Chapter 11

“Glad you two finally decided to join us. I thought it would take another hour before you are done fucking each other.” Corey teased when Avanya and Alessio finally joined them.

Alessio blushed while Avanya kept a blank face. She gave a curt nod to Mingjue and Liana as a form of greeting. “What? No greeting for me?” Corey faked a pained expression only to receive a smack on the back of his head from Alessio. “Ouch! Damn! No need to be so savage, I was just asking.” He whined.

Alessio rolled his eyes as he sat down on an empty chair, Avanya took the basket which was right next to Corey and began to serve him. “You don’t have to, I could’ve served myself.” Alessio protested.

Avanya stared at him fondly, “I know.” She kissed his forehead then turned her attention back to the basket. She took a blue lunch box along with a fork and knife then handed them over to Mingjue who looked shocked.

“Thank you.” He bowed to her as a sign of respect and took the food, Avanya gave him a small nod before handing Liana her food.

The woman smiled and thanked her, when it came to Corey, Avanya handed him a slight bigger lunchbox than the others. The man accepted it with a broad smile and kissed Avanya’s cheek as a sign of gratitude. He was fairly surprised that she remembered that he had a big appetite but he felt honored at the same time. Avanya also brought along some refreshments and desserts, “I must say, you earned yourself an angel, Ales.” Liana complimented with a smirk as she munched away on her food.

Alessio smiled as he looked at Avanya who was eating silently next to him. “Trust me, I know.” Avanya leaned over and gave him a perk on the cheek before focusing back on her food.

The conversations flowed smoothly around her, she listening silently and only commented when she was spoken to directly. Avanya’s mind was clouded by a ton of questions most of which revolved around her father’s work and the events that led to his death. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize that everyone was done eating and had packed up their lunch boxes back into the basket. “Ava, do you want to stay or are you going back to the house?”

All eyes were on her now, Avanya looked at her man before looking at the rest of the group. “Whatever you want, I have nothing to do since I quit my job at the library.” She shrugged.

“What do we have now?” Corey asked as he gulped down the last of his drink.

Liana picked up her iPhone and browsed through, “We have a meeting with Salvatore, and he wanted to discuss a project.”

Mingjue looked at her with a frown, “Didn’t he just give a project to the Keith Sisters Constructions?”

“He did. Apparently, they did not do a good job and the man was pissed. Seems he wants us to clean up the mess the sisters made.”

“When is he coming?” Mingjue asked as he ran a hand through his black hair in frustration. It was clear to see that the man did not like this Salvatore guy. Matter of fact, all of them seem unwilling to do business with him.

Liana checked her wrist watch for the time, “He will be here in half an hour.”

Before anyone could utter another word, the telephone rang, Mingjue picked up and frowned at whatever his secretary was telling him. “Alright, let them in.” He hung up before turning to the group. “It seems Salvatore arrived earlier than expected. He is already in the building and on his way here.” He informed in a monotone.

Something about the guy made everyone in the room anxious, all of them seem to tense up the second the door opened and this made Avanya curious. She wondered who exactly was this Salvatore guy and why was he not liked by these people. However, when the man in question walked through the door, Avanya’s blood ran cold and her eyes were filled with a murderous glint. Standing in front of them was a man with broad shoulders, he had jet black hair and grey eyes. His eyes were filled with a sinister glint as he scanned the room with an arrogant smirk playing on his thin lips. The guy was tan and clad in a dark gray tux, there were two more guys with him who looked like bodyguards. It was not his appearance that shocked Avanya though, it was the fact that he recognize this man as one of the people who are responsible for her parents’ deaths.

All throughout the meeting, Avanya sat at the back of the room silently observing the new people in the room. She remained unseen and she made no sound, Salvatore did not even get a whiff of her presence in the room which worked in her favor. It was well known that Luciano De Luca had four children however, no one had ever met the De Luca princess. The triplets were often seen on the news because of their jobs but the family always kept Avanya away from the public eye. Even her pictures were not put on the walls in the house in case of any intruders. So many people questioned the existence of a fourth child in the De Luca family.

It wasn’t until the dreadful incident 3 years ago did people start to believe the rumors about the mysterious De Luca princess. A CCTV footage of Avanya escaping the scene was released to the media, her face was not visible though because she had been facing away from the camera and her face was covered by a mask. Avanya knew that no one would recognize her even if they were to see her, after all the only thing she inherited from her father was his sea-foam green eyes. As breathtaking as she is, Avanya looked nothing like her parents or brothers. She mostly inherited their characters rather than their physical appearance, her mother once told her that she looked more like her maternal grandmother rather than her own mother.

Her mother was half Australian, half Greek while her father was pure Italian. Avanya was not worried about Salvatore recognizing her, she did not even try to hide her presence but then again the man was too busy gloating about the new casino he was about to open. Avanya did not understand how one can be so full of themselves, seriously, people like him always irked her to the core and she loved putting them in their place. She was not the only one who hated the man’s cocky character, now Avanya could see why everyone was so annoyed earlier. Salvatore has already stated the reason for his visit, Mingjue has already reviewed his offer but the man just refused to leave without getting the answer he wanted. He was determined to make DACALM Constructions work for him, Mingjue was about to lose his patience so Avanya decided to help them get the prick out. She sneaked out of the office unseen, she went to the bathroom and used the phone to hack into Salvatore’s main casino’s computer systems. She was not shocked upon discovering the number of illegal activities happening there. She could bet all her money that all of the businesses ran by this man had something shady going on.