𝟺. "... 𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝙾𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢"

The door was pulled open and I stepped out, taking in that familiar air once again, I took in my surrounding before stepping up the pavement, flicking a strand of hair behind my ear.

Tobi walked forward and pulled the double doors open and I stepped in at once, the atmosphere of the lobby changed and co workers began throwing glances my way, whispering under their breaths.

I don't miss them either.

I got into the elevator, not sparing any one a glance. Tobi stepped in too and so did Kendra. "Good morning" she greeted, fixing the white button up shirt she wore.

"What's with the mood in the office?" I asked, leaning back on the wall, my hands crossed over my chest. "You're back" she answered and I rolled my eyes.

"And Caius?"

"In a meeting but he's aware of your presence and has already scheduled a meeting in few minutes" she explained and the doors slid open. I let out a breath before  we stepped into the busy hallway, all eyes shot to us immediately—mostly on me.

And I was beginning to confirm that they all hoped I died in Costa Rica. But then again, I was used to the attention, they always stared and talked behind my back.

A satisfied smile spread across my lips as I headed to my office, "what's the meeting with Caius about again?" I asked, getting out my phone from my purse.

"I still have no idea, I'm guessing he wants to commend you for a job well done with Cassian" she answered and I rolled my eyes and stopped at my door, I lingered for a moment, checking something on my phone before turning back to them.

"Stick around Tobi" I ordered and he nodded, knowing what I meant. He should stay around but not so close.

With a sharp twist of the knob, I flung the door open, but the sight that greeted me made me freeze mid-step.

Perched on my desk was a lavish bouquet of roses, surrounded by gift bags and neatly wrapped boxes. My gaze darted back to Kendra, who immediately took a step back, guilt practically written across her face.

"Did I forget to mention—"

"What the hell is this?!" I snapped, cutting her off.

She winced before responding. "Cassian stopped by the office earlier… with those. Apparently, you've caught his attention," she said, her words cautious yet light, as if that would soften the blow.

I scoffed, the sound sharp and bitter. "Caius invited him to sign the remaining papers. We weren’t expecting… that," she added hurriedly, clearly trying to dissipate my anger.

My disbelief only grew. They always seemed to blur the lines between business and pleasure, and for a fleeting moment, I had the audacity to commend him for being reasonable. Never again.

"Where is he?" I demanded, my voice hard as steel.

Kendra hesitated, glancing at her shoes. "In a meeting, but—"

I didn't wait for her to finish. With purposeful strides, I shoved my bag into her hands, cutting off her protest. The clink of my heels on the marble floor echoed with a rhythm that was deliberate and unyielding, sending a clear message: Get out of my way.

I was teetering on the edge of losing control, and if I didn’t act quickly, this would escalate into something much worse.

Taking a sharp left, then another, I found myself standing before the double doors of the conference room. With one last steadying breath, I pushed them open.

The room fell silent. All eyes turned to me—the collective gaze of several suited men who had been in the middle of their discussions. My entrance had stolen the air from the room.

Kendra, trailing behind me, quickly ducked out of sight, clearly unwilling to be caught in the crossfire.

“Oh, and here she is, the best of us—Pearl Vega,” Caius announced, his voice warm and dripping with forced charm. His words didn’t touch me. My expression was unrelenting, my scowl a weapon as I stepped farther into the room.

The men all greeted me, their words blending into a meaningless hum of politeness. All except one.

His head remained down, his attention fixed on the documents in front of him. Not a glance spared in my direction. How typical of him to play this game.

Caius, ever the charmer, noticed the tension radiating from me and swiftly brought the meeting to a close. "Alright, gentlemen. We'll reconvene next time," he said, ushering them out with a quick round of handshakes.

I stood my ground, silent and waiting, watching as one by one, they filtered out of the room. The door shut behind the last of them, and the tension thickened, heavy like storm clouds before the first crack of thunder.

Caius finally turned to me, his white hair gleaming under the conference room lights. For all his years of wisdom and control, he often used his hereditary silver crown to guilt-trip us when we strayed too far off his carefully drawn path.

But this time, I wasn’t in the mood for lectures or games.

Aside that, he was an ambitious man, who knew what he wanted and always got it. "The employee of the month..." He began.

"Cut it off, Caius" I stated and he chuckled, always seeming to love when I was pissed. "I went to my office and saw a whole...garden"

"Ah yes. Mr Cassian was here. Apparently you've caught his attention and he asked for my blessings" he joked, still laughing but I didn't find it funny.

"That was a business dinner, you made it clear to him, right? you sent me to me to Costa Rica to get him to sign those papers, which I did. There's no string attached" I made it clear and he still chuckled.

I huffed in disbelief, the words dripping with sarcasm. "You're really doing a fantastic job of letting this little firm expand into bigger, more impressive places," he praised, his tone oozing with false sincerity.

I rolled my eyes, the motion habitual, a reflex from years of hearing the same empty compliments. It didn’t faze me anymore, not even a little. The words were as hollow as the glass walls around us.

"How typical," someone muttered, their voice barely a whisper, but it was enough to catch my attention. I spun around, my gaze narrowing as I saw him—the one and only asshole—sliding toward the door, the last to leave, as always. He hadn’t moved when the others did because, of course, he was different. So different.

I couldn’t help the bitterness that laced my thoughts. The sarcasm practically dripped off me.

He always annoyed the shit out of me.

"Leandro!" Caius called out to him, "not so fast"

He turned back around to us, his tall figure imposing, his blue eyes settled on mine first before moving to his. "You both were busy, I didn't want to interrupt" he said.

"This is a celebration. Pearl did it once again!" He announced excitedly and he glanced at me gain, unimpressed. "There's always a celebration about her"

"Perhaps if you did better, they'd be one about you" I retorted and Caius laughed. He had gotten used to our banter.

The thing about this man, Leandro, was that... I didn't get him. While everyone is fawning and captivated by me, he is unfazed, I could never get my way with him, it was next to impossible.

Nothing I ever did was...good enough or impressive, he was so infuriating.

"It's great that you two are here. Take a seat, let's get this meeting started," Caius encouraged, settling back into his chair. But we both remained rooted to the spot, unmoving, our silence thick with unspoken tension.

Caius glanced between us, unfazed, then shrugged. "Alright, let's move on. There's a meeting with the Fontano Corporation. RedCo is a major stakeholder in the firm, which is why I’m sending the two of you—the best."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised I'm even needed. Couldn't Pearl handle this on her own?" Leandro asked, his eyes locking with mine.

In an instant, my gaze snapped to him, irritation flaring. "Are you still bitter about Costa Rica?" I shot back, the words laced with a mix of disbelief and disdain.

He scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. "Since business is apparently all about batting your lashes and reeling in clients, maybe that's what we should do. But frankly, I’m not interested." With that, he turned on his heels and stormed out, leaving the door to slam behind him with a finality that echoed through the room.

What the hell? My hands tightened by my side as I watched him leave.

"Don't worry, he'll come around" Caius waved it off. "I don't need him, who are we expecting at the meeting?" I inquired, going back to business because that's all that mattered.

"The current CEO Matteo and other executives" he answered. Matteo.

"I'm hoping you could woo this one to our favour also" he added, shooting me a smile and I glared before getting out of the office.

I've had an encounter with Matteo few times but not personal. This meeting was such a blessing in disguise. Getting back into the office, I found the place all cleaned up and my things on the table.

Settling on the seat, I let out a breath. It's been a while since I sat in here, I've always been up and about. I tapped the button on my desk, signaling Kendra and she appeared in seconds.

"You called, Miss Vega"

"There's a meeting after here, so any call that comes in, call in my absence" I ordered and she nodded. "I forgot to mention... " she said and I paused and looked up at her.

She always forget to turn in important information. "What's it this time?"

"Mr Miller dropped in yesterday" I froze once she said that and looked up at her. "You know this is the first international branch of RedCo, he was really impressed and even commended everyone for their hard work"

Honestly, I was still stuck on the fact she said Mr Miller was here that I didn't care about the rest of the details. "Mr Miller"

"Yes, Mr Aziel Miller" she answered and I let out a low breath before leaning back on the seat. "Okay"

"Alright, is there anything I could get for you? "

"Not for a while" I answered, dismissing her before leaning back on my seat. The goal was simple, I worked in the international branch of RedCo, the first one at that.

And I've been striving ever since to make it get acquainted with other foreign corporations, the goal was to make it a house hold name here in Italy. No matter how competitive that will be, we were still going somewhere.

Because of course, no good deed is left unnoticed.

➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣➣

The meeting at the Fontana corporation was a long one and I had to bare it with none other than Leandro, he had no choice but to attend if he really wanted that promotion.

I wasn't his competition because I wasn't here to stay.

I had my eyes on Matteo Fontana, the CEO of this corporation, he gave off this no nonsense vibe and only stuck to business, shutting down any opposition that arose.

The meeting ended after few minutes and everyone arose to pay respect to him, we were third in line and I fixed my hair to make sure I look as inviting as ever.

It's a game, just know how to play it.

"Mr Fontana... " Leandro called out, stepping forward to him, leaving me behind. There wasn't enough time for me to scowl, so I just followed at once.

The two men began exchanging words in Italian, Leandro completely ignoring me, not giving an introduction. "Piacere di incontrarla di persona, signor Matteo. (𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝙼𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚘) " I spoke stepping forward and they turned to me.

Matteo narrowed his brows when he saw me, I probably came out familiar. "Have we met? " he asked, his Italian accent heavy. I pushed out a smile, straightening my hands to him.

"Not officially"

He took my hand in his, the shake firm, his eyes still on mine. "Yes, this is my associate-"

"Pearl Vega" I cut off Leandro before he could finish, I do my introductions. "Nice to meet you, Miss Vega" he said and I retrieved my hand.

"Same" I answered and his gaze lingered on mine before he turned back to Leandro and they continued their conversation.

That's all I needed, I needed him to see me because now I was imprinted in his mind and...he'll be intrigued soon.

As I exited the building to the ride outside, there was Leandro leaning by my car. "Are you lost? " I asked as I approached.

"No" he answered, leaning away. "I just came to remind you...there's a line between business and pleasure"

"You do that every day"

"I don't care about the twisted shits Caius involves you in but I just want to warn you not to get my business involved"

"Your business?"

"I see you already digging your nails into Matteo like you always do. You make them take you to dinner and you blind them with whatever this is. Not this time, Pearl"

"What are you gonna do this time?" I asked, honestly intrigued by his defiance and annoyance towards what I did. He held on a look with me, noticing I was enjoying this, he hissed.

"It's not that serious"

"It is! You make this unfair for other coworkers who has been here and has been striving right from day one to grow this firm"

"But nothing worked out until I came, right?" I reminded and he looked away and scoffed, shaking my head. "Cosa sto facendo?  (𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚖 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐?)" He muttered under his breath, raking his hair.

He was visibly frustrated by this and it intrigued me, he really saw me as a competition, someone who came to take his place. At least I had that effect on him.

He looked back up at me, "Have a good evening"

"After all you just said?" I asked, laughing and he shook his head. "Forget I ever did" with that he headed to his car and I turned, my eyes still on him.

The idea of me not getting what I wanted always pushed me to strive more to get it. His defiance only intrigued me and fueled more ideas on how to get him to be...more flexible.

"Should I handle him?" Tobi asked from behind and my gaze on Leandro, retreating to his car was unrelenting. "Not yet"