Chapter 29: TWENTY NINE

CELESTIA

The moment Raffaele confirmed my mother’s involvement, I was genuinely afraid for my life. I didn’t understand my mother, or the need to hire goons to drag me out of this place. But one thing was clear as day: Raffaele wouldn’t let this go.

He would probably take out on me, one way or the other because he was hell-bent on making my mother pay. And in this game, I was still a pawn.

My pulse ricocheted at the thought, the brutality he could inflict when he crossed. Last night’s instance was enough. If he could put a bullet between the eyes and remain stoic, he was capable of some more.

The lump at my throat grew bigger and tighter. “If you ever have to kill me at all, please, I beg of you—make it quick and painless. I don’t think I can handle pain.”

With that, I simply turned around to leave because I couldn’t take this building agony anymore. But escape never seems to favour me. In a flash, he caught me and pressed me against the door.

Then his lips crashed against mine.

Second time in a day, Raffaele Roselli silenced my words and my thoughts with the force of his kiss. The gentled strength of his hands banded around my back and the fiery passion of his mouth were as contradicting as the day and the night.

I met his hunting tongue with my own as he groaned and growled into the kiss. It was only when we were thoroughly out of breath that we slowly pulled back and gasped for air.

While still recovering from the aftermath of the brutal kiss, I was imprisoned between the door and the broad chest. Our laboured breaths mingled as I licked the seam of my lips and tasted his reminisce.

Raffaele captured my stare, pushing the wayward strands framing my face and rasped in a strained voice, “Go back to the villa, Celestia.”

Again, for the second time, he stupefied me.

Hooking an arm around my waist, he slowly pulled me away from the door and eased it wide open for my exit. I parted my mouth to say something…anything but his face was already masked with coldness. As if nothing had happened—as if he didn’t kiss me with a blazing lust and tilted my earth out of its axis.

“Sir,” the crisp voice of Cesar rang out as my head jerked to him.

“Escort her back,” Raffaele ordered and discreetly slid his hands away.

The loss of his touch invoked a sense of emptiness as I threw him a final look and numbly walked out. I didn’t wait for Cesar, but he quickly caught up in a few long strides as the distant sound of the door closing reached my ears.

The long corridor ended as we took a turn and approached the entrance. It was one of the buildings detached from the villa and the adjoining garden; probably set up for office space. The interior was much different than the villa—mostly in white, grey or woody brown.

“I can find my way back now,” I said, stopping short of the entrance.

“I follow sir’s order,” he replied with military discipline as I exhaled a long sigh.

I was too exhausted to argue over this and resumed walking. Lila was already outside, waiting, and the moment her eyes laid on me, she hurried over frantically.

“What happened? Are you okay? What did he say?” she bombarded. A long list of what-when-why continued until she finally quieted.

“Can I say something now?”

“Sorry, I was anxious.”

“I am fine. We just talked,” I replied vaguely, glancing between Cesar and Lila. “Let’s go back now.” The last thing I wanted to was talking about what had happened inside. And that too in front of Cesar.

“Okay.” She turned around to walk but abruptly stopped. “Where are you going?” she asked Cesar.

“Sir told me to escort her back,” came his grave reply. It was weird how the man spoke without a shred of emotions in his voice.

Lila pursed her lips and frowned at him before treading on. By the look on her face, she was royally pissed. Earlier, she went out on her limbs to arrange this meeting with Raffaele, except I didn’t know the specifics.

We reached the villa’s door as she glared up at Cesar. “You have escorted her back. You can leave now.”

My mouth dropped as Cesar regarded her with a glare of his own. “Remember what I said,” he forewarned in a deep voice and turned on his heels.

Lila continued to pierce him with death ray glares as I coughed into my hands. “Umm...what’s going on?”

“He’s being an ass,” she grumbled, dragging her eyes back to me. “You tell me, girl. I almost had a heart attack out there! How did five minutes turn to twenty?”

Twenty? My mind fluttered back as I retrospected: how long did he kiss me?

“...Celestia!” Lila shook my elbow impatiently. “Would you please tell me now?”

“Nothing. He just”—kissed me—“talked to me. He suspects it was my mother who sent those men, but there’s no proof yet.”

“Oh, god!” Lila exclaimed. “Are you okay? I mean, he didn’t get angry on you, right?”

“No. Surprisingly, he was really calm.” I knew very well that I was not a good liar, and with every answer, I knew Lila would come up with the next question because my lies were not very convincing. So I had to steer the conversation to another way. “But first tell me: why was Cesar so mad at you? Is it because of me?” I winced at the thought.

She gave a scoff and indifferent shrug of her shoulder. “He’s just bossy and annoying. And quite frankly, I don’t care.”

“The lady doth protest too much.” I teased with a chuckle.

“I really don’t know what that means, but stop making fun of me.” She frowned adorably and ended up pouting. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t,” I intoned. “You definitely love me, and someone else too.”

“Definitely not!”

I couldn’t stop laughing. “But seriously, what did he do to make you so mad?”

“Last night, before the doctor left, he advised me a day of rest. I didn’t want to.” She frowned. “I get so bored, Celestia!”

I gave her a wide, knowing grin. “You do realise what that means, right?”

“No?”

I almost screamed into her. “He cares for you, you stupid girl!”

“No, he doesn’t. Remember the pity case theory I told you about? That’s all.”

My eyes rolled heavenward as I tugged upstairs. “Tell me in clear words what he said to you.”

“Why are we discussing this?” she whined as I dragged her away.

“Tell me!”

“Okay, okay!”

For the next few minutes, Lila took to describing in quoted words, and I noted that for a girl who had entirely written off this guy, she possessed an impeccable memory of his words. When she finally stopped, I felt my jaw hit the ground.

“He said that you would lock you in a room to ensure that you don’t strain your health, and you think he doesn’t care about it? What is wrong with you?”

Her pretty green eyes narrowed in slits. “He didn’t ‘say’, he threatened—there’s a difference,” Lila corrected.

“It’s just semantics,” I dismissed.

“What’s semantics?”

“Same meaning, different words.”

“Whatever.”

“C’mon, let’s sit in the library to talk. You aren’t going back to work today, and I don’t want to be alone.”

As we trotted toward the library, she cutely added, “You better come back to visit me after you leave this place,” Lila laughed. “Or I swear I’ll tell sir never to let you go.”

It hit me like lightning. What if Raffaele actually wouldn’t ever let me go?

Turned out, Cesar was right. Even though Lila had no significant injuries, her head began to hurt later in the day, and because she wasted herself away in the kitchen, the wounds were aching as well. This, coupled with anxiety, almost blanched her skin.

So I forced her back to her room, where I sat by her side as we chattered over numerous things—her past and mine—until she fell asleep.

The clock read nine when I left Lila’s room and slowly made my way back into the main stairwell. It felt weird. A week ago, I was scared and lost. And today, I knew how to find my way back to my room.

My room? Yes, it definitely felt bizarre.

I was so immersed in my thoughts that directions were lost on me until I crashed into a wall of hard muscles. Stiffening, I gasped and back padded.

“Celestia,” he smiled warmly, rolling in my name with the same familiar accent.

“Amadeo,” I whispered.