Hello Mireille Mathieu

The next day

Mireille was seated behind her desk at work, working as diligently as she could. Andrew was more in charge since Dante was not around but he did not make the job any tougher for Mireille than Dante did.

Mireille glanced at her phone screen for the thousandth time, taking her gaze off the meeting minutes she was reviewing.

There was still no messages and no calls from Dante.

After what had happened last night, Mireille expected that Dante would have called her but he still hadn’t called her all day. Mireille gulped down painfully, feeling a bit worthless. Dante’s actions made her feel like she was not important unless he needed to satisfy his sexual needs.

She pressed her lips into a thin line and returned her attention back to her laptop. Mireille worked for a few more minutes before her phone beeped with a message.

She hastily reached for her phone and checked the message. She let out a low hiss, finding out that it was just a spam message.

Only few seconds later, another message dropped and this time, she hesitated checking but she eventually did and her heart jumped, seeing that the message was from Dante.

It was a simple ‘Hey Princess’ message but it made her heart thump wildly.

‘Hey Dante’. she texted him back but instead of another text, his call came in.

Mireille adjusted herself in her seat before picking up the call.

“Hey.” she said as soon as she picked the call.

Mireille pressed her lips into a thin line, hoping she did not sound way too desperate.

“Did you call to talk about last night?” Mireille asked when Dante said nothing over the phone.

“Not calling after last night would be me being a bastard to you….”

“So…” Mireille cut him off impatiently.

“What do you have to say?” She asked.

“Let’s talk about this entire thing better when I get back, Principessa. I will be back in two days. Let’s have a good, lengthy talk then.” he replied.

“Alright, Dante. How is the business going?”

“Going perfectly well. I have it under control like I always do.”

A smile pushed at the sides of Mireille’s lips at his subtle boasting.

“Call me Princess one more time.” Mireille requested, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Princess.” his deep voice soothed her heart.

Mireille smiled.

“Principessa?” His voice went lower and Mireille giggled, loving how he called her.

“I need to get back to working though.” Dante said and the call ended.

Giving Mireille almost no time to think about Dante’s words, her phone rang again and it was Belinda calling her.

“You all decided to call at the same time.” she remarked before picking up Belinda’s call.

“Hey!” Belinda’s usual excited squeal came from the other side of the phone.

“Hey Bel.” Mireille greeted back.

“Are you at work?” Belinda asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh, I hope you haven’t forgotten about our outing in two days?” Belinda questioned.

“Of course I haven’t. I will be with you that day for sure.”

“What about Dante? Uhm… Just asking if he would let you come somewhere he has no clue about.”

“He will let me. I might have to show up with a clue of guards behind me though.” Mireille chuckled and Belinda laughed softly.

“Alright. I will end the call now and let you get back to working.” Belinda said.

“Alright. Bye.”

The call ended and Mireille let out a small smile. Belinda had not asked about her relationship with Dante because she (Mireille) had told her not to ask about it for the meantime.

Mireille dropped the phone and resumed working.

*

Two days later

“Are you set?” Dante asked, pushing the door of James’ room open.

James who was seated on a plush cushion in his room shot Dante a questioning look. They had just finished the last signing process an hour ago and Dante’s question was definitely unexpected.

“Set for what?” James asked and Dante pulled his luggage after him into the room.

“Set to leave.” he replied thickly.

“To leave? We can leave tomorrow. We should be resting at the moment and then we can party tonight to celebrate the success.”

Dante narrowed his eyes at James.

“Are you sure you can protect Mireille like you should?” He questioned and James brows arched in confusion.

“Why the sudden question about Mireille?”

“Did you check the weather forecast? It would be raining by midnight and she would not be having you or I around if we do not leave right now.”

“Oh my god! How could I not have checked?” James shot up to his feet.

“I will get ready in a few minutes.” he walked towards his closet but stopped before walking in and turned to face Dante.

“I am her brother. Why do you seem to care more than I do?” James questioned.

“You know I cherish her too. Get done with this and meet me in the car, James. We don’t have more time to waste.”

*

Mireille stepped out of the mansion, dressed in a silky light blue dress. Her hair was pulled into a neat bun and she had a calm expression on her face that perfectly suited the moment.

“Where would you like to go, Miss Mathieu?” Ditto asked formally.

“I am going out with a friend.” Mireille replied

“We will be with you.”

“I know. There’s no need for me to try to fight that.” Mireille shrugged with resignation.

“Thank you ma’am.” he bowed slightly.

“I will get the car ready.”

In less than a minute of waiting, four black cars had parked in front of her. Ditto pulled open the car door for Mireille and she got into the car.

A few other men got into the other three cars and the journey started with Ditto driving the car Mireille was in.

“Where exactly are we off to, Miss Mathieu?”

“Uhm….” Mireille brought her phone out of her purse and glanced at the address again.

“Dostin Gardens.”

“Alright ma’am.”

The ride continued and Mireille felt great with the night breeze caressing her face. James had told her earlier that he and Dante would be back the next day but Mireille was not sure about how she was supposed to feel about that.

Of course, she was happy that James was coming back home but each time she thought about Dante’s arrival, she felt a bit awkwardness growing in her.

She wondered where the long and lengthy talk they would be having would lead them to.

“Are you alright, Miss Mathieu?” Ditto asked.

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“You sighed a couple of times. If there is anything making you uncomfortable, please do let me know.”

“It’s nothing you have to worry about.”

The both of them were silent for the next few minutes until Mireille broke the silence.

“What do you think your boss thinks of me?” Mireille asked, her fingers playing with each other.

“I can’t tell what boss thinks of anything or anyone.” Ditto replied.

“Does he talk to you about me?” Mireille pushed on further.

“Yes, he does.”

“What does he say about me?” Mireille asked, anxious and excited.

“I am sorry but I cannot tell you that. Boss would…”

“Jeez, are you even human? Every single thing for you revolves around ‘boss’.” Mireille shook her head.

“I don’t care about being human. I only care about being loyal to my boss.”

Mireille sighed and leaned back into the chair.

“Forget about it and just take me to where I am going.” she gave up on getting anything meaningful from Ditto.

After almost an hour ride, Ditto parked the car in front of the garden and the other cars parked behind him. He walked over and pulled the car door open for Mireille.

“Thank you.” Mireille whispered, stepping out of the car.

“Hey!” Belinda ran excitedly towards Mireille.

She was dressed in a lengthy purple dress and her hair looked carefully done. She had a white purse with her that matched with the white heels she had on.

“You look awesome!” Mireille smiled.

“I know I do.” Belinda did a turn in front of Mireille, smiles on her face.

Mireille was pretty much the only friend she had and she was excited that Mireille was going to be with her when Ditto asked her out.

“But really…. All these men?” Belinda asked, the smile vanishing on her face as she glanced at the men who had now alighted from the cars.

“I have no choice, Bel. Just pretend they don’t exist.” Mireille shrugged and Belinda took a better look at Ditto.

He looked familiar but for a second, she could not tell where she had seen him before. Shrugging it off, she grabbed Mireille’s hands.

“You still haven’t told me what exactly we are out here for. This is sure not a party.” Mireille pointed out as they walked into the garden, the men following after them.

“Maybe I should tell you now.” Belinda giggled softly.

“You should.” Mireille urged her.

“Jonas will be asking me out today.” Belinda giggled endlessly and a huge smile parted Mireille’s face.

“Really?! I am so happy for you, Belinda.” She hugged Belinda tightly while the men behind them waited and watched the two friends.

“So you are finally going to be in a real relationship?” Mireille asked and Belinda chuckled before gently hitting her arm.

“Yes and I love him too.” Belinda answered with a shy smile.

“Oh my! I am happy for you, Belinda. But I need to ensure this guy is a nice guy. I can’t have a brute get my beautiful best friend.” Mireille cupped Belinda’s face adoringly.

“Let’s go and see him.” Belinda grabbed Mireille’s right wrist and pulled her towards the beautifully lit garden.

There was a table in the middle of it and all sorts of delicacies had been prepared. Right after the table, there was a man dressed in a suit who had his back to all of them.

“Jonas.” Belinda called and Jonas turned to face them.

A small smirk appeared on his lips as he saw Mireille. He was finally going to get his hands on Dante Romano’s weakness and his boss would finally have the upper hand.

Looking away from Mireille, his gaze met with that of Ditto who now had a terribly hard look on his face. He looked behind Ditto and found a total of ten men behind Ditto.

Jonas felt much more at ease, after all he had his own men lurking all around the place and they were much more than ten.

“Hello Mireille Mathieu.” he grinned.