Ivy White
REBECCA
“Please, miss, you would prefer not to keep him waiting.”
True, Rebecca thinks to herself. She cannot keep Mark waiting for her because she has a job that she needs to do. Nodding her head, she walks up the marble steps, smiling.
Well, the warm air is better than the air she breathes in Arlington. The cars in the city blow smoke into the air all day long.
Rebecca decides to take another look at the man who seems to be managing her. She is single after all, and who says she cannot look?
His suit perfectly sculpts his body. Nice and tight, she thinks to herself, licking her bottom lip. Yes, she’s a virgin, and no, that doesn’t stop her from admiring the view.
His black suit is crisp, and his white shirt is buttoned up with the buttons covered by a layer of fabric. His tie is literally made out of metal, and his shoes don’t have any wear on them.
Not even a speck of dirt has landed on them from walking across the grass. Could it be artificial? she wonders as she looks down at her clothes.
Well, at least she fits in with her blue suit. Granted, it’s not black, but still, she does look smart and professional. Yes, the grass is artificial, she tells herself, looking at her heels.
They didn’t dig into any soil. Even if she does look smart, she didn’t expect to walk onto the property of a billionaire. This is a tycoon’s heaven.
Suddenly the door opens, and Rebecca smiles, raising her line of sight from her heels to see a man standing in the center of the doorway.
She steps back in surprise, her mouth falling open. His posture is upright, his height is around six feet, his head is held high as he crosses his arms and glares at Rebecca.
Black suit again. This time the man has a black tie on and a black shirt covering his torso instead of a white one. His shoes also look like a mirror to Rebecca.
He is standing with his feet shoulder-width apart, and both feet are firmly on the ground.
His eyes narrow in on Rebecca who looks at the wall to his right, pushing her brown hair behind her ear.
She never has been good at holding eye contact, especially when she feels awkward in the presence of others. Especially men.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? Rebecca Ferez, is it?”
He strolls toward Rebecca, who nods her head, directing her eyes to the marble flooring. He stops in front of her, invading her personal space.
She feels as though she cannot breathe when his chest is merely an inch away from her face.
“Did Mark contact you about the arrangement?” the man asks Rebecca who shakes her head. Truth be told, she cannot string together one small, simple sentence.
“He couldn’t make it. I will be showing you what you need to do. You are booked in for a couple of days. Not to worry, I will send you back when you’ve finished up here.”
A couple of days, Rebecca thinks to herself, feeling mortified.
If it wasn’t bad enough that she already feels uncomfortable in this man’s presence and Mark not showing up, now she has to sleep at the mansion for a couple of days.
Top that off with being alone in a world that she doesn’t know or understand.
“A couple of days?” Rebecca mumbles, and the man breathes in deeply.
She hasn’t even looked at his face to know what he looks like yet because he’s intimidating her that much with his body language.
“Yes. Is that going to be a problem for you, Miss Ferez?”
“Nope. None at all.” Rebecca crosses her arms over her chest and stares at the man’s suit jacket. He towers above her, and she doesn’t want to look up at him.
He makes her look like a child when it comes to the height difference.
The man grabs Rebecca’s arm, and her eyes snap to his. Dark is all she can see. She cannot see anything other than darkness in his orbs.
She knows they are gray, but she cannot take that in. Only the shadows that sit inside them.
The man grins, perfectly white teeth show, his beautiful sun-kissed tan glistens underneath the sun, and his black hair is pushed back.
The sides are shorter and have been cut down to a zero. A pattern travels around his head. It looks like what a tribal tattoo would look like, then his hair gets longer on the top. Silky, soft, and shiny.
“Rebecca.” The man talks in a quiet, cold tone, and Rebecca snaps out of her daze, staring at his suit jacket again.
“My name is not Rebecca. Please, can you call me Becca?” She doesn’t try to move her arm out of his grasp, she just looks up at him again as he shakes his head telling her no without talking.
Is this lust? Rebecca asks herself. She cannot stop herself from looking up at the flawlessly gorgeous man with gray eyes who she’s sure can see inside her soul.
“The name’s Kenzo. Kenzo Robernero.” Memories of the office enter her mind, and her eyes widen as she realizes who Kenzo is.
The man who shot a man in cold blood. She doesn’t comment and nods her head, plastering a smile on her face.
Kenzo’s phone rings, and he answers it, walking off to Rebecca’s left, and Rebecca steps back down a step, unaware that his friend stands behind her until he clutches her arm and holds her.
“You okay, Miss Ferez?” the man asks Rebecca who nods her head, swallowing the ball that’s trapped inside her throat. She’s not okay. In fact, she’s more scared than anything.
To find herself stuck in Prentonville with two men, one of whom shot a man and is the most notorious criminal in the world. She knows about him and what his job title is.
Underboss of the Societa Oscura. Hundreds of men whom he can use to keep whomever he wants within arm’s reach. Now these couple of days to Rebecca are going to be long.
Rebecca can’t hear Kenzo’s conversation, but she has an idea that he’s currently sorting some of his men out or getting ready to do something illegal.
The man with blond hair taps on her shoulder as Kenzo places his phone against his chest. It looks like an old throwaway phone to Rebecca.
“You may go inside. I will be in shortly.”
“Come on, miss,” the man tells her, and Rebecca hopes she can get through the next couple of days. She hopes deep down that Kenzo will be nowhere to be seen.