When there was a knock on door, Drago went to open it, and Leo excitedly went to the kitchen to grab a seat at the counter while Maria followed her brother. She was following behind them but stopped when she saw Drago just standing in the foyer staring at the door.
Her feet stepped almost unknowingly toward him. When she reached him, it was like she was seeing him for the first time. Without a barrier between them. For a moment, it had been brought down, and you could see… pain.
Going to the door, she did what he couldn’t find himself to do, open it.
“Who are you?” A guy in a suit smiled perfectly but seemed to be surprised to see someone other than Drago open it.
Smiling back, she took the pizzas from the handsome blond. “I’m Ka—”
Thud.
Blinking at the fact that Drago just slammed the door in his face, she couldn’t believe he did that. “Was that one of your men?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you slam the door in his face?” He was kinda cute.
“Because he’s an idiot,” he said, simply taking the pizzas from her.
Okay, so, so far, she had learned he didn’t particularly like anyone. She noticed he didn’t like Maria, he really didn’t like that blond guy, and even Leo seemed to get on his nerves a bit. She wondered who exactly he did like, if anyone.
Turning to head back, she was stopped in her tracks when she saw a girl standing close to the bottom of the stairs. She was breathtakingly beautiful with long black hair and light skin that was as pale as her gray eyes. She knew exactly who she was, and it wasn’t the scar that marked the side of her face that gave it away. It was the nightmares that were hidden behind her eyes.
“Hi.” Another word fell out of her mouth, knowing good and well she should have kept walking, and when Drago slightly took a step forward and stood between them, she realized she probably really should have.
Clasping her hands tightly together, the girl managed to get the word out. “H-Hi.”
A sweet expression appeared on her face along with her tone. “I’m Kat.”
“C-Chloe.”
She had confirmed what she knew before she’d spoken her name. It was like she knew her, understood her, all in a single glance. Probably better than anyone else.
“We have pizza. You should come eat with us.” Katarina smiled before walking to the kitchen, not wanting to place any pressure on the girl. Shockingly, she followed, coming into the kitchen as she placed the pizzas on the counter.
“Hey, Chloe,” Leo and Maria greeted her just as sweetly as she had.
Instantly, she got more comfortable seeing them. “Hey.”
“How did your test go?” Maria asked, revealing she must have online classes in what she would assume to be college.
“Pretty good.”
“Good. Now, let’s eat.” The young brother started ripping open the pizza boxes.
She found it strange when they all grabbed a plate from the counter but Drago. She watched him go to the fridge to grab a protein shake, then headed back to his table to work. Placing a big slice of pizza on her plate, she bit her lip before taking a seat at the counter.
You have to get him to fall in love with you, Katarina, Angel’s voice whispered through her mind. Even though it scared her to death, she headed toward Drago, knowing Angel was the brother with the right advice.
Putting her plate on the table beside his papers, she sat down next to the man who didn’t even look over at her when she did.
“You don’t want any pizza?” she asked, being sure to be polite. “I can grab you a slice if you wan—”
“If I did, I would have grabbed my own,” he cut her off.
Fine. She picked up her pizza and took a huge bite out of it. The man clearly had no taste if he could scarf down that gross-looking protein shake like that.
Continuing to eat, she couldn’t care less what he was staring intently at, but Katarina had a problem of being nosy where numbers were concerned. And he was definitely writing the wrong number down. “Two thousand and forty-one.”
“Excuse me?” Finally, he looked up at her.
“It’s two thousand and forty-one dollars, not two thousand and thirty-one.”
The look on his face showed he clearly didn’t believe her, so he punched the numbers in the calculator again and quickly, his face changed. “Oh. I must have punched it wrong in the calculator.”
“Mistakes happen.” She shrugged taking another huge bite, but she was unable to keep her eyes from straying. “The one before is wrong too. Should be five thousand six hundred and seventy-five dollars and seventy-eight cents.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Lucca usually does payroll, but he’s been trying,” Maria told her with a snicker as she came to sit down beside her with a slice of pizza.