Billion-Dollar Secret

Chapter 4- Unexpected welcome

Sophie’s POV

“Who are you?”

The shadow moved and a guy stepped into the light with his hands up.

“Whoa, whoa, easy there” he said with a laugh. “I’m Luca.”

“Well Luca, care to explain why you’re creeping around someone’s house”

He raised his hands. “Easy, I'm Damian’s brother.”

I blinked.

Damian’s brother

Now that the lights were on, I could see it. The same dark hair. The same strong jaw. Even the shape of his eyes reminded me of Damian.

But unlike Damian, Luca looked like he was the troublesome one.

“Put the bat down before you hurt yourself”.

I lowered the bat slowly, my mouth hanging open.

He looked at me, “So you would’ve really hit me, that's one warm welcome”

I felt my face get hot. “Well the lights were on and I thought someone broke in”

“You could’ve called out first instead of going full ninja,” he teased.

“And you could’ve announced yourself instead of sneaking in”, I snapped back.

Luca laughed and dropped onto the couch. “Fair enough. Miss, you haven’t told me who you are”

I put the bat down and sat across from him. “ I’m Sophie”

He shrugged with a smirk. “Sophie, as in Uncle Robert’s daughter.”

“Yep that’s me”

“Damian mentioned you a few times over the years. Sorry about your loss. I couldn’t make it to the funeral”

“Ohh no problem. I wouldn’t have guessed Damian had a younger brother”

Luca grinned. “Damian doesn’t talk about me much.

“Yeah, I noticed”

“So tell me about the bakery. I heard about it for years. “How is it going?”

I sighed and gave him a short version.

“Well currently, I’ve taken a break from it. Debts here and there. I’m working for Damian as his PA”

He nodded, taking a glance around the room, “That's nice. I’m guessing you’re gonna be living here?”

“Yes I am”

We ended up talking for a while. He was funny and easy-going,

“Damian lets me stay here when I finish a late shift. It’s closer to the hospital,” he explained.

“Oh so you’re a doctor?”

“Unfortunately.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “Unfortunately?”

“Do you know how many people think doctors enjoy working twelve hour shifts?”

“Don’t you?”

“Absolutely not.”

A laughed escaped me, “You’re terrible”

“And yet you’re still talking to me.”

The front door opened. Damian walked in. His eyes moved from me to Luca, then to the bat resting against the couch.

One eyebrow lifted

“Should I ask?”

Luca grinned, “Your new roommate tried to kill me”

“He broke into the house!”

Damian sighed, “Luca, you could have called me.”

“And miss your welcoming presence? No way.”

Damian shook his head and headed upstairs.

After some time, I went up to Damian’s room. I knocked lightly and pushed the door open.

“Why didn’t you tell me you have a bro…” my sentence stopped in my throat.

Damian had just come out of the shower.

His hair was still wet, dark strands falling across his forehead. Water trickled from his neck down to his chest, to the towel he barely managed to grab.

I forgot what I came up to say.

Then I realized he was looking directly at me.

“Sophie?”

He stepped closer.

I stepped back.

His hand reached past me and closed the door.

Suddenly, there wasn’t much space between us.

“You can continue”

I stuttered badly, “I-I-I almost hit Luca with a bat downstairs. You should’ve told me he was coming or that you even have a brother”.

“Sorry, Soph”, he said softly, his voice low. “I didn’t know he would show up tonight or I would’ve warned you”

The way he said it, “Soph” did something to me. It made my stomach flutter. I stayed right there, not wanting to move.

“Okay”, I whispered, still frozen.

Damian cleared his throat, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I need to finish now…um do you mind?”

I coughed, completely embarrassed. “No”. I tired around fast and ran straight to my room.

The second I closed the door, I threw myself face down on the bed

“Oh my God”.

I covered my face with the pillow.

Why did I stare?

Why did he notice?

And why was I still thinking about the water dripping from his chest?

I groaned into the pillow.

A knock sounded on my door. I froze

“Go away.”

The door opened anyway. Luca stepped inside.

“You know, normal people wait for permission before entering someone’s room.”

“Normal people don’t attack me with a baseball bat five minutes after meeting me.”

I lifted my head from the pillow and glared at him.

“What do you want?”

“Damian said to ask if you need anything.”

I blinked.

“He did?”

“Yep.”

I hesitated for a moment.

“No, I’m fine.”

Luca nodded but remained standing there.

“So…”

“So what?”

“Are you going to tell me why you ran out of his room like your life depended on it?”

My eyes widened.

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“I was walking quickly.”

“You almost knocked down a vase.”

I grabbed my pillow and threw it at him.

“Get out.”

Luca laughed and caught it.

“Goodnight, Sophie.”

“Goodnight, Luca.”

He placed the pillow back on the bed before closing the door.

I fell back against the mattress. This house was already becoming a problem. My eyes moved towards my suitcase.

Tomorrow, I will unpack.

Tomorrow, I will go to work.

Tomorrow, I will officially begin this new life.

But for now, I pulled the blanket over my head.

Maybe sleeping was the best thing I could do before I embarrassed myself again.