34. Valerie

Chapter thirty-four

Valerie

T ension is something I'm not a stranger to. Growing up, I'd notice the tension between my mamá and papá whenever they argued, or whenever Natalia had seen her father and would come home and pretend she didn't want to cry. I noticed it whenever Mattheo would come home drunk and angry, and I definitely notice it right now in the car with Ambrose.

The only difference is it doesn't feel like all those times, when the people felt angry, like they were holding it together, trying to control the rage they felt inside. No, this tension feels sad. It feels helpless like neither of us knows what to say or do.

"Did I do something to piss you off this morning?" he asks as we pull up to the parking garage where the security offers Ambrose a polite nod and lets him in. He doesn't turn to face me but the question sets me off. It triggers all my unnamed emotions and they all rush to the surface like a rapid in a river.

"Besides prying into something that doesn't concern you." I want to grab the words out of the air and put them back into my mouth and swallow them. "Ambs.." I start but the way he looks at me shuts me up. His eyes are wide and his usual green eyes are more of a faded sage colour, then I notice the bags under his eyes and I wonder why he looks so tired.

Has he not been sleeping? When did he stop resting properly? I usually pass out as soon as we get into bed so I've never noticed his absence or restlessness.

Another thing I didn't notice.

"Of course, I'm fucking stupid for being concerned about the girl that spends every night in my bed. Obviously none of my business. You won't have to worry about me ‘prying' again." He tosses me the key, gets out of the car and slams the door shut so hard I jump in my seat.

All the mornings we've gotten here together, he usually lets me go first and I've joked it's purely to check out my ass. He'd wildly deny it and say it makes sense for him to be late and not me since he's the boss.

I've caught him checking out my ass, though. I also didn't miss how his slacks were slightly tighter when he walked past my desk a few minutes later or the way he locked his office for at least fifteen minutes after he got in.

But today there's none of that. There's just me, alone in his Audi, feeling stupid and a hundred unsaid words hanging around me.

I get out and try to shake the morning off. Trying to not bring my problems to work, which is exceptionally difficult when my problems are at my work and are also my boss.

I get up to our floor and it's in utter chaos. Everyone seems to be frantically running around or trying to busy themselves.

A girl dashes past. "Hey, what's going on?"

She barely stops, instead continues walking backwards, "Mr. Vitale came in and started yelling about wanting the new set of figures for the financial year in five minutes so everyone is rushing to get it done," she says before turning and rushing off.

Black thick-framed glasses rest on the top of my desk and I look a bit further and notice their owner standing a few feet to the right fixing his hair.

"The long lost Vitale brother finally returns home," I say as I come up behind him and place my bags down on the desk.

A smile spreads broadly on his face, it's genuine and it sends reassurance through me.

"Hey, Val, oh my god I've missed you so much," he turns and pulls me into his chest and kisses the top of my head.

"I missed you too," I whisper into his chest as I savour the moment. Right now nothing matters, I don't care about what everyone around us is probably thinking, I don't care about the drama with Ambrose. I just care about getting to hug one of my best friends again.

He pulls back and looks at me. "You smell different," he furrows his brows and tries to sniff me. I jump back and head around my desk, the sweet moment quickly ruined.

"I changed shower gels." I offer a fable excuse. I covered myself in every scented item I own to try and mask the scent of his shower gel but nothing seems to be fucking working.

"I thought you were avoiding me," I say and start unpacking.

Antonio puts his glasses on and I wish he didn't until after answering so that I could at least gauge his reaction properly. "I would not be this happy to see you if I was," he chuckles.

My eyes drift to his hands but they sit perfectly still on the top of my desk so I smile to myself.

"Ambrose practically held me at gunpoint to go wrap up some things in New York. Let's just say I don't think he wanted me around for a bit." I freeze, heart sinking when I realise I know exactly why Ambrose would have not wanted his brother around. "Speaking of Ambrose, I'd try to not give him too much shit today he's on a fucking warpath."

Too late .

With that, Ambrose's office door whips open. "Where is the fucking spreadsheet I asked for?" he yells.

My eyes are wide as I stare at him while Antonio doesn't even seem phased. Ambrose looks over at the two of us with the same amount of disinterest as someone watching paint dry.

"I told you I've got it covered. Why are you stressing everyone out this morning?" Antonio asks and Ambrose ignores him.

"Are Adriano and Augustus ready?" he asks Antonio.

"Ready for what?" I butt in.

"We're meeting with Horatio to seal the deal today," Antonio says excitedly.

"That's today?" I ask, my voice sounds so small and I stare at Ambrose apologetically while all he seems interested in is his phone.

"Adriano will be there, Gus has a meeting with Kaia about something," Antonio says and Ambrose's head snaps up so fast at the mention of Kaia's name I almost want to scoff aloud.

"What could he possibly be meeting with her for?"

"Something to do with needing a designer to step in for another or something like that, but I don't think she's going to say yes. She's got a lot going on, and-"

"I know," Ambrose cuts him off and I wonder why, if it's because I'm here or because he genuinely doesn't want to hear what Antonio has to say.

"Okay let's go," Ambrose says and Antonio nods.

"See ya later, Val," Antonio blows me a kiss and waves. I don't miss the way Ambrose glares daggers at the back of his brother's head and I almost giggle until Ambrose spins on his heels and his cold green eyes meet mine. They look as cold as they did when I walked in here on my first day.

"Valerie, please bring in some coffee at around 10:30."

I nod, not able to say much else.

"Normal coffee Valerie, no salted caramel bullshit," he yells over his shoulder as he walks into the elevator.

An hour later I'm walking up to the main board room with eight coffees in hand, praying I don't somehow trip in my uncomfortably high heels. Packing for nights at a time has started becoming more and more challenging since I can't make last-minute changes in the mornings, and right now, I'm severely regretting my choice. The heels along with my bodycon knit dress were not my smartest decision.

As I knock, and wait for the ‘come in', I have flashbacks to that night at Scala when I walked in on their meeting. It feels like a lifetime ago, and much like then, I fear I've interrupted something.

All eyes are on me, some more surprised to see me than others.

"Ahh, Valerie! So lovely to see you again," Horatio says and I feel a chill run down my spine. He looks like a completely different man when sober and not acting like a complete creep in the club.

I eye Ambrose nervously to see his reaction but he simply stares down at some papers. "Good to see you again as well, Horatio." I politely smile.

"I brought everyone coffee," I say as I lean down to place them on the table. I can feel the heat of his gaze on me. When I look up I confirm it, he gestures me closer with his head and I frown.

I didn't want to be in the room longer than required but I know why he's doing it. We have a persona to uphold in front of these men.

Antonio starts talking again as I grab the one double cappuccino I got for Ambrose and walk around the entire table towards him. I spot a discarded sketch in front of Antonio and smirk at how much more he's been practising since I returned home.

As I walk past Adriano, I can feel someone's eyes following me and for once they aren't Ambrose's. His are trained on Antonio as he speaks, it's a pair of a man sitting next to Horatio that I've never seen before but much like Horatio, he seems so familiar.

I place the coffee cup in front of Ambrose and his attention falls to me. He beckons me closer and I want to curse him for making me bend down even lower in this stupid dress.

"I just need you to pretend for a little bit," he whispers.

"The man next to Horatio keeps staring at me," I say and he looks over at the table while placing a hand on my waist. I nearly jump at the contact but hold my composure for the sake of this looking natural.

"He's new, no idea who he is," he whispers back at me. I look at him concerned when suddenly the talking in the room stops and when I turn everyone's eyes are on the two of us. Everyone's eyes including Antonio who seems beyond confused even turning to look at Adriano.

"Thank you, Val," Ambrose says, flashing me a smile. I've seen him fake for everyone a million times and it makes me sick to my core that I just became another victim of its receiving end.

"Good luck with the rest of the meeting," I offer him an equally fake smile and place my hand on his shoulder as I stand up. "Good seeing you again, Horatio," I say as I exit the boardroom and allow myself to breathe. I want to scream in panic as I head back to my desk wondering if Antonio is going to be suspicious after that little stunt we pulled.

The answer to my question comes faster than expected when less than half an hour later Ambrose and Adriano walk in joking with Gus and Antonio following behind. I assume Gus only arrived now since he wasn't in the meeting.

The middle brothers leave a few minutes later while Antonio calls Ambrose over to the side. Both of them are having a hushed conversation when Antonio's eyes flash to mine. I know we're in shit and that the conversation is about what's going on between Ambrose and I.

As if on cue, it ends and Ambrose walks over to me, doesn't stop and simply mumbles under his breath. "In my office now, I need to talk to you."