The Slavic Shamble (Femme #4)

Chapter 16

Marco Conti's POV

It has been the worst. Not only that the other Marco was trying to surpass me but I had to call in sick as in I would not be there when that bastard was laying his eyes all on Anna. I gritted my teeth before I rolled in my bed as my headache was taking another toll on me.

"Lord, mercy. Dio!" I said in Italian as I was so composed of the pain that I forgot my mother tongue. I cannot even surpass this after Anna's late-night visit. I had to stop her from coming here before my head exploded.

'Just give in, you know you want to,' another voice was playing inside my head. I was gasping as I was trying to surpass myself.

"Shut up," I hissed at it before I was knocking a glass off the counter. A gasp came from me before I turned to look at it. Anastasia was here. Damn it!

"No, you got to go. Just stay away from me," I said as I was walking away from her. She did not heed my warning.

"Marco, you should let me help you. You're sick," she said but I was heading toward the living room before I knocked myself over at the coffee table. I hit the floor with a thud.

"Marco!" Anna screamed before she was beside me, inspecting the injury that I may have. She sighed a relief before she urged me to rest on the sofa. As she was trying to help me up, I shrugged her off.

"I can handle myself, thank you very much," I snapped at her. She was stunned for a while before she cleared her throat.

"I brought something, I think you might be hungry," she said before she went to the kitchen like she owned the place. She pulled out the bowl after she dumped her handbag on the stools that we sat on last night. Memories came at once but I shook it off from my head.

"You don't have to," I groaned as I was rubbing my temples. I can sense that she was rolling her eyes at me. I smiled at the thought that even when I was sick, I could be annoying to her.

"Why can't you just let me help you for once?" She said then something echoed in my mind.

'Why can't you just let me help you for once? I know how to let you loosen up,' the voice that was threatening to get out of my mind. I shook my head before I went to close my eyes.

"Here, have some of the porridge," Anna said as she settled the plate on the coffee table. She put the porridge in a bowl. I can see the steam was still there. She just bought it and came straight here.

"Did you eat yet?" I asked her. She was silent before she put some onto the spoon and brought it to my mouth.

"I can eat by myself," I snapped at her before her big blue eyes were hard.

"Fine, do it yourself then," she snapped before she got up and went to take her handbag. She was pissed I can see that before she was hesitating to get out of my house or not.

"I don't need you to take care of me. We're not even married for real. Sure, it was a good show to shove the unwanted attention but when we were alone, you don't have to pretend," I said as I got up off the sofa and she was looking at me murderously.

"You know what your problem is?" She asked me. I shrugged.

"Handsome? Charming? Wealthy? I can list some of them," I said as I was smirking at her. She gritted her teeth.

"Also known as jerk, selfish, bastard. Oh, let's not forget that you shut out everyone who cares for you. Maybe that's the real problem, not the stupid drug that you failed to create?!" She shouted before she went out of the front door before slamming it.

I winced. I never see her this made. Sure, she was mad when she was training but that was an entirely different thing. Now, it felt personal and I don't know how to handle it. I looked at the steaming porridge before I took a scoop and ate it. It was good, it almost felt like it was handmade.

By Anastasia herself.

The next day, I felt nice. Good even. I never felt like this in the year as I was getting up from the bed and going to take a shower. Have I ever felt this giddy?

I went to the kitchen and I remembered that I lived alone now. It was not a fancy house, I secured it with all the money that I had in cash and some from my offshore accounts, the ones my family did not know about.

I sighed before I went to take an apple and some milk from the fridge. It's better than nothing. I looked at the porridge that Anna made last night, or at least I think she did. I smiled before I took my bag and went to the office.

It was only 15 minutes drive from my new house. I was happy to walk but being a supervisor, I needed to make sure that I had the right image for my position.

I was about to get my car when suddenly I felt like I wanted to walk with Anna and asked for forgiveness for my bad behavior last night. My mother and father would roll in their graves if I ever harmed a woman. They did not raise me like that.

I abandoned my car took my bag and walked on the street. It was a 30-minute if you know how to get through shortcuts as I was spotting a familiar redhead on the other side of the building. I smiled at the sight before I went to cross the road to walk with her.

"Hey, good morning," I said as I came up to her side. She turned to look at me before she went ahead of me, not waiting for me to catch up. I chuckled. I guessed she was still mad about me last night.

"Hey, wait up," I said as I jogged to her side. Anna was wearing sneakers so she did not have a problem walking faster than me.

"What do you want? I thought you could do it 'all by yourself'," she air-quoted the last part before I chuckled at her. She turned sharply at me before narrowing her eyes at me. I smiled at her.

"I know I was being a jerk last night. I was not myself and with the drug in my system, it got worse when I was sick. I'm sorry for snapping at you," I said before I held out my hand.

"Truce?" I said as I stopped. She stopped as well before looking at my hand and my face. She was thinking as I could see her motors were turning in her head.

Before she did anything, she walked ahead of me as if I was dust in her shoe. She left me hanging there as I felt a cold breeze was passing me. I scoffed at her before I gripped my hand as I walked at her figure. I scoffed as the other of my lips was raising.

"Okay, you want to play the hard way, huh? Two can play at this game," I said as I went to the building with a plan in mind for this evening.

It was the evening after I was shoving some paperwork that had been submitted by most of the employees here, except for Anna. She was still working as I can see it from my office. Most of the people have gone home or maybe gone out.

It was Friday night after all. I smiled as I knew there were not a lot of people to see what I was about to ask her. So I took my bag and my jacket as I went to her cubicle.

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?" I asked as I looked at Anastasia who was busy recording something in her lab report.

"I have to complete a summary of the report that I need to submit tomorrow, why?" she said as she did not look up from her computer. I sighed as I looked at her condition; a desperate loner.

"It's Friday night, let's get ourselves drunk," I said happily before she looked at me with judgmental eyes.

"Yeah, that sounds wonderful," she said sarcastically before walking toward the test tubes that had the drugs that the company was asking for her to develop. It said that it can help to develop strength and agility to help fight crime.

"Look, I don't want to be bitter but I kind of need you there. who knows what I'd do without your supervision? We don't want the public to know, right?" I said as I looked at her with pleading eyes. She looked briefly at me before I smiled at her defeat.

"I thought you could do it by yourself," she said sarcastically. Man, can she let go of what happened last night?

"Come on, I said I'm sorry, please? Just this once?" I asked her as she was eyeing me. She sighed before she closed her laptop and shoved it into her bag. I beamed before she closed the lamp of her cubicle and was ready to go out.

"The first drink would be on me," I said as I walked out of the lab before a big pain was caused in my brain. I grunted as I stumbled to the ground. Oh no, not now, I thought before the last thing that I saw was Anastasia's concerned face over me.