Sometimes, the aftermath is more devastating than the storm.

Chrystia Freeland

Haven Pierce's POV

My head hurts like hell. It felt like someone had been pounding inside my skull. I tried to move on to the unfamiliar bed. Where am I? This soft bed doesn't feel like mine. I tried to open my heavy eyes and stared at my surroundings.

Dark gray walls...

I abruptly sat up from the massive bed and looked around. I knew this bedroom, I used to clean this room for the past week. What am I doing...? Then my attention was caught by my bound hands. What the hell? Handcuffs? Why do my hands and ankles have handcuffs? What's going on here? And why I am in the mafia's room?

"How are you feeling?"

My head snapped in the direction of the balcony. Outside the open glass door leading to the veranda of his room, the owner of this room was there standing with his back to me. He was looking outside the most picturesque view of the whole town of Sicily. I tried to speak but my mouth was so dry so I cleared my throat and tried again. "What did you do to me?" I asked hoarsely.

"What did I do to you?" He echoed while laughing sarcastically. He was still looking outside refusing to look at me. "Nothing, principessa. You should be asking what you did to me yesterday."

I frowned at his words as I tried to recall the event yesterday. I remember going in town with him and having a sumptuous lunch in this little restaurant and then, he got a phone call from Nico and we went to the club that he owns. I also remember having a drink prepared by his bartender and then everything was blurry from that point on.

"What happened after we went to your club?" I queried trying to recall the event myself. "I don't remember after that."

He finally turned around and walked back inside the room. I could see how disheveled his state of appearance was this morning it was far from his usual pristine look. He even has dark circles under his eyes. Didn't he get a good night's sleep last night? He sighed deeply as he sat on the edge of the bed and stared straight into my eyes. "I'm not surprised that you don't remember a thing. I want to apologize for what happened yesterday."

My forehead creased while looking back at him. "What do you mean? Why my hands and ankles were shackled? And what I am doing in your room?" I bombarded him with a series of questions. "Did you do something to me inappropriately?"

He shook his head I could see the way his jaw was clenching. "The bartender. He slipped a high dosage of sex drugs in your drink..." he revealed, his dark eyes filled with fury. "He probably thinks that you are an easy target and he thinks he can assault you and get away from it if he drugged you."

I gasped. My bound hands flew to my mouth. "Oh, my God!"

"Don't worry. I will take care of him." He promised with a chilling tone. Right now, he was every inch of a ruthless and feared mafia boss. I involuntarily shivered at his expression while taking the offered glass of water.

"What will do with him?" I asked curiously, taking a sip of the water. However, I still couldn't believe that his employee could do such a thing to a woman and he smugly believed that he could get away from his crime.

Santi smirked evilly in my direction like the very devil. "I assure you, I will take care of that bastard. When I am done with him he would never think of touching a woman ever again."

I wanted to know what he was planning to do but I just kept my mouth shut. I stared at his face for a long moment. "May I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"How did drugs end up in your club?"

He gave me a mocking smile as if I was being ridiculous. He cocked an eyebrow. "Who do you think I am? Of course, that thing will be available in clubs since my customers want them. It's that how I earn a lot of money."

Why did I bother to ask him that in the first place? How can I forget what kind of job he has? "Another thing. Why do I have handcuffs and sleep in your bed?"

His lips twitched with a slight smile as he remembered something. "I was forced to do that because of the effect of the sex drugs. You kept on stripping your clothes and you are groaning in pain because of some unfulfilled craving."

My eyes widened in his direction. "No way!" I denied it vehemently. I might not clearly remember the event yesterday but I knew I would not do such a thing. "You're just lying. There's no way in hell that I will do that doped or not."

"I'm afraid that I am telling the truth." There was no remorse in his voice. It was clear in the daylight that he was enjoying the embarrassment that I was feeling right now. "If I didn't shackle you, you would keep on attacking me."

I could feel that my cheeks were warming up but I was firm with my conviction that I didn't do that in front of him.

"Don't worry. I am not judging you, I know the effect of those drugs when they are already inside your system you'll become a sex maniac." He added, he probably saw the disbelief in my face. "I have to do this because you kept on offering yourself to me and I knew you would regret everything once you woke up."

"Oh, my God..." I groaned, hiding my face with my palms. How could I face him ever again after what I did last night? He was my guardian, for God's sake! Of all the people why does it have to be him? I glanced at him warily. "I didn't do anything else stupid besides trying to remove my clothes, did I?"

"Oh, well..." he has this private smile on his face that I don't trust. I knew that there was something more that he didn't tell me.

Shit. How fucked up I was yesterday? I suddenly wanted just vanish on the face of the earth. "What is it?"

He smirked devilishly. Does he know how insanely gorgeous he was when he was doing that? That should be illegal and he should stop doing that. "Why? Will you take responsibility for your action just in case?"

"That depends. How badly did I behave? Will it cost me my dignity?" I demanded. I have a feeling that I will not have a face to show after today.

"Well..." he paused for a moment, maybe because he was gauging my reaction or maybe he just wanted to torment me a little bit more before enlightening me about the things I did and couldn't even remember.

"What?" I asked a little impatiently.

"You stole a kiss from me—" he disclosed casually. I nearly choke my saliva. What did he just say? I think I didn't hear him right.

"No way!" I cried in denial. I refused to believe it. No way.

"—twice."

I stared at him in disbelief as the blood on my face drained. He's lying. I am sure of it. My heart nearly stopped beating at the thought of me stealing two kisses from him. Why, oh why? I want to die right now. "I'm sorry..."

"Are you going to take responsibility for your action yesterday?" He inquired chirpily, his eyes danced with delight.

I scowled in his direction as I hugged my knees for extra protection from this guy. "Excuse me?"

The smile on his face broadened. He was a devil in disguise as a human. He leaned forward to close the distance between us but I automatically shrank back. "Did you say that you will take responsibility for stealing kisses from me?"

"I did," I replied reluctantly while looking at him with a guarded look. I hope he was not thinking of something naughty or embarrassing to do. "What do you want me to do then?"

He stared at me for a long moment and then he burst out laughing. His laugh shattered my already bruised ego. "I'm just kidding, little one." He said patting the top of my head like a child which annoyed me even more than his teasing. I'm already a grown woman, for God's sake! "Let's just forget the whole thing, all right? I know you didn't mean to kiss me, you are just under the influence."

"Thank you." I expressed, that somehow I could salvage my dignity after this.

"And I assure you that this will never happen again since I don't have any plans on taking you to my clubs again. Those places are too dangerous for a lady like you."

I nodded in agreement. I couldn't believe that my first taste of alcohol was this unforgettable. Maybe this would be the first and last time I would ever try alcoholic drinks in my lifetime. "Um...now that we already agreed to forget the whole thing how about uncuffing me so I can go out of your room?"

"Oh, right." He stood from the bed with a wicked smile on his face. "I think the keys are missing. I don't remember where I put them."

Shock. Rage. Disbelief. All swirled inside me as I stared at him with parted lips. "You're kidding, right? How you possibly chain me like this if you don't even know if you have the damn keys in your possession?"

"Desperation," he said nonchalantly as he started to search for the keys on the drawers of his nightstands. I abruptly avoided my gaze when I saw his stash of condoms. "Oops, sorry..." he whispered without a hint of remorse in his deep voice. He continued to rummage through his drawers.

"Why do you even have handcuffs in your possession when you're certainly not a cop? I believe you are allergic to police officers."

He arched a brow as he stopped looking for those damn keys and glanced at me with amusement on his face. "Can't you think of another way to use that other than the law enforcement use them to arrest criminals?" When I shook my head, he smiled to himself mockingly. "So innocent."

"What do you use them for then?" I questioned curiously. "Do you dream of becoming a cop in the future?"

He looked me straight in the eye but there was a twinkling gleam in his eyes like he was enjoying a private joke on my benefit. I don't like that look on his face, to be honest. "That's the most absurd thing I ever heard." He chuckled darkly. "I sell drugs and banned ammunition to politicians and wealthy men who don't trust the authorities for their safety. How can you say that I aspire to be a law officer with my line of business?"

"Well, I am just curious." I rolled my eyes at him.

He shut the drawer and gave me his full attention. "Just to satisfy your curiosity, Piccola. I used them to chain women in my bedposts to have extra spice while screwing them. Do you understand now?"

I could feel the blush that spread through my cheeks. I don't understand his weird taste in sex. I shuddered at the images inside my brain. "Ew..." I managed to say. "Get me out of these chains. I don't want to be a trap with the things you use while having sex with your women. I don't care if you need to use a grinder for these handcuffs."

He chortled as he moved to the other side of the room opened the side table and fished out something. My eyes widened in disbelief. "So you're lying about the missing keys? You knew damn well where did you hide them?"

"I didn't say that they are missing." He explained as he began to unlock the shackles on my hands. "As I said, I just don't recall where I put them."

Once I was free from those sex toys of his, I immediately slid out of the bed barefooted as I put several distances from him. "Let me get this clear. We have already reached the agreement that we will never talk about what happened yesterday, right? Nothing will change in our association. You're still my guardian and I am your ward."

His face flashed a cynical smile while his thumb unconsciously played with his bottom lip. "Yes. That's correct."

"Good," I said with much dignity. "I will count on your promise, Santi." I was about to leave his room when I turned around and looked at him. "Ah, yes, before I forgot. Thank you for taking good care of me last night. I appreciate it. Now I somehow understand why my father trusted you and left me in your care. You are a gentleman despite your line of work. Forgive me if I judged you so harshly when we first met."

"Oh, don't be so sure if I were you." He muttered under his breath.

My eyebrows furrowed. I don't think I heard his reply correctly. "What did you say?"

He smiled at me, it was that kind of smile that was filled with pessimism. "Oh, nothing. I didn't say anything."

I nodded warily as I went to my room barefooted. I don't even bother to ask where the hell my favorite sneakers were. Once I was inside my bedroom that's the only time I exhaled a heavy breath I didn't know how long I was holding back. I was surprised to see the items I brought on our trip to Palermo spend the night in my bedroom except for myself. I heard my mobile ringing somewhere I retrieved it from my purse and smiled when I saw Noah's name on the caller ID.

I slid my finger to answer his video call. With a ready smile on my face, I greeted him as I leveled the phone on my face. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, homie, I've been trying to call you for the last hour now. Are you busy?" He was grinning ear-to-ear through my phone screen.

"Sorry, just woke up."

"I gather that much." He said, "Aren't you enjoying the Sicilian sun? Why are you so late to get out of bed lately?"

I shrugged nonchalantly as I went to the terrace of my room to smell some fresh air. "There's nothing much to see here in Sicily." Expect playing a dangerous game with my devil of a guardian.

"Is that so? What a pity then."

I frowned at him. "Huh? What do you mean?"

He was still grinning through my phone screen. "I mean, it's such a pity that I travel thirteen hours and forty-six minutes for you to say that 'there's nothing much to see here in Sicily'. Should I head back to Los Angeles?"

My eyes widened in front of my phone. "Are you saying...? Shut the fuck up!" I exclaimed when he showed me the view outside his hotel room. It was the same tiled roofs houses and buildings I've been admiring from afar here on my balcony.

"Didn't I tell you that I will visit you in Sicily?" He reminded me with a triumphant smile on his face because of his surprise visit that I didn't expect. "Well, I am here, baby."