I watched silently as Gianna covered the short distance to the office building, leaving me stuck in my own car for the second time in the past 24 hours. Clenching my fists, I tried to keep my anger in check as I turned to look at Luca.
"Keep the car ready when I call you. I'll be back soon." I directed those words at him in a clipped tone before straightening my suit and stepping out of the car.
I had gotten so close to her. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. This was the closest that I had gotten since we had met two days ago. So close to finally breaking down those high walls of hers. The one time that she had allowed me to see her vulnerable side. How conflicted she was about this. She wanted to let me in but she was scared. Scared that I'd hurt her and break her heart again. If I was a selfless man, I would've let her go. But that was the problem. I wasn't a selfless man - I was very, very selfish, especially when it came to my woman. But then, offuckingcourse, Luca the idiot had to go and ruin everything. Fucking Luca and his inability to read the room.
Cazzo di merda. I had to get it together right fucking now. Steeling myself, I put on the same charismatic mask that charmed everybody's pants off before I strode towards the reception. The same woman was at the desk, typing away, but she looked up when she saw me enter. With one eyebrow quirked, she assessed me as a lawyer would to a criminal in court as I smiled tightly at her.
"Mr Agosta." She greeted, as I nodded, not waiting to see what she would say next as I entered the elevator.
Just as the doors were closing, I saw a hint of a smile form on her face before she shook her head, as if she knew everything that had transpired between Gianna and I. Bullshit...right? I mean, I hadn't seen Gianna interact with anyone else in the office apart from her boss and the ginger asshole. Though, they could be friends for all I knew. It seemed like that's what I was doing lately. Assuming things about her that I didn't know. But the truth was, I wanted to know her inside out - her heart, her mind and her soul. And once upon a time, I had been lucky enough to know those parts of her. But she had changed, of course. Which was why I felt this compelling urge to get to know her all over again. To make her fall in love with me all over again. To make her see that I was still the same Gio that she had loved. But that wasn't true now, was it? Gianna wasn't the only person who had changed - I had changed too. For better or for worse, I didn't know yet.
I made my way to Esme's office as I knocked once. Hearing a soft come in, I entered as my gaze strayed to my blonde lawyer who stood with her back turned to me. Immediately, I could tell that something wasn't right based on their tense forms and the slightly sympathetic smile that Esme sent my way. She cleared her throat as she gestured for me to take a seat in front of her as Gianna refused to make eye contact with me. Was this because of what had happened in the car? If so, I'd have to clear things up as soon as possible with her. We couldn't have this weird tension lingering between us - especially when it came to work.
"Everything okay?" I asked as my eyes kept flitting towards the woman that stood on my right.
"Uh actually -
"No."
Gianna cut off Esme mid sentence as she looked me straight in the eye before saying her next few words.
"Your mother, Mrs Eleonora Agosta has filed a joint case along with the UK government against you."
"What?"
My mind refused to process what Gianna had just said. It couldn't be right. I mean, sure, mia madre could be a grade A bitch, but she wasn't as bad as Bruno. At least, I think so.
"Your mother has filed a case against you and is accusing you of being the prime suspect in your father's murder. She's said a lot of things, actually. But I digress, because now's not the time to deal with it in depth. Right now, we have to deal with the summons that has been sent by the Central Criminal Court." Gianna finished as my breathing grew more and more sporadic by the second.
"Summons? A fucking summons?" I breathed out as I leaned back in my chair, my hands going to massage my temple. "Jesus fucking Christ."
I could feel the familiar build up of sweat on my brow as my heart rate sped up. I bent my head, tucking it inside my knees, unable to hear what was going on around me as I held back tears that threatened to spill from my eyes. Fuck. This wasn't such a big issue. It wasn't like I didn't see this coming. But then why was I having a fucking panic attack in the middle of my lawyer's office?
I heard muffled voices from around me as I tried to bring myself back to the present moment. Just as I was about to give up the fight, I heard a soft voice from my right. Gianna's face was inches away from mine as her hands went to cup my jaw.
"Gio? Gio, listen to me. I want you to focus on my voice, alright?"
I managed a nod as I kept my attention focused on her, a technique that I knew would work well.
"I want to take in a deep breath. That's right. In and out. In and out. In and out."
It worked. I could slowly feel myself coming back to my body as her voice pulled me out from the confines of my head.
"You're doing so good, Gio. Just keep focusing on me, okay? I want you to tell me one sound you can hear."
"The air conditioner." I rasped out as I pulled my hands away from my head.
"Two things you can see."
"The table. The phone."
"Good, good. Now tell me something you can feel."
"You."
Right as I said that word, I could feel my lungs fill up with air, too out of it to even notice the look of utter surprise on Gianna's face. A beat passed before Gianna coughed into her hand, her eyes leaving my face.
"You good now?"
"Yeah." I replied as I finally took in the position that we were in.
Her hands had fallen down to my thighs as my hands were on top of hers, completely engulfing them. My chest was falling and rising rapidly as my brain registered the fact that I was so close to her that I could easily mold my lips to hers. It would be so easy. But the rational part in me pushed away those thoughts as I realised the severity of the situation. I had just had a mini breakdown over something so trivial in front of the woman that I was supposed to be wooing. How fucking embarassing. It was one thing for her to know that I suffered from panic attacks. But it was a whole different thing for her to actually witness one.
"You're good." She said as if she were assuring herself, the both of us rooted in our previous positions.
I stayed silent as she put some distance between us, the air feeling colder now that she wasn't close to me.
"I can go out if you need a few moments to yourself." She muttered as she went to gather her things, giving her back to me.
"It's just a fucking panic attack. I'm fine." I growled, not wanting to let her see how much it had affected me - how much her presence had affected me.
"It's not fine, Sergio. A panic attack is something fucking serious, alright? Stop downplaying it. There's nothing to be ashamed of." She snapped back as if she had just read my mind.
Turning my face away from her, I took in a couple of breaths to calm myself the fuck down.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." I said honestly as I watched her eyes soften before her guard was back up again.
"No worries. You good to continue?"
"Yeah."
Esme walked right in a couple of minutes later, shooting me an understanding look which I decided to ignore. I didn't need anybody's fucking sympathy or pity on top of all the issues I already had. The next few hours were spent discussing what exactly I was supposed to do and say during the first hearing. In the end, we decided that it was best to stay low for the time - at least, until the public got bored with the case - with Esme and Gianna both emphasising for me to take it easy with my extra curricular activities. As if I didn't know that, I mentally scoffed before getting out of my seat.
"Right hun, I assume you've got everything under control?" Esme questioned as Gianna nodded in response, her head bobbing up and down.
The sight of that little action sent blood rushing down to my cock as it reminded me of the times when she had sucked me off. Fuck. Now I was getting hard in my lawyer's office. Fanfuckingtastic.
"Alright, Sergio?"
"Hmm?" I hummed in question as Esme raised her eyebrows at me, aware of how distracted I was in the moment.
"I said, if you need anything, please do not hesitate to contact Gianna."
"Of course." I replied easily as I tried to hold back a smile.
Boy, wouldn't I be needing a lot of things from the blonde bombshell in front of me.
"Right so, I won't be coming to these meetings henceforth. I want to see how you handle everything. See it as a challenge, Gianna."
If there was one thing that my girl didn't back down from, then that was a challenge as I saw Gianna's eyes flare in determination before giving her boss one final nod.
With a smile in both of our directions, Esme left the office as Gianna and I stood awkwardly in front of each other, the tension from the car returning.
"So...what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. Work, maybe?" She punctuated that statement with a question before muttering under her breath. "Well actually, I don't really have anything to do for the rest of the day, so I might as well head home."
"Alright. Come on then."
I walked toward the door, opening it wide for her as I spotted ginger douchebag across from me, trying to look at Gianna. The petty and caveman side in me moved a little so that his view of my woman was blocked by my shoulders.
"Come on where?" Gianna asked suspiciously as I gestured for her to walk out.
"Home, obviously. I'm dropping you."
"You don't have to. I can go by myself."
"I know. But I want to."
And without another word, I let her exit first before closing the door and making my way to her side.
"Gianna. Where are you off to?"
"I -
"She's going home. With me." I snarled, barely managing to keep that feral side in me in check.
And yes, I had intentionally made it sound that way. That's what he deserved with fucking with what was mine. A look of hurt crossed his face as Gianna pinched me at my side. Wincing, I rubbed the sore spot before glaring at the side of her face.
"That's not what he meant, Noah. He's just dropping me off." She spoke softly as she smiled at him.
Why the fuck was she smiling at him? Her smiles were supposed to be reserved for one man and one man only. Me.
"Oh okay. Well then, you enjoy the rest of your day, Gia." He spoke, waving at her, as I nearly lunged at him for calling her by her nickname.
Gianna pulled me back just in time as she all but shoved me towards the elevator.
"Easy, boy." She joked before realising a second later what she had said.
The smile quickly dropped from her face, making me ache to see it again.
The ride down was spent in complete silence before the ding of the bell let us know that we had reached. The receptionist lifted her head up, about to warn us, just as I opened the main door.
"Gia, there's a lot of -
"Mr Agosta. Is it true that you've murdered your own father?"
"Are the rumors true, Mr Agosta?"
"Your own mother has accused you of murder in cold blood. Is what -
I slammed the glass door shut before pulling the drapes down as I watched security tackle the hoard of reporters away from the building. Even so, I could hear them asking me questions about the case and my lawyer, their attention focused on the slightly surprised woman next to me.
"Alessandro." I said lowly into my phone. "Get the car to the back side of the building. We're coming soon."
"I tried to warn you. They're a lot of hungry hounds, I'm tellin ya. You've got a lot on your plate, Gia." The receptionist said before going back to work.
I dragged her away, not giving Gianna a chance to answer as Alessandro and Luca were diligently waiting for us at the back.
"To my place." I barked at Alessandro as he swiftly maneuvered the car through the crowd of reporters, their cameras flashing but unable to get anything thanks to the tinted windows.
"What the fuck, Sergio? Just drop me at -
"Not now, Gianna. We're going back to my place. That is, unless you want to be hounded by reporters all day long."
That effectively shut her up as I felt a small sense of victory overtake. At least she wasn't fighting me back right now. That was all that mattered. Even if I knew that was a long way to go for us.
☆☆☆
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Also, apologies for the delay in uploading this chapter. I've been so sick the whole day yesterday that I barely even touched my phone. Next update will be on Thursday (tomorrow) as always🥰
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