The Deceived Heiress

Chapter 6

Fr: Alejandro

-I'm waiting for you in the lobby, signora.

Breathing deeply, I scanned and judged my reflection once more, nervous if what I was wearing would fit wherever he would be taking me.

I tried asking him where we would go, but he just told me to wear something I would be comfortable walking around.

Of course, I threw on a white tank top with my black square pants and a coat over it.

I put my shoulder bag on and grabbed my duffel bag suited for two nights.

Alejandro told me that it would suck if we would only stay for a day, so I packed for two nights even though he did not mention how long we would stay there.

As if I'm letting him be with me alone for a long time, nope, that's not going to happen.

But for the sake of our past friendship, I will trust him.

Our fathers are good friends, so I have a little faith in him that he won't do anything terrible to me.

Looking at his text, I replied and walked out of my room.

Reaching the lobby, I looked around for him.

"You look magnificent, signora."

I turned my head backward when I heard his voice.

The air in my lungs was practically knocked out of me when I saw him. He was wearing brown khaki pants with a blue collared shirt tucked in and a pair of white shoes.

Oh God, no, do not go there, Ametrine, you do not want to, right?

Clearing my throat, I wandered my eyes off to another direction.

"Shall we go?"

"Don't need to be shy. You can look. I'm all yours," Alejandro whispered and clasped my hand to place a kiss on it.

Milano Centrale Railway Station is where our train will be.

I prefer comfortable train rides over anything because I could meet many different people and ask about their stories on the way.

I never had the chance to ride the trains here in Milan, because whenever we went to another state, we would travel either by helicopter or on my father's fancy limo.

I let Alejandro guide me to our designated seat, and upon sitting by the window, I felt his presence beside me.

"You can sit on my lap."

I raised a brow at him.

He only threw a smirk and shrugged at me as he proceeded to take my duffel bag from me and placed it in the compartment above us along with his.

"If you have a beautiful woman with you, why not be territorial?" He leaned in to whisper that to me before placing a soft kiss on my cheek and relaxing back into his seat.

"Can you stop kissing me?" I frowned and looked back outside to see that we were moving.

"I like kissing you. Your face is so soft. And, mi amor, I don't see you trying to stop me."

Then he sat back up and looked me directly in the eye.

I feel my face heat up with that, and indeed he is right that I'm not trying to stop him.

Because you like it.

"Since we're going to be here for an hour, why don't we catch up? Put your snide remarks on the side, signora. You know we were once friends," Alejandro said seriously.

I sighed and put my hands up, surrendering to what he wanted.

I guess this is where the harmless part comes in.

"Let's play twenty-one questions, and I want to go first," he proclaimed.

"Why are you angry at me when I know for a fact that I have never done anything to anger you?"

It was a question of sense, and I wasn't angry at him.

The only reason why I'm avoiding him is that I don't want to involve myself romantically with another Italian man again.

And I know for a fact that his eyes are my weakness, and it is hard not to love that kind of man.

I have learned my lesson hard, and I shall not do it again.

And if he knows that I know that he deceived me, I'm only disappointed and at the same time relieved because I saved myself from a young heartbreak back then.

It still hasn't been off my mind about what Lien told me, that Alejandro and Allison had a relationship again or- ugh, I don't know.

"I'm not angry at you; I'm just traumatized by Italian men," I spoke the truth. There was no sense in keeping it a secret because I had become the headline of all kinds of news reports for three months straight.

"Why?"

"Nuh-uh, it's my turn."

I waved a finger at his face. He grinned at me and gestured his hand for me to go on.

Damn, that grin did a lot to my insides.

"Why are you persuading me when it's been eleven years since we last saw and communicated with each other?"

I was curious, and most men forgot about their past promises to women because they would meet new women.

"I badly want to answer that question of yours, but can you change it? I'll tell you at the right time," he said almost pleadingly, and that made me more curious than ever.

"You're being unfair. I answered your question; you should also answer mine."

I crossed my arms and pouted like a child, but when I realized my actions, I immediately uncrossed them and felt my face go hot because of embarrassment.

"You're not just sexy and beautiful; you're also very adorable."

He went on to pinch my cheeks, but I swatted his hand away.

"Okay fine, I'll change my question. What happened to you when I left Italy?" I asked.

The internet was of no use because Alberico was good at hiding information about his family on social media.

As far as I know, he even banned his family from making social accounts and would only allow them for business use.

"Well, along with Adriano, we went to the U.S. to finish our business course at university and to also make friends with future businessmen to make strong connections," he said.

Ah, so that's why he was nowhere to be when I came back to Italy for him five years ago.

However, I feel like something is missing from his original reason, like there was more than continuing university on why he went to America.

But how did he meet Lien and get back to Allison? Because as far as I'm concerned, Allison lives here in Italy.

"My turn, did you try coming back here to look for me?"

I saw a hopeful glint in his eyes; I gulped and avoided my gaze at him.

But he took hold of my chin and turned it so I could look at him.

"I badly want to answer that question of yours, but can you change it? I'll tell you at the right time," I mimicked what he said.

He gave a laugh and shook his head.

"Well, I deserved that."

===

Fluttering my eyes open, I gently raised my head to see what was tapping my cheek. I felt an arm draped around my shoulder, and when I looked around to see what it was, I saw Alejandro fast asleep with his fingers unconsciously tapping and caressing my cheeks.

I felt something churn in my stomach, so I gently removed his arm from my shoulder.

And as if on cue, the intercom announced that we were now arriving in three minutes tops.

Gently tapping Alejandro to wake him up, I gasped when he suddenly pulled me close before opening his eyes.

He didn't say anything, but he stared at me; I felt my heart drumming inside my chest. He started to lean in closer, and as if on instinct, I closed my eyes.

But after a few seconds of not feeling anything, I opened my eyes, pushed him away, and stood up.

"You know, you could've asked for a kiss, mi amor," he said with mischief and stood up to grab our bags from the compartment, since we'd finally arrived at our destination.

"Shut up."

I grumbled; he only laughed at me and carried both of our bags before walking out of the train station where a car was waiting for us.

"It's refreshing how the paparazzi don't come running where you go," I said. I have observed that I saw no sign of the press whenever he was there.

"Papa paid a hefty amount so those people would never pry into our business. But if they cross the line, from what I know, it could result in life imprisonment, and they are going to pay back double the money."

I gasped at how harsh Alberico could be, but somehow it was also a good investment because they don't have to worry about people prying into their family business.

He placed our bags in the car's trunk and thanked the driver before we both got into the passenger seat.

"So, where would we be staying?"

"Our manor here in Tuscany. It used to be our family vacation house with my cousins, but now they have all been married and have their own homes spread all over Italy. So now, if we want to come here, we could use our family manor," he informed me.

I nodded and imagined how many his cousins were.

There must be that many.

Because the word manor always means a big ass building with a lot of rooms.

I've got only one cousin, and I hate his mother.

Feeling sleepy, I tried my hardest to stop it because I had already dozed off the train after those seemingly endless questions to him.

"We're near, and you can sleep there," he whispered; I nodded and repeatedly blinked my eyes open to stop myself from dozing off.

It seems to help because now I feel energy running back through my veins again.

But of course, the energy was replaced with electricity when I felt his head leaning onto my shoulder.

"Hey, my personal space!" I exclaimed and was about to move away from him when he wrapped a hand around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"Let me. I won't sleep. I want to rest my head."

I felt guilty because there was no harm in letting him rest his head on my shoulder.

Biting my lip, I placed a hand on his back and ignored him when he threw a look at me.

Looking outside, I was amazed by how big the villas scattered in this area were. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath because I felt Alejandro's finger caress the side of my waist.

Biting my lip to stop myself from saying something offensive, I let him.

But I couldn't deny the pleasure that was making itself known between my thighs.

Damn it, Alejandro, you're going to be the death of me.

===

I was amazed by how big and spacious the area was standing in front of it. A few meters away from the porch stood a magnificent horse statue with water running down its mouth.

Italian rygras that looked so green and very healthy were all over the lawn, complimenting the white stately manorial style of the manor in the middle of spacious green land.

"Welcome to the home where there are a lot of good and amazing memories," he said.

I smiled at him as I looked around the area, still so amazed by it.

"Is there a pool?" I asked and gripped his hand; he was shocked, to say the least, when I first moved to hold his hand.

But I didn't mind because I was still so happy that I went along with his trip.

"Yes, it's at the back of the manor; after we rest, let's make a visit to the wineries. That's where the original and delicious wine from our brand comes from."

My eyes glistened even more with excitement.

I have this obsession with tasting all kinds of wine in the world before I die.

The oldest, most fermented, delicious wine I've tasted was Assyrtiko. It's a Greek white wine grape indigenous to the island of Santorini, and since it is local, indigenous people from Greece were the only ones who could get their hands on it.

But it was shipped internationally, boosting it more and more.

"I'll let you take a sip of wine from the Speyer wine bottle, also known as the Römerwein aus Speyer. Its murky contents have sat undisturbed inside the clear glass for 1,693 years. The 1.5-liter bottle has handles shaped like dolphins and is in the tomb of a Roman nobleman and noblewoman near today's city of Speyer. But of course, we wouldn't be drinking that specific wine because it probably won't taste good anymore since it is so old, yet it's drinkable, they say."

He informed me as we started to walk to the porch.

I was fascinated by how much he knew about wine.

Hell, I'd pay a million dollars if Paulo could name one.

"So you have a copy of the Speyer wine?" I asked.

I was familiar with its history.

I craved the taste of a Speyer wine because many wine experts recommend it the most.

"1901, my great great great grandfather made it and stored it only for the eldest child to know its location and it has been passed on. It was never touched to drink, but I think now is the right time to."

He winked before knocking on the door.

I fell more in love with the place because it gave off the vibe that you were a royal or someone of a high position in a state.

There stood a magnificent Victorian carpeted style of stairs on each side with wood carvings on them as portraits of men and women scattered all over the wall but neatly placed.

It was not creepy because they looked so happy and had many family pictures included.

"There are seventy-five bedrooms, to be exact, having their ensuite. There are two main dining rooms for business and guests, five kitchens, ten guestrooms, and five entertainment rooms. But the five entertainment rooms have been cleared out because they are to be turned into a family room once Papa has the time to look at them," he explained, and gave our bags to the maid.

"This is so amazing! I-I don't have anything to say."

It was significant in all aspects, and I couldn't wait to be lost.

"Wait 'till you see my room," he said and pulled me to the stairs, but I stopped before we reached it.

"No, I'm not sharing a room with you. There are a lot of rooms here!" I exclaimed and was about to head to the other staircase to head to the other hallway.

"My bedroom is in the east wing while the other unlocked rooms are in the west wing. So tell me, signora, how on earth will you find me? Unless you want me to leave you, and I could go on my own to the winery," He teased, but I was still thinking about many ways, so I wouldn't have to share a room with him.

"Well, what about the rooms near you? I could occupy them."

I still argued.

He arched a brow at me as if telling me to drop the argument because I wouldn't win.

"In the east wing are the men's bedrooms, and in the west wing is where my girl cousins' room is."

Sighing, I gave up and told him to pull me there so I could rest.

"ALEJANDRO!" I shouted in astonishment when he suddenly carried me bridal style, and immediately a maid appeared behind us.

"C'è qualcosa che non va, signore?" (Is there something wrong, signore?)

He shook his head no, and the maid then left us by ourselves; he continued in his pursuit of carrying me upstairs.

"Put me down. I'm heavy."

I squirmed in his arms and tried to ignore how I saw his muscles contracting in his shirt. I drew my eyes away from it and glared at him.

He only looked down at me and winked, "Stay still signora, you're turning me on. Qualcuno potrebbe essere svegliato." (You might wake up someone).

Whispering the last sentence in my ear, I gaped at how unbelievable he was.

"I can't believe this is happening right now," I mumbled to myself as I felt myself getting hot.

I convinced myself that I was not too fond of this, and it was frustrating, but I knew deep inside that I loved this.

But no, we should remain friends.

"We're here."

He kicked the door open while I was still in his arms.

I tried telling him to put me down, but he ignored me and propped me on the bed.

"You are a devil, Alejandro. Ugh, let me go."

I groaned as I stood up from the bed, only to be pushed back onto the bed.

He crawled on top of me, making me feel hotter than ever.

It's been a long time since a man has invaded my personal space.

"Soon, I'll be having you moaning and squirming beneath me."

He just looked at me for a while.

I was silent and clenched my thighs together, ignoring the dirty imaginations that took over my brain.

Leaving me on the bed breathless, he took one look back at me.

"I'll be back. Just have to get something."

He smiled before leaving me inside the room.

I couldn't stop myself from looking at his butt emphasized by his pants, blushing and looking away because of the naughty thoughts. I took my long coat off, draped it over the chair, and then took my shoes off.

My nose caught a whiff of his scent.

Closing my eyes, I put my nose on his pillow and let sleep devour me as I dreamed again of the man who was once the man of my dreams.