Six

The sunlight sneaking through the cracks in the window made Cassandra blink softly. Her head hurt so much, it felt like it was spinning and it was really heavy.

Cassandra raised her hand, then massaged her head lightly and began to look around. Wait a minute! Finally, Cassandra realized that she wasn't sleeping in her bedroom.

“What the hell?!”

Cassandra's blue eyes scanned the surroundings, at the hotel room booked by Antonio Franches last night. Cassandra couldn't hide her shock as memories of last night's events began to play vividly in her head.

“Antonio and I... kissed?”

Panicking, Cassandra immediately got up from her very comfortable bed. She looked at herself in the mirror, a complete mess. Cassandra held her head, trying to recall... whether Antonio and she... had sex last night, or not.

“Shit! I don't remember anything because I was drunk.”

Cassandra's eyes wandered around again. In such a large room, it seemed she was alone. And to answer the question in her chest, Cassandra also looked around. She checked the bathroom and didn't find Antonio anywhere. Cassandra gulped. “He spends the night with me, then leaves me alone here? Antonio is such an asshole!”

“Who are you calling an asshole?”

The voice suddenly appeared from the direction of the door. The door to the room opened and Antonio stood there with a confused expression. Antonio went inside and approached Cassandra.

“Were you looking for me?”

“I... I thought you left me here alone.”

Antonio grinned, he reached out and gently stroked Cassandra's long messy hair. “I'm here, so you can shower and clean yourself up. OK?”

Just as Antonio was about to move on, Cassandra had already reached out her hand frantically. She made Antonio raise an eyebrow, then Cassandra immediately asked, “Mr. Franches! Did... last night... did we do 'it' here last night?”

The atmosphere became quiet as Antonio closed his mouth. A sensation of horror enveloped Cassandra's body who was only wearing her tank top and jeans, just like the last time they had dinner. Cassandra looked at Antonio curiously, while the man only had a flat expression.

“What do you expect from a normal guy like me?”

Well, that answer didn't answer the curiosity in Cassandra's chest.

Cassandra muttered under her breath, and repeated her ambiguous question. “So, we actually had sex last night?!”

“Why do you look so surprised? Weren't you the one who asked for it when we were at the restaurant?”

Cassandra's mouth was locked by Antonio's words. She was like frozen in the north pole, unable to say anything, and just let Antonio pass through her body in a relaxed manner. Antonio headed to the bed, he sat there to check the cell phone. While Cassandra still stood where she was, contemplating that she was no longer a virgin because of Antonio.

Had Cassandra not been on a mission, he would have shot her in the head with the gun in his car. But... she was reminded of her revenge mission.

Antonio approached after straightening his clothes. “I sent a message to your cell phone. Can we meet again tonight?”

Cassandra's eyes blinked. Another meeting? What did Antonio want? “Tonight?”

“Yes. I want to have dinner with you again.”

“...”

“I like your vibrant personality, but I think... we need to get to know each other better before we have sex in bed.”

Cassandra's brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Let's go on a date, Cassandra.”

----

It wasn't for nothing that Antonio asked Cassandra out. When their kiss ended due to Cassandra's severe hangover, Antonio immediately sought out information about Cassandra. Cassandra Baker. Ben finally found the name in the archives. She is the daughter of Marvin Kourtman and Annalise Cale who died ten years ago. Antonio's heart was filled with curiosity about two things. One, what was the purpose of Cassandra approaching Antonio and two, what would Cassandra end up like in Antonio's hands.

The thought of the latter made Antonio grin in the meeting. It made his colleague, Christ Greenman, feel disturbed and reprimanded him.

“Mr. Franches, why are you smiling? Do you think... this project is funny?”

Antonio blinked calmly. He looked around, before ending up at Christ who was standing in front of everyone. A small murmur could be heard from Antonio, as he finally said, “I'll approve whatever funds you need, Mr. Greenman. You know the rules, I'll get twenty percent interest every month and asset seizure will be done if you can't pay.”

Christ grinned and nodded his head.

Meanwhile, Antonio stood up from his chair. He looked at Christ, then said, “Send this proposal to my secretary, I will send the money you need immediately. Let's end the meeting today.”

The man left the meeting room with Chintya and Ben trailing behind him. Money and business always stuck with Antonio. Everyone liked doing business with Antonio, without knowing that Antonio... would destroy businesses that didn't bring him material benefits.

“Mr. Franches, you must meet with Cale Callaghan, he asked for you to meet at the prison.”

Antonio's footsteps stopped and it made Chintya, Antonio's personal secretary, feel nervous. She clutched the tablet in her hand tightly, then looked down in fear as Antonio's eyes looked at her expressionlessly.

“In prison? Tsk, we never do business with any criminals. So, forget about it. Or I'll replace you with another secretary.”

“I'm sorry, Mr. Franches.”

Antonio's eyes intimidated Chintya, then ended on Ben. He pointed at Ben and gave instructions. “Have our people gather later this afternoon. No one should be late. I don't like undisciplined people. And, I have an appointment with someone tonight. So you have to make sure that everyone is at the base camp on time. Do you understand Ben Carter?”

Ben stood expressionless, he was always like that. But to answer Antonio's question, he would move as quickly as possible. Ben nodded and said in a firm voice. “Yes, Sir!”

Antonio turned around, he walked away leaving Chintya and Ben behind him with no empathy at all. He knew the power he had and... would forever be like that.