I step outside and find Stefano standing beside his car. I walk over to him to have a serious discussion about his behavior earlier.
"Good, you re done with him; get into the car," Stefano says and opens the car door for me.
"What was the meaning of what you just did?" I say, ignoring his words to get in the car
"I was trying to protect you."
"Protect me, from what? A good friend."
"He is not who you think he is."
"How do you even know him?"
"How I know him does not matter; all that matters is I don t trust him, and I believe he is dangerous."
"This is the same thing you said the first time I was meeting him, and now you interrupt my lunch based on these useless believes you have of him."
"It s not a useless believe I have done my research, but I will only show you once I confirm it."
"Stefano, are you listening to yourself? You ruined my lunch with a friend based on things you have not confirmed." I say, wondering what in God s name is going on with Stefano. Ever since he came back from the hospital, he has been acting strange towards me.
"There is something suspicious about him; I will prove it to you."
"I don t care if there is or not because I already feel our friendship is down the drain because of you."
"That s better; now get in the car so that I can get you home safely."
"I am not going anywhere with you," I say, turning around to walk away from him, but he blocks my path.
"I said get in the car so that I can get you home safely," He says in a dangerous, threatening tone. His eyes hold a dark look that could make a small child pee their pants. I have never seen him like this. It s like he has formed this new possessiveness over me.
"Okay," I say, not wanting this matter to get out of hand.
I get into the car, but I don t say anything the whole ride back to the Costanzo estate. I didn t say anything to him because I am pissed at him and secondly because he looks super angry for reasons unknown to me. I am the only one who has a right to be angry, so I wonder why he is.
The car comes to a halt after a few minutes of driving. I walk inside, still feeling angry with him. I don t even bother to see if he is following me or not. I am about to walk into my room when Aurora stops me on the stairs.
"Why do you look angry?"
"That is because I am."
"Who made you angry?"
"Who else in this world than your brother."
"What did he do now?"
"You won t believe it if I told you."
"Trust me; I am his sister; I know everything he is capable of doing."
"Trust me; this one is beyond his rude attitude. He has taken things to another level."
"Why don t we go to the living room and discuss," Aurora says, leading us to the living room.
"Alright," I say, walking beside her.
Once we are seated in the living room, I tell her everything that happened in the restaurant. Like me, she is surprised by his behavior.
"I wonder why Stefano is behaving like this"
"Me too; I wonder why and I wish there was a way I could get back at him for embarrassing me or make him as angry as I am right now."
"Actually, there is."
"Really, what can I do?"
"Stefano claims he ruined your lunch with Ivan because he believes he is dangerous and wants to keep you safe."
"Yes"
"Then I know the perfect plan to make him angry. We are going to the club tonight."
"Why"
"We are going to a club because at a club there are various types of dangerous men. I would like to see how he would drive all of them away from you."
"That s a good idea, but how are we going to make sure he is at the same club as us."
"That s easy; I will just text him to pick me up from the club."
"Alright, I hope when he comes, he is pissed off mad when he sees me around different guys."
"He will trust me," Aurora says with a sheepish look on her face. I don t know why but I feel Aurora is not only helping me to annoy Stefano. I think she has another reason for this idea of hers.
After my conversation with Aurora, I go upstairs to my room and take a nap. I wake up a few hours later to get ready. I take a shower before putting on my clothes. I am wearing a black slinky cami strap wrap over an asymmetric mini dress. Aurora gave it to me; I didn t bring any club outfits with me. My clothes are still the ones I packed for my business trip to California. I only have office outfits and casual clothes. I put on my blush stiletto heels, my jewelry and walk outside my room to meet Aurora. I find her downstairs waiting for me. We step outside into our car to be on our way to the club.
Once we arrive at the club, Aurora and I don t hesitate to enjoy a few shots together. I can feel myself starting to get tipsy, but I could hardly care right now. All I care about is drinking my ass off and having a good time. I don t even care about the reason why we came. An hour or so later, I hear Aurora talking to me. I move closer, so I could listen to her.
"Do you want to dance?" Aurora asks over the loud music
"Yes," I say loud enough for her to hear me over the music. I take one last shot before following her to the dance floor. While dancing, I feel a pair of eyes watching me. I look around and find a set of beautiful mesmerizing green eyes. He does not blink or stare away even though I have caught him staring at me. I can hardly see his face clearly because of the lack of lighting in the club and the fact that I am a little tipsy. He walks closer to me while maintaining eye contact with me. Once he is in front of me, I see the angry blaze in his eyes, and I can tell he is not happy with me.
"Andrea, what in God s name are you wearing," Stefano says close to my ears. The only thing my ears pick up is the way he called my name. It sent a sensation down my spine, and you don t want to know how it makes me feel. I can feel his breath on my neck, causing me to feel hot around my body.
"Why do you care?"
"Because you look like a slut, put this on; we are leaving," He says and takes off his jacket to put it on me.
"I am not a slut, and I am not going anywhere with you," I say and push his jacket away from my shoulders.
"Andrea, you are drunk, and I think you should go home."
"No, I am not going home. In fact, dance with me, Stefano."
"I don t think that is a good idea."
"I don t care," I say, smiling like a little girl who they just gave a lollipop and started dancing like a madwoman. I dance facing him before later turning my ass to him. I feel something poking my ass, but I don t stop.
"Andrea, I need you to stop before you make things complicated for both of us," He says through clenched teeth.
"What are you talking about?" I ask, turning around to face him. His eyes have a different look this time, and if I didn t know better, I would say they have lust in them. I am sure it s just my drunk mind playing a trick on me.
"Thank God, now let s go," He says and pulls me away from the dance floor. He drags me outside to his car.
"We can t leave; where is Aurora? I can t leave without her," I say to him while he tries to put me in the car.
"Don t worry about Aurora someone is taking care of her"
"Okayyyyyyyyy," I say, placing my hands on his cheeks. I squeeze his face and start playing with his cheeks. "Stefano do you know you are a very handsome man, very handsome" I repeat while still holding his face in my palms. He does not say anything but stares at me intensely.
"That s enough, get in the car," He says and forcefully removes my hand from his face. He opens the back seat and lays me down.
"Why do you hate me, Stefano? Why do you hate me? I have always been nice to you, but you hate me; why" I ask on the verge of tears.
"Are you crying?" He asks, turning back to look at me from the driver s seat.
"Yes, because you hate me, and it hurts because, because," I say, feeling myself getting sleepy.
"Because what," He asks, eager to hear my reason
"I L……" I don t get to finish my statement before the darkness consumes me.