Page 27 of Blood Lust

We were stopped before we reached the elevators and brought to the other side of the wall behind the desk by a security guard. My belongings were run through an X-ray machine like in the airport. My father and I were separated and each wanded with a metal detector. A female guard patted me down.

The entire time, my heart was racing so fast, it was practically a hum instead of individual beats. A ringing filled my ears, and my stomach churned.

My things were returned to me, and we were directed through a side door. A different elevator was in front of us.

Both silent, we took the floor nearly to the top—except in my mind, we had descended because I was about to enter hell. When we stopped and the doors slid open with a quiet swoosh, panic shot through me. My feet were frozen to the floor.

“Alia?” my dad whispered as he glanced at me with worry in his watery gaze.

The doors started to close, and I shot my arm out to stop them. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I took a fortifying breath and stepped off the elevator.

I’m not sure what I expected, but the posh, modern waiting area with a glass-and-stone reception desk wasn’t it. A striking brunette lifted her gaze and cocked a brow as she looked me up and down. Her lip curled at my jeans, red Chucks, and Three Days Grace T-shirt, but I didn’t give a fuck.

“Antonio, is Mr. De Luca expecting you to have a guest?” she asked as she looked down her nose at me. The bitch had to know my dad wouldn’t randomly bring someone here. Wouldn’t she?

“He is,” my father answered in a hard tone that made me glance at him in surprise.

The man standing next to me looked like my father, but wasn’t a man I’d ever seen before. Standing tall, there was a harsh cast to his face, and his eyes were stony.

The woman’s bitchy mask slipped for a second, but she quickly pasted it back on as she picked up her phone. Long red nails that matched her lipstick tapped on the glass surface of the desk as she waited for her call to be answered.

“Yes, Mr. De Luca, Antonio is here with some woman,” she announced, saying the last part with a slight sneer. She immediately went contrite and set the phone down without a sound. “You can go back,” she politely said without making eye contact.

Though I really wanted to flip her off, I ignored her and followed my father. My suitcase rolled soundlessly on the plush carpet runner. We passed several doors on either side and stopped in front of the one ahead of us at the end of the hall.

“Alia,” my dad started, but I shook my head.

“Don’t. Please. I’m barely keeping my shit together right now,” I stopped him to explain.

He nodded and knocked on the door.

It swung open, but I didn’t see anyone there. As I cautiously made my way into the room, I realized a man was partially behind the door, and he closed it once we were inside. Except I couldn’t bother with so much as a glance in his direction. I was too focused on the man standing at the floor-to-ceiling window. His hands were clasped behind his back as he looked out like a king surveying his lands. Which I supposed, in a way, he was.

Slowly, he turned to face us, and my previously racing heart stuttered, and my breath froze in my lungs. My computer bag dropped to the floor. It couldn’t be.

What the fuck is going on?

“Hello, Lee.”

“Can’t You See”—The Marshall Tucker Band

“Or should I call you Alia?” I asked her as I watched Pietro hurry over to pick up her bag that fell from her shoulder. Wearing a simple pair of jeans and a TDG shirt, she was still a knockout. Having her before me was surreal, as I never thought I’d see her again.

“Lia,” she whispered.

Antonio glanced back and forth between us, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“Antonio, you’re free to leave,” I told him, not breaking eye contact withLia.

She snapped out of it and blurted out, “Wait!”

I tilted my head questioningly and waited to hear what she had to say.

“I have terms.”

A bark of laughter escaped me. “Lia, you’re really in no position to make demands,” I softly advised her.

The flecks in her eyes hardened to shards of green crystal. “But I am. If I agree to this, which I’m prepared to do, I want your word that my father will not be harmed.”

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