Chapter 52
A R I A N A
I woke up in the middle of the night the bed feeling big and empty next to me Dante wasn’t there and the room was dark and quiet.
I goraned rubbing on my throat, I felt thirsty.
My throat was very dry.
I wondered where Dante had gone probably in his home office working, I’ve noted that he is a workaholic the minute I stepped into this house.
It’s like his work was never ending.
I sat up slowly.
My body felt sore a slow smile spreading to my lips, our together had been… intense, I blushed just by thinking about it.
I pulled on Dante’s big shirt that was on the floor.
It smelled like him.
I walked quietly out of the room and down the big stairs and then to the kitchen, the house was so big and quiet at night. It felt a little scary.
I got a glass of water from the kitchen letting out a breath as I begin to gulp, I heard a noise behind me.
I turned around quickly.
It was Dante.
He stood in the kitchen doorway.
He looked panicked with his eyes were wide.
His hair was messy like he had been running his hands through it.
“Jesus, Ariana,” he said, his voice sounding relieved but also scared. “I saw the empty bed. I thought… I didn’t know where you were p>
He walked quickly across the kitchen and put his hands on my shoulders he looked me up and down like he was checking if I was okay.
“I just woke up thirsty,” I said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you p>
He let out a big breath and pulled me into a hug held me very tight.
“Don’t do that,” he mumbled into my hair. “Don’t just disappear.” He say his tune lased with worry.
My brow furrows in confusion, what was up with him? This starting afresh thingy just started like yesterday, why then was he getting all mushy?
I could feel his heart beating fast against my chest, he was really scared.
I hugged him back liking his warmth, at this point I can say I’m starting to get addicted to this.
I felt guilty, the feeling was starting to get unbearable, I hated the fact that I was lying to him.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I won’t disappear I promise p>
He kissed the top of my head.
“What were you doing up so late?” I asked cutting through the silence
He sighed, looking tired. “I’m working on something a very important one deal but the numbers… they are not adding up right, I have been looking at the same papers for hours and I cannot find the mistake p>
He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “It is messing with me, I can’t seem to figure it out p>
I bit my lip.
I knew I was good with numbers, really good and It was one thing I was actually proud of.
“Can I… can I take a look?” I asked quietly. “Maybe a fresh pair of eyes can help p>
Dante looked surprised.
He stared at me for a second, then he nodded. “Okay. Why not p>
We made stop at his home office on our way back to the room.
“Take a seat” he ushers gesturing at the chair.
He slid the papers to me and I opened it.
There were many pages of numbers, charts, and contracts, it looked pretty complicated
I sat properly spreading the papers on the table.
“Can I have a pen?” I say and he nods handing it over to me.
I started writing on a blank paper doing the calculations, I compared numbers and I looked for patterns.
After about fifteen minutes, I found it.
A tiny mistake.
One wrong number in a long list It was so small, but it changed everything.
“Here,” I said, pointing to the spot. “This number is wrong, It should be this.” I showed him my calculation. “That is why everything else is not adding up p>
Dante took the paper from me he looked at where I was pointing, he stared at my math his eyelids darting.
He looked from the paper to my face.
He looked… impressed.
“How did you do that?” he asked, his voice full of surprise. “I have been looking for that for three hours p>
I shrugged, feeling shy. “I am good with numbers I guess p>
Dante kept staring at me like he was seeing me for the first time. “You are not just good you are amazing p>
He was quiet for a moment, thinking.
“I have a position open at my company,” he said slowly. “Head of Financial Strategy It is a very important job, the person before… he was not honest so I had to fire him the spot is still empty p>
He looked right into my eyes. “I want you to take the job p>
My mouth fell open I could not believe what I was hearing. “What? Me? Work for you? At Russo Corp p>
“Yes,” he said, his voice firm. “You are clearly brilliant, you just solved in fifteen minutes what my best people could not solve in days, I need someone smart and I need someone I can trust p>
The word ’trust’ felt like a punch to my stomach guilt washed over me.
But I had to say yes this was the perfect way to get the papers my father wanted and I would have access to everything.
I forced a smile. “Okay,” I said. “I will do it I am happy to help you p>
Dante smiled back, the smile looking real, genuine, he looked proud of me.
I felt like the worst person in the world, can’t was putting his trust in and I was going to use his trust to betray him.
I felt so horrible but I knew what I needed to do.