I really hate it when people are right.

A month and a half went by as if I were turning pages of a book and I am still surprised by that.

And I was not at all surprised when I heard that Leonardo's father was acting oblivious to what he had heard and seen in the kitchen. I understood that he is patiently waiting for something or rather someone. The brothers, on the other hand, are quite vigilant around him. Waiting for the moment he will strike or say something regarding me. He's after me for God knows what reason so I should be the one who will be taking care of this mess and I have no worries about it.

As days pass by, Leonardo got more busy than usual. He travelled a lot, worked late nights and attended calls even when it was his time to sleep. He says that Adrian is much busier than him. Even though he is the one taking over things, Adrian has to make sure that the transfer goes smoothly and there are no mistakes or anything left out, seeing the fact that he is their legal advisor slash second in command (I wonder what that means). Regardless of everything that I heard from Adrian and how much I avoid him, I pity him.

I learnt how to video call on my laptop. Obviously I know how to video call a person, but a quick revision tour is no harm, right? What am I even saying? I fucking hate it. Adrian was right. I am outdated. Leonardo spent good thirty minutes out of his busy hours only to teach me how to accept a call before he left for one of his many travels for the first time. And when the night came, he called and our conversation went like this...

Me: Hi. (insert nail biting and lots of blushing)

He: Hi. (insert neck rubbing)

Me: Had your dinner?

He: I did. And it looks like you are having yours right now.

Me: (cuts the call)

He never taught me how to cut a video call.

About Louisa, that woman got crazier and crazier as the day of the party neared. It was fun watching her getting excited like a teenager who found her lost earring whenever any one of us would inform her that we had finished cleaning, chopping vegetables or cooking. We were informed that we had to take care of dinner. Just dinner. No starters. No beverages. No dessert. In short, the women had to look after the dinner of over two hundred people and counting. Talk about pressure here.

Good thing that I happen to be the worst person in cooking department.

Everybody was busy in their own duties and time just passed by, but no matter how busy he is or how far he travels and spends nights away from me or how tiring his day goes, Leonardo Agostini would always go back to his room, take a shower, wear his night clothes, open his balcony, jump into mine then crawl in my bed and drift off to sleep with me in his arms like a precious cargo. At times, he would steal a kiss or two and whisper words which I couldn't understand but feel. It was frustrating at first, not being able to understand every word, then I just gave up. Period.

And every other morning, he annoys the shit out of me by poking my nose till he ruins my sleep and gets up to leave for work. Just like now.

"Stop doing that." I said with my eyes closed.

He kept pressing my nose as if it were a button.

"I have really started to think that you have some weird fetish with my nose."

"I find it adorable. There are not many things in my life which I find adorable."

I groaned and shifted, facing him. My eyes still closed. "That doesn't mean you'll poke it, you idiot. I'll move and your finger will be straight inside of it."

"You should not insult the birthday boy. He will not give you chocolates."

My eyes fluttered open and I smiled when I saw a pair of hazel brown eyes in front of me.

"Well then, I don't want any because I'm not gonna stop." I snickered.

He grabbed my waist and rolled me over. I found myself straddling him on his lap and responding to his delicate kisses.

"Buongiorno, capo." I moaned.

His hands roamed on my back and he buried his face on the crook of my neck, breathing deeply. "Hmm... Buongiorno, amore."

Cold air blew in my room and chills ran down my spine.

"It's cold." I whimpered.

He picked up a thick blanket and wrapped ourselves in it. I grasped his shoulders and warmth grew in me in an instant. "It's early December. It will start snowing soon. Most probably by tonight."

"It never snowed where I came from." I sighed. "So I was quite fascinated when I saw snow here for the first time, but I didn't like it."

"Why?"

"I don't want to talk about my early days here. They were horrible. Like a never ending nightmare." I mumbled sadly.

"I do understand that this life came be very tough for a new person but you came through."

I chuckled. "I came through because I had a fool proof plan to get out of this life."

"And that plan landed you on me."

"What a waste." I clicked my tongue playfully and we laughed.

"What are your plans for today?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing new. Just clean, eat, clean, eat, clean, attend classes, eat, revise my notes and go to sleep."

His face fell. "Nothing else?"

"Nope." I chirped and feigned an innocent look. "Why? Should I be having other plans?"

"Amelia..." He groaned.

I slapped his chest in a playful manner. "Relax. I'm just teasing you. Of course I remember about your little birthday party having colourful balloons and a pink frosting cake where everybody will surround and sing for you. You will be wearing your favourite princess dress with a tiara on your head and having the best time of your life."

"Oh, mio Dio." His face showed raw disgust and he paled. "You got that image in my head and that's something which will never leave my head."

I burst out laughing. "That... That would be hilarious!"

"Amelia, enough of joking around."

"S-Sorry." I hiccupped. "I was dying to get it out of my system. No need to remind me about tonight's birthday party."

"It's not only a birthday party, Amelia." He corrected. "It's also a celebration masquerade party thrown in my name because my padre will announce his retirement tonight and I'll be taking in charge of things from tomorrow. Both legally as well as illegally, but nobody would actually know about the illegal part."

I bit my lower lip nervously. "Does that mean you'll always be busy?"

He shook his head. "Just a few added responsibilities. It won't hold me away from you."

I blushed and lowered my head in embarrassment. "I never asked that."

"But you did mean to ask it, right?" He asked amusedly.

I nodded shyly and hid my face on his chest. We were silent in our little cocoon of blanket for some time when we heard a chime. I closed my eyes and breathed shakily, not wanting to let go of this moment.

"When do you have to leave?" I whispered.

"I..." He hesitated. "I have to be at the company in an hour."

A lump formed in my throat and I nodded in understanding. "How long does it take to reach there?"

"It's a thirty minute drive." He answered. That's less than ten minutes for us to spend together, considering the fact that he has to freshen up, shower, get dressed, make a quick visit to his office here and have a healthy breakfast.

"Congratulations, capo. You are finally getting everything you want."

He ran his fingers through my hair and sighed in content. "I will be getting everything I ever wanted when I'll see you downstairs, all dressed up for the party."

"Will I be seeing you before that?"

"I'm afraid not. I'll be out for the whole day and change my clothes for the party at the company itself."

"Okay."

Subconsciously, I pressed my ears on his chest and listened to his rhythmic heartbeats. This is perfect. It always has been and it always will be. I didn't want to let go of this. I'll never let go of this. This is too precious for me. I haven't had anything or anybody so precious near me for a quite some time now.

My gaze went to my balcony and a soft smile appeared on my lips when I saw white flurry falling from the sky.

"Leo?"

"Si, Amy?"

"Your assumption went wrong. It's snowing now."

He looked outside and a smile tugged on his lips. This is the perfect moment, Amy. Say it! Learning a few words from Google translate and finding out meaning of words I had been hearing from him on daily basis changed things, a lot. He still thinks I'm clueless as always, but I'm not. Not anymore though. Unknowingly, from going after each other's neck, we became each other's life source and I wasn't going to complain about that.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted my head up from his chest and murmured in his ear.

"Mio amore, bueno compleanno."

*****

Leonardo Agostini is a pig.

Tap.

Leonardo Agostini can rot in hell, for all I care.

Tap.

Leonardo Agostini is a son of a son of a bitch. (His father is also a son of a bitch and he happens to be his son)

Tap. Tap.

Leonardo Agostini can choke on his coffee or tea or whatever he drinks and die.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Leonardo Agostini is a coward.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

I shut my laptop close and drop on my bed, events of this morning still fresh in my mind.

"What have you done, Amy?" I whispered to myself and covered my face in shame.

Leo ran away. Literally. I wished him a happy birthday and called him that which he calls me every night and morning, he ran away. I finally open up to him and this is what I get. I ruined everything.

I bit my inner cheeks to stop myself from crying. It was a bad idea. To search up the meaning and surprise him by speaking little Italian I learnt especially for him, but my stupid self was too damn curious to know what he calls me so... lovingly.

I looked at my closed balcony slide door and sniffed. It snowed throughout the day and stopped only an hour ago. My balcony is filled with snow and I can't stand there. I can't even do any of my duties because Louisa told me to leave. She knows I won't be any help in making dinner or maybe she already knows that I have to attend the party.

But I don't even have a dress and I don't think after my little language stunt this morning, capo even wants me to be there with him.

Maybe he changed his mind and decided to leave me here.

Maybe he asked some other woman to be his date for the night.

Maybe he stopped... No. I shouldn't assume things without talking about it.

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks and I walked into my bathroom to wash my face then I saw myself in the mirror. Haha! Look at you, Amy. So weak, so pathetic. Crying over a man who was once nothing to you. This is not you. That girl is buried six feet under the ground in her neighbourhood. You are just a mere housekeeper, an illegal immigrant who is stuck in this hell house for the rest of her life. You have no home to go.

I washed my face over and over again as an effort to wash away all those insecurities flooding in my mind. Then I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

"In a minute." I said as I wiped my face.

It has to be Rylie and she is not stopping with her knocking.

"I said in a minute!" I shouted and marched out of my bathroom.

"Carina?" I mumbled in shock.

Carina had two boxes under her arms as she smiled with a strange glint in her eyes.

"Say hello to your fairy godsisters."

My... what?

"Signore, entrate!"

As if on cue, two women I had worked with barged into my room, each having a small suitcase or two in her hands and at last, Rylie came in with something huge wrapped in a black plastic cover.

"Alessa, shut the curtains and lock the door! Gia, clear up her dressing table and plug in the hairdryer! Rylie, put that dress away and clean up her bed. I'll start arranging the set and as for you..." She turned to me as others began to do things she told them to do and pulled out a razor from her apron pocket. "Get shaving."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I do not want to see a single hair on your body except for your head and your eyebrows and eyelashes. I want it all clear in thirty minutes so go shave your culo off. Now." She growled and handed me the razor.

"Excuse me?"

She sighed irritably. "I said, go shave your ass off. We do not have much time."

I stood still, dumbfounded. "Time for what?"

Four pair of eyes went wide in my direction.

"Signorina, did you not hear what I said only a minute ago? We are your fairy godsisters and we bare gifts for you." She motioned to the boxes and suitcases.

"Excuse me?" I blurted again. What the hell is going on here?

"Is she always like this?" She asked my ex roommate. Rylie smiled apologetically and nodded.

She sighed again. "Okay... so I'll start from the beginning."

"Please, by all means."

"Exactly thirty minutes ago, a man approached signorina Rylie in the hallways and said something to her. Since we were the ones who were near her, she dragged us all to capo's office where that man was already sitting on capo's chair. We assumed that he is somewhat close to capo because we all know nobody sits on capo's chair except capo himself."

"Adrian?" I mouthed to Rylie. She nodded frantically.

Carina gave us both a weird look and continued, "Then we found out that you are supposed to attend the party with capo tonight and we have only two hours to get you all pampered and ready to rock capo's world, those were that strange man's words and not mine. He gave us all these items. He also said and I quote; make sure that donna di capo looks like a regina perché she is one to him."

"Donna pooda regina what?" I asked, confused.

"Excuse her English. What she meant to say is," Alessa said from behind, "make sure that boss's woman looks like a queen because she is one to him. That man had quoted boss himself, so those are boss's words."

What? Boss's woman?

"And he gave us the name of fairy godsisters because fairy godmothers are old women." Gia said in a bored tone. "I know I should not be saying this but what a strange man he was."

"Worry not, signorina Gia. What we say in this room, stays in this room." Carina assured then faced me. "Now get shaving and showering while we decide what kind of make up you should wear."

"So you want me to shave and wash my hair?"

Carina nodded. "Absolutely. Every single hair off your body and I do not want any cuts in your skin. It should be smooth and silky!"

"When you say every, you mean... every?"

She smirked when she finally understood my double meaning. "Si. Including your princess parts or you need help in that?"

My eyes grew big and my cheeks flushed red. I dashed into my bathroom and I heard the women laughing from outside.

Exact forty minutes later, my hair, face, toes and fingers were under attack by four women.

"Amelia, stop humming!"

"Don't you ever bite your nails. They look horrible!"

"Don't blink now. You'll ruin the mascara!"

"Don't bite your lips when I just applied gloss in it!"

"Ouch!" I hissed and shot a glare to Rylie who was working on my hair. "Do you guys even know what you are doing? Regarding all this make up and stuff."

"Of course." Gia answered and continued painting my toe nails baby pink. "We're women after all."

So they definitely don't know what they are doing.

Alessa was shaping my finger nails when she decided to speak. "It is quite simple. We just have to highlight your eyes and cheekbones, paint your lips with bold red lipstick and minimal make up on your face yet it should be eye catching. We can handle this, right?"

Others nodded in response.

"You don't have to worry about anything, Amelia. We always do our duties on time." Carina muttered. She had taken in charge of my make up and was contouring my cheeks.

Two and a half hours passed by in highlighting, brushing, tying my hair in a bun with absolute perfection then spraying hairspray all over it and purposefully leaving loose strands, applying lipstick, lip gloss, plucking my eyebrows in shape then applying eyelash curler, eyeliner, mascara, eye-shadow, foundation, blusher and God knows what other things. I had never seen so many beauty items in my entire life. My nails were painted baby pink and I was truly shocked when I saw my final look. I couldn't recognise the woman in front of me and I actually felt beautiful.

"We are late." I informed.

'Fashionably late.' Rylie wrote.

"Time for dress." Gia announced and pulled down the zipper of the black plastic covered dress.

Loud gasps escaped from all of us when we saw the gorgeous dress.

"It's... It's silver." Carina stammered.

Alessa sighed dreamily. "It's shining."

Rylie motioned to the valley of her chest region and winked.

We kept admiring the dress from afar when I realised something.

"There is no sleeve in this. How am I supposed to wear it?"

"I see something in it." Gia checked inside the dress and screamed. "Madre del Dio!"

"What's wrong?" Alessa asked in concern. We saw a small piece of paper which is attached to the dress in her palm.

"This is a 980,000 euro dress!"

"Cazzo!"

"That's insane! This is much more costlier than my life."

"Wait a minute, how many dollars would that be? Sorry. My euro to dollar conversion is useless." I laughed.

Gia carefully removed the dress from its cover and placed it on my bed as if it were a sleeping baby.

"This is a million dollar dress." She revealed.

All of my breath left my body. One million dollars on a single dress, for one night, for only a couple of hours? Alessa is right. This is insane. Truly, utterly insane.

Everybody waited for my reaction, but I kept staring at the gown sprawled on my bed. I just don't get it. First he calls me by that endearment every night and when I finally take the courage to speak up, give him a hint that I feel the same, he runs away. Then he buys a million dollar dress for me to wear at his party. What is he trying to prove?

I heaved a sigh. "There is no sleeve. How am I supposed to wear my bra and hide the strap?"

"You won't." Alessa said. "It's padded from the inside. No bra."

I gulped, thinking of every possibility that could happen if I won't wear anything inside this dress except for an underwear and raised my arms in surrender. "Fine. Let's get this on and over with."

No comments on the price.

After carefully putting on the dress which fitted like a glove to me, the women gave final touches to my hair and makeup.

"Okay, words of motivation time." Carina and others gathered around me while I was sitting on my chair. "We were also told you to give you that by that man so we will give you that."

All of us faced the mirror. Carina and Rylie bent down slightly to my height while Alessa and Gia were standing behind me.

"Truth to be told, we are not that close to each other because we are not allowed to." Carina said flatly. "Who knows who might be gone in the very next day, right?"

"Carina..." I took a deep breath, "It's not true."

Her expression became unreadable.

"The men of this family, being dangerous to us and stuff, it's all a lie. They respect us." I grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "There is just one man here who wants us to live in fear and I think you can guess very easily who that man is."

Through the mirror, I saw Gia and Alessa having a blank look on their faces. Rylie was staring at them.

"We only see people among us going missing because they are told to and have very less control over their anger but they are working on it. Have you seen any disappearances after signore Michael?"

"Signorina Amelia!" She hissed. "Stop speaking this instant!"

"Of course, you haven't. None of you have." I continued, "Because I asked them to. They might do bad things and we may have to clean a bloody basement or floor after they finish their jobs but they're humans with a heart. They have been good to me and they listen."

Carina exhaled sharply and snatched her hand away. "We are here to give you some words of motivation so that is exactly what we will do. Regardless of what you say."

"Fine." I mumbled and lowered my head, silently accepting my defeat.

"Once upon a time, we heard a woman made an attempt to escape this mansion." My head shot up and some strands of hair fell off. Rylie gritted her teeth and began to work on it. "When we first heard that, we assumed you gone for good and carried on with our duties like always then we heard that capo let you go, we did not expect that. Silently, we watched you make multiple attempts right in front of our eyes and fail miserably. Capo let you go all the time. Later, we heard you got shot and to be honest, everybody was expecting that."

My jaw dropped in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Si." Gia answered.

Carina continued, "Anyways, we heard you survived it and we also heard that you finally left this place. All this time, capo let you go. You were supposed to be dead. Poof. Gone. It is very obvious that capo has a thing for you. You, sitting here, all dressed up for the party, is your proof. We may keep our mouths shut and head low, but we cannot keep our eyes and ears shut. We have seen enough. We have heard enough so it is better we take our leave because that is exactly what we should be doing. It is our duty to serve capo and he gave us the duty to dress you up. We are done with that."

My face fell as I watched them pack up things and get ready to leave.

"Don't trip from those heels." Gia advised as she stood on my doorstep with others.

"I'll try my best." I smiled.

"Your mask is on the bed. Wear it before you leave. You just have to tie it with the ribbon. It won't mess your hair." Alessa said.

"Okay." I whispered and faced a blank looking Carina.

"Your pin is loose." She mumbled. I was about to take care of it myself but she stopped me by grabbing wrist. "I'll take care of it."

She got really close to my ear as she arranged my hair and whispered, her eyes blazing fire. "Somebody better teach that man a lesson."

What we say in this room, stays in this room.

My head jerked a nod, a silent answer.

One by one, my fairy godsisters left me alone, each of them wishing me a good night. Rylie literally squealed in excitement and showed me her thumb before she left. The door closed and I was alone... again.

Now what?

As if on cue, I heard a knock on my door.

"It's open." A familiar head popped from behind and my face brightened. "Adrian!"

He roamed his eyes from my head to toe like a pervert and whistled. "If it weren't for my little brother, I would have snatched you away because you look so damn gorgeous."

I laughed. "You look quite dashing yourself."

Adrian is wearing a crisp black suit with a shiny red tie. His hair is gelled properly and his red mask is peeking out of his pocket. His hands were behind his back and he stood behind me, both of us facing the mirror.

"How have you been? I haven't seen you since..." I found out about you and Louisa. Suddenly, I felt bad for avoiding him for all these weeks.

"Busy." He chuckled. "You must have heard it from capo."

My mood dropped as I remembered his so-called little brother's actions earlier this morning. "Yeah, I did."

"You do know that you are late, right? You were supposed to be downstairs an hour ago."

"It's called fashionably late." I corrected him with a smug look.

He rolled his eyes and muttered. "Women."

"Speaking of women, you forgot to take out the price tag of this dress. You gave all of us a heart attack."

"I left it on purpose." He smirked. "Everybody should know how capo treats his woman."

I scoffed. "I'm not his woman. I don't belong to anybody."

"Then I wonder why he keeps boasting me and some of our clients about you." He thought out loud.

My heart fluttered. "He's doing that?"

"Si. And it has started to annoy me a lot. He has been doing that since morning after he barged into my room while I was showering, screaming and shouting like a mad man."

"What was he shouting about?" I asked curiously.

"That's not my place to tell." He said dismissively. "I am here to escort you and give you this."

He revealed a black box from behind and I froze when I realised what it is.

"Leo handpicked it earlier this afternoon. He wanted to give you this personally, but he could not get the opportunity to leave so I came."

I gasped softly when he opened the black box to reveal the most beautiful diamond set I had ever seen.

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