● AUTHOR'S POV

"Thank you." Ava thanked before unbuckling her seat belt.

Xanthos nodded in response and she scooted closer to the car door. Glancing one last time at him, Ava stepped out of the car, soon after Jean; a brunette haired man, held open the car door for her.

After their little chat at the playground, Xanthos had offered Ava to drop her off by her accommodation, as it had gotten a bit late, and Ava had also agreed to accept his courtesy.

Offering a polite thank you to Jean, Ava briskly walked towards her quarters; offered by Xanthos' club for the employees.

Passing through the gates, and giving the watchman security guard a little nod, she lightly ran upto the main door, and punching in the numbers she entered unlocking it.

"Call him over." Xanthos directed Jean, gesturing towards the security guard.
The security guard had his eyes already fixed on them, and once Jean called him over, he came right away, as the guard had gotten a glimpse of Xanthos when the car door opened, and had immediately recognised him.

"Sir?" the security guard said adjusting his bullet proof vest.

"Inside." Jean instructed the guard, pointing towards the backseat, as he kept the car door open for him.

The security guard hesitantly got in, and Jean shut close the car door behind him. Walking around the car, Jean adjusted himself back in the driver's seat.

Fishing out his phone and tapping on it a few times, Jean put it back in his coat pocket, a second later one of Xanthos' personal guards from the car behind his, got out and walked to stand in the security guard's position, and taking out his gun he cocked it.

"Just some cautionary procedures. It is better to be safe than sorry." Xanthos remarked, as he smiled at the guard, whose sweaty temples and incoherent gulping was evident of the fact, that he was panicking to all that was going on around him.

"So, you're the new guy?" Xanthos questioned, crossing his legs in the wide space, his posh car offered.

"yeh--" the guard's voice cracked, and he started again clearing his throat, "Yes sir. My name is Jonathan, I started working here 2 weeks ago."

"Mhmm. What did you do before Jonathan?" Xanthos asked, locking eyes with him.

"I worked as a night guard at an apartment complex, but it was shutdown by the city officials because of safety concerns, the building was too old to withstand winters anymore." Jonathan explained making and breaking eye contact. "I-I'm an insomniac, so the job kind of suits me." he added.

"Well, do your best then Jonathan." Xanthos smiled, but the hints of warning in his tone, were as clear as day.

"Yes sir." Jonathan replied and took his leave, after Xanthos excused him.

Xanthos already knew about Jonathan, and him being the new night guard at the employee quarters, he just believed, that as a precautionary measure, it was best to meet the security recruitments in person, atleast once.

---

Ava had changed into a much more comfortable wear, and was now lying down on her bed.

Taking a thin lock of her hair, she twirled it around her fingers, as her mind kept going back to the night's events, especially the one where Xanthos had told her, that she resembled him.

She could feel her cheeks getting warm, as her mind replayed the scene where Xanthos had tucked away a few strands of her hair behind her ear. The scenario just kept popping up like a recurring ad, and she couldn't help but feel a little odd, she felt this strange feeling bubble inside of her, that life hadn't presented her an opportunity to be familiarised with, ever before.

Shaking away her thoughts she sat up, and opening the drawer to her bedside table, she took out a folded piece of paper, unfolding which revealed a list of names on it.

Her eyes scanned the paper, as she read out the names, "Marco Hills, Olivia Herdman, Kameel Omen, Henry Gage, Joseph Martin, Danver Williams, and Hudson Bambeeno."

Ava sighed as she stared at it, these were the people her father owed money to, along with another long list of names, but the others weren't anything compared to these seven.

Keeping in mind their status, resources, and especially the means of getting their money back, she was slowly realising, how Xanthos getting to her first, was actually a blessing in disguise.

They were one of the dirty names in Samwill, and their interest rates on debts were higher than anything Ava could have ever imagined.

Xanthos' claim about countless loansharks being after her wasn't a stretch, all these people together and their debt interest rates, it did eventually add upto proving his claims.

Her mind rushed back to a certain point in time, and determination glistened in her eyes.

"Once I'm through the deal, all will be well." she assured herself and heaved a deep sigh, exhaling her frustrations with it.

---

Xanthos arrived at his cottage instead of going to his house, which was more or less of a mansion, and his cottage had a much more modest appearance comparably.

Time spent at his cottage was something Xanthos looked forward to, it was a place that felt warm to him, a place that reminded him of the good days, a place that felt like home.

"I will get your tea ready sir, and bring it directly to the study. Catherine made cinnamon nut coffee cake for you today, would you care for a piece with your tea?" Mr. Gibbs asked taking off Xanthos' coat, and handing it over to the maid standing behind him.

"I do like Catherine's homemade cakes, so I will take a piece. Thank you." Xanthos replied uncuffing his sleeves and rolling them up, stopping just below his elbows.

Mr. Gibbs nodded and left along with the maid, to fetch some tea and cake for Xanthos.

Freshening himself up a little, Xanthos now sat in his study, resting himself in his cozy arm-chair.

Since the moment, he had his leisure conversation with Ava at the playground, his mind had been consistently captured by thoughts, that were all directed towards the black eyes, the black eyes that seemed as if held him captive whenever he looked at them.

His mind ventured through the whole conversation he had with her, and it surprised him that how comfortable he had gotten in her presence, and the liberties he had given her regarding him.

Xanthos wasn't a man to let misunderstandings obstacle his life, but concerning his emotions, he's faced difficult times, and the most easiest way he could find to deal with them, was; 'suppressing' them.

But tonight, the way Ava assured him to give his emotions importance, not take his pain for granted, not deny his sufferings, was something that he hadn't been told by anyone in particular, before.

Sure, he had been acquainted with people who'd overly sympathise with him, some of them with ulterior motives, and some saying it just for the sake of having to say it, but Ava's assurance felt different, her words were simple and to the point, yet they touched something complicated, and time would tell if they further tangled up the complications, or eased them.

Even when consoling, people had always told him to be strong, not be fragile in times of adversities, to keep a positive and determined mindset when faced with hardships.

Ava's conversation had offered him something other than this toxic positivity, and being blindly urged to be relentlessly tough all the time, it had offered him the idea, that he was also a human, and he's allowed to act like one just like anybody else.

He had never came off as someone who needed to empathise or even sympathise with himself, people considered him a firm-minded man, they knew him as the strong-willed man who wasn't fazed by things, who was unshakable enough to not let the burdens of life waver him.

Which all wouldn't be a lie, because Xanthos aimed to be that man too, but he also knew that there were things that still had an affect on him, that still impacted him, and Ava had told him to not suppress these things, not act like he wasn't in pain when he was, and somewhere inside of him, he didn't hate it, he didn't hate it when he was told that it's okay to feel sad when you are, it's not necessary to always remain standing when you're hurting.

The idea of somebody not praising him for being a stone wall, and asking him to unchain and 'feel' for himself, was something that was new to him, and he felt like he 'needed' more of it.

Author's Note
Hello dear readers, hope you liked the chapter, and I want to say that this story is heavily and mainly romance based, and mafia thing is just an aspect of it, it is not a mafia story in terms of it having action, technical mysteries, suspenseful strategies, confusing riddles and stuff, main focus is on getting the two together and their emotions and relations along with those of other characters, so even the debt thing is to aid the romance and not anything technical, I add a few things here and there just for the sake of the plot, but main focus will be romance, so if you're looking for a mafia/ceo story with actual mob stuff and all the technical things and big crime plots, etc, then this isn't for you sadly. But, other than that if you're still enjoying it then keep going.
Please comment and tell me if the story is going well and I should keep updating, even a single word would suffice, just say something you little piece of cheesecake. :)
Vote and comment if you like this chapter.
Thankyou.