Chapter 2 An Agonizing Reunion

Kendra's POV,

I spent five years searching for him. Five years scheming a plan to have him beg on his knees.

"May I know my partner's name?" his lips muttered. They were plump, juicy and drawing me for a kiss.

His sonorous voice had jerked me back to reality. My imagination was getting the better of me, but it would be true soon.

That was just an introduction. I tilted back a little, looking down on him.

"I don't need to say my name" I responded, and he scoffed while adjusting his back on the chair.

I was popular and he had better know.

"You look quite..."

"Different?" I coldly spat, and he ducked his head at me as though that wasn't what he wanted to say.

"Lost" he completed with his sonorous voice and I snapped my teeth, feeling mousey.

He should quit acting like a gentleman because he wasn't.

It took miles to find him and, finally, he was just a step closer. My ex-husband turned out to be my business partner.

Why won't I be lost? I folded my fist, glaring at him. Obviously, he noticed that but ignored it.

This was where he was hiding, possibly deceiving a naive girl like I was. The hatred I had for him rekindled.

"You look adorable when serious, mind my manners, I've become a fan," he added snapping a finger and letting out a smile. Oh! He should quit the compliments.

I sense he was trying to make the place lively and hide from the awkward situation.

The waitress came in time to serve him. That snap, that smile, that voice, it came crashing into my head.

If I hadn't taken control, I was sure to have murdered him.

Calmly, I cut the steak and in a mouthful, as my eyes never left him. He seemed to be staring at me too and I felt tremulous.

"What do you want? My money? Body? Child?...let me guess, a sex tool... that's all you ever wanted," I asked, attempting not to raise my voice while gruesomely chewing the steak.

Dante had almost choked on his drink.

He narrowed his gaze at me as though I was behaving strangely because of a business proposal.

"Have we met before?" He anxiously asked.

My world paused as I felt my heart would explode any moment soon. Couldn't he see I was the one? Missdra? I only switched my name to Kendra, but my looks were the same.

I was staring at him, my nightmare and business partner. He was the reason I was here, to crack a business deal before leaving this country with my fiancé.

The cold stare was enough to set the other patrons edging out of harm's way.

I scoffed, trying to roll out words to describe this situation, but they weren't coming out.

To be sincere, his appearance broke me.

I gave him no response, fuming at where I was. He nodded and narrowed his gaze at me.

"You're not as gentle as your face, but I keep falling for that," he teased, drawing my attention to him.

"Go straight to the point," I snapped again, boiling and clenching my fist below the table.

"I'm here to propose a merger" he reminded with a mild tone and then snapped his fingers.

My head throbs, his face, his eyes, everything about him made me mindless.

I want to tell him that wasn't his emotional torture enough, wasn't his cruel affection enough? Why does he have to appear when I have lost my guard?

I straighten my back, trying to let go of the situation that's right in front of me.

"I'm canceling the deal," I proclaimed, and he suddenly shrugged his shoulders, then grinned.

He hadn't even spoken about the business, and it seemed like a shock to me.

He suddenly began to click the lighter in his hands, which were shaky.

"You can't refuse me, can you miss Kendra?" He murmured grudgingly, and I dried up, cold as adrenaline pumps inside me.

Dante always has his ways, and he never minds how he gets them done.

"Actually, you signed it already," he mutters, not seeming surprised, and I gasped for air.

I threw my hands in the air, exhausted and pissed off by his actions. When did that happen?

"Just joking," he laughed, took a fork and began to twirl the pasta. He wasn't a fan of pasta but only ordered it because I also did.

Staring has become our only form of communication.

Dante wouldn't look at me so much as through me, like my head was transparent, and he was fascinated by an object two inches behind my skull.

His eyes that I once fell into as my salvation instead turned my stomach every bit as badly as meeting a stranger after dark.

Those long looks were how he told me that he was quite impressed.

His eyes were walking from my headline to my feet and back up again. In short, he was staring and there seemed no end to his fascination.

Dante tried convincing me of how important the deal would be, and my ears never registered his words.

I was speechless. His composure, how gentle he was, warm and welcoming. My heart was flustered.

Oddly, I was staring at the man who was dead. My answer still remains the same.

"Did we date? Were we lovers or were you my mistress?" He suddenly questioned, his eyes confused as he tried to join the knots, but it seemed he was lost.

Still, I was packing up to leave.

"If you were mine, then I'd never regret it, I'd just chase you back," Dante concluded, and his face looked dead serious.

He furrowed his brows at me as I had paused, amused by his statement. It was as he thought he said his intention with those lines, to have me back.

He rubbed his thighs, as he quickened his breath, anticipating my response.

My breath ceased and I crinkled my nose. My fingers ran through my hair as I was distressed, weary and subconscious.

"But you're not," he pressed on. His eyes met the ring on my index finger.