Chapter 18

Early in the morning, as Aaron was taking a shower, his phone, which was resting on his bed, started ringing. He asked Nikita to go and see who was calling.

"It's an unknown number, sir," reported Nikita.

"Take the call and tell them I am temporarily unavailable," ordered Aaron. Nikita obeyed.

"Who was it?" asked Aaron, still in the shower.

"The man you spoke to yesterday at the restaurant, sir," replied Nikita.

"Ah, Giovanni Rossi?" said Aaron. "Alright. Thank you, Nikita. I will call him back later." Nikita then placed the phone on the bed and left the room.

Meanwhile, across town, Giovanni and his sister were discussing the situation.

"They're not coming anymore?" his sister asked, concerned by the dark look in Giovanni's eyes.

"No. Another man answered his phone and said he was out," Giovanni replied.

Olivia stared at her brother for a moment before a smile crept onto her face.

"Are you jealous, Gio?" Giovanni had not realized it and found it hard to accept. Why would he be jealous of someone he simply wanted in his bed?

"I'm not like that, you know that."

"Like what?"

"Jealous. The man on the other end of the phone said 'sir is out...'. That means he's one of his men. Why would I be jealous of a subordinate?"

"Fair enough, convince yourself of that," his sister said. "Be careful, dear brother, don't get burned and don't fall into your own trap."

As the tension weighed heavily, Aaron's call broke the silence. Giovanni's face lit up upon hearing the "Hello" from the young man at the other end of the line.

"He's hooked," remarked his sister before leaving him alone. Engrossed in the conversation with Aaron, Giovanni paid no attention to anything else.

Aaron informed him of their location and apologized to Giovanni before asking him to come pick them up as they didn't have cars. They were in Rome. Giovanni agreed, and Aaron hung up.

Giovanni was over the moon. He had never been so excited to see someone in his entire life. He took longer than usual to get ready, changing clothes five times before settling on blue pants, a white polo shirt, and a blue jacket draped around his neck.

"Wow!" exclaimed his sister as she saw him emerge from his room. "The great Giovanni Rossi in non-black clothes." Giovanni was used to wearing dark outfits to blend in and conceal any blood stains in case of injuries.

"Is it weird? I'll go change," he replied to his sister.

"No, it's perfect as it is. You look drop-dead gorgeous. No woman, or man, could resist you," she joked. They then set off to meet Aaron, who was sporting a partially unbuttoned pink shirt, white shorts, a gold watch, the same sunglasses as the day before, and artisanal sandals. He was irresistible, more beautiful than ever in his perfectly coordinated attire.

"Where are the others?" asked Giovanni after greeting Aaron and Nikita, the only one accompanying them.

"It's just me and my sister and Nikita, our bodyguard. And my sister is still getting ready," sighed Aaron, a sigh that piqued Giovanni's curiosity and whetted his appetite. His sister got out of the car and nudged him to hold back.

"Hello, you must be Aaron," she said in English, not speaking Russian.

"Yes, you must be Mr. Giovanni's sister, Olivia, right?"

"Yes, don't call him 'Mister Giovanni,' it ages him. Just call him Giovanni."

"Okay," replied Aaron a bit embarrassed. "Let me go get my sister, she's taking too long." He went back into the house, closely followed by Nikita, leaving Giovanni and his sister alone in front of the car.

"Giovanni, are you sure you don't like this man?"

"No, of course not. Love at first sight is overrated. I've only seen him three times, including today. It would be silly to love someone so quickly."

"But it's obvious... forget it. Just be careful."

His sister's concerns surprised Giovanni. She had never been like this before, even when he was dating multiple people at once. Why was she like this now? But he didn't have much time to dwell on this question as Kira burst out of the house, her brother right behind her, shouting, "Italy, here I come!" She was finally ready and clearly excited for this adventure.