Red Roses & Rivals
Three guys.
One younger than the other two.
And the two seeming as though they’ve gone through enough shit. I have to serve them too before my shifts over anyway. Sighing I approach them with a smile.
Thank God their menus been handed out already. “Hello, welcome to The Moonlight Grill, what would you like to order?”
I prepared to write down whatever they were gonna throw at me. I usually have to. Why do they keep staring at me like that?
The youngest guy cleared his throat. “Uh—coffee. Black. And... pancakes...”
I write it down and look to the other two. “What about you two, sirs?”
The eldest one gulped. The one with the suit. Either way they look familiar. Some faces you forget but they? It seemed like my memory is blocking it out.
“Make it same for me,” the eldest says.
“Me too!” The third guy said.
I walked off with their orders and their menus to place it in. As I did so, I glanced back at the table. After an hour my shift was about to end so I went back to check on them.
“How’s everything?” I asked.
The youngest almost choked. “Aryan dude, relax,” the eldest with a strange accent like he’s from Italy said.
Aryan. As in Kapoor. No. There’s no chance. “I’m trying Luca.”
Luca. Luciano Romano? Seriously? Clearing my throat I said, “Well, my shift is about to end. I’ll hand it over to Nancy—”
“We have something important to tell you!” The third guy, probably from around her said.
I froze at his words. My shift was over. I needed to clock out. This isn’t normal.
I turned and walked off. Dumb decision but I had to. As I walked off I hear a set of footsteps following me—heavy, like thick smoke. He grabs me and lifts me off the ground easily.
I kick and scream cause that’s the only thing as of now that will help. I buried my elbow deep in his chest but it wouldn’t budge. I tried kicking again. Still no use.
“Stop struggling, Bella,” he said, voice deep and into my ear.
Luca Romano.
I kept struggling. “Let go of me! I’m not going back there!”
A scream rips through me but he still wouldn’t let go. Only Luca would be dumb enough to use this strategy.
“Just fucking listen to me, Devi,” he whispered in my ear, a half-shout. “If I tell you... if I tell you he’s dead, will that make you come back?”
I stopped struggling at the words. He’s dead? He let go and I slip to the ground. “What?”
It came out quieter than I’d hoped. I ran my hand through my brown locks—stiff with dandruff. He crouched next to me.
His hand hovered there, mid-air but didn’t touch me. Didn’t breathe too loudly. Didn’t move.
So that was Aryan and Cole? And this is Luca? They’re here to drag me back to hell.
Tears stream down my face and I know I hadn’t gone to see him at all after running away from the family business. He knelt beside me as I cried. For how long? I had no idea.
“Man that was good. But the coffee needs to be..: tad better,” Aryan said, wiping his face.
We both looked at him. “Yeah that’s true.... That coffee tasted like shit.”
And that was my bodyguard. Ex-bodyguard. Cole Stone. “We could try Dunkin next time.”
Luca shot them a look of ‘Not now idiots’. I was still in crying mode. They stood there silently, gazing at me.
“Did you guys or one of you sent those roses to my apartment?” I asked after calming down and getting up with the help of the three.
“What roses?” Cole asked.
“You think we are stupid enough to send something that petty?” Luca inquired, hand still on my shoulder.
Of course Luca wouldn’t send anything like that. His favorite flowers aren’t roses. No one would guess his favorite was lavenders. He may look deadly but his flower of the day is surprisingly too feminine.
“Of course, you wouldn’t.”
“Aryan, did you send them?” Luca asked him.
Aryan’s hand flew to his chest like we just peeled his favorite teddy bear and put dark red stains on it. “You think I’d sent them? Bro I ain’t that sentimental!”
“I’ve seen your playlist, Kapoor,” Luca replied still holding onto me.
“You know I’ve changed.”
“There was a letter with it,” I said, looking at the ground. “I opened it. It happened last night.”
“What did it say?” Luca asked. “Bella, what the fuck did it say?”
“Devi.... Your next. And no one will stop me. The company will be mine,” I reply, reciting the letter from my memory.
Luca growled. Aryan and Cole looked to the side. “Is that bad?”
A choked laugh danced out of me. It had been stuck there since the other night. That letter I might have thrown it away in my hurry to remove everything from my apartment.
“I’ll find that bastard and choke him till he dies.”
Luca’s words were surprising in more ways than one. He’s not usually someone who does anything without a proper plan.
“Where is the letter?” Cole asked, looking me in the eye.
I gulped again. Oh they won’t like this at all. “I threw it out.”
“You what?” Luca was practically bouncing with dark energy—ready to clock someone in the face.
“Trash day isn’t till this afternoon,” I added. Maybe that made it worse? Or not?
They all swiftly moved forward and I hadn’t followed so Luca looked back. “Well, Bella? Aren’t you gonna show us where it is?”
“Where what is?”
“The letter...” Aryan said. He’s quiet until he isn’t anymore.
I’m shoved into the car by the three of them. “I can handle it. You guys don’t need to baby me.”
“But we like talking care of you,” Aryan replied, a smile plastered on his face.
Someone for the love of God wipe his smug smile off his damn face. “Get in, you love sick puppy.”
That was definitely directed at Aryan by none other than Cole. Once we are all in, I ask. “You know where I live or should I tell you the address.”
“Buckle up, princess, this’ll be a hefty ride,” Luca said through his gritted teeth.
“Yes, sir. Okay, how do you know where I live?”
I crossed my arms across my chest. These three better have an explanation or else. “Well?”
They don’t speak. They tracked me. Of course they did. What was I expecting? I leaned back against the cushy seat. Is this a Porsche?
“This is a Porsche. Your dad gifted it to him before his death,” Aryan said—like he can read my mind.
That’s the problem when you grow up together. You seem to know their secret even when you don’t tell them. Luca wasn’t even talking nor was Cole.
Cole kept typing something. And Luca was focused on driving us to the destination like Mission Impossible hot guy Ethan Hunt. Not that Ethan Hunt is my fave just it’s weird.
“Hey, Cole what are you doing?”
“Getting in touch with a few colleagues to see if they know more about this letter,” he replied.
“If you find that letter. Look I might have already thrown it away. I don’t think it matters.”
Luca swerved almost making me collide into Cole on my left. And then he swerved again making me almost collide with Aryan on my right.
“Could you please slow down? The cops might chase us down.”
“I don’t think the cops would mind a little speed,” Luca said, fueling my inner anger even more.
It does take us awhile but we get to the apartment. The place isn’t much but I hid myself here so none of these idiots can find me. And yet they did.
I would be lying to say I had thrown away that letter. I did throw it away but sitting right there on the counter is the same letter as last night.
Slowly I point to it. “That’s... the letter,” I say, my voice small.
Cole strode right towards it and grabbed it. As he scanned it with eyebrows furrowed, Luca looked around, probably hoping to find someone hiding there.
“You know no one is hiding here, Luca,” I said.
“Just gotta be 100% before we relax.”
You would think by his actions thathewas the bodyguard but no. It’s Cole Stone’s job. “This hand writing. It’s familiar...”
“Familiar how?”
“You know that secretary or someone years ago who worked with your father?” Cole said.
Secretary. Assistant? I don’t know. I’ve made myself forget this a thousand times over when I ran away. “Who would it be? I... look Cole, I don’t think he had anything to do with it. Besides dad paid him off with the rest of the money so he can live just fine.”
Aryan was ruffling through my fridge. “This is all you have, Di?”
Cole looks about ready to shake him to reality. “I didn’t have much time to fill the fridge. And the leftovers are from three days ago, so you might not want to eat them,” I reply to his stupid question during a time of crisis.
Luca was all chilling on my couch, eyes up to the ceiling, watching it. There are only mosquitos and flies up there. I don’t think he will find a stalker hiding inside it.
“You should stop staring or my neighbor might sue you for damage.”
“She might not sue me unless I give her all this charm,” Cole said.
Aryan walked up to test my window next. “You bring any guys in here?”
“For what?”
I don’t know why I asked since I already know why other girls might bring a guy in but I was too busy living for myself to notice. Or let alone have sex with it.
“You know exactly what,” he said, now turning and pointing at me. “Now think. Did anyone... any guy come here and fuck you?”
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t have a counterpoint. As I thought back I know the only times I bring them in here isn’t sex, if that’s what Aryan’s talking about.
Cole was inspecting still. Luca leaned in close. Aryan watched me.
“I don’t know any of their names. I never asked!”
