CHAPTER 28

Lucius’s POV.

I made up my mind to take Anna on a honeymoon. I thought all about her while I was at work after our wedding. I felt it was my guilty conscience speaking to me. I could think about nothing else apart from making her happy. I felt I hadn't done enough. I had to make a choice. If I wasn't going to be successful in finding out why she decided to stay, then I was at least going to make sure she found other things to be happy about.

I had a feeling she would need to find a new place to breathe and clear her head away from the mansion. I just had to decide where to take her. The point was not to find happiness in me but in situations I could possibly bring around her life. I already felt bad enough for leaving her at the wedding, so I wasn't hoping for her to like me. Never once, never before.

"Lucius!" A lady spoke but I barely heard her.

I sat at a table in my club. The Mafia had so many businesses and it wasn't easy to run them all so we shared it. My aunties, my uncle and I. I took the main one of course and left the rest for them. The most crucial of them all was mine to oversee and make sure all was going well.

I had Bruno in charge of it while I wasn't around and he made sure to give me news and updates every now and then, except it didn't mean I could totally bank on him to keep things stable. I had to grace the club with my presence to see for myself every now and then, too.

The place was situated in Paris and I had to travel all the way. It was currently the biggest club in town where lots of big businessmen and women from all over visited and in fact the richest of them all. Which was the main point. Everything done in the club was illegal. From gambling to drug dealings, to prostitution and loan sharking. All done was illegal. There were five floors, including an underground and a vast pool at the top of the building.

"Lucius!" The lady repeated over the loud music playing and I was finally pulled from my thoughts.

"Julianna." I greeted her, sternly with my face void of any smile.

She was wearing a long black gown with long slits that showed her thighs and she had red lipstick on, making her look as slutty as she always hoped to look. She was an old fling of mine and she relentlessly kept coming back despite my reluctant attempts at giving her even an ounce of my attention. A small smile played on her lips as she took her seat on the opposite side of the table and leaned forward with her hand cupping her cheeks and her elbows resting on the table.

"What's bothering you that you seem so lost in space? God, I cannot count how many times I had to yell your name. Even my throat hurts."

"Have you seen Bruno?" I asked, easily stripping her of the topic she attempted to discuss with me.

"I never care about anyone else's whereabouts except yours. And you know that." She winked.

I shifted in my seat and turned my head. I spotted my aunty, Selena Jones speaking with a group of men at the bar table and my eyebrows sprang up. She was here and didn't tell me?

"Are you ignoring me?" Julianna broke through my thoughts, again.

"If you would excuse me." I simply said and stood up.

"You never did change, did you?" I heard her say behind me while I walked away. "But it doesn't mean I'll give up. I never will!"

I easily ignored her and approached Selena. She spotted me even before I reached her side and she quickly excused herself from her gathering before meeting me in the middle and we hugged each other.

"How are you here?" I asked over her head since I was much taller.

"Because I always know where you are." She answered against my chest.

We pulled away and we looked at each other.

"I thought you were in Florida just yesterday."

"I was. Now I'm here. I had to find a way to see you since I missed your wedding."

The smile on my face refused to leave. It had been over a year since I saw her and truthfully I had been hoping she would attend ny wedding.

"How are you?" We asked in unison and chuckled simultaneously.

"Come, let's go sit." I took her hand and led her back to my table. I was glad that Julianna had gone.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't attend your wedding. How did it go?"

I shrugged at her question. "It was normal, I guess. Nothing special about it."

"Which I expected, yes. But tell me something. Anything. You know how I'm always curious." She rolled her eyes. "How was the competition? Was it fun? Was it fair? What kind of girl is this Anna Rossi that won?"

"Um..."

I looked calmly into her eyes, unsure of how to start answering her questions. I was used to her being curious but I wished she didn't have to be curious about this one. I wasn't ready to talk about it, yet.

"I enjoyed playing around with the competition and bringing up different tasks just to watch the girls struggle to win. But I'll never stop wondering why the one who never wanted to win has ended up being the one I married."

"Because you liked her?" Her eyes bulged with renewed interest.

"Liked her?" I frowned. "No. Of course not."

"Well, then, why did you let her win?" She threw her hands halfway up.

"That's the point, Selena. I didn't."

"So... what were you trying to tell me?" She became calm and her eyes twinkled softly at me.

"That I wish I knew why she won when she didn't want to."

"So you're worried about her?" Her eyebrows raised as she focused on me like nothing else mattered and she appeared to be trying to read my mood.

"Maybe if I didn't feel so oblivious, I wouldn't be worried. Maybe it's because I just don't like to feel clueless about certain things."

"Or because you care about her."

I looked at her and I realized how much she was concentrating on the topic as if hoping to figure something out. I could tell what she was trying to do amd I could get the point of it all. This was probably new to her. Me being this way about some girl that's supposed to be a stranger to me. But I wasn't ready to feed more into her curiosity. In fact, the topic wasn't helping my mood.

"Let's talk about this some other time."

"Why?"

I shrugged.

"Come on!" She leaned back in her seat. "At least tell me what kind of person this girl is."

"Not now." I shook my head.

"Okay, then. I'm returning with you to Italy." She said and I didn't object.

When I returned, she followed me and she met with Anna. We ate breakfast together and right after, they left together on a stroll around the mansion. They were gone for a very long time and I was beginning to get conscious of time. Since we had more work to do and she decided to keep tagging along with me before she would travel and disappear for a long time, again.

I left a letter for Anna, telling her to prepare for our honeymoon before I'd return. She got the memo and when I got back from taking care of business, we began our journey on my private jet. One thing I noticed was the fact that she was talking to me and I was surprised.

Her talking to me gave me much reason to rest my eyes on her, something I would've rather avoided since she tended to barely say anything, despite me trying to force conversation out of her mouth, but now I didn't need to force anything and I couldn’t suppress the feeling of thinking she looked really cute.

We had a few conversations and finally, we arrived at the hotel. While we were settling down, my a message popped up on my phone and I realised it was Julianna texting me.

"Hey baby, I heard you're back in Paris."

I clenched my fists while I read the message. I'd blocked her number but now she texted with a new one. She was beginning to get really annoying. As if getting the feeling from wherever she was that I was about to drop my phone and finely ignore her message, she texted, again.

"And I heard you brought your wife. You wouldn't mind me getting to know her, right? After all, I don't expect you to care."

Bringing Anna into the topic made it hard for me to ignore the anger it aroused in my nerves and I had to reply.

"What are you insinuating?"

"Nothing, baby. You're not attached, are you? It's just a question."

I shouldn't be answering her, but I couldn't help it. I knew where she was driving at and I was keen on avoiding it.

"No, I'm not."

"Then, come over. I'm right outside your hotel room."