(Alessandro's name is pronouced: Al-eh-san-dro Vih-so-nah-ti)
Lethal: Ch. 2
My mouth went dry as my eyes widened at the finish of her words. "W-what?" I sputtered, hoping I heard something totally different. "What in the hell did you just say?" She winked at me and my blood went cold. All this time, my hopes were let down.
"No. No." I stood abruptly. "I don't want a job here anymore. I refuse to work for you guys." I left my briefcase and my portfolio on her desk in a rush to get away. I marched on the turn of my heels and stormed towards the door. It suddenly clicked all together: why she was being so vague when I asked her who was the CEO, why she didn't feel the need to interview me, why she acted like she knew me. It was weird how my sister was pestering me to land a interview here. She worked here and she always told me that she would never want to work in the same place as me.
Why was this place any different?
I opened the door and strutted down the hallway. My nerves were jumbled all over the place and I had the urge to flee. There's no way in hell I would work for that man! He was sin incarnate and I hate my father for putting him in my life. Nothing he has done was for the greater good of me.
I was a few feet away from the elevator and I was rapidly approaching it. I was a few minutes away from escaping and leaving this place behind. I was about to put my finger on the button to take me down, when a voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts and actions.
"Just where do you think you're going?"
That deep, crisp, dark, baritone voice sent chills all over my body and it sent me into a stop in my movement. That same smooth, raspy voice tinged with an Italian accent ran over my mind in a haze. That same sexy voice I heard for 19 years had the ability to do things to me. It also belonged to the very man I wanted to avoid.
Why now?
I was so close to leaving this place in the shadows. He just had to pop up now. I just needed to play this off.
"I was just leaving, sir." I mocked him in a gritted tone as I turned on the ball of my feet to face said man.
Dear Lord, time has done him well. Standing at 6'6, tall compared to my measly 6'0, I bit my lip as my eyes traveled to him and I felt my breath hitch in my lungs. Jesus help me please, this man was the same man I wanted so desperately to forget. This muscle packed, tanned skinned god was ruthlessly so beautiful. I stood there so transfixed as I watch his soft pink lips pull up into his signature smirk, his hazel eyes twinkling in mischief, and his dark hair tousled all over his head.
He was the very apparition of sheer power, domination and pure masculinity and I willed my mouth not to dry.
This man was Alessandro Viconatti, the man I wanted I tried so hard to avoid. The man I hadn't seen for four years and I had my reasons for that.
"Don't be like that, Eli,"He said my name like a enriched enigma and I fought the urge not to sink to my knees at the tone of his voice. "Your sister begged me to give you this job." He walked towards me with a superiority like he had total authority over this place, which he did, considering he was the CEO.
Just who did he think he was giving me a job? I could've find a job anywhere!
I was about to tell him what just what I thought but all of that was stopped when his thick arm wrapped around my waist and his hand landed on my navel. "How do you think she will feel when she finds out all her hard work has gone to waste?" He had leaned down and whispered that into my ear and I willed my self not to shiver or anything that would remind him of just how much he affected me.
"Fuck you, you asshole." I spat out. That was the only thing I could say after he used my sister against me. He had known all my life that Melody wanted nothing for me to succeed and she would've done anything for me to get there and I just couldn't say no like that.
It wasn't in my character as a older brother.
I looked up, and took in his face. He looked down at me and winked and I rolled my eyes. He was still the same cocky, arrogant piece of shit named Alessandro that I met 19 years ago due to a shooting my father was involved in.
I had a major phobia of people touching me so when I felt him holding me that fateful day, I wasn't alarmed or freaked out by it. I was actually scared because I let someone that wasn't related me touch me. I didn't even let my own parents touch me, for fuck's sake!
But here this 8 year-old boy came into my life and he wouldn't let me go until we got the hospital. Every time I had seen him everyday of my life, he was always touching me and even to this day, he still is.
I guess old habits die hard.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked with boredom in my tone. "I said I was leaving." I folded my arms and stared blankly hard. "No, the hell you're not." Alessandro stated in a hard tone, letting me know that there was no discussion over it.
I hated him.
"I'm going to show you your office and your job." He greeted someone who walked past us in the hallway and I snickered. "Is that one your friends?" I asked and he nodded. "I have friends that I work with. Why do you ask?" He questioned and I smirked. "Your IQ is so low, I thought people wouldn't be able to enjoy your company." I let out a chuckle and he raised a brow. "Oh?" He acquired and I knew he was about to say something back.
"But you do." He retorted and I blushed heavily, looking away. I always seemed to forget just how good he was at coming up with comebacks. This takes me back to when we were young.
"Baby it's you. You're the one I love!"
We had turned the corner and we were approaching a room when we heard someone singing. "Oh no, not again." Alessandro sighed like he was on the very brink of irritation and he opened the cherry door.
The sight we were greeted with was hilarious.
There was a an Asian man who looked like he might have been mixed with some Spanish ethnicity, sitting on one of the desks in the room in a Giorgio Armani suit, looking out of the glass window singing his heart out.
"You're the one I need, you're the only one I see! Come on baby, it's you!" The man sang loudly and proudly and I let out a laugh, startling his karaoke session. The man flushed red as he hurried up and shut his computer off. "Sorry, Mr. Viconatti." He smiled bashfully as Alessandro sighed.
"That's what you said the other 30 times I walked in on you singing." He raised a brow. "Oh, who is this cutie?!" The man yelled out as he ran up to me and pulled me into a hug. "Aw, he's so adorable. Where did you find him?" He questioned and I narrowed my eyes. "I am not cute." I stated and he smirked.
"Gabe, this is your partner, Eli Kaylor," Alessandro went ahead and began the introductions. "Eli, this is Gabriel Franco, our administrative officer. He looks over all of the graphics that are being made and decides if they should be furthered into publications or not. He also teaches you all how to make your own graphics and such and he also runs the teams here." He clarified and I nodded.
This Gabriel seemed like a big deal here.
"Only call me Gabe." Gabe smiled at me and I let out a small sigh. "Your job is to help him oversee all of those graphic creations and manage the teams. Got that?" I once again nodded as Alessandro leaned down to whisper in my ear so that only I heard him.
"I made my mistake letting you go 4 years ago but best believe, I damn sure won't let you go now." The dark husky tone of his voice echoed through my ear and into my brain where I was sure, it would leave its mark.
He grasped my waist tighter to him and I gulped, knowing just how powerful he was. With how fast his grip tightened, he was gone and out the door.
"So cutie, ready to get started?" Gabe grinned brightly at me and I nodded, ignoring the fact that he called me cute again. "What are we doing?" I asked as we walked over to the joint desks. "Well for right now, I just want you to look over all these graphics that people have sent for us to be finalized and tell me which ones should go on and which ones should not." I snorted as I took a seat in the swivel chair that was beside his.
The name 'Eli Kaylor, CAO' was encrypted in black letters on the gold plaque that saw on my desk. They seemed like they had prepared for me to come with how well my desk was placed and laid out.
When I see Melody later on today, oh she's getting an earful from me.
"Hey," I heard Gabe call for me and I looked up. "You seem to know Mr. Viconatti very well." He said and I didn't say or do anything.
It was true I knew him. We were for friends for a long while but I had went off to college and I hadn't seen him since. I didn't want to either.
As far as I was concerned, he was just a man I used to know and I was determined to keep it that way.