Page 3 of Vengeful Mafia Prince

"Anyway, Elena is going to show you around today," she continues, turning her attention back to me. "And that's about it. Is there anything else you need explained?"

I shake my head. "All clear to me."

"Good," she replies, clapping her hands together. "Well, Elena, I won't keep you two any longer. Off you go."

She waves her hand, slightly dismissively, and Elena parts her lips for a moment as though there's something she wishes she could say. But whatever it is, she soon thinks better of it and nods.

"I'll see you later," she mumbles, and she turns to head out of the door. I almost feel sorry for her. But I push that down quickly. I can't be feeling bad for this girl, not when I know what I have to do to her.

I head out of the office with her, and she puts a smile on her face and turns to me.

"It's good to meet you, really," she tells me, lowering her voice. "I feel like I've been falling behind with everything here. I need someone to help me keep up with it."

"That's what I'm here for," I reply, leaning in a little closer than I need to. I let myself linger there for a moment, just a few inches away from her face, before I pull back, and her breath catches slightly.

"Anyway, so," she breathes, turning her attention to the open floor in front of her. "This is where you're going to be working. Here, let me introduce you to everyone..."

She leads me around the place and takes time to introduce me to everyone who happens to be in today. She seems to know so much about everyone, and it surprises me. I thought she was meant to be Kyra's assistant, but she seems to be best friends with everyone who works here.

"Paula, how are things going with your daughter?" she asks sympathetically as we arrive at the desk of another woman around our age.

"Oh, she's doing a lot better," Paula replies with a nod. "It turns out she just had an ear infection. She's going to be back at school in no time."

"You send her my best, okay?" Elena replies before she moves on to the next desk. "Oliver! Oh, I tried that coffee shop you told me to check out, and I love it!"

She chats with everyone, and I hang back and take in the way she interacts with them. This is a good chance for me to get a feel for what she likes, how she prefers to be spoken to, how she likes to carry herself. The more I know, the easier it's going to be to get under her skin when the time comes.

Once she finishes a round of the working space, she glances down at her watch.

"I guess it's time for lunch," she remarks. "You want to go out and grab something?"

I nod, looking forward to some alone time with her, but before she can reply, her phone buzzes. She pulls it out of her pocket and then scrunches up her face in irritation.

"I'm sorry, I just got a message from Kyra that I need to come sit in on a meeting and take minutes," she tells me, shaking her head. "Can we take a rain check on that lunch? There's this really nice place down the street that does wraps. If you show your employee ID, I think you get some money off."

"I'll try them out, thanks," I reply, and she manages a quick smile.

"I promise I'm going to be better at this the longer you're here," she remarks, mostly joking, before she shoots off for the stairs.

I head to lunch at the place she suggested for me, and the food is great. I'm already imagining how I'll bring her here, flirt with her over the table, watch the way those pale cheeks flushpink when she looks at me. It's almost fun, in a way. I haven't been doing a lot of dating since my parents passed last year, but having someone to focus on like this, someone I know I can get wrapped around my little finger in no time, that's going to be entertaining.

When I return to the office, she's in the midst of transcribing notes from the meeting that Kyra just had. She glances up when she hears me coming, and I sink down into the seat next to her.

"You need a hand with that?" I ask, shifting closer to her so that my shoulder is pressed against her. She holds herself there for a moment before she pulls back, as though trying to get some sense through her brain.

"Uh, yeah, that would be great," she replies, and she pushes the laptop toward me. "So, we need to fill out this spreadsheet covering everyone she's spoken to and where we're at with various projects."

As she speaks, it strikes me that she might not be entirely aware of what her family does for a living. It's clear from how she talks about the products that she really believes these are real—that they're the focus of her father's work. It's... interesting, to say the least. My own parents never really tried to keep it from me, but it seems as though the same can't be said for her.

***

"So that's it?" I ask her as we finish.

She nods. "Yeah. And I think you're probably done for the day. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? We can go out for lunch."

"Sounds good."

My phone buzzes, and I check it. There's a message from Valentina, so I pull out my phone to read it. It's quick, but it worries me.

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