As soon as the lunch hour started, I went to Mr. Alvarez's office with all the research I've done on that Longo guy.

There was no one in his office ,he wasn't even in the conference room. Than I went to the only place where he must be if not in his office. His Personal Gym.

As I was standing in front of the gym , I could hear the music playing. I took a deep breath and went in.

I had to pause for a minute to process the sight in front of me.

Mr. Alvarez doing chin ups.

Sweat dripping from his face and naked torso. The muscle on his hands and back flexing as he was bringing his body up and down. His perfect lips pursed in struggle.

Now, this is something you don't get to see everyday.

Wait , what ?

I realised that I was drooling and Mr. Alvarez is still unaware of my presence.

I closed my mouth and cleared my throat and than called him to make him aware of my presence .

"Sir?"

He still didn't hear me.

"Mr. Alvarez?"

Then he stopped and jumped down from the bars.

"Ms. Annesley. How long have you been here for ?" He asked while wiping his face and chest with a towel.

"I..um..I just got here, sir. Its lunch time so I thought -"

"Right. Lunch . I forgot. Did you start the research ?" He said while buttoning his shirt.

"Yes,sir. And I've got quite a lot of things on him.''

"Great, let's go then."

He grabbed his coat and went out of the room.

**************
Mr. Alvarez took us to a expensive looking restaurant .

I was a little confused by his behaviour but I decided to keep my mouth shut.

We sat at a table. Than Mr. Alvarez said, "So ? What do we got?"

I took out my file and started to speak.
"Mr. Martino Longo. Born 1965, dead wife, three daughters and a son. He had a lot of factories back in the day and was one of the richest business personalities in Milan. This factory was not built by Longo, his grandfather bought this factory from a dairy Farm when that farm was no longer wanted by the previous owners as it was very difficult to keep up with the costly repairs."

"A dairy firm?" He asked with a slight disbelief in his voice.

I nodded, "Yes, sir. A dairy Farm. That explains the huge area. Than his grandfather turned it into a armaments factory."

"Longo has a troubled family background. He may have been rich but his son, Ricci Longo, was a spoiled child. He bankrupted his father's account with the help of another local businessman. After that, Longo tried his best to save this factory which was not possible without money . Also, he's got bills to pay and daughters to feed. So he's selling this factory."

I stopped and looked in Mr. Alvarez's eyes. There was a glint of satisfaction in them.

"I see. Keep digging anyway. We need to know if there is anything that could be used as a weak point of Longo, as a plan B."

"Longo is broke now, sir. I only thing he needs now is mon-"

"Ms. Annesley, I don't care about that. I will even use his family if money doesn't work. Like I said, keep digging."

"Okay, sir. Then, I guess that's it."

He nodded. But he kept looking at me. As if he wanted to say something.
I shifted under his intense gaze.

"Ms. Annesley..."

"Mr. Alvarez..."

We started at the same time.

Then he chuckled and said, "You go first."

I hesitated for a second and then said,
"Sir, I've been meaning to ask you, is everything alright ?"

He raised an eye brow as if asking me to explain.

"Excuse me if I'm crossing any line here, sir but you seem different today."

"That's because I feel different today, Ms. Annesley."

I didn't know what to say anymore so I just kept looking into his ocean blue eyes where I could see swirls of emotion, like the ocean in a storm.

But not the deadly kind. The kind of storm in which you get lost into unintentionally and it leaves you as a mess.

"Ms. Annesley, I... I talked to someone yesterday. Someone I very much loved and cared about. Someone who was the closest to me. But unfortunately, he lost my trust. It may have been once but you know how hard it is for me to trust anyone, let alone trusting
someone again who already broke it."

I nodded.

"But, I met him yesterday and he gave me a priceless advice."

He stopped talking but his eyes never left mine.

"May I ask what it was, sir ?"

"Don't be too late to make the move. The move that can change your life. The move that can change your way of seeing life . The move that could change......you."

The intensity in his voice shook me. Because, I never saw this Ethan Alvarez. He never feels, he never bothers to show his feelings.

But this, this Ethan Alvarez was not the man I've been working for the past 2 years. This Mr. Alvarez has feelings in his eyes and he is bothering to show it to someone. To me.

A ringtone brought us out from our haze and it was Mr. Alvarez's phone. A little frown took place in his face and he picked up the phone, breaking eye contact.

"If this is not important, I swear to god....-"

His stopped mid sentence. Than he stayed silent for a minute as the person on the other side spoke.

" I see. Tell him that I shall be waiting for his resignation letter , first thing in the morning. And also, tell him that he got lucky this time. Next time, he won't have hands to hack a computer."

There's the Mr. Alvarez I know.

He hung up and said in his usual, grumpy tone,

"It's one of the staffs. He's been trying to hack Anna's computer."

"Too bad you fired him. I would love to see Anna handle him."

Mr. Alvarez gave me one last not-so-amused look before turning his gaze to the food that was being served.

*********************
So, lunch and work went subtly after that. I enjoyed my afternoon sessions as well.

But I could sense that something was wrong as I set foot in my apartment. Then I noticed the music wasn't playing as usual.

Shit, Peyton!!

I totally forgot about her as I was very busy all day and my phone was also switched off.

I hurried over to her bedroom, only to find her sprawled out in her bed, A almost-finished bowl of popcorn and A half eaten burrito in front of her and 'The Vampire Diaries' playing in her laptop. Also, I couldn't help but notice the soda cans piled beside her bed.

I smiled to myself and went to sit beside her.

"Peyton?" I called softly, caressing her forehead.

She almost opened her eyelid but was too sleepy to look.
She whispered in a sleepy voice, " Hello, Adara."

Then she looked up. We kept staring for a while before she realized that it was me and she jumped up.

"You Bitch! Didn't even bother to answer my calls or reply my messages? Where the fuck were you?!! " she started hitting me with a pillow.

" Woah, woah, pey, calm down! I can explain! I was wor-, OUCH! "

"Don't give me that shit! Don't tell me that you were-"

Than her eyes went to my hand. She stared at it for a few seconds before saying, "Explain."

" Dad paid a visit, last night." I said quietly.

Peyton engulfed me in a bear hug.

We stayed like that for a while.

"Why don't you ever call the police?"

Peyton was the only one who knew about my past. I had to tell her. She's my best friend and I trust her.

"You know that I can't, Pey. For Mom's sake."

"I'm sorry, Adara."

I kept quiet. I know she was sorry. All people could ever do was to show me fake sympathy. But not Peyton. She meant it every time.

"Ok, no more whining. Let's do something to cheer you up. Let's go.....Shopping!!"

I thought about it for a second. Shopping would be nice. I need to buy a few things. And I need to divert my mind even if it's for a few hours.

"Shopping it is. But clean up first", I said gesturing towards her room.

"I'll take a shower and than get ready."

"Can't I clean up after we get back?"she pouted.

"No! You will never clean up after shopping. You're just gonna collapse on the bed after we come back."

I didn't give her another chance to argue and ran out of her bedroom, To take a nice and relaxing shower.

******************

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