"Can I learn how to shoot?"

"No."

"Can I learn how to fight?"

"No."

"Can I learn how to drive?"

"No."

"Can I learn how to use a knife to defend myself?"

"No."

"Can I go back to work?"

"No."

"Can I leave?"

"No."

"Can I kiss you?"

"No."

Leonardo's fingers paused mid air above the keyboard and very slowly, he faced me and perfectly lift an eyebrow. "Ha. Ha. Very funny." He said flatly. "I shall come back to that later."

I whined. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing."

"Said the man who literally dragged me out of the kitchen, publicly declared that I will not be doing any of the household work and forced me to sit on his lap while he ignores me and does his own work in his office."

"I expect my girlfriend to be in her room, studying or watching cute kitty videos on YouTube or doing her usual things when I plan on surprising her by coming home early after so many busy days." He pressed the enter key, put his laptop on sleep mode then swiftly signed on some papers which he had previously left open and stacked them properly. "And not have her small hands on dirty dishes and cleaning toilets. I prefer them having on me."

My eyes narrowed. "I think you forgot, mister. When you say 'usual things', this comes in it. I spend half of my day doing household stuff and the other half catching up with my subjects before Christmas break ends."

"Then I'm glad that I just gave you more time to catch up."

I slapped his chest, pouting. "Be serious, will you?"

"You are not going to do household work anymore." He declared in his rich Italian accent. "Is that serious enough for you?"

I sighed in defeat. "Will I ever be able to change your mind about this?"

"Do penguins fly?"

Resting my head on his shoulder, I sulked mentally while Leonardo read and signed a few more papers.

Things have been going great here. We sorted out our differences, my dear Papa Agostini is as grumpy as ever, Louisa is still... Louisa, minus her double attitude of an ex-wife filled with rage and hatred for Papa Agostini and I haven't seen much of Adrian these days. Heard that he is busy again, just like his brother. I don't mind that. All of us have been busy actually.

These guys don't celebrate any holidays so Christmas went by drinking lots of hot chocolate and eating cookies with Rylie in my bedroom while Leonardo spent his day working his ass off to catch up with his new job which is something he hadn't done properly since day one due to some personal issues. Not that I felt any sort of pity or anything, he deserved it. Me, on the other hand, have been dumped with loads of assignment and missed lectures and topics to complete and study. Apparently, the college institution I enrolled myself in is not happy with my sudden, unexplained leave for two weeks. Imagine the length and the perfectly defined words of the letter Leonardo got when he was checking his mail with sound mind.

What can I say? Reality sure loves to present itself in unexpected forms.

"How much time will you take? You came home early to surprise me. Not to go back to work again."

"Just a few more minutes." He mumbled.

"Okay. By the way, when you leave from your office tomorrow, can you bring me a lollipop on your way back? A blueberry or an apple flavour if you can, though I always prefer blueberry."

He stopped his signature midway. "You want me to get you a... lollipop tomorrow?"

"Yes." I smiled.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes at me and completed his remaining signature. "Get one yourself."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"There is a grocery market ten minutes from here. Go there and get it yourself."

"Excuse me?" I snapped.

He looked at me in worry. "What? What did I say wrong?"

"Um, something about me going out and buying stuff on my own?"

His eyes diluted in confusion. "Why? Are you not grown enough to do that or you need someone to hold your pinky finger and take you places?"

Concerned, I touched his forehead and cheek with the back of my palm. "Are you feeling alright? No fever or migraines or anything like that? You haven't been drinking behind my back, right?"

"No. Of course not." He pulled my hand away and scowled. "Amelia, what the fuck is wrong with you? What are you acting like this?"

"Nothing." I mumbled, looking away. "It's just that I haven't exactly been... and I don't know... well, um, and you said to..."

"Go out and buy yourself a lollipop?" He laughed. "Amelia, did you forget that you can do whatever you want? Nobody is going to stop you if you want to go out. You can come and go anywhere, buy yourself anything you want like normal girls. No restrictions. You are a part of the family... my family so you better start getting used to it."

He's right. I should get adjusted to my newly founded freedom. I have nothing stopping me anymore.

"Just take someone with you, okay? Or I'll assign someone to keep an eye on you from a distance and money is not an issue here. We have got millions and billions of euros in bank and not in much of use. So just do whatever you want to do, hmm?"

My eyes widened in shock. "Millions and billions? Oh, no, no, no. I am not touching your money. I have my thirty dollars saved up so in euros, I can easily manage with that for a single lollipop."

"Thirty dollars or thirty million dollars?" He asked. "Amelia, have you not touched the money Adrian used to send so that you could look after yourself?"

I shook my head. "No. I don't wish to be dependent on anybody. It was never in my plan."

"So far nothing has gone according to your plan. I fail to understand why you think it will go now. Amy, you have money to spend, you have the right to go wherever you want only if you inform and take someone with you, explore nearby places and leave out the exotic and new ones for me to take you there. Pamper yourself. Do what normal women do, shop or whatever the fuck they do. Spoil yourself a bit. Am I clear?"

I nodded shyly. So I just have to spend less than a euro for a blueberry flavoured lollipop and leave the rest of the money as it is. Got it.

"And if you ever go shopping, buy lots of lingerie. As many colours as possible. I expect lots of fashion show from you soon."

My face flushed. Fashion show or a strip show? I can clearly imagine how each one would end. Wild, hot, relentless pounding in my tight... coming and screaming over and over again till I cannot take it anymore, him staining my innocent mind with dirty words and postions... Oh, the postions. One leg thrown over his shoulder, other wide open, him kneeling between my legs, thrusting so hard, so fast, sweat glistening our bodies as we race together one last time to reach...

My inside muscles clenched in need as I felt my panties dampening. Oh God, another week and it would be a month already. He has been so busy, we both have been busy with our pending work that we haven't gone further than our good morning and good night kisses. Heck, we haven't even got the proper time to talk about him popping the question out of nowhere and the awful events which had happened back in America.

A loud thud threw me out of my train of thoughts and I slightly jumped in shock.

"Hello there, Amy." Adrian grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. "Fancy seeing you on my little brother's lap."

Ignoring him and his statement, I saw a huge cardboard box on the table with huge letters printed 'CONFIDENTIAL' in red. Another man came in from behind, placed another huge box with same wordings and left.

Adrian took off his blazer, tossed it to a corner and made himself very comfortable on the chair. "I'm so done with everything. I deserve a long vacation now."

"Erm, excuse me?" I raised my hand like a student in doubt.

"Si, Amy?"

"What is this?" I motioned to the boxes. "And why am I seeing you after days?"

Adrian gave me a tight lipped smile. "As you can see I have been busy with these beauties." He gestured to the boxes on the table. "To answer your first question, I would like you to get off my brother's lap."

Leo and I exchanged a look then said. "No."

Adrian sighed in exhaustion. "First of all, the sight itself is very uncomfortable for me and second, it's important."

"No. Not gonna happen anytime soon. Besides..." I wiggled and saw the rarest expression of carnal desire for me on Leonardo's face. Leaning close to his ears, I whispered softly, almost seductively. "I have heard that your lap is always hard and ready for a ride. Mind if I jump in for a ride?"

"You guys are disgusting." Adrian faked a gagging sound and his expression turned serious. "Amelia, get off him. We really need to talk."

I pouted and reluctantly got off his lap, not forgetting to give his inner thigh a squeeze. He emitted a strange, faint sound. Shame on you, Amy. "I'll leave you brothers to your business then."

"Amelia, I never told you to leave. So sit beside me. All three of us need to talk about few things here."

Awkwardly, I sat on the chair with my fists clutching my uniform on my lap.

"Very good!" Adrian clapped and got up. "My lovely Amy and capo, I give you..." He made some very weird hand movements above the boxes. It looked somewhat between swatting mosquitos and dramatically presenting something huge. "The source of all your recent problems."

The source of all my recent problems?

I kept staring at the boxes, confused by his words then it hit me.

Shit. The papers.

"Can I say something before you guys start?"

"Er, sure." Adrian said.

"Can we have a bonfire where I get to burn those papers and give you the ashes?"

"Is it bad that I was expecting this from her?" Adrian whispered loudly to his younger brother.

"I was expecting that too." He whispered back.

"Done with your gossip?" I asked sternly, crossing my arms. "I believe you were saying something, Adrian. You may continue if I don't get to have my bonfire party."

"I got the papers. Yaay! Padre gave them to me a couple of days ago and I did everything according to his specific instructions. My job here is finally done." He squealed like a teenage girl.

"So proud of you." I said in a fake enthusiasm. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that we got the papers but I am not at all excited about the type of papers they are. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Not exactly..." He trailed off and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it over to his brother. With a serious expression, Leonardo opened it and his eyes travelled in an inhuman speed as he read the contents. For a mere second, his eyes flashed to me and he murmured something in Italian, clicked his tongue and continued reading.

After what it felt like centuries but actually were minutes, he folded the paper and handed it over to me. "Best if you read it yourself and be calm when you finish, will you?"

Frowning, I opened it and read. I couldn't understand much. Just some strange words about some sort of ownership and charity group, my name printed on it along with some other guy named Marcus and some more strange words with some extremely large numbers and an euro sign attached to it.

"Um, I have a question."

"Wow. You really took it with cool mind." Adrian gasped in shock.

"Why is my name written on it?" I asked, still confused. "And who the hell is Marcus?"

Adrian facepalmed. "Read the damn surname, Amy."

Then I read it again carefully and saw it printed. Marcus Agostini.

Oh.

Good to know that he has a proper name.

"I still don't understand..." I waved the paper in the air. "What is the meaning of this?"

Leonardo closed his eyes and sighed. "Remember the time when I told you about how things work with, um, shady people? You know, very important and rare people know when and where they do their business. Padre happens to be one of it and other things." I nodded slowly in understanding. "Remember how I told you about padre adding my name on the list, handing me some bunch of papers but he didn't due to some very specific reasons and how he used it against us?"

"Yeah, I do. But now I'm not liking where this is heading, Leo."

"It looks like he had a change of mind, Amelia." Leonardo said. "He added your name instead of mine. Everything inside these boxes is entitled to you, not me."

Just when I thought everything is finally over and I can live the rest of my life in peace with Leonardo, shit happened again.

Adrian watched me intently. "Now that is still calm, right?"

"I think so, brother. Are you sure of his decision? I don't think it would be-"

"He has already made up his mind."

"According to what I know, in a few days she will recieve a lett-"

"Then we better be prepared for that. He personally made sure that everything goes smoothly and they treat her with extra special care. VVVIP Treatment."

"This is outrageous! She will not sit in middle of-"

"Gangsters, politicians, killers and mercenaries who become civil with each other for once or twice a year?"

"January starts from tomorrow! You hear me? Tomorrow! Any day she will recieve that and then-"

"She better refuse for her own safety or maybe not if she is curious as always. Besides, we haven't heard of an incident from padre in ages."

"Because he never tells us! I don't care about the papers but the list? You could have stopped him. You little-"

"Leo's charming elder brother? How sweet of you." Adrian smiled. "It's rare of you to give me compliments. Amy's doing a good job."

"Um, guys?"

"Adrian, this is a serious matter!"

"You don't say so." He cooed.

"Hey!" I shouted. They stopped quarrelling in an instant. "Do I always have to raise my voice when you two are bickering like husband and wife?"

"Amy," Adrian placed a hand on his chest and sighed dreamily. "I had no idea that you wanted me instead of my brother. How about you dump his ass and marry me?"

Boiling in anger, Leonardo picked up an eraser and aimed it for his brother's eye.

"Oh fuck!" Adrian screeched, covering his eye and glared at his younger brother.

"Don't flirt with my woman." He warned.

- And I was smiling like a fool.

Then he turned to me with a very serious expression on his face. My smile died down instantly. "You were saying something."

"Yeah, right." I cleared my throat. "You can take the papers. I don't care about what shitty list you are talking about and if it really makes you go in 'complaining' mode, I'll simply talk to papa and I'm sure he will remove my name after that and add yours. That's it. Problem solved."

Adrian chuckled, slightly wincing. "You better catch a flight then."

"Flight?"

"Padre left for Maldives this morning. He'll be back after two days."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Maldives? Why?"

"To play golf."

"He went to an exotic vacation place to play golf?" I asked in disbelief.

He nodded earnestly. "He is a retired rich man, Amy. You'd be surprised of weird things we do when we get some free time."

I blinked rapidly. "So... now what?"

Leonardo breathed deeply. "The papers are your property now. Keep them safe."

"Aw, hell no!" I snapped and accusingly pointed at the boxes. "I'm not going to touch those... those things! That thing is against my morals and I hate you for even saying that they are my property now. The women working here are not my property!"

"Not so calm now, is she?" Adrian muttered sarcastically.

God, I felt so disgusted. How could that big, bad retired boss named Marcus Agostini ever put that thing in my name? I thought we had sorted our differences. Yes, I support in everything they do in their family business because I wasn't involved in it. I just want the man and nothing else. I made this very clear. So why did his father put me right in the middle of their family business? I never wanted it.

"I am sorry, but I refuse to keep those papers with me. You can take them, burn them, bury them six feet under, I don't care. Whatever is inside this," I gestured to the boxes. "I can't keep it. It's the proof of my ruined past life before I met you guys."

"Wow." Adrian deadpanned. "As emotional as fuck that sounds, Amy, things don't work like that here. You got a shit, you gotta keep that shit and that is your shit."

"Unfortunately, I agree with Adrian. Though, I can easily take them and relieve your burden, you still own every working woman here and the papers will still be under your name."

"Can you not say it like that?" I hissed. "Till this evening, I was one of them. Have some respect."

"And you know I have plenty." He said in a business like authoritarian tone.

"Hey! Don't use that tone with me, mister. I still have the opportunity to dump you for your brother."

"Of course, you do." Adrian smirked. "I'll keep you happy and very satisfied."

Leonardo gritted his teeth in frustration and restrained himself from strangling his brother. "Things have changed around here pretty nicely in the past few days. Padre has already done the transfer in your name and it takes days for proper process. Actually..." He trailed off, his mouth slightly parted open as his brain functions in a super fast speed then he grinned. His eyes twinkling in excitement. "How about we make a deal?"

I groaned. "Not again. You know how it ends when you say something like this."

"Just hear me, will you?"

I scowled. "Yes, darling."

"The papers will be under my care." I opened my mouth to speak but he shushed me. "I said hear me first. The papers will be under my care. It is final that padre wants your name on it so we better respect his wishes, otherwise we can clearly make another transfer but I choose not to."

"Why?"

"I just saw the perfect opportunity for you to start being independent. It's not perfect but it is something."

I nodded slowly. "Okay... I'm listening."

"Every month, you will recieve the amount printed on paper because the papers happen to be under your name and they will be under your name. You don't get to be dependent on anybody. You keep the money, I keep the papers. Easy."

"You sick, money minded, psychopath son of a son of a bitch." I gritted. "Are you even listening to what you are speaking? This isn't about the money! I don't want your filthy black money."

"They are sixty percent black." Adrian chipped in. I shot him a deadly glare and he gulped. "Sorry. Just wanted to correct. It's not all black."

Leonardo pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled sharply. "I told you it is not perfect. I am just trying to help you."

I scoffed. "By taking money? No thanks. I prefer living with thirty dollars I earned for the rest of my life. I may have lost many things over the years, capo. My pride and dignity is not one of them."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Simple. Remove my name and add yours. The end."

"It will take days and you need to get padre's signatures."

"I don't care." I declared. "I just want that thing away from me. I'll convince him."

He got up from his chair, walked around his desk till he was leaning on in it, right in front of me. "Amy, there must be some reason why padre decided to give them to you."

"I don't-"

"Just listen to me." He intervened. "I'm not asking you to take all the money now. I know you won't do it. You want to be independent, I'm giving you a chance. And I also know that you won't take my money."

"Oh really?" I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Since we are talking about money, I wanna know who was the costliest with name and price."

"Costliest?" Adrian asked amusedly. "You really wish to know?"

"Yes. Since you guys don't exactly print adds in a goddamn newspaper and use very innovative and creative ideas on hiring staff for free, I want to know how much everybody costs. Starting from the costliest."

The brother's kept exchanging looks from each other yet nobody answered my question.

"Well?"

"Can I have a pen and paper to write the estimated amount of her?" Adrian asked his brother.

"Help yourself." He answered.

I watched Adrian tear a small piece of paper, scribble something quickly and showed it to his brother. "Might be a couple of thousand euros more but that's what it is."

Leonardo nodded in approval. "I see. But who's gonna tell her?"

"I'm right here, you idiot." I snapped.

"Of course it has to be me." Leonardo muttered under his breath. "Amelia, ever heard of the term: Self made business woman?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you remember the time I told you that you are our only American here, but now you are my favorite American?"

I really don't like his clingy, extra sugar loaded sweet words. It makes me very suspicious of him.

"Then you better count the zeros in this very carefully." He handed over the piece of paper to me and I did what he told me to do. With every increasing zero, my eyes grew wider and wider in surprise.

"Is... Is this me?" I gasped.

"Larger the distance, higher the bidding price. California is sure far from here, right?" Adrian clicked his tongue in a playful manner. "He spent a hefty amount on you and I'm sure he regrets it very much now."

Oh, my God. I can't believe he spent so much on me just because I asked him to help me that day. Maybe he is a generous man. Occasionally. No. Rarely. Once in a blue moon generosity.

"That he does." The Agostini son replied smugly.

"What should I do about this now?" My voice was slightly shaking as I still tried to process everything. "I-I don't want the money. Just you."

His eyes shone in admiration. "We cannot simply take out your papers and leave the rest as it is. You have seen your amount but there are others too. Though it is less compared to yours but it is something. It is proven on the original amount you saw on the letter. Am I clear till here?"

My head jerked a nod. "I get it."

"I'm repeating this again and listen to me in clear mind. The papers will be under your name. A single sheet inside these boxes cost hundreds and thousands of euros and in your case, it goes higher than that."

"Much, much higher." Adrian smirked.

"I will keep the papers somewhere safe, you keep the money." I opened my mouth to speak again but he shushed me again. My lips twisted nastily. "But the amount you saw in the letter is almost double of what is worth inside these boxes. Let's say it as internal profit for us."

"How is that possible?" I whispered in disbelief.

"The other box has the papers of prostitutes. It adds up with the first box." He said bluntly.

"Oh God..." I ran my fingers through my hair and breathed deeply. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. You know this is just a glimpse of what their actual business is. Control, Amy. Control.

"As I was saying," Leonardo continued, concern written on his face. "You keep your share of money if you refuse to take it all. Every month you will recieve the double amount of what your papers are actually worth of. That still leaves us with almost half of everything from which we have our usual basic needs fulfillment of others and extra things transacted daily. Still, we are left with some pretty good amount called as profit in the end of the month."

I chuckled humorlessly. "When you say pretty good amount, you mean a few left out millions, right? Because the numbers I have seen in the letter are out of this world."

"Exactly my point. They are still yours, Amelia. You can take the rest if you want, donate it to charity or save it. It's your decision."

"I don't want it."

"Then we'll leave it as it is."

I thought a long time then said. "Are you trying to say that I am making money for myself... out of myself?"

Adrian burst out laughing. "P-Perfect definition of a self made business woman!"

"I'm glad that you got my point." Leonardo smiled. "The doubled amount is enough for you to last an entire lifetime and you'll be receiving that every month starting from tomorrow."

"I understood that but it doesn't change the fact that I..." I couldn't speak the rest of my sentence. My expression displayed it all.

Gently, Leonardo grabbed my hand between his and blew a kiss on it. "Don't call it as ownership, Amy. It's called as partnership."

I laughed nervously. "Too much for a lollipop, don't you think?"

"I think you get to keep the change." He smiled, victory dancing in his eyes.

"Since you are talking about lollipop, bring one for me too, will you?" Adrian grinned mischievously. We pulled back and coughed awkwardly. Leonardo's cough more sounded like 'fuck you'. "Or did you guys forget that I'm still here and were about to go rabbits on each other? Oh dear, I don't wish to get that kind of image on my brain but just so you know Amy, I was the one who gave him the birds and the bees talk. Poor boy was so confused yet for a ten year old, he was already flapping it up like an expert."

"SHUT UP!" Never have I ever seen Leonardo Agostini so embarrassed and red in anger. "You had walked in on purpose, scratch that, you broke my lock!"

"Can we like, not talk about this?" I mumbled in shame and covered my face.

Adrian rolled his eyes. "Grow up, will you? It's been sixteen years already."

"You were the one who brought it up!"

"Give me a day or two, and I will reveal everything you did in your childhood and teenage years to your little miss rich girlfriend. Here's another one. At the age of seven, he peed on his bed and was literally doing swimming actions in the middle of the night." Adrian revealed. "I remember his words, 'Pissing the piscine'. I was learning French back in those days and somehow this idiot managed to get hold of that word. Rest is history."

"Get. The fuck. Out."

"Oh! Here's another one-"

"I said out!"

I couldn't stop my laughter. Hell, I could die like this.

Adrian thought for a moment then shook his head. "Nah, buddy. I am free. Unlike your ex-drunken ass, I managed to finish my work on time. If my lovely Amy is free and eager to hear more embarrassing stories of you, she can sure come with me and we'll get a lollipop together."

"C-Count me in." I hiccuped.

"You are not going anywhere." He ordered.

I did nothing except sticking my tongue out. "Sorry. I can come and go anywhere I want and I'm taking someone with me... your brother. Just like you wanted."

I can clearly see the steam coming out of his ears.

Furiously, he opened his laptop to check his mails again and ignored us giggling.

Adrian whispered. "Shall we leave?"

I smiled sweetly. "Of course, signore."

We were about to get up from our chairs when Leonardo stopped his brother. He looked quite confused.

"Um, Adrian... why did padre sent you a mail with a list of women names and added me in cc? What a strange subject: Get-married-by-next-year-and-give-me-grandchildren-to-spend-time-with-because-your-brother-is-out-of-the-question."

Adrian whispered to me again. "Shall we run?"

I batted my eyelashes and smiled sweetly again. "Of course, signore."

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