Billion-Dollar Secret

Chapter 5- Under the Same Roof

Sophie’s POV

My first morning at the office after moving into Damian’s house was already going badly. I spent most of the morning trying to organize a bunch of messy files in my small workspace.

“f**k, f**k, f**k,” I muttered to myself as I was getting frustrated.

“Having fun”

I looked up.

Damian stood in the doorway, one hand resting against the frame.

“No”

“Need help?” He asked as he walked in.

“I can handle it”. I immediately regretted how defensive I sounded.

He walked around my desk anyway “I’m sure you can”

He leaned over me, reaching for the stack of documents. His hand brushed mine as he pulled one of the files closer.

I stayed still. It was barely a touch, so why did it have an effect on me?

“Your filing system is backwards,” he said.

I looked at the papers. “I was going to figure that out”.

“Of course you were. If you need help with anything, I’m only an office away,” he gave me a small smile and left.

Later, Vic and Gabriel stopped by. Vic had the biggest grin on his face.

“Heard you almost took out Luca with a bat last night.”

Gabriel smirked a bit too “That’s one way to greet family”

I blinked, “How did you guys even hear about that?”

“Luca called me this morning bragging about it,” Vic laughed. “Damn, you didn’t strike me as one to use a bat”.

“St…” Damian interrupted me

“Stop taunting Sophie about the bat incident and get back to your jobs”.

Vic bursted out laughing as he walked away, “Alright boss”.

Gabriel came to me with his usual expression

“You arranged these wrong”

I looked up, “Excuse me?”

He picked up one of the files. “These should be separated by department first.”

“I was told to organize them.”

“You were told to organize them. Not to organize them badly.”

“Are you always this pleasant?”

“Usually worst,” he said, placing the files down.

“One more thing.”

“What?”

“Don’t take Damian’s moods personally.”

I frowned. “Why would I?”

Gabriel took a moment to answer. “He gets…intense when he’s worried.”

“Worried about what?”

“Everything”

“That’s reassuring.”

“You’ll understand eventually”, he added and left.

“Well that was surprising”, I murmured to myself.

By the time I left the office, I was already thinking about baking.

I stopped at the supermarket on my way home, filling my basket with flour and everything else I needed. The smell of fresh bread followed me, making my stomach growl. I paid for everything and carried the bags back.

My phone buzzed.

Damian: Where are you?

I frowned.

Me: Supermarket.

A reply came almost immediately.

Damian: You went alone?

I stared at the message.

Me: Yes?

Three dots appeared.

Then it disappeared.

Damian: Come home when you’re done.

I chuckled at our conversation. Maybe baking was exactly what I needed after the stressful day I had.

“Who is home?” I said as I walked through the door

“Your favorite,” Luca replied with a grin.

“Ugh, you. Come make yourself useful. I want to bake a pie.”

“Yayy pie”

“You’re measuring that wrong”

Luca looked down at the measuring cup,”How?”

“You’re supposed to level it”

He stared at me, “It’s flour Sophie. How serious could it be?”

I snatched the cup from his hand. “Very serious. You can’t just throw ingredients into a bowl and hope for the best”

“You’ve clearly never met me then”

“I can tell.”

He grinned at my words which made me laugh. “Take, put the flour in the bowl gent…”

I couldn’t complete it because Luca decided to pour the mixture everywhere.

“Gently. Put it gently” I said, side-eying him.

“So sorry Soph.”

Luca turned to me and said, “Sophie there’s a little something on your face” as he smeared more flour and butter on my forehead.

He bursted out laughing

“Well now we are even,” I said, flicking flour on him.

I laughed. For a moment, I forgot about the bakery. Forgot about the debts. I was just standing in a kitchen covered in flour arguing about pie with an annoying doctor.

Then I heard a voice behind me, “What are we baking?” Damian said, walking right in the middle of our flour fight.

Luca immediately pointed at me and said, “Sophie started it!”

“What, No”, I said, still laughing. “Luca did.”

Damian shook his head but didn’t stop us,”You two are worse than children.”

He came to the kitchen and grabbed a handful of flour.

Luca and I looked at each other. “No, no, nooooo,” we screamed as Damian poured it on us.

“Ohh, it’s on,” we both said at the same time.

We all ended up covered in flour, laughing hard and cleaned up the kitchen.

“Why don’t we order Chinese and watch a movie,” Luca suggested.

“Good idea,” I replied.

The food got here in 10 minutes and we put on a movie in the living room.

A random thought just came to me.

“Sometimes I wonder if Dad knew something before he died.”

Damian went still. “Why would you say that?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.”

“Don’t dwell on things you can’t change Sophie”

“Did you know something about my dad that I don’t”

“No.” he replied almost immediately. Too quickly

I stared at him. “You answered that pretty fast.”

His jaw tightened. “Because the answer is no.”

After the conversation about Dad, neither of us said much. The movie quietly played in the background, but I wasn’t really following it anymore.

I shifted on the couch, trying to find a comfortable position.

Somehow, my head ended up against Damian’s chest.

I froze. He didn’t move. Neither did I.

His breathing was slow and steady. For some reason, it made me feel safer.

I told myself I would move in a minute. Just one minute but my eyes grew heavier.

The last thing I remember was feeling something warm on my cheek.

“You’re so heavy,” Damian murmured.

My eyes barely opened.

“Huh?”

Before I could understand what was happening, Damian lifted me from the couch.

“Go to sleep Soph”

I felt his lips on my forehead before everything went dark.

The next morning was a Saturday, I slept for hours before Damian came into my room.

He held out his card.

I glanced at it then looked back up to him.

“What’s this?”

“My card.”

“I know what a card is”

His mouth twitched, “Then we are making progress. Go buy some new work clothes and shoes. You’ll need them.”

I didn’t take it. “Damian, I can’t use your money to buy clothes.”

“They’re for work.”

“I can afford clothes.”

He gave me a look, “Can you?”

I opened my mouth a bit and closed it. He wasn’t being cruel. That almost made it worse.

“Take it, Sophie. Consider it part of your new job”

“Okay then, Thanks.”

I called Rachel and she came over almost immediately. Once I told her what Damian had given me the card for, she insisted on coming along. Luca offered to drive us to the mall. On the way, he and Rachel talked a lot. They seemed to get along well, joking and teasing each other.

“Get this, Soph. I’m sure they’ll love it at the office,” Luca said, holding a pair of bright looking boots.

“Ohh, this would make an impression!” Rachel added, grabbing a crazy patterned scarf.

The two of them laughed together while I carried my bags, chuckling at their silliness.

While I was comparing two pairs of shoes, I heard Rachel laugh from the other side of the store.

I looked over. Luca was holding up another ridiculous pair of boots.

“Absolutely not,” Rachel joked.

“You’re no fun.”

“I have taste.”

“That’s up for debate.”

I smiled as I returned to the shoes in my hands. I had a feeling Luca was enjoying Rachel’s company a little too much.

“Thank you for coming with me. I needed this,” I said, hugging Rachel as we were done shopping.

That evening, after Rachel left, I was halfway up the stairs when I heard Luca’s voice from the kitchen.

“Hey, can I get Rachel’s number?”

I stopped halfway on the stairs. A smile spread across my face.

“Oh, so that’s why you kept making her laugh.”

Luca looked offended. “I was being friendly.”

“Sure.”

“I’m a friendly person.”

“You attacked me with flour.”

“That’s friendship,” he laughed, skipping to his bedroom.

After I showered, I sat on my bed and stared at the ceiling. My mind should have been on work or the bakery.

Instead, I thought about his hand brushing mine at the office. His voice, telling me I could always come to him. The warmth of his lips on my forehead. The feeling of my cheek against his chest.

I groaned and pulled my pillow over my face. Why was I thinking about him so much? He was my father’s best friend. Whatever this was, I couldn’t let it become something else.

I hugged the pillow tighter. I needed to get Damian Russo out of my head.

Unfortunately, that man was making it very difficult.