Nothing to Lose (BWWM)

Seven

"Giovanni." Vincent said, all emotion void from his voice. He dropped the pink folder onto his lap and walked away from him.

"Vincent wait." The older man said, trying to catch up to him.

Vincent continued to walk away, headed for the door but his father grabbed his arm, stopping him from going any further. He whipped around and shrugged his hand off. "Don't touch me."

"Vincent I just wanted to ask you for a favour."

"What makes you think I would want to do you a favour?" He said bitterly.

Giovanni paled and sighed. "Please hear me out, son." Flinching at his endearment towards him, he stood still. "Heather's baby shower is in a few weeks and I was wondering whether or not you'd be able to come." Vincent's face hardened.

"You want me to attend your mistress's baby shower?" He chuckled hysterically.

Giovanni lowered his head. "Please remember that this child in her is your half brother. He is still family."

His tone softened when he spoke. "You're having a boy?"

His father beamed with pride, reaching into his back pocket for a sonogram. "Sì. We're planning on calling him Giovanni Junior. Heather loves the name Giovanni." 

Vincent harshly pushed the sonogram back to him, something inside him snapping. He thrust a finger in Giovanni's face, anger taking over. "The next time you want to talk to me, you make sure that it's something worth saying, otherwise don't speak at all. Understood?" His father's mouth dropped open in shock. He turned on his heel and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

The next week at work was hell.

Vincent was behaving in the worst way that Imani had ever witnessed. He was firing people left, right and centre, not speaking at all and scaring everybody in the entire building.

Even his own cousin was surprised at his behaviour. 

"I wonder what's got him in such a huff." Melisa muttered, leaning on Imani's desk as she typed.

Not taking her eyes off her screen, she shrugged. "Everything gets him into a huff, I'm sure it's nothing of importance." 

Melisa folded her arms over her chest, staring into his office. "Who's that guy with him?"

Imani finally looked up, trying to see what she was talking about. She spotted the curly haired man that sat stretched out on the sofa in Vincent's office. "Oh him. That's Vincent's cousin, Marco."

She returned to her screen, still typing. "Do they share the family asshole gene?"

Imani laughed, looking up at Melisa. "Vincent's one type of asshole and Marco is another. He's an absolute dog." 

As if he had heard his name being called, Marco walked out of Vincent's door. Imani greeted him and he winked at her. "How's your day been, Imani?"

"Uh... Extremely busy, actually." She said, eyes not moving from the monitor. She pushed her chair back and stood up. "I've got to get some more paper for this printer, I won't be two minutes." She walked away and Marco noticed Melisa just as she turned to leave.

He reached down for her hand, stopping her movements. "And where do you think you're going, sweetheart?"

"Back to work, sweetheart." She mimicked, yanking her hand away but he continued to hold on, shaking it instead.

A half grin plastered Marco's face. "Marco Austen, it's nice to meet you." 

"Melisa Wright.  It's nice to meet you too."

He kissed her hand and she couldn't help but blush. "Miss Wright, get back to work right this second or you're fired." The commanding voice exclaimed making the both of them jump.