Siempre Mío

t w e n t y t h r e e

Anastasia POV
"Alexei do this, Alexei do that. Always so demanding." They muttered, grabbing stacks on top of more stacks.

Despite my usual hatred for their chatter, this version of it amused me.

"Really darling? Muttering under your breath?" I said, shaking my head at Alexei, "I leave you alone for most of the day- is this what you do when I'm gone?"

Their eyes were wide with shock as I called them out.

"I-"

I laughed at their antics and shook my head, grabbing my gun that I had in my holster.

I aimed and shot at the wall without warning, startling Alexei who had their hands covering their ears.

"God, could you give me a warning next time?!"

I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows, as if I was saying 'you really think that I'll warn you?' and gave them a shrug.

I shot at the wall again and again, lazily holding it in my hand before I put the safety on and holstered the gun.

"I'm terrified of you."

"I know, darling."
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Lorenzo POV

"What is it that you found Ivan?" I said, gesturing for Ivan to take a seat in front of me.

"That woman you asked me to follow? She definitely isn't all she seems. I haven't got any family history yet as I'm waiting on a DNA test from the labs. However, here's what I know as of a week: she speaks Russian, the only person she talks to besides Javier and some of the people here is this friend of hers named Alexei and there is only one known address that she frequently visits, which I assumed was where Alexei was staying."

"This is good work Ivan, thank you. If you find out any more information, you know where I'll be."

"Actually, there is one more thing. I was at a cafe the other day and noticed your father there. He was speaking to a man I didn't recognise. I didn't follow either of them but I noted the other man's registration plate down. Here."

He handed me a napkin that had the cafe's logo printed on it along with a registration plate scrawled onto it with blue pen.

"Sorry, the blue pen is all I had on hand." He said sheepishly.

"Ivan, it's fine. Thank you though, I will be looking into it."

He gave me a nod and a smile, then walked out of my office.

I leaned back in my chair, thinking to myself.

I wonder who my father was meeting...

I decided that I would look into it later, and left the matter alone.

Opening my laptop, I created a new document and began noting down all the information that I had on Anastasia.

Gradually, I would add more to it and hopefully I would get to know who this woman actually was.

A sudden ringing sound caught my attention and I realised that it was my office phone.

"Lorenzo Martinez here- who's calling?"

"Ciao Lorenzo; it's me, Christian. I'm the manager at your club."

"Sí, sí. How can I help you Christian?"

"I heard we have an inspection coming up and I was wondering who will be coming to inspect?"

"It will be me, Christian. Don't worry about it, I just want to see how business is going and I want to make sure all the employees are following the rules. A club isn't always the safest environment to work in but I hope the situation between employees is safe and comfortable for each worker. I'll come down there tonight."

"Va bene. Grazie Lorenzo, ci vediamo presto."
[translation: Alright. Thank you Lorenzo, I will see you soon.]

I uttered a quick goodbye and put the phone down when my office door began to open slowly.

"Lorenzo?" Came a voice in slightly accented English.

"Come in." I answered.

The door opened fully, revealing Anastasia in a body tight dress with a pair of bedazzled high heels.

Dios mio, what does this woman want?

"Posso aiutarti? Sorry- can I help you?" I said to her standing from my seat so I wouldn't have stay in the conversation for long.

"Well I just wondered if you were coming to the club today with Javier, Antonio and I?"

"I'm alright thank you, I have a lot of work to get through."

"Okay." She said, giggling to herself before she turned around and shut the door so the both of us remained in my office.

"I know you have someone following me. It's not kind to hire someone to tail your best friend's girlfriend. Tell him to back off, or it won't end well for you or your worker."

Her accent was much stronger now; her tone had completely changed and her piercing stare almost had me scared for a second.

"Give me a reason to trust you, then I'll back off. You stay away from my men, or I won't hesitate to tell your boyfriend what I know."

With a smirk and a light chuckle, she turned on her heels and opened the door dramatically, walking out with her head held high and her heels creating quite the noise against the floorboards.

"Figlio de puttana."
[translation; son of a bitch]
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Hours has passed by and now I was sitting in a corner booth at the club.

I watched the dance floor as men and women danced and grinded on one another, drunkenly singing along to whatever song was blasting from the speakers.

The strobe lights and LEDs were shades of blues and purples, my eye remaining fixed on the drink I held in my hand.

I went up to the bar and noticed a new bartender working there.

I had never seen her before, and saw that she was drying glasses so I motioned for her and she came over.

She asked me what I wanted straight away so I asked her for a simple Coke.

Once she had given me my drink, I asked if I could talk with her for some time.

"Yeah sure." She said. She introduced herself as Aurora and excused herself so that she could tell someone else to take over the bar.

"Sorry, it's hard communicating in such a loud, busy place. So, what did you want to ask me about?" she said as she took a seat opposite me.

"I assume you're new here, as I've not seen you here before," I explained as she nodded, "but I just wanted to ask you a couple questions about Christian and your fellow employees. Are they respectful? Does Christian ever ask too much of you or have you ever felt as if he is treating you unfairly?"

"No, I've never had any bad experiences with Christian or my other co-workers. They're all respectful and they never ask too much of me."

As she spoke, I got distracted by something I didn't expect to see.

Anastasia was here, dancing with another man.
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