Chapter 59: Meet again

Fabio’s POV

"It’s done," I heard Orso say on the other end of the phone.

At the moment, I was in one of the guest rooms, supposedly cleaning it. As if! I had better things to do than spend my entire day cleaning bedrooms, but unfortunately, that was the perfect excuse to move around the mansion without attracting too much attention. Besides, nobody seemed particularly interested in what I did as long as the rooms were clean and I followed orders.

"Good. I’ll find a way to speak to him tonight," I whispered back.

I was about to hang up when Orso interrupted me.

"Did you manage to see... Elia?" he asked. He sounded calm, but his voice was lower and softer than usual, which told me enough about how much he wanted to know the answer.

"I served him breakfast today. He’s physically fine."

Mentally, however, I was not so sure. Having been confined to that room for half a year would probably have messed him up, judging by what I had seen. Even I would have lost my mind eventually, and I was not exactly the most patient person alive.

After another moment of silence, Orso spoke again. "Thanks."

I hung up, immediately switched off the phone, and hid it among the cleaning tools. Then I left the room quickly, heading for the next guest room to "clean." At this rate, I deserved a salary increase for the amount of work I was pretending to do. Thirty-five bedrooms were no joke, even if I barely spent enough time inside each one to qualify as a proper cleaner.

By the time I finished "cleaning" the thirty-five or so bedrooms, it was past six in the evening. From what I had observed during the two weeks I had been here, relentlessly chasing an opportunity to speak with Marco alone, I had learned that he never stayed out past seven. Either the man had been forced to stay out longer, or he had taken the wrong medicine. The first possibility was the more obvious one, considering the kind of person he was, as well as his father.

And so, I headed up to the top floor, where there were three bedrooms in total. One belonged to Marco, another belonged to his father, and the last was unoccupied. It was the only room I was permitted to enter freely, since both Marco’s bedroom and his father’s were strictly out of bounds. Naturally, I had no intention of respecting that particular rule tonight.

I stopped outside the guest room, unlocked it with one of the keys I carried for cleaning, and pushed the cart inside. Before entering, however, I briefly glanced at the security camera, which had just rotated in my direction. I waited until I was certain it had caught sight of me before stepping inside, making sure I looked like an ordinary servant going about his duties. One could never be too careful in a mansion where even breathing at the wrong time might get you into trouble.

Once inside, I did not go all the way into the room. Instead, I stood just behind the door and watched the clock on the wall, counting every ticking second for a total of thirty seconds. Those thirty seconds were the only opportunity I had to move without being caught on camera, and I had spent the past few days figuring out precisely how long I could get away with it.

The moment the thirty seconds were up, I dashed out, glanced at the camera, and, sure enough, it had turned in the opposite direction. I smirked before quickly locking the guest room door behind me. Thirty seconds was also all I had to open Marco’s bedroom door. If I was even a second late, I might as well prepare myself to bathe in my own blood.

I took out the paper clip I had prepared earlier and quickly picked the lock. Luckily for me, it was similar to the locks on the other rooms I had practised with, so I did not have to waste much time figuring it out. In less than twenty seconds, I was inside. I locked the door behind me to avoid arousing suspicion, then finally allowed myself to breathe properly.

The room was dark, and I dared not turn on the lights. With the faint light from the lamps outside filtering through the glass windows, I found my way to the sofa and sat down. I took off the leather cleaning coat and mask I had been wearing, setting them aside before settling in to wait for him. There was no telling when he would return, but I had come too far to leave without seeing him.

Thinking of Marco now sent a familiar heat spreading across my chest, and I shut my eyes as though that would somehow help me control myself. If only closing my eyes could erase all those images and fantasies that had been running through my head. Especially the one where I finally looked into his eyes and said those words I had been practising in my mind.

"We meet again, Marco."

Would he be surprised? Shocked, even? Perhaps he would call me crazy while wearing that cocky smirk of his, the very one I had not seen in six months. Then maybe he would pull me into his arms, as roughly as ever, just the way I loved, and kiss me to remind me what it felt like to be at his mercy. God, I hated to admit it but I bloody everything, him mostly. It was honestly embarrassing, and I was not about to admit that to anyone other than myself, least of all Marco himself.

I swallowed as more of those ridiculous thoughts refused to give my mind any rest. No matter how hard I tried to focus on something else, I kept imagining his face, his voice, and the way he would look at me when he realised who was waiting for him in his bedroom. I had spent six months without seeing him, and now that I was finally this close, my imagination had decided to become my worst enemy.

"Fuck!" I cursed when I realised the thoughts were not going away.

Clearly, sitting in the dark and torturing myself with fantasies was not going to help. I needed something to distract me before I completely lost my mind, so I got up and headed into the bathroom. As expected of the room belonging to the new Don of the Moretti family, it was equipped with both a shower and a bathtub, spacious enough to fit more than ten people. Honestly, the man could have hosted a swimming competition in there and still had room for the judges.

I took off my servant clothes and dropped them on the floor before turning on the water. Once the bathtub was filled with hot water, I climbed in and settled down, letting myself soak for a while. I was not particularly worried about being discovered at that moment. I was ready to kill if anyone as much dared interrupt tonight.

I did not know how much time had passed when I heard the bedroom door click open and then shut. A moment later, the lights came on.

I remained still in the bathtub, my heart suddenly slowing before it picked up a fast rhythm. I heard no voices, only the sound of footsteps moving across the bedroom. For a while, there was silence, and then the footsteps began approaching the bathroom. My fingers tightened around the edge of the tub as I turned my head toward the door, watching it slowly open.

And then he stepped inside.

Marco.

He was dressed in a suit, looking different from the last time I had seen him, but that hardly mattered. Anything would look good as long as he was the one wearing it. I did not avert my gaze or attempt to hide myself as I continued watching him. He closed the bathroom door behind him, locked it, and headed straight toward me.

I stayed where I was, my eyes following his every movement, waiting to see what he would do next. After six months, I had finally gotten what I wanted.

I was looking right at him again.