Nothing But The Truth

16: Once And For All

A/N:

Happy New Year Lovelies🎊
I hope we all have a blessed year
❤️❤️❤️

Derrek's POV

"Ciao, cugino mio!" My cousin attacked me with a hug the moment I opened up my room door.

"Camilla, how are you?" I smiled widely as we pulled away from each other. She mirrored my smile, playfully hitting my arm before she attempted to shove me out of the way. I remained planted to the ground and she scowled at me before sidestepping me and walking into my room like she owned the place.

The new maid whose name I had found out earlier on to be Ann had been waiting patiently after bringing Camilla up to my room. I only noticed her standing there after Camilla walked in.

"Would you like some refreshments for you and your guest, sir?" She asked in a polite tone.

"Would you fancy some refreshments, Cam?" I turned to Camilla who was taking a tour round my room, assessing my book collection on the shelf and giggling at my throwback photos framed and placed on my bedside table. She always did that whenever she came over.

"Some camomile tea and ginger biscuits are fine for me." She answered, staring at a framed photo on my table.

"I'll have the same." I turned to Ann and she gave a little bow of the head before going on to prepare our orders.

"Da quanto tempo, Riko." Camilla turned to me, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't even bother to call these days."

"Scusa. There's just been a lot going on." I showed her to my balcony where there was a table and two chairs prepared for us before hand. I thought it would be nice to receive some fresh air while we were catching up.

Camilla was my older cousin, however, she was much more like the older sister I never had. She was the youngest child of my mother's eldest sister and had grown up in Italy, Venice to be precise. She had only moved to London to complete her tertiary education at the University of London and had been here ever since, occasionally going back to Venice to visit her family.

She had come by a lot during the weekends and holidays while she was still a student and we had become very close over the years. She was very easy to talk to and I had found myself opening up to her about things I normally would have kept to myself. She gave sound advice most times but other times, she gave advices that could have probably landed me in jail. However, it was always nice talking to her. We hadn't talked in a few months though as she had been traveling across the world with her new boyfriend. She was very happy to have finally found a man that truly loved her and I didn't want to bother her with my problems, so, I waited until we were face to face before I said anything. 

"Perché? What's wrong?" She asked, taking her seat. Her voice laced in concern. "Is your father giving you trouble again?"

"Father plans to retire soon and he wants me to step up as the next CEO." I began, settling down in my chair beside Camilla.

"I thought he disowned you."

"You should know that he was never going to let me go. He made me step down as COO but it was never official." I scoffed. "Officially, I'm still the COO of D-Tech and the employees believe that I was away in Germany, taking an eight months long course."

"Wow." Camilla shook her head in disbelief.

"I was here last month to hand over to the new COO only to find out there wasn't one. I also had a mountain of work waiting for me. It took me a month to finish them all but once I had completed all I was legally obligated to, I submitted my letter of resignation and left. However, father refused to accept it and now he's holding my mother and siblings hostage. He's threatened to cut them all out of his will and cut off their current allowances if I don't come back to work."