CHAPTER 21: PERFECT FOR ME

HAVEN'S POV

I was about to knock on Allessio's office door when I notice that it was slightly open. I took a peek inside and saw that he was in what seemed to be a video meeting on his computer.

Not wanting to disturb him, I was about to step back to give him privacy but he caught sight of me before I did. He crooked a finger at me, motioning for me to come inside.

If another man did that gesture, I would've walked away in a nanosecond. But with him, it makes me feel different things—or rather, a certain part of me feels different things.

I stepped inside the office and headed toward the chair in front of his desk. But before I could sit down, Allessio shook his head and curled his finger at me again.

"You're in a meeting," I mouthed.

He gave me a look that told me he wouldn't care even if he were in a meeting with the president of Italy. Sighing, I walked toward him and stood beside his desk, raising an eyebrow. The corners of his lips tilted up, and he reached for my hand, tugging me closer.

At first, I thought his camera was off since he was confident enough to pull me onto his lap. But when I saw the man on the other end of the meeting freeze and blink rapidly while staring at the screen, heat spread across my cheeks.

I tried to get off Allessio's lap, but his arm wrapped around my waist to keep me in place. I shot him a wide-eyed glare, but as expected, it had no effect on him.

"I'll wait outside," I whispered.

"No."

"I'll wait in the living room."

Tightening his arm around my waist was the only answer he gave me. What did I expect? He's the king of everything, which means he's also the king of stubbornness.

"Hello! I'm Trace Dawson."

I turned to the screen, and I saw the person with kind and warm brown eyes who Allessio's in a meeting with waving at me. I've seen a lot of attractive men, but he's probably on the top ten handsome men that my eyes had every laid on. With Allessio taking the top one to five.

"H-Hi." I wave back tentatively. "I'm Haven."

His eyes shifted in Allessio's direction, and he grinned. "I don't want to take too much of your time. Thank you for the confirmation about—"

The man stopped as if he's unsure what to say in my presence but Allessio nonchalantly reached for the ends of my long hair to play with it between his fingers. "She knows."

The man's mouth formed an "O". "As I was saying, thank you for the confirmation about Obsidian... and also for the other thing. I know you're aware that my brother wants to bite your head off after you approached Tiara, but we're all equally grateful for the information you gave us about our father. If there's anything you want, as long as it doesn't go against what we do, we will gladly offer our service to you."

"I appreciate the gesture, but we've already settled any favors. The end of Obsidian is all I want."

Allessio told me briefly about the Obsidian Legion, which he wanted to destroy not just because of what they did to his wife but also what they would have continued to do if they weren't stopped.

According to him, every country has representatives in Obsidian. It so happens that they found out that a private agency in the Philippines could be the key to initiating the collapse of the Obsidian Legion, so they made a deal with them.

"The information about our father is a different matter, Cascella." The man looked like he was about to say something else, but someone knocked on his door. He let out a sigh when he saw whoever was at the door.

"I have to go. My annoying baby sister is here. We shouldn't have bought her from the grocery store where we found her," he joked.

Allessio's hand wandered down my thigh from under the table. "That's where I found my baby as well."

I pinched him on his side with my face flaming. He didn't even flinch, but I saw amusement glinting in his eyes before his hand glided on my backside and did the same thing I did to him, making me gasp loudly.

The man named Trace blinked and just looked at us for a moment before a smile formed on his lips. "I'm happy to see that love is everywhere. If you want your love story to be a book, just call me. I know someone. Maybe that's how we will finally settle the markers we have with each other."

They talked for a few more moments before both decided to end the meeting. The bubbly, kind man said his goodbye to me before the screen finally went black.

Allessio didn't show any intention to let me go, so I didn't try to move, and instead I just turned my body so that I could look at him better. "What was that about his father?" When I realized something, I added, "You don't have to tell if you don't want to."

"My curious cat." He tap the tip of my nose. "During the thing with the Obsidian, Idalion found information that point to the possibility that their father they thought were dead for years might be alive all these time."

"They run a private security and investigation, right? Don't that put them to closely work with authorities than... well..."

"Me?" He shrugged, and started playing with my hair again. "You're right. They're on the opposite side of where Idalion is at but in this world, sometimes working together can be fruitful for both sides."

There are gray areas in life. Maybe I'm one of those. Someone who's standing in the middle of the black and white.

"Was their father part of Obsidian?"

He shook his head. "He wanted to end it too, but it wasn't something that is easy to do."

"But you did it."

He leans down and touches his lips to mine lightly. "It took years, but yes."

He leaned down again as if to kiss me, but he stopped when someone knocked on the door. Allessio told whoever it was to come in, albeit annoyed that he had to.

The door opened, and Lorenzo walked in. He glanced at me, and he said something in Italian. Of course I didn't understand any of them, though I did manage to catch Fierro's name being mentioned.

"Antonio Venturini is here. He's waiting in the living room," Lorenzo added, shifting to English.

Allessio gave him a curt nod. When it was just the two of us again in his office, he leaned back in his chair, taking me with him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Just a nuisance." He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. "Can you stay here in the office while I talk to them?"

"Am I not allowed to go with you?"

"You're always allowed to be with me, gattina."

He let out a deep breath before helping me to my feet so he could stand as well. He took my hand and led me outside.

When we reached the living room, we saw a man waiting nervously as if just being in this house was making him jittery. The moment he caught sight of Allessio, he immediately sprang to his feet.

He greeted Allessio without even acknowledging my presence and launched into whatever he had to say without pausing. It was all spoken in their language, so I didn't understand any of it except for his greeting.

Allessio raised one hand, causing the man to fall silent. Then he turned to me and gestured for me to sit before taking the space beside me, his arm automatically wrapping around my shoulders.

He regarded the man with a look that could tame even the fiercest animal. "Parla in inglese."

The man swallowed hard. "L-Leandra is my precious child but I admit that she's not the sharpest crayon in the box, Mr. Cascella. If she did anything to upset you, I will punish her and make sure that she will not do the same mistake again."

"Mr. Venturini, do you know the two things I hate the most?" Allessio didn't wait for the man to speak up before he continued, "I hate when my time is being wasted, and I hate being accused of something. What do you think will happen if someone dares to do both?"

The older man's face lost its color. "I... I have no intention to do that, Mr. Cascella."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"It's just that I heard Leandra approached..." The man glanced at me briefly, and I wasn't sure, but I saw something close to disdain crossing his eyes. "I heard about what Leandra did."

"Which is why she's the one who's supposed to be here and not you." The expression on Allessio's face even brought chill to me, and he's not even directing it to me. Even angry, Allessio never looked at me that way.

"I—"

"She have to apologize to my woman."

The man swallowed hard. "Leandra has been missing since last night."

Allessio, just look at him blankly. "Maybe you should ask Livio. He's her brother, and those two are thick as thieves."

"We... we couldn't find Livio either."

Allessio lean on his chair, regarding the man a searing look. "Then instead of being here, maybe you should start searching for your children. If it's assistance you're looking for, you can talk to Lorenzo. But when they're found, I want them here so I could talk to them." He reached for my hand and flipped it to place a soft kiss on my pulse, without breaking eye contact with the man. "Unless you're really here to accuse me."

"O-Of course not, Mr. Cascella."

Allessio glanced at Lorenzo, who instantly walked towards Antonio Venturini. The latter gave us one last look before he let Lorenzo guide him out of the house.

As soon as they were out of sight, I immediately turned to Allessio who seemed completely unaffected by what had just happened. The tension was so palpable, and yet he acted as if it didn't bother him one bit.

"Leandra is missing?" I asked.

"No."

I blinked in surprise. "But he said—" I stared at him for a moment. "You know where they are?"

Before he could answer me, Fierro appeared out of nowhere. Unlike his usual confident stride, he was limping slightly while clutching his side. His face was laced with pain but he still managed to smile when he saw me.

"Buon pomeriggio, Mrs. Cascella."

I didn't have the time to mind what he called me when I saw that his shirt was tainted with red. I was about to stand up, but Allessio stopped me.

"He needs a doctor!" I hissed.

"Lorenzo already called someone." Allessio looked at Fierro calmly. "He can still stand. He'll be fine."

"How... how can you say that? He's your friend."

"Exactly why I know he'll be fine. This is not the first time he got shot at, and neither am I." He reached for the ends of my hair, and he kissed it. "Be calm, gattina."

I bit the inside of my cheek, but I stayed on my seat like he wanted to. With my eyebrows knitted together, I turned to Fierro. "What happened to you?"

"Livio was being difficult, and he decided to try his luck on killing me," Fierro said with a scoff.

"Livio?" My head snaps to Allessio. "You really know where they are?"

"Yes, gattina."

"Then why are you still here? You need to go to them." I jabbed my finger in Fierro's direction. "He shot your friend. You need to do something."

From the looks of it, Allessio didn't expect that to come from me. I didn't either. But just the thought of Allessio and anyone of his people hurt doesn't sit right with me. If it comes to a choice, I don't want them to be the ones hurting.

"Sei davvero perfetta per me, vero?" he murmured. When he saw the question in my eyes, he of course gave me what I needed. "You're really perfect for me, aren't you?"