Hey Rom-Cubs,

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Uh-oh?!!!!

Here's the fourteenth installation.

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- Ang

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"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I growled, causing her to flinch in fear.

My anger reared its ugly head, even as I trapped her in the washroom with me. Was I wrong now to think that most women cared only about themselves? Not even, Ada was immune to it.

The image of her pressed against the wall in the hall while Stephen's hands roamed her body and his lips claimed hers was enough to shatter me. I am a man. I never wasted energy pursuing something that wouldn't bear fruit. I was not kidding about our arrangement.

I would willingly help her with her father but my condition was to let me love her and she couldn't simply be happy with that. I am no fool, and this ... is a good bargain for a woman in her position.

Name one man that could remain calm after seeing his woman in the arms of another and I'll tell you that he's insane. Betrayal was not something I took lightly, it's no different to deception.

Tears sprung from her eyes but I could care less at the moment. What did she expect that I would pat her on the back? I highly doubted that anyone was a fan of others taking what's theirs's and I'll be damned if I standby and allow it to happen. Not in my restaurant and, certainly, not in front of me. That would surely be the day.

Ada trembled with fear before my eyes as I tightened the gap between us to stand mere millimetres away from her. She gazed up at me with those beautiful brown eyes and her sultry swollen lips agape as she drew shallow breaths. Her eyes saturated with a well of unshed tears with threatened a torrential downpour.

My heart cringed at the sight but I would not fold. She would have to pay for what she did.

I can be a nice guy but then no one would listen, no one would pay me any mind. No, but everyone listens to the scary guy, the one person in the world they think they knew the most about. She wasn't legally mine yet but kissing another man, embarrassing me whilst we were engaged was a heck of a way to show gratitude. Of the little things I knew about her, betrayal was not among them but wonders never seize.

I felt the intense heat that radiated from both our bodies as I held her rich chocolate brown gaze. Torn between going back to finish that Stephen for putting his hands on my fiancè, and the overwhelming urge I felt to capture her swollen lips under mine, but in light of the situation, I did neither. No that would be too easy, my punishment would have to be a lot more severe.

"You have thirty seconds to convinced me not to fire your boyfriend's ass!" I said as calmly as a summer day in the vineyard. "Twenty-nine ... Twenty-eight-"

"-Please Niccolò, don't fire him. This is his life, he's worked so hard to get here. It's only him ... no family ... no parents ... no nothing. This is all he has. I'll do whatever you want. Please."

Ada was frantic and I could see it in her eyes. She really cared for him, perhaps even loved him. However, the fact remained that he couldn't help her. I could! I wasn't going to fire him at all but I just wanted to hear what she would say.

"Ok, I will not fire him but as of now, consider yourself on probation. Your punishment will be this. I will not look your way or entertain conversation with you. You won't be able to get me out of your head. I'll haunt your dreams, make you crave my touch ... my kiss so much that you will dream of it. Then, it is you who will come to me." I said, purposely allowing my breath to brush over her beautiful face which seemed to glow in such intimate lighting. "Oh, get yourself a white dress. We're going down to the courthouse tomorrow."

I leaned forward, hearing as her breath caught. Her breaths whispered against my neck as I fetch her some tissue so that she could clean up. My presence already seemed to affect her. Either way, I stepped away from Ada, burning the sight of her into my memory as it would be the last for a while. She was a vision as she leant up against the wall staring after. Man, I missed her already. It would be painful not to hold her ... touch her, almost torturous but a necessary sacrifice to get her to make a point. It would do us both a world of good.

I left the room, sighing as I shut the door behind me. I was quite surprised that I held out so long. Heavens, she looked like a meal fit for a king. I inhaled deeply as my anger spiked again. If I couldn't touch her, I would make sure as heck no one else could.

I crossed the empty hall back where I'd come from in a few short strides until the sound of clattering kitchenware caught my ear. I stormed into there so fast, a fire could've ignited.

The kitchen fell silent, except for the sizzling sound of hot oil. I snatched Stephen from his place at the seafood station in the kitchen, tugging him out into the hall before my fist connected with his jaw.

"Why now, Stephen? She's been in love with you, I assume for a while, so why now?" I was tempted to keep going but I restrained myself. He stared at me, shocked by the revelation as he held his jaw. When he did not answer, blood boiled in my veins. Was he suddenly hard of hearing? "Why Stephen?"

"I didn't know," He stared up at me frightened as well as petrified.

"A one night stand maybe?" It was simply ridiculous. "Does she look like a one-night stand, Stephen?"

He flinched at my tone. "No." He rushed out.

"No, Stephen she is not a late-night stand. She's more than that. She's the one you get to know. The one who'll light up your world. The one you know you'll fall in love with Stephen. She's the one you'll marry. You men think you know the game, the women. You don't. You don't find a woman like that in today's world so grow up, get a life and stay away from my fiancè."

I released the collar of his chef jacket, eyeing him closely as he scampered away from me in the direction of the kitchen. I waited a while after he left before entering the kitchen myself to fetch myself an ice bath to extinguish the pain that had suddenly inflamed my fist before shoving my hand into it.

It was not long before I joined my sister and our guests at the table again. She held my gaze obviously as her eyebrow arched in question before she glanced between Ada and me. The tension between us was immense, if I may say so for myself.

*END of Chapter Fourteen*