IN THE RHYTHM OF PASSION

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Bartender, Bring Me Another Bottle

Bella runs out of the room; she can't stay there. The traitors and scoundrels only made her feel disgust and nausea. She reached the hotel lobby, the tears in her eyes began to blur her vision. Bella felt she had nowhere to go; the apartment she shared with her cousin Sofia was no longer an option.

She left the hotel and walked down the street. Seeing a bar at the end of the street, she entered. It was dark, and no one could see how beautifully she was dressed, and besides, many patrons were already drunk at that hour.

She settled into the darkest corner and ordered a bottle of alcohol. She didn't care what it was, she told the bartender, anything that would help her forget love was good.

Bella drank nonstop, one glass after another; she finished the whole bottle but felt nothing. She still remembered what she had seen that night.

"Bartender, bring me another bottle," she said. "I need to forget everything; only then will I feel better," she said, and it was true: after finishing the second bottle she managed to forget everything.

When Bella left the bar, it was already close to midnight. She was alone and completely drunk. She walked in the middle of the road without caring about anything, her body swayed from side to side.

Car lights approached at high speed, but she didn't see them. Bella continued walking in a zigzag in the middle of the road.

Suddenly, the car's driver noticed the woman walking unsteadily on the road. He slammed on the brakes to slow down; he had never imagined anyone would be walking there at this hour, let alone in the middle of the road.

The car skidded, and the screeching tires froze Bella in place. The bright light, the sound of the brakes, and the alcohol inside Bella led her to unconsciousness. When the driver managed to stop the vehicle, it was just a few centimeters from her. The passenger resting in the back seat opened his eyes due to the abrupt maneuver of his driver.

"What happened?" asked Paolo Milano, a little annoyed.

"Sorry, Mr. Milano, someone crossed our path, but I'm sure I didn't hit them. They must be a scammer; let me check," his driver informed him.

Paolo Milano, a very important billionaire businessman, was returning from a party he had been invited to. Arriving a bit late, he never got to see Miss Rossi. He found it disrespectful to be invited to a birthday party and for the host not to be present. He was in a bad mood, tired, and didn't like his routines being changed, and this stop was one of the many things he detested.

"Hurry up," Paolo says, closing his eyes. The driver hurriedly gets out of the car and approaches Bella. As he does, he can see that it is a beautiful woman lying on the road.

Her dress is beautiful, and she is unconscious, but he can also smell the strong scent of alcohol on her. Looking closely, he realizes he has seen her before. He's not sure where, despite her makeup, but that face seemed familiar.

"Miss, please wake up. Can you hear me?" he asked and gently tried to shake her a bit with his hand. Bella didn't move a muscle, but the car's lights managed to illuminate the girl better, and the driver could see her much better.

He recognized her at that moment; she was the birthday girl—the daughter of the late Mr. Rossi, the woman his boss couldn't see that night.

But how could she have ended up in that state? The driver wondered. He returned to the car and informed his boss.

"Mr. Milano, it's Miss Bella Rossi, the daughter of the late Mr. Rossi—the birthday girl, but she's unconscious lying on the road in front of the car. She seems drunk," the driver informs him.

Paolo frowns; he remembered the daughter of the Rossi family as a sweet and charming girl. That's why he agreed to attend her 21st birthday party. Moreover, after her parents' death, he knew she was dating a son of the Franco family. How was it possible she was drunk and alone on a day like this?

"What are you waiting for? Bring her to the car. Isn't she Mateo's girlfriend?" Mr. Milano asks. "He wasn't at the party tonight either." His driver nodded, remembering Mateo for a second, but it was strange that neither of them was present when he arrived at the hotel.

"Yes sir, she's young Mateo's girlfriend—your second cousin," he says, then returns to where Bella is, to bring her into the car.

The driver carried Bella and carefully placed her beside Paolo. He waited for his boss's orders to know where they should go at that moment.

Bella felt uncomfortable in her position and opened her eyes to complain. When she realized she was in an unfamiliar car, she looked around and saw the driver waiting for orders. Then, she turned to see who was beside her and saw Paolo. She tried to focus her gaze on him to find out who that man was.

"Who are you?" she asks, but Paolo ignores her. The smell of alcohol reaches his nose, causing him annoyance. He just raises his gaze to his driver, giving instructions on where to go.

"We're going to Mateo's apartment," Bella hears that they will take her to Mateo's apartment, but she can't let them take her there. She was drunk, but she still remembered what that bastard had done to her.

"No, not to Mateo's place. I've broken up with him. Please don't take me to that bastard," she says.

"You've broken up with him?" Paolo asked, unable to believe her.

"Yes, he cheated on me. He was at the hotel with my cousin," Bella says with a shaking voice. "He's cheating on me with that slut, they're both bastards," she added as tears started to stream down her cheeks.

She looked so beautiful at that moment, unaware Paolo was mesmerized by her. However, he chose to let her think he was ignoring her; he didn't change the order, and Bella continued talking about the night's betrayal.

Bella noticed the car was still heading in the same direction, and it seems they would leave her against her will at Mateo's apartment, so Bella got upset with the man's attitude.

She approached him and looked at him intently. At that moment she recognized him—He was Mateo's distant uncle and a friend of her family; she had seen him at her parents' funeral. He was Paolo Milano. She angrily grabbed him by the neck, pulled him close, and shouted right into his ear.

"Have you heard what I've said?" She asks.

Paolo, not in the mood to deal with her, removed her hands from his neck, which made her fall on him. Bella's face landed on his lap, uncomfortably close to his groin. As Bella breathed, Paolo felt her breath through the thin fabric of his pants. Now she was very comfortable lying on the man's lap, but Paolo was going crazy,

"Could you get up? Decent young ladies don't lie like that," he says, reprimanding her, but she doesn't care. She just wants to hear that they won't take her to Mateo's. Besides, this man was his distant uncle, so Paolo had to help her teach that detestable nephew of his a lesson.