"I AM NOT TO SEE YOU HERE AGAIN," HE SAID AFTER EVERYTHING. He didn't want to see her in his club again. Natasia saw it as a good thing, but that does not mean that it hurt any less. He shoved a wad of bills in her hand, which she'd noted to be $100 each, and her heart jumped.

Natasia closed her fists. "I can't accept this."

"You will," and his grip on her tightens, and it normally wouldn't have hurt but he was pressing on her wound. Tears stung the corners of her eyes but he hadn't noticed. "Don't come back."

She flinched the slightest, it was barely noticeable, she thought. But a tear slipped down her cheek, and before she could wipe it off, it slid down onto his hand, and she'd let out a small gasp but her heart truly jumped when he kissed the bruise.

They both immediately took a step back, and Natasia noticed that even when their eyes met, he looked startled, as if the intimate action also shocked him.

Her heart was pounding again and pounding and pounding and her breathing was equally as violent and unlike him, she was not very good at hiding it and she turned around, and as she calmed her nerves she heard his voice behind her and he said,

"Leave."

And the door behind her creaked open, closed shut with a bang and she began to weep for a moment, her entire body shivering and hot and at the same time, freezing and she turned around again, picked two bills out of the all of them and angrily shoved the rest in the gap between the door frame and the door.

She ran off in the night, remembered what Shiloh had mentioned about housekeeping, and decided that she would look into it next week.

*

"Hello?" A male voice picked up.

"Hi, this is Natasia Zervas speaking. I saw your ad for housekeeping last week and I'm interested in doing that job, is it still available?"

"Ah! Thank you for calling in, yes it is."

The last forty minutes of that conversation were her conversing with Lorenzo, who was helping his friend find a housekeeper for his penthouse. She was getting along with Lorenzo perfectly, he was nice and honest and extremely friendly, so she hurried to get dressed and within an hour, she was at their door just like they'd discussed.

Lorenzo opened the door, and right behind him on the couch was... Mr. Romanos?

She dropped the box of chocolates she'd brought, and he immediately looked away from the tv screen, at her, and his eyebrows furrowed. He had recognized her.

"Is there an issue?" Lorenzo asked as he picked the chocolates up. Natasia blushed, rushing to apologize, but Lorenzo stopped her with a kind smile, and she helped him up and he led her to the couch where Mr. Romanos was, in a dress shirt and suit pants. It seemed that he had been working again.

Lorenzo offered her whiskey, to which Mr. Romanos objected. "Don't."

Natasia realized how on edge she was in his presence that second, and she didn't like that. She preferred to be at total ease without freaking out or having a rapid heartbeat every two seconds something happened.

"Why not?" Lorenzo asked with narrowed eyes. Mr. Romanos took another sip of whiskey and for a moment, his gaze fell on Natasia. She felt chills run down her spine.

"She's underage." He said, and then he turned to her again. "What brings you here miss?"

Natasia's mouth went dry, and she swallowed her spit. "A better job."

Her legs were trembling, and she only hoped that Lorenzo hadn't noticed, but Mr. Romanos had, so it was basically game over for her right then, but he proceeded to hand her a contract, and he did not bother to explain it to her, and instead removed himself from the room.

She skimmed through the papers.

It wasn't anything she was concerned about, except he mentioned he didn't own a pet and he didn't like them either.

And he also wanted to make sure everything that was discussed, if ever, in that apartment, stayed there. Seems suitable for a criminal, she mentally rolled her eyes. "Did I upset him?"

Lorenzo laughed. "No, he's just like that."

"Oh." 

"I wish I could say more but there is nothing to say," Lorenzo slid her the whiskey that Mr. Romanos told him not to. "He's been like this since high school."

Natasia smiled. "I don't drink, appreciate it though."

"One sip won't hurt." Lorenzo smiled. "Quick, before he comes back."

It tasted like caramel, she noted, and put the glass down, right when she saw Mr. Romanos enter the room again. He didn't change. But he gave Lorenzo a look, and Lorenzo smiled softly at Natasia before he got up to leave.

That was when she realized that there was not much of a difference between the two men. They looked like they were related- tall build, dark hair, sharp roman noses. Their eyes were different, and Natasia felt like that's what defined their auras. Lorenzo had soft eyes. The other's was sharp, calculating. And they both carried themselves with confidence but he was slightly more cunning and much more dangerous.

He sat down like he was going to kill. "Nasia."

"Yes, sir?"

"Who taught you to look down when a man's speaking to you?"

Her head immediately shot up. "My apologizes."

But her voice was nothing more than a murmur.

"I don't want to see you do that," he picked up the glass from which Natasia drank a few moments earlier. Toyed with it in his fingers, and it felt like a tease, was he going to drink from it or was he not.

Natasia felt like her heart was beginning to malfunction. Worse, was that he knew, and he was staring, watching as she began to lose it. It was cruel for him to do. And he lifted the glass to his lips and it was so close...

"You can't. Stop." Natasia took it from his hands, almost like she was gasping for air but he took it back. "I drank from that."

"Even when I told you not to?"

"Yes," she admitted. "I shouldn't have but I did. Now put that down. Look, it even has the lipstick stain."

Natasia pointed at the brown lip print on the edge of the glass. That didn't deter him from drinking, and she stood there in shock as he drank from the opposite side. He didn't even break the eye contact, that man.

When he finally rested the glass, she felt herself exhale, and then he quickly grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her close to him again, and then he tilted his head forward, his mouth beside her ear. Every inch of her body was covered in goosebumps, she felt it.

"You listened to me the first time, yes Nasia?"

Her voice was lower than a whisper. "Yes."

He chuckled lowly. "Mhm. Now listen again."

His hand snaked up her throat and clasped, it wasn't a painful grip but it was firm, and he forced her eyes up, back at him. Her breath caught. "I don't want to hear you tell me what to do. Got it?"

"Yes?"

"That's not very convincing." His hand cupped her chin with a tighter grip, and her skin was on fire. Natasia felt naked under his stare and hot. So hot she wanted to peel off her clothes and throw herself in an ice bath. "Try again."

"Yes sir." she managed to piece two words together, and they barely fell off her lips, but he had heard, and she knew this because his grip loosened, and his eyes softened in the same way.

Her face felt hot, as if it already wasn't burning. And he placed distance between them, only by an inch, but she got the chance to breathe again for a short while. Amidst all the butterflies crawling in her stomach.

He lowered his mouth down to her neck. "Who the fuck are you?"

Silence. She'd realized that was the wrong choice shortly after.

"I'm not a very patient man, Nasia," His grip tightened, burned her skin like her thighs that very second. "I expect answers when I ask questions."

"N-n-"

"I don't like stuttering, love." she couldn't wrap her head around the sweetness of that word, and how harsh it sounded when it left his tongue. "Try again."

"I don't know how I got here, sir," Natasia breathed out. Her words were barely there but he had heard. "Believe me when I say this is not what I wanted for myself."

And he let her go at that moment. He loosened his grip and he pulled away and left the room and left Natasia confused, gasping for air because her skin was burning and tingling and her heart felt like it was malfunctioning but she felt alive. Drugged with danger and adrenaline but she liked it, loved it even, and found herself collapsing on the couch, laughing.