Vengeful Mafia Prince (Vicious Heirs #2)

Chapter Three—Giovanni

As I make my way to the elevator, I'm sure the office is empty. That is, until I hear a sudden soft sigh from behind the row of filing cabinets next to the exit.

I peer over the top of them, and sure enough, there is Elena. Her head is in one hand, and in the other, she's fiddling with a stylus over a tablet. She looks worried.

"What are you doing here so late?"

My words nearly make her jump out of her skin. Her head whips around, and she plants a hand on her chest in relief when she sees it's just me.

"Oh, Johnny, you scared me."

"Sorry," I say, coming around the filing cabinets, pulling off my messenger bag as I go. "You working on something?"

"Yeah," she replies with another sigh, gesturing to the tablet in front of her. "I was supposed to have all of these finished for the end of the day, but I completely forgot until Kyra reminded me."

"What are they?" I ask, leaning in a little closer so I can look at them properly.

"They're meant to be the introductory flyers given out to everyone at the start of this meeting she has tomorrow," she explains. "She's running a new campaign past all the heads of office. But I need to try and figure out what they all do and don't know so I don't stuff this thing with more information than I need to."

"That sounds like a hell of a job to be doing by yourself at this time of night."

She shrugs, shaking her head. "It's my fault. I'm the one who made the mistake. I'm the one who should fix it."

"You want me to help you?"

"I can do it myself," she mutters.

"Hey."

She lifts her head to look at me, chin in her hand. "What?"

"I know you can do it yourself. But I want to help. Okay?"

That seems to be enough to convince her. With a shrug, she pushes the tablet over to me.

"It would be a big help if you could get the design of this thing down," she says. "I'm going to go through the inter-office emails and see what I need to include."

She heads off to grab her laptop and then returns to the desk, where I've already started work on the flyer design. The two of us work in companionable silence for a while, and I steal a few glances at her. She's chewing her bottom lip as she works, and I can't help but notice how full and soft it looks.

"Ugh," she groans as she leans back from the desk. "I have no idea what I'm doing. I have no idea where to even start."

"To start with what?"

"Putting all of this together." She sighs, waving her hand at the screen. "I'm not good at this stuff. Studying is one thing, but applying what I learned is another."

"You got good grades?" I ask, leaning back from the table a little so I can talk to her properly. She looks a little surprised that I'm asking, and after a moment of silence, she replies.

"Yeah, my studies aren't difficult for me. But this is my first job. I know, I know, it's kind of pathetic, but my dad wanted me to stay focused on my studies during my first year."

"So you're going to take a while to adapt to the office," I finish up for her.

She nods. "Yeah. But I'm not sure how long Kyra is going to keep me around if I keep screwing things up like this."

I chuckle. "Your father owns the place. I think you're going to be fine."

A storm cloud crosses over her features for a moment, and she lifts her chin slightly.

"See, that's the thing. I don't want people to think I'm just working here because of my dad. I want... I want them to take me seriously. I don't want everyone to look at me and think there's no way I would be here without my father. Even if that's basically true."

I nod. There it is again, that soft spot of hers—she wants to be taken seriously.

"So how much information have you got so far?" I ask.

She holds out a notebook she's been scribbling on. Written there are the names of all the heads of departments along with the bullet points of what they need to know.

"I just started cross-referencing them to narrow it all down," she explains. "I'm getting there. Slowly."

"Keep going," I urge her. "We'll be done soon if we work together."

She smiles slightly, looking up at me beneath her long lashes. "I really appreciate this, Johnny. Really."

I nod, and then we return to work again. This is the first time we've really been alone together, and I want to make the most of it. We've headed out for lunch a few times, too, but other coworkers have always been around. This is the chance for me to really prove myself to her, really show her that she can trust me and that I'll be there for her, no matter what.

We work for another couple of hours until it's late and the dark has started to settle outside. For a while, I even forget what I'm actually here to do. I'm so deep into my role as Johnny that I had to remind myself a couple of times I'm someone beyond that.

Finally, she leans back from the desk and lifts her fists into the air triumphantly.

"That's it, it's all done," she announces, turning to face me. Her eyes look brighter than before as an obvious weight lifts from her shoulders. "I just need to get these printed and distributed in the meeting room, and then we're done."

"I'll help."

We finish up the last of the work that needs to be done, laying out the papers at the relevant table spots for the meeting tomorrow. She hums to herself lightly as she works, a happy little noise that clearly speaks to how much she's looking forward to being done with this day.

She grabs her bag and slips on her coat as we head for the door together. I insist on walking her to her car, though she tries to tell me not to bother.

"You've already done enough for me as it is tonight," she tells me softly. "You don't have to waste any more of your time with me."

"I'm not wasting it," I reply firmly. "It's late. It's the city. You shouldn't be walking around out here by yourself."

"Yeah, who knows who could be out here, huh?" she jokes as she leads me toward her car.

I grin. "Yeah, who knows."

We reach her car, and she pauses outside of it. I can tell she's still feeling some kind of way about accepting my help, but it's given me a chance to get to know a little more about her. I know I'm going to be able to work something out.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I guess?" she asks, and I nod.

"See you then."

All at once, she leans up and gives me a hug. The smell of her perfume, like warm roasted vanilla, fills my senses. I put my arms around her, a little surprised, and she pulls back swiftly. From the look on her face, I'd say she didn't know she was going to do that up until the moment it happened.

Then she climbs into the car, pulling the door shut behind her swiftly. Even from here, I can see the warm glow on her cheeks. I can tell she can't quite believe she did that. She drives off quickly, and I watch as the car vanishes around the corner.

I grin as I make my way back to my car. In just a couple of weeks of working here, I know I'm already starting to get close to what I came here for. It might not be easy, but judging by how quickly she seems to be giving in to my advances, it looks as though it might be simpler than I imagined.

I drive through the city streets, which are quieter than they usually are. I frown slightly. A sign that something is going on? That, somewhere out there, there's something happening that I should know about?

I'm not sure.

Maybe it's just me realizing that there's some attraction to Elena on my part, too, that has me feeling the way I am right now. I saw how striking she was before we even met, of course, but it's another thing entirely to be in her presence, to see the way she looks up at me, those big innocent eyes staring into mine.

Fuck.

I flex my fingers on the wheel. I'm into her. I want her. I already told myself, long before I got to this point, that I was going to do whatever it took to get her to give me what I wanted. It just seems like whatever it takes might be easier to pull off than I imagined.

And that's how I end my night, with the thought of her, with the thought of something more.