Tanya had heard a lot of conversation going around in the office about this very topic. She herself had nothing to do with it, being a very junior employee. Advances of such enormous limit were usually supervised by the senior most officials. She explained so to her brother.
"Oh too bad." He responded disappointedly. "Anyway, if you get to know anything juicy, call me, huh?"
She left the café feeling distinctly cheered up.
God, I miss home.
She reached her office and started working straight away, now concentrating furiously as she had overstayed her one hour she had set aside. It was eight-thirty already, and she wanted to leave by nine. The whole floor was empty, even her boss seemed to have left while she was enjoying her coffee and chat, as his office was dark.
Her team leader called again at quarter to nine.
"Tanya, can I expect your report by eleven tomorrow?"
Tanya wondered what to answer. Truth was she was far from finishing the appraisals allotted to her. Since it was already late, even if she pulled an all-nighter, she was not going to make it by tomorrow.
"Umm, Tony, I am working on it right now. How about I finish it by the end of the day tomorrow?", she asked hopefully.
His voice grew suspicious, "Tanya, are you still in the office?
"Uh-yeah."
There was an exclamation. "What are you still doing in that huge empty building alone? Is Ilario making your sit?"
"No, no. Of course not. He already left."
"Well then get out of there. Go home." His voice turned admonishing and Tanya smiled at the fatherly tone he used. "It is not safe for a young woman to travel alone at night. Go on, get out right now. I will see you tomorrow."
Tanya smiled again, Tony was very much a family man, with a kind soul. She got up, packing her bag and laptop.
There was a slight noise and her head flew up to see the silhouette of a man against the outer doors of her floor. Her brow furrowed in surprise, she had thought she was alone.
The silhouette didn't move, instead it stayed there, the man's back pressing firmly against the glass of the door. Tanya got curious and slowly left her seat to inspect closely. Who has returned so late in the empty office? She was almost sure that nobody but the security staff was present on her floor when she had returned from her break.
He was speaking in rapid Italian. Although she had picked quite a lot of the language in her five months stay, it was nowhere near good enough to understand the conversation going on.
She peered through the door. She could only see that one man, and no one else. She couldn't even see the security personnel from this angle.
Who is he talking to? There is no one else!
And then the man turned, staring at her through the glass door, right into her shocked eyes.
She found herself looking straight into Ilario De Russo's furious eyes.