Holly nods. He walks to the door with Holly trailing behind him. Alessia opens the door, but they don’t acknowledge her as they walk out. Alessia walks in, a frown on her face, making her look older than she is. My cousin is just a few years older than I am, and trust me, I’m not even old. Not even close.

“What’s Silas Gray doing here?” Alessia asks curiously, “I didn’t expect to ever see him here.”

Damn, I really wish Silas wasn’t so popular. She glances back at the door, a look of curiosity on her face. I hope she isn’t interested in him because I have already staked claim to him. Alessia is beautiful and it makes me wonder why she hasn’t settled down with anyone yet. I know she is more than good enough to be with someone.

“Is something wrong, Lennox?” She wonders as she places a hand on my arm, searching my face for a sign of distress, “something is off about you.”

I just smile to cover it up. I look over at Eugene who is behind her, and he shakes his head slowly. He’s telling me not to tell her about Silas and I agree. I don’t want to put anyone in danger than they probably already are. She is my cousin, and I really don’t need her in harm’s way.

“I’m fine, Sia.” I reassure her, taking her hand in mine, “I hired Silas as my bodyguard.”

I’m still telling her the truth; she just doesn’t need to know the whole details. I trust her with everything. Well, almost everything. I don’t trust her to not tell my parents. I know how worried mom would get and I don’t want that for her. So, I’ll just keep it a secret until the threat is gone and I’m safe.

“You guys wanted me to get one, so I did.” I tried to make a joke about it, “he’s the best of the best.”

“But everyone knows that Silas Gray doesn’t protect anymore?” Alessia disagrees, raising an eyebrow at me and I should have known it wouldn’t be so easy to fool her, “why would he protect you?”

I just laugh, trying to brush it off, “really? Well, I guess I am an exception then.”

Alessia doesn’t look happy about that. I can tell Alessia knows there’s more to the story. I just hope she doesn’t push it. After what feels like forever, she finally nods, letting it go. I knew she would thankfully.

“Fine, as long as you are fine.” She murmurs, giving me a smile before looking over at Eugene, “just came to inform you two that Blue Eli is ours. They signed the contract today.”

Alessia is a marketing genius. She can sell anything, and as much as Eugene and I have put a lot into developing the company, she has, too. Especially with getting us business with other Mafia gangs. We’re lucky to have her. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her.

“Wow, that’s great, Sia.” I tell her honestly, “I know you could do it.”

“It’s impressive.” Eugene agrees, making Alessia blush.

“Well, just doing my job.” She murmurs modestly like I knew she would, “I’ll get going then.”

I nod, giving her hand one more squeeze before letting go. She walks to the door but then suddenly stills as she turns to look at me. I can’t read the expression on her face which is a bit scary in itself.

“I’ll see you on Sunday for dinner?” She asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

I just nod again, “of course.”

She walks out, shutting the door as she will head to her own office. I relax a little bit, glad that she didn’t push it too much. I should be happy that she trusts me to know what I am doing.

“You don’t want me to tell her about Gray.” I murmur to Eugene, seeing how he is looking around nervously, “why?”

“No, and you already know that.” Eugene grumbles, as if it is obvious, “she would flip out and tell your parents.”

Before I could say anything else, Silas and Holly walk back in. I don’t know if I like the expressions on their faces. Of course, I am captured by Silas’ intense gaze once again.

“What did you guys find?” Eugene asks them, evading our former conversation. 

“Your security is shit.” Holly states plain and simply, “do you guys even care about your lives at all?”

“We have security cameras everywhere.” Eugene tries to reason with her, “they see everything.”

“Yeah, but can they shoot?” Holly fires back, “kick someone in the butt? You’re literally defenceless!”

“We didn’t need to defend ourselves until now.” Eugene murmurs, turning to me next, “our next project should be on security cameras that shoot lasers when they detect danger.”

I see Holly rolling her eyes at him in the corner of my eye. I hope she doesn’t start a fight with Eugene, but I should have known it wouldn’t be so easy. When it comes to Eugene, he sometimes doesn’t know when to back down.

“Everything isn’t about machines, you know?” Holly grumbles, folding her arms across her chest, “they are just not as efficient.”

I close my eyes and groan internally for what feels like the millionth time today. I wish she didn’t just say that. Now they are going to argue non-stop because Eugene firmly believes that machines can do everything. I mean, they obviously can’t do everything, but he thinks that. 

“Machines are a hundred percent efficient and effective.” Eugene argues like I knew he would, “they can literally do everything!”

They’re getting closer to each other as they argue back and forth. And here I thought Holly was like Silas. I glance at Silas who is also watching them bicker with a blank expression on his face. Holly’s face is very expressive now. She’s furious. She’s getting heated from the argument. I should probably stop Eugene from going further with this. It could totally affect his chances of wooing her.

I move towards them and pull Eugene to my side, “Gene.”

“What?” He snaps at me.

Obviously still on his rush. 

“Holly’s right.” I tell him, breaking his heart.

Damn, I hate that look on his face.

He turns his head to look at me with disbelief, “you’re kidding, right?”

I’ve never argued with Gene about who’s better between machines and humans before because honestly, I think it’s pointless. I don’t have the time to argue. I’d rather drink wine, but I don’t know how well it’ll go. I just want him to be happy and drop it.

“Our bad boys won’t stop me from getting shot in the head.” I explain to him, hoping that he can be reasoned with right now. 

He opens his mouth to counter that but quickly closes it. He knows I’m right.

“At least none of them can yet.” I add to soften the blow.

“We should work on creating one that would.” Eugene mumbles, trying to make the best out of this situation.

I nod. We could do that; right now, it is a good idea for him to cool off rather than fight a friend.

“I’ll have some of my men come here.” Silas tells me, being in charge like usual, “I demand that your employees treat them with respect. They work for ME, not you.”

“I’ll handle it.” Eugene promises, being the little puppy once again.

“I’ll come with you.” Holly offers, not noticing how Eugene perks up, “you could give me a tour of the place while we are at it. You guys are the reason I’m missing my vacation anyway.”

I just frown. 

“What vacation?” Eugene whispers to me, and I shrug.

I have no idea what she is talking about.

“It wasn’t a vacation, Holly.” Silas growls, making Holly smile.

“They don’t know that.” She giggles, “and I told you it was a vacation for me at least.”

Holly really is a strange one. The whole situation has just taken a turn. Holly is now showing us her real self after observing Eugene and me. And it seems like I was way off about her. Interesting. She comes towards us, probably thinking that she is hot shit. She is smiling at Eugene with the kind of smile that would make him weak in the knees.

“Come on, we don’t want me to get lost, do we?” She murmurs, placing her hand on his arm.

I can tell Eugene blushes. God. Holly moves along towards the door, and Eugene follows behind like a lost puppy. They would honestly make a cute couple.

“I doubt your camera things will find me.” She continues to tease him.

“They’re called security cameras.” Eugene mumbles, but he is still blushing.

“I think I’ve made it clear that they don’t do much securing.” Holly replies, rolling her eyes, “you should give them another name.”

They both walk out of the door. Their voices become muffled by the sound-proofed office. Silas and I are together alone again. I turn to look at him, and I go incredibly still. He’s staring at me. I feel my skin burn, and my palms are sweaty. Just like the night he tried to kill me, but I think I’m reacting because of a more different reason now. How on Earth am I going to live with this man for even a day without pouncing on him? I think I might go crazy.

“Do you have coffee?” He asks me, breaking my lustful thoughts. 

“Uh?” I know he said something, but my brain really didn’t comprehend it.

He raises an eyebrow like I’m crazy, “I asked if you have coffee?”

“Oh, coffee…” I look around, but there’s no coffee machine in my office.

I’m not really a fan of coffee. I do have a few wines in my cabinet, but I doubt he will take that instead. I try to remember where the closest one is instead.

“Um, yeah, I think there’s a coffee maker in the break room.” I murmur, wondering why he leaves me so frazzled.

He nods. He strolls past me, his cologne filling my nostrils for a few seconds before they dissipate. He gets out of my office in search of his coffee, the one I know now that he loves to drink with cream. I hope he knows where the break room is. I finally get around to sit behind my desk. Drawing in deep breaths to calm myself as I spin on my chair, trying to clear my mind. What a morning. If it weren’t for my mom’s warning about me turning into an alcoholic, I would have opened a bottle of wine. Taking out my phone, I update my list of things that I need to buy. I added a coffee machine to the list to appease Silas.

Silas is going to be here for a while. It won’t be fair to have him going to the break room every time to make his coffee. I’m also doing it for some selfish reasons. He gets his coffee. I get to have him never leave my sight.

Overall, it’s a win-win situation.

I don’t know if Silas would have agreed with me.