It's dead silence the entire drive to the restaurant. Every so often I hear a soft sigh from him, but not one word does he speak. At this point, I think hearing him yell would probably be better than sitting through his silent treatment and him ignoring me. At least I would know what he's thinking.  

"Antonio," I whisper. He turns his head to make eye contact.

"Yes, Eva?" 

"I know you said you're willing to give me a second chance, and you believe how sorry I am and how much I regret screwing up, but your silent treatment is making me believe you don't believe a word of my apology. I am honestly very sorry," I apologize once again as he pulls into the parking lot.

"Eva, I know how sorry you are, and I also know how much you wish you could go back and make this right, but like I said before, what's done is done. There is no changing the outcome of this. And there is no point harping on this. I am giving you another chance to prove to me you can do your job without any further major screw ups. Yes, I am disappointed, but I will get over it. You will learn working for me, I can get moody at times, but I will always be fair if you do a good job for me," he slightly smiles putting my nerves at ease.

"Thank you, Tony. Wait, do you mind if I call you Tony?" I ask. He leans closer and grins.

"I love hearing you call me Tony." 

"Um, okay, Tony."

"Come on, let's go in there and have some dinner. I'm starving," he opens my door and places my hand in his. As we get to the door of the restaurant, the greeter opens it and I notice this look between worry and shock across his face.

"Good evening, Thomas, I have a reservation."

"Yes, of course, Mr. Santos, but forgive me, I thought you would be arriving alone," he says while looking directly at me. 

"Thomas, I informed you I would have a dinner date this evening. I reserved my favorite booth for two. Is there a problem?"

"I am terribly sorry for the screw up, Mr. Santos."

"Thomas, you're not making any sense."

"She is already waiting for you at your booth, Mr. Santos," he informs Tony. Tony steps closer to Thomas with a curious look. 

"Okay, let's try this again, shall we, Thomas? And let's just try a little more to make some sense. Good evening, we are here to have some dinner. I have a reservation for two. Now, will you please escort me and my dinner date to our booth, Thomas?" He asks through gritted teeth.

"Your dinner date is already waiting for you at your booth, Mr. Santos," Thomas steps back with a look of fear covering his face.

"Thomas, as you can clearly see, she is my dinner date," Tony points towards me.

"Then who is she, Mr. Santos?" Thomas points out in the dining area. Both Tony and I tilt our heads looking around the corner towards the booth. There is where we both see this beautiful red-haired lady grinning back at both of us. 

"Son of a bitch, what the hell is she doing here?" He says clenching both fists. 

"Tony, who is she?"  I question him.

"Someone you do not want to meet, Eva. I am going to call my driver and have him come and escort you back home."

"What, why? She can't be all that bad, can she?" I naively ask.

"Eva, trust me when I say, she is not someone you want to meet or get to know."

"Hello, Antonio, it's been a long time. How are you? Oh look, you brought me some dinner with you. She looks scrumptious," she licks her lips. The look on his face is now pure rage.

"Andrea, this will be your only warning. Leave now, go back to where you belong or face the consequences." 

"Oh Antonio, you do know how to entertain a girl. And I know how to get cranky when I'm getting what I want. Shall we all gather at our booth and decide what we're all in the mood for?" She grins while stepping to the side to allow us a path to our booth.

"I know it's been many years, Andrea, but you know me well enough by now not test my patience."

"This is very true. Antonio and I sadly haven't seen or spoken to each other in over ten years now. Shall we fill the little lady in how we left things, Antonio?" She smirks causing his face to turn a bright red and his veins in his forehead to pop out. As he clenches his teeth, he wraps his hand around her pale arm, she gasps as he pulls her away from me.

"Tony, what are you doing? Let go of her this instant," I snap.

"Stay out of this, Eva. I am now giving you your first order as your boss. Take these keys, take my car, and leave. I will not repeat myself, Eva," his tone becomes more deep and much harsher.

"Okay," I obey his order not wanting to press him any further.

"Well, well, well, Antonio. Decided to wet the noodle into a human this time. I mean as far as a human woman, she is attractive, I have seen much worse," she says.

"Tell me something, Andrea, do you all of a sudden have a death wish? And how the hell did you crawl yourself out of the pit?"

"If you're referring to hell, it really wasn't that difficult, Antonio. I've been out for a few years now and I have a job for you to do," she smirks.

"You either have to be stupid, insane, or both. Let me remind you who the hell I am. I am the king of hell. Not someone you can just start barking out orders to. You arrogant, stupid wench."

"Oh shit, Antoinio. Tell me it isn't so."

"Tell you what isn't so, Andrea?" 

"Are you developing feelings for the attractive human lady? You know this is a mistake, right?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but she is my employee. I feel nothing for her other than a boss wanting to see her do a good job working for me. That's as far as my feeling go for her."

"Yeah, not buying it. You became so protective over her. Be careful, you can't be with her twenty-four hours."

"Andrea, if you want to continue living past this night, I am warning you, don't you dare go anywhere near Eva. Or I will break you in half." 

"Again, I say, say it isn't so, Antonio."

"Andrea, I won't tell you again."

"Shit, Antonio. You are developing those disgusting human feelings for that female human. You're becoming just like them. Are you forgetting who and what the hell you are, Antonio"? she asks igniting my wrath. I grab her arm and escort her out the door and into the ally. Her eyes widen as she sees my red eyes glare back at her. A grin forms across her face.

"No, Andrea, I have not forgotten who and what the hell I am. But maybe you need to be reminded who and what the hell I am, I say with a low growl in my tone.

"No, this is the Antonio I know and want back. Let me guess, your dinner date is completely clueless to who and what you are, right?" 

"If you even think about telling Eva who and what I am, Andrea, I promise you those will be the last words you ever speak. You stay the hell away from her, or you will regret it."

"So, I am going to just assume this is part of your master plan. I see you have chosen an unexpecting victim. You were never planning on choosing me to be what you feel you need, were you?" 

"Hell no. Andrea. You knew all along how this was going to play out. It will never be you." 

"And just maybe, Antonio, it will never be her. Like I said before, you can't be with her twenty-four hours a day."