at all she is hurt, even I can't save you from him." My father points to Mr. Piccolo.
"You don't have to worry about that." My woman comes to my defense again and I want to kiss the living day lights out of her. "He loves me and I love him." She tells them. Her confidence in us always takes me to the moon and I would do anything to hold it up.
"Oh God, I am so happy for you too." Mom smiles as Dad pulls her closer to his chest.
"When is the marriage?" My father asks. He knows it's serious. I am sure he can see the way I look at her. She stiffens in my arms.
"Soon." We are serious about our relationship. We are going to end up married one day. I just want to give her sometime and our relationship some time, so that we can have a few days as girlfriend and boyfriend. I always imagined having her beside me, taking her to dates, taking it slow and slowly pursuing her to marry me. We got to do none of that stuff.
"My Gem and Bell are grown ups now and I have to live with that." Mr. Piccolo sighs and Gemma hugs him.
"Please Dad."
"I am going to have a daughter now!" Mom grins and my Angel smiles. "She is the cutest and you better do everything to keep her, Luc." Mom warns.
"Oh, I will, Mom." My eyes meet hers. Her face is red from blushing. "I will."
"Ah!" A groan comes from our left and we find Mr. Piccolo clutching his chest. He sits down in the chair and we all rush to him.
"Papa! Are you having pains again?" His daughters are by his side in a second. My Angel looks at me. "Call an ambulance."
I pull out my phone and do that.
Why is it whenever we have a minute of happiness there is a Tsunami coming our way?!
A/N:
Hey my cute dumplings!
Finally, all the obstacles are out of the way. Things are going to get real now. But finally they are there. Tell me what you think.
Please VOTE and COMMENT.