Alessandro's POV:
"Mr Kingsley has been poaching some of our minor deals in Dubai, Hong kong and Shanghai," Dante informed, crossing his leg over his knee, waiting for my response.
"What's the damage?"
"10 million so far," he continued, "if he keeps this up, we can end up losing a significant portion of the overseas funds."
"Where's his next target?" I asked, tapping my hand against my chin, devising a plan of action.
"Singapore."
I nodded, pressing the intercom, asking Russo to come in.
"Get me a private jet to Singapore tomorrow," I instructed before looking over towards Dante, "we're going to pay him a little visit."
"I assume you're taking Kara with you?" Dante asked as I had told him about the deal Mr Borgatti and I had made.
I looked up at him, frowning, not understanding where he was going with that.
"Read the contract she signed Fratello," he said simply, smirking in my direction as he patted me on my shoulder, "You're gonna love me for it."
I had Dante construct majority of the contracts for our companies since he has a great deal of knowledge in law and politics and practically knew every loophole possible. Only he would have read through the whole contract, taking in and considering every detail. He would only alert me of the major sections of the contract before meeting the client but I trusted him entirely. He was my brother after all. My family.
He took out the contract from his briefcase, tossing it out to me, saying, "section fifteen, fourth paragraph."
"Travelling overseas:
When a stakeholder deems it necessary, they have the authority to acquire the assistance of their fellow stakeholders in overseas meetings in conjunction with other clients in terms of the given project. Failure to meet these conditions will result in the termination of such contract and the holder of the project will ultimately be shared among the unoffending stakeholders."
I continued reading the rest of the section as I nodded, smirking in content.
"Fratello...you are a fucking genius my friend," I said, grabbing his face in my hands, lightly patting his cheek as I slumped back into my chair, "Un fottuto genio del cazzo." (A bloody fucking genius.)
*****
Kara's POV:
It was finally the weekend, the time to sleep in and do absolutely nothing besides eat, sleep and Netlfix. I woke up gracefully as the sun's ray shone into the room, the light waking me up from my slumber. The birds chirping away outside my window as I stretched out all my limbs, getting out from the bed to open the window. Brooke, Hannah and I always had weekend rituals, breakfast with cartoons, followed by more lazing around, maybe completing a puzzle or two and maybe ending the evening with a walk in the park before dinner. A calm, relaxing day.
"Good morning mummy," Brooke said as I walked into the kitchen.
"Morning little one and Hannah," I smiled at her, kissing her on her head as I got out our favourite cereal, Reeses peanut butter puffs.
Hannah grunted in response, clearly still tired from work the previous day. She shuffled her bunny slippers towards the fridge, taking out the milk and fruits, setting them on the living room table. I grabbed three bowls from the cupboard and the cereal meeting them there as Brooke was flipping through the channels, looking for a cartoon to watch.
"Come on buttercup, let's get you sugared up," I said cheerily, ruffling up Hannah's hair as I poured her a big portion.
Once everyone had been sugared up from the cereal and had a piece of fruit to be healthy, we were all jittery, hyped up for the day.
"Mummy, Hannah, I want to show you some things I learnt at practice," Brooke said, running off to the backyard.
"Come on," she ran back, noticing we hadn't moved an inch, "move it slowpokes."
We groaned, giving in to her request as we headed to the backyard. Brooke went to the shed, retrieving her soccer ball and a miniaturised goal post frame. Brooke dribbled the ball with her feet, getting warmed up. She ran towards the right, almost stepping on the ball to stop it from moving any further, dragging it back with her other foot, turning back into the other direction. Her movement was so smooth, almost as if she was gliding on thin air.
She did a quick and swift criss-cross with the ball before kicking it straight into the goal. Hannah and I clapped loudly, cheering for her. Wow, Brooke was amazing. Ever since she began training with the little leagues, her interest in soccer had peaked. She seemed to be playing with a soccer ball whenever she could, revolving her routines around it. I was elated to know that she had developed such a passion for the sport.
"That was amazing little one," I praised.
"You're killing it munchkin," Hannah exclaimed, swinging her in the air as Brooke giggled in delight.
"Thanks mummy and aunt Han Han. I've been practicing a lot," Brooke said, smiling happily at herself.
Sometimes, I forget that my little Brooke is only three years old. The maturity of her brain, the knowledge that she has and the abilities that she possesses is far greater than anyone can imagine. She is such a special child. I must have saved an entire city in my past life to have been granted such a bright star to be in my life.
-----------
"What do you guys want for lunch?" I asked, hoping it was something we could get delivered to the house since I was too lazy to cook.
"Pasta," Hannah and Brooke said simultaneously, as their eyes were fixated on the television.
"Food delivery is it," I said, picking up my phone from the table and ordering it on the app.
This reminded me of how Hannah and I used to live. We were solely dependent on food deliveries, take out menus and of course, two-minute noodles. The experiences we both had in college were unforgettable, we were notorious roommates after all. It was the first time we were independent, living away from our families and depending on ourselves to keep us alive. Though I don't think we did a very good job. I mean sleeping at 3-4 am every night was probably not very wise in the long run.
Not long after, our food came as the three of us pigged out on the couch, binge-watching The Big Bang Theory.
Ringgg Ringg
I picked up my phone as Hannah looked up asking me who it was. 'Alessandro' I mouthed out as I answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Hello tesoro. How are you?" Hearing his husky voice in my ear. Oooo, spicy mama. I picked up my glass of water, taking a small sip to calm my nerves down.
"I'm good thank you. What can I do for you?"
"Pack a bag tonight, we'll be heading to Singapore tomorrow morning for four days." He stated, making me choke my saliva.
I started coughing loudly, gripping onto Hannah's arm, as I stared at her in disbelief.
"Your insane if you think I'm just going to Singapore with you tomorrow," I stated, as Hannah whipped her head in my direction, clearly shocked by the news too.
"Look at your contract Kara." I ran up to my room, with Hannah trailing behind me.
I frantically looked through the folders in my drawer, looking for the contract I signed. God I think I messed up big time. Why didn't I read the contract thoroughly?!
Oh I can tell you why, my subconscious spoke out. You were too smitten by Alessandro.
I'm officially going crazy.
"Section fifteen, paragraph four."
I flipped through the contract aggressively, putting the phone down on my bed, activating the speakerphone. As my eyes trailed along the words on the contract, my pupils dilated, my eyes increasing significantly in size. That bastard.
"You sneaky conniving little jerk," I seethed, fuming in anger.
He chuckled in response, seemingly satisfied with this feature. I tossed the contract to Hannah, letting her read through the section as she gasped in shock. Not proving to have any tricks to get out of this situation, she shrugged her shoulders.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" I sighed.
"Simple, you didn't ask."
I groaned loudly, collapsing on my bed. What am I going to do?
"I can't leave my daughter," I said, praying that he would understand where I'm coming from.
"Bring her with us. See you tomorrow at 9 am tesoro."
With that, he hung up on me. Oooo that man, he made my blood boil. That sexy hunk of a man. I grabbed my pillow, screaming my lungs out as all my frustrations poured out. There goes my calm and relaxing weekend.
I turned back to Hannah in utter disbelief, "What just happened?"
Hannah looked at me sympathetically, patting my head in a soothing manner, "you just got played chica."
"You better get packing. You've got a lot to packet by tomorrow morning," Hannah said as she got up and walked into my closet, picking out outfits for me to bring.
I got up from my bed, moving to my closet to get out my suitcase. I guess I didn't have a choice in this matter after all. Hannah and I started folding my clothes, stuffing them in my suitcase. As I mindlessly folded my clothes, I was already brainstorming of a thousand and one ways on how to kill that man.
While Hannah was browsing through my closet, she pulled out a slightly sheer laced camisole, smirking in my direction.
"You have to wear this while you're there," she pleaded.
"No way!" I rebutted, shaking my head, throwing the piece of clothing deep into my closet where it belonged. There was no chance in hell that I was ever going to wear that in front of Alessandro.
"Why not? I'm sure he would appreciate it." She pouted with a smug look on his face.
"I'm not seducing my business partner." I said firmly, pointing my finger at her. "It's strictly business."
"With Brooke." She added.
Oh yes. I almost forgot.
"Brooke!" I shouted.
"Yes mummy?" She said, running into my room, scrunching up her face in confusion.
"What's going on?" She asked, gesturing towards the suitcase and the clothes scattered all over my bed.
"You and I are going on a business trip to Singapore."
"REALLY," she screamed, jumping up and down in excitement.
"Yes little one," I smiled, "go get out some outfits so aunt Han Han can help you pack."
Before I could finish my sentence, she dashed out of the room, shrieking in delight as she ran to her room. Seeing her so excited for the trip made me feel more at ease but I was definitely still mad at him. Wait till I get my hands on him.
"You look like you're going to combust chica," Hannah mocked.
"Shut up."
---------
"Little one," I said as I gently shook her.
"We have a flight to catch little one."
I mentally cursed Alessandro out. Why did he have to choose to fly at such an ungodly hour? I sat Brooke up from her sleeping position as she rubbed her eyes, adjusting to the light. Since she was still too tired to move, I got her dressed in some comfy tights with a tie-dye shirt, pulling on an oversized hoodie over her head to keep her warm during the flight.
I wrapped my arms around her little body, lifting her up as she wrapped her legs around my waist, snuggling her head into my shoulder. I carried her down the stairs, placing her shoes on as I grabbed my bag and headed out the door. To my surprise, there was a car waiting for us.
"Good morning Ms Coleman," the driver greeted politely.
Recognising him immediately, I asked, "Aren't you the man I saw at the supermarket?"
"Yes ma'am that's me. I'm Benjamin, Mr De Luca's driver." He said, "I'm here to send you to the airport."
Seeing the little girl sleeping in my arms, he suggested for me to settle down in the car while he grabbed our suitcases from the house. Once we had everything, we set off for the airport.
"Sir, I think you just missed the turn off," I said sheepishly.
"No ma'am, we are going straight to the tarmac."
"Oh."
I should have known. Of course, Mr De Luca would never fly commercial.
Once we reached our destination, I got out of the car with Brooke still sleeping in my arms and looked up at the plane in front of me. Holy mother of God. How wealthy was this guy? Standing in front of me was an Airbus 380, with the word DE LUCA printed along its body in a reflective golden colour. What's with billionaires and branding their items with their surname? How unoriginal. I once asked my godfather the same question but he shrugged, just replying with a simple, "I like it."
As I stood there gawking at the sight in front of me, two similar cars pulled up beside us. The door of the one next me opened, with Alessandro himself stepping out, standing right in front of me, his eyes fixated on mine.
I glared at him, "Alessandro."
"Kara." He replied with a stoic expression.
We stood there for a couple of minutes, just having a stare off in the middle of the tarmac, waiting for one of us to break.
"Come on love birds," Dante grunted, sounding completely exhausted, "it's too early to argue right now."
I blushed, turning my head away from him, readjusting Brooke in my arms, making sure I had her securely in my arms. However, Alessandro moved closer, gently taking Brooke from my arms, rubbing her back in circles, holding onto her head as she laid on his shoulders. She stirred slightly, looking up at the person holding her.
"It's Alessy," he whispered, "go back to sleep piccolo."
She listened to him as she lay back down on his shoulder, her hands wrapped around his neck, falling back asleep. Seeing her so comfortably in his arm made all my anger fly out of the window, my heart fluttering at the scene in front of me.
*****
Hope you liked this chapter!
Vote & comment❤️