Chapter 26 ALESSIA MORETTI.
\~~~RAINA.
The car slowed to a stop, and my breath suspended instantly.
This company looks nothing like what my poor, overworked imagination prepared me for.
The building is massive.
No, massive is an insult.
It is colossal.
An obviously over forty-something-floor glass tower rising straight into the sky like it owns the damn city. The entire structure is black-mirrored glass, and sleek enough to reflect the world around it, including the sun, which glares off it dramatically.
There is a huge silver logo at the top, Moretti Global Holdings, and the moment I spot it, my stomach sinks even deeper.
The front of the building is buzzing. Not the noisy, chaotic kind of buzz but the expensive one.
The one that just tells you that ‘important people work here’.
Multiple luxury cars are lined up near the entrance, security details in crisp suits scanning the area, and employees in clean, sharp corporate outfits walking briskly into the building. Everyone looks like they have meetings to attend or appointments to meet up just before lunchtime.
Gabriel pulls the car into the drop-off space, and the second the vehicle stops, my heart drops even lower.
I am supposed to go in there, giving the show as the COO, and then Talia Monroe?
“Okay?” Gabriel glanced at me and I nodded my head.
“Absolutely,” I forced a smile.
Then, he stepped out of the car, went around, and then pulled the door open.
I drew in a slow breath and got out, smoothing my dress as I straightened.
At the front of the building, a few people were lined up, and my lips pressed together even tighter when I realized they were probably waiting for me.
Walking slowly in my uncomfortable heels, one fist clenched and the other gripping my bag, I stopped briefly as the people bowed politely. Then I walked past them, and they immediately started following behind me.
_____
“This is your office, ma’am, and I am your secretary, Vanessa.”
I nodded my head as I stepped fully into the room, and my eyes fell on the name plate sitting on my table.
Talia M. Moretti.
Chief operating officer.
For a moment, it warmed something inside me… and at the same time, it stung.
Maybe I would have been proud of this if it were my name on that plate.
Not Talia’s.
It was unfair.
I am the one enduring this madness.
I am the one pretending to be the mafia’s wife every single day.
So why wasn’t my name there?
“T… thank you,” I muttered, swallowing the lump rising in my throat as I forced the burn behind my eyes to settle.
My secretary, a calm, neatly dressed woman obviously in her mid twenties gave a polite smile.
“If you are ready, ma’am, the CEO would like to see you on the top floor.”
My heart fluttered nervously, but I nodded.
“O… okay. Let’s go.”
She stepped slightly ahead of me, like she was used to leading newcomers like me through this maze and I adjusted my bag, took one last look at the office that was supposed to be mine, and then followed her out.
We entered the elevator together, and as the doors slid shut, I took a slow breath, bracing myself.
\~~~
“They must think we are a fucking joke just because I’ve been letting these things slide! They'd better get their stupid heads in the game or we’ll cancel the whole contract!”
This was the first thing I heard the moment I stepped into the office.
Then a stack of papers flew across the room, landing right in front of me.
The woman she was yelling at flinched, her hands shaking around the files she held. The CEO, Luciano’s sister, stood behind her desk, breathing hard, her jaw clenched like she was fighting the urge to throw something else.
Her voice cut again, sharp as a whip.
“I said fix it, not bring me more excuses!”
The poor woman bowed, murmured an apology, and hurried out of the office with her head down.
And that was when the CEO finally looked up right at me.
“Ah,” she scoffed and then settled on her chair.
I looked around and it was just me and her in the space. My hands clasped together, I slowly crossed the room to where she sat, and then bowed gently.
“Good mo-”
“If it isn’t my sweet sister-in-law,” she cut in, her tone dripping with mockery.
I froze halfway through my greeting, swallowing whatever was left of the word.
Awkward. Very awkward.
A small, nervous smile tugged at my lips and it was more out of confusion than politeness because I honestly didn’t know if she was joking, welcoming me, or preparing to throw the next set of papers at my face.
“Uh… good morning,” I managed to say, my voice tight.
Her eyes dragged over me slowly, from my dress to my shoes and back up again, not in admiration by the way. It was more like she was trying to figure out how I even existed.
“I didn’t know my brother had snagged such a beauty. You look so different from the pictures,” she said as she rose slowly from her seat and walked toward me.
I swallowed hard.
Hold on…
Why does she look like she’s about to eat me alive?
For the first time since meeting Luciano, I actually preferred his company. At least with him, I knew the exact type of danger I was dealing with. This woman? She was smiling like a wolf in heels.
“Good morning. I am Alessia Moretti,” she said, finally stretching out her hand.
I hesitated before taking it. Her grip was firm, too firm and I forced a smile.
“I am Ta-”
“Of course, I know who you are,” she cut in. “We have a lot more to catch up on than exchanging names. Sit down.”
She gestured to the chair across from her, and that uneasy feeling tightened in my stomach again.
Great. Another Moretti who talks like their words are laws.
“First,” she said, crossing her arms, “how did you meet Rafael?”
“Raf…”
Oh. Luciano.
Right. Stay sharp, Raina.
“No, forget that,” she snapped before I could answer. “How did you fucking get him to make you an executive in this company when I, his sister, took years to convince him before he made me CEO?”
My throat tightened.
Oh, beautiful.
Neither Morettis is normal and I honestly don’t know which is worse.
Nah, I think it is this woman.
At least, with Luciano, I could run my mouth.
Even if it’s unconscious and irrational, I still talk.
But this woman?
Oh, she gives off the vibe of Cinderella’s stepmother.
“No,” she says sharply, waving off my attempt to speak, “that is not important either.”
She leans closer, and I swear the room actually feels smaller.
“Did you knowingly dip yourself into this office politics when you know this is my turf?”
Her turf?
I scoffed loudly before I could control my expression and I exhaled as her brows raised.