20. Stalker

"Great, just great, why can't I get rid of him?" I whispered to myself but everyone heard me and chuckled lightly.

"Why though?" Jennifer asked me and I shook my head.

"That's Roman Angelo, right?" Jack asked and Nate nodded.

"Yeah, that's him." He said just as heavy footsteps stopped right behind me and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I sighed loudly and looked at the tattooed hand and back at Nate.

"Tell me he isn't behind me." I said and heard a deep chuckle from behind.

"I'm right here princess." He said and I felt him bend low until his hot breath fanned my ear.

"And you won't get rid of me that easily." He whispered huskily and sat down beside me where Alex sat previously and eyed my pizza, giving me a sly smile.

No. Not the pizza.

"No." I warned and grabbed my plate and pulled it towards me. He smirked and grabbed my soda and took a long sip.

"What is with men drinking my soda?" I huffed in annoyance as he put it back in front of me and grabbed my plate, taking my slice of pizza.

"Mr. Angelo, how can I help you?" I gritted out with a fake smile.

"What did we say about names, princess?" He asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Is your meeting done? If it is, you can go back now." I said and he chuckled, finishing my pizza and assessing my face.

"No, actually." He said and I shook my head, turning around and ignoring him completely hoping he'd get bored and go away on his own, but he clearly had other plans.

"Well, since I clearly have nothing more to eat, I'll head back up to finish up work." I said and got up from my seat.

"You can have my pizza if you want." Nate offered getting up but I shook my head.

"No, it's alright, I'm full anyway. You coming with?" I asked him and he nodded, stuffing the last of his pizza in his mouth, making us laugh at him.

Roman got up too and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Are you leaving?" I asked him.

"No, I'm coming with." He said and I sighed, turning around to face him.

"Why?" I asked him as Nate stepped up to stand beside me. Roman glanced at him briefly, clenching his jaw.

"Because I'm a part of the meeting." He said and I nodded.

"Alright then. See you later I guess." I said and turned around when I remembered something.

"Do you need me today?" I asked Roman.

"Yes, I want the ballroom finished because we have a party coming up." He said and I delved deep into thought.

"Alright then. I have to take a business class at college then I'll come to your place around..." I glanced at my watch briefly. "4 pm. There's not much left, just a few details anyway." I said and he nodded.

"Bye guys." I waved at the people behind me who waved back with smiles and then followed Nate back to his office to finish up the presentation.

We worked for another hour, finishing all the details and double checking the presentation before bringing it up to Alex.

"I have to go now, I need to take today's business class." I told Alex after he had approved the presentation.

"Alright then. You have your car, yes?" He asked me and I pursed my lips.

Should I tell him now?

"You do, don't you?" He asked me again raising an eyebrow.

I think I should.

"Yeah well I do have a car, it's just that... I was in a hurry today so I kinda picked up the first keys I found and when I went to the garage I found that they were yours." I mumbled the last part and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"What? Speak up Thea." He said and I sighed deeply.

I'm so dead.

"I picked up the first keys I could find and when I went to the garage I found they were the black Ferrari's. Yours." I said and he frowned.

"You did not bring my new car here." He said and I shrugged, biting my lip.

"I kinda did..." I said and he shook his head in frustration.

"Fine, just... go. I'll deal with you later." He said gesturing me to leave.

"Alright then I'm heading to the coffee shop with Nate. You want something?" I asked him.

"Yeah, get me something sweet." He said and I nodded, gesturing to Nate to follow me.

"And Thea?" Alex called and I turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Your bodyguards were found enjoying themselves in the cafeteria. Care to explain?" He asked me raising an eyebrow.

"Elevators were crowded and I was in a hurry. I told them to take a break." I said and he nodded.

"Alright, they're waiting for you down. Stay safe." He said as I left his office with Nate following close behind.

"Looks like your brother loves his cars." Nate says and I shrug casually.

"Sometimes I think he loves them more than me." I said and earned a laugh from him as we took the elevator downstairs. Walking through the front lobby, people stopped to stare or greet me as I walked by and made a pathway for us to walk through.

"Wow, I feel like royalty." Nate said from beside me as I slipped my sunglasses on and flashed him a smile.

"Enjoy it sweetheart." I told him and he grinned when my bodyguards opened the front door for me.

"Dan. Craig. Hope you enjoyed yourselves." I asked them and they smiled sheepishly.

"Thank you Ms. Elias." They said together like school kids thanking their teacher and I chuckled.

"Call me Thea, please." I said and they both nodded as my car, correction, Alex's car came to a stop in front of us and the guards opened the doors for us.

"Get in already Nate." I told him when I saw him gawking at the car and he immediately got in the passenger seat while I sat in the drivers seat, the bodyguards behind us in another car and we drove off to a café near the office.

"This is one sweet car." Nate said and I flashed him a grin.

"Thanks." I said as we pulled up at the café, and walked inside, a bell ringing when the door was opened. I inhaled in the smell of coffee and smiled, pushing my glasses up onto my head and walking to the front counter to order.

A girl my age stood behind and eyed me and Nate carefully before smiling at us nervously.

"Hi, what can I get you today?" She said with a sweet smile.

"Hey, we'll have a cappuccino and four chocolate chip muffins and... Nate?" I asked Nate who was looking around and snapped his head to me at my voice.

"Uh... I'll have the vanilla latte." He said and the girl nodded as I thanked her and payed with my card.

"You should have let me pay." Nate told me as I put my card back in my purse.

"It's alright, consider it my treat." I said and he smiled.

"Alright, but you have to accept something from me then." He said.

"Deal." I said as we were handed our coffees.

"Thank you for coming Ms. Elias, have a nice day." The girl smiled at us and I faltered briefly.

"How do you know who I am?" I asked her and she gave me a nervous smile.

"Everyone knows who you are.You resemble your brother a lot. You're practically a celebrity, like him." She said as I nodded and forced a polite smile on my face.

"You too... have a great day." I said as we walked out.

"You okay?" Nate asked me and I shrugged.

"I'll be fine. I'm just not comfortable with everyone knowing who I am." I said and Nate nodded in understanding.

"I understand. Come on." He said and I quickly put my coffee and two muffins in my car and headed to the guards car and tapped on their window. It rolled down and revealed Craig.

"Heather. How can we help?" He asked me and I held up the muffin bag.

"Got these for you guys." I said and handed them the muffins.

"Thanks Heather." Dan said and I smiled before going back to my car and devouring my muffin quickly.

What do they put in this stuff?

"So... I'll drop you back at the office because I have to go... can you give this to Alex?" I asked him pointing to the muffin.

"Yeah, don't worry." He said and I quickly drove towards the office, dropping him off.

"Bye Thea, I'll see you again, hopefully." He said and I smiled.

"You will, don't worry." I said and he chuckled, shutting the car door. Since my window was rolled down, I caught a glimpse of Roman, Enzo and Gabriel standing a few metres away from us.

I caught Roman's eye since he was facing me and saw his clenched jaw as he stared at me intently before throwing a glare towards Nate who was walking inside, oblivious.

I gave Roman a small wave and my biggest smile before rolling my window back up and driving off towards college.

I glanced at my phone briefly and my eyes widened.

"Shit, I'm going to be late." I said to myself noting I only had thirty minutes to class and the drive there would take nearly forty. I quickly connected my phone to the Bluetooth and dialed Craig's number.

"Heather. Is everything alright?" He asked.

"Yes, everything's fine I just wanted to tell you that I'm running late for class already so I'll have to speed up, so don't worry about me. I'll see you guys at college." I said.

"Alright, stay safe." He said and hung up as I stepped up on the accelerator, speeding down the roads desperately.

I couldn't miss this class, it was too important. I dodged cars here and there before swiftly turning to the road towards college. In twenty minutes, I was already parking my car and jumped out, running towards class.

Thankfully, I could run in heels or I'd have been late to class. On the way, I bumped into something, rather someone and almost fell until their arm caught me.

"Thea?" The voice spoke and I looked up momentarily, my eyes widening in surprise.

"Dean?" I said in disbelief as I balanced myself.

"The one and only. You okay?" He asked me concerned and I nodded, glancing at my watch once again.

"Yeah I'm fine but I'm running late to class, see you later, yeah?" I asked him and he gave me a firm nod.

"Yeah, sure." He said but before he could continue, I was already dashing across the halfway and stumbling into class. Thankfully, I still had two minutes to spare as I sat on an empty seat in the middle row, and quickly took out my laptop to take notes.

An hour and a half later, I was walking down the hallway with Jane to meet up with Matt and Dean.

"Hey guys." Matt said as we reached them in the front lawn.

"Hey." I said as I sat down on the grass and took a breath of relief.

"You okay Thea? You look tired." Jane asked me concerned and I sighed.

"Yeah, just a rough morning." I said and she nodded.

"So where were you the whole day? Didn't see you around." Dean said and I turned towards him.

"Yeah... I actually had an emergency and had to see my brother so I had to take off, but came back for the last class." I explained and everyone nodded.

"That's why you're dressed up so formally." Matt pointed towards my clothes.

"Yup. Alex made me do some work with Nate so it took me a while there since he fired half the marketing team a few days ago." I said and Jane chuckled.

"What'd they do?" She asked me and I shrugged.

"Probably pissed him off or did something wrong." I told her.

"Who's Nate?" Matt asked me.

"Oh, he's the head of marketing there, and quite young too. He's only 24." I told them.

"Wow. That's impressive." Dean said and I agreed with him.

"Anyhow, is your emergency solved? Nothing concerning right?" Dean asked me and I smiled at his worry.

"Yes, everything's fine, just my uncle couldn't reach Alex so I had to tell him personally since my cousin from Russia is coming over in a few days." I told him and he frowned.

"You're Russian?" He asked me.

"Half, but yeah. My dad's Russian." I sad and he nodded thoughtfully.

"So can you speak the language?" He asked me and I nodded.

"I can." I told him and he grinned.

"That's so cool. I learnt French in high school but I only remember bits of it." He told us all.

"Really? You didn't tell me that." Matt said to him frowning and we all laughed.

"Everything's not about you Matt." Jane told him and he frowned.

"I never said it was." He protested and that only made us laugh more at him. I glanced at my watch once again and saw it was almost 4 pm. Sighing, I stood up and dusted my pants.

"Well, it was nice catching up with you guys but I have to go now." I told them.

"Where are you going now?" Jane asked me.

"Roman's. I have to finish his ballroom because he has a party there in a few days." I told her, already thinking about how much work was left.

"He has a ballroom in his house?" Matt asked me shocked and I shrugged.

"I guess so." I said and he shook his head in disbelief.

"Awesome. Get pictures, will you?" He asked me sweetly, batting his eyelashes and I laughed at him.

"Sure, will do." I told him and turned to Dean.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, yeah?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Of course. And are we still on for Saturday?" He asked me and I smiled at him.

"Of course. Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere casual because we're obviously just testing the waters." He said thinking.

"Yeah that sounds nice. Text me okay?" I called to him as I started walking away.

"Will do!" He shouted back and I waved at them before turning and heading towards my... uh... Alex's car, and speeding off down the highway.

Now to finish this.