Chapter 5 5

"So, what's up with that accent of yours?" I asked out of curiosity, taking a swig of my water.

"What do you mean?" His brows knitted together in confusion.

"Well, I sense a little British in there."

"Oh, you caught me," his accent immediately switched to a British one, surprising me a little. "Thought I could talk to you in my Americanized accent and you would never pick up on it," he chuckled.

"Oh wow. A sudden change. You sound like a completely different ass," I rolled my eyes.

"I'm kidding, love. You're pretty gullible I must say."

"I'm completely unfazed."

"Yeah, right. My accent is a massive panty dropper," he said with his usual smirk embellishing his chiseled face. I sighed at his arrogance and took another sip of my boring old water. "Well, I was born to an Italian family, hence the last name. Grew up in London and then moved to the States when I was ten. So, I picked up on the American accent and mushed them two together."

"I see, Mr. Pepperoni." I cussed myself right after saying that. Stupid Valerie!

"Funny. You're the first one to ever say that and will be the last one too. You see," he shifted a little towards me. "My last name carries a lot of respect and is a big deal that you have no idea of. Don't insult it, love."

His dark, brooding blue eyes pierced right into mine sending a cold chill up my spine. The room's temperature suddenly went into the low negatives as a sudden fear crossed my eyes, compelling me to look away from this man. I couldn't show him my fear. Remaining calm was the best option.

"Don't try to scare me," I said with a stolid expression, still looking away from him and making sure my voice didn't falter.

"That's not my intention, love. What will I gain from doing that?" His dangerous smirk and the tone of his deep voice pulled my eyes back to his face. My lips parted to fire back at him but got interrupted by a tall blondie in a red, skin tight dress that barely covered her breast implants.

"Mr. Romano," she gained his attention. He looked at her and then back at her hand that she placed on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She removed her hand immediately. I guess I wasn't the only one he intimidated.

"It better be important," he said through gritted teeth which indicated that he hated being interrupted. Another thing to add to the list of what not to do around him in case I ever see him after this night which I hope I didn't.

"It is, sir. Extremely important." She leaned down to whisper something in his ear. The loud jazz music prevented me from eavesdropping on their little conversation as I eagerly tried to decipher their chat, but it was to no avail.

He arose from the sofa that we were sitting on and looked at me. "I have some important business to handle right now. I'm sorry, love. I'll be back in a few."

"Oh. Don't worry about me." I tried to shoo him away with my best fake smile. "Take your time."

"Sounds like you're trying to get rid of me," he arched his brow once again.

"You caught me," I raised my hands in the air in fake surrender. He chuckled before turning around and leaving with the blondie. This was my chance to find Aunt Mirabel and leave. His brother could apologize some other time, but this bad feeling in my gut was killing me and it sure as hell wasn't going away.

Scooting off the comfy sofa, I started my search for Aunt Mirabel. I hope she's okay. I looked around for a while but she was nowhere to be found as a queasy feeling began clawing at me. I exited the huge hall in hopes of finding her in the lobby or maybe outside the hotel. There were no signs of her in the lobby either. Damn it!

As I was about to walk towards the exit of the hotel and look for Aunt Mirabel outside, Matteo charged in with a few men behind him, Alex being one of those men. I turned on my heel quickly in efforts to avoid him and paced the other way into a narrow hallway. Turning around the corner, I bumped into a man.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, looking up at the man who had his back towards me. He turned around to show me his face and my heart ran for the hills. I didn't expect to run into him right now. Bad timing.

"Look who it is. The bitch that kicked my baby machines down there," Paula growled and grabbed me tightly by my arm, pulling me close to his chest.

"Let me go, you disgusting bastard," I struggled to get out of his strong grip. The filthy stench of alcohol and smoke wafted up my nose, scrunching it in absolute disgust.

"Not today, girl. Matteo saved you yesterday. No one is saving you today," he said with his disgusting breath that made me want to hurl at him. "You'll pay for what you did." A flash of fear took over my mind. The possibilities of what might happen now began haunting me. Not again. This can't be happening again. Tears started to pour down my face.

He released my arm and yanked on my hair, throwing me against the wall. Falling to the ground, I tried to reach for my clutch that had the pepper spray in it. It was the only thing that could help me right now. Grabbing the clutch, I shuffle frantically through it for the pepper spray.