The Fire Unleashed ✔

29. Drained

A brainstorming session with zero cups of coffee was never a good idea. But I never seemed to do anything well whenever Luca was by my side. His actions are so bloody unexpected and whimsical that you can lose track of time if you just wanna figure him out. And here we were, at twelve noon, working our ass off in back to back meetings without our morning coffee, and it was seriously damaging my image as I could practically hear everyone's stares asking me why I looked so shabby and unkempt.

"Tell me again, why should I stick with your diet plan? We're not the same person," I asked him as we both sat in the empty conference room.

All the others had left for lunch, and I could feel their energy radiate in waves all around me. And I abhorred it when my employees were overzealous, because I was supposed to be in that position.

Luca smirked at me, "You need to stop being stubborn about not sleeping at night and then depending on coffee to go through your day. It's not a priviledge to be healthy that only a few get, it's a choice. And I'm giving it to you before it's too late."

"Who are you now? My nanny? And there's a huge difference between you and me, you're this energy ball that can run the whole day without caffeine and still have more to pass out to the others; whereas I can't produce enough energy for myself too. So don't even try to stop me from having coffee, because I deserve it."

Listening to this, he sighed loudly, "Yeah, you're right. Old men definitely need some external energy."

"Shut the hell up!" I bellowed at him, my head already throbbing from this ridiculous exercise. I quickly called in my secretary and asked him to bring me coffee – black and unsweetened, while our meeting resumed.

On the day of the surprise attack, Luca had been critically injured, and was unconscious for almost 48 hours. After ceaseless efforts from the best doctors on our team, he was barely saved. This idiota always thought he was the more mature of us, yet somehow managed to always get injured badly. However, ten days later, he came back to office looking as healthy as ever, this man was full of surprises.

Finally, at five in the evening, we laid out the initial plan of action for our new hotel in Amalfi Coast, and if all goes well, the construction will start soon. Making my way back to the office with Luca, I got a message from the most unexpected person.

"Who is it?" Luca asked.

"Sofia. Do you remember her?"

"I don't know, who is she?" He was genuinely bemused and seeing this, I sighed.

"How can you meet with so many girls and forget everyone's names? She's your sister's best friend, at least remember her."

"Oh that? The one who made my sister go astray?" He asked dramatically, to which I rolled my eyes again.

"Don't overreact over this over and over, she literally just dyed her hair. No big deal."

"Whatever. So, is she sending you nudes? Is it gonna work?"

I glared at him but he just shrugged his shoulders. Why do I even tell him anything?

"She asked me if we could meet up sometime, of course without Bria," I spilled out seconds after vowing to myself that I wouldn't tell him anything about it.

"Oooo, she obviously wouldn't want Bria to thirdwheel. Are you gonna go?"

"Don't know. I should be free for that and the new project is gonna start with a bang. This is not the time to go on dates."

"You know what, if you don't tell her yes, I'm gonna sneak into your house and while you're in the shower, I will take your phone and tell her myself. So, don't even think if disobeying a genius hacker. I have to go now, but you better get that girl, ok?"

"Asshole..." I muttered in annoyance to which he just laughed and slammed my door.

"Idiota..."

I was deep in thought about it over the next twenty minutes. Would it be a waste of time? Is it okay for me to do this right now? Was Sofia worth it? Maybe I'll know that once I meet her. Finally, coming to the conclusion, I picked up my phone and took charge, because whether it was killing a guy or seducing a woman, I always took charge. Letting her know the place and time, I packed up my folders and locked my office.

After a long time, it was time for something else than work.