Her Heartless Italian Billionaire

Chapter 1- Hard Skin

-Eric

I woke up, form a sudden groan, or moan. It must be Alice. The girl I brought home last night. She was a nice distraction. But as always, I never slept twice with the girls I brought home.

Yes, I am a playboy and I like it. I don’t like feelings, drama, and dates. That is not for me. I focus on my work, but I enjoyed myself as well.

Every woman I have ever been with knew who I was and my reputation, so there were no hard feelings between us. That is something I appreciate.

I never let a girl get her hands under my hard skin. Never. It is forbiidden, and if not obeyed, they would be punished.

I always found a way, to punish them. Never the same way. And let me tell you. They all like it.

No, I am not a Dom. But from time to time, I improvise. I thought of becoming one since I like power and control.

Who knows, maybe I change my mind one day.

“Good morning, handsome. Sleep well?” Alice said while rubbing her leg on mine, going for the obvious. She wanted sexx. Should I fuckk her?

I never f****d them twice. They get attached, and I don’t want that. I pushed her leg and stood up, still in control.

You go, Massimo.

“Good morning, Alice. I have to go, business calls, and so should you.”

“Ugh. Whatever.” She stood up, nakedd as she was, she headed to the bathroom.

I went into my bathroom, took a shower, and shaved. I came out, Alice nowhere to be seen. Maybe she is still in the bathroom.

I went into my closet, wore a grey suit and a matching tie. I wore black shoes and a black Rolex. The one I got for my birthday from my sister, Angel.

I headed out and saw Alice on my bed, still naked. What does this woman want now?

“You look yummy. I would like a piece of that.” she purred and gestured a cat’s paw at me.

“You must get ready. I need to leave in an hour.” Why doesn’t she get that?

“Will I see you again tonight?” I knew something about her, screamed trouble the moment I saw her.

“No. I never go out with a girl twice. I thought I made that clear.” My face straight and cold.

“Well, I thought I would give it a try. Will you give me a ride home? I live 20 minutes away.”

“I will have my security escort you. Now please get ready. I need to get things done.”

“You are a dickk.” She motioned a dismissive wave, with her hand, took her clothes from the chair, and got dressed. Once she was done, she gave me the finger and headed out.

I am used to that by now. No hard feelings. They knew what they got themselves into, so it is not my fault when they get all emotional.

I head to the kitchen. Margo has already made breakfast. Thank God I have a great cook. I sit on the chair and enjoy my breakfast and coffee.

“Good morning, Mr. Massimo. Would you like anything else?” Margo came out of nowhere, like always.

“Good morning, Margo. Another coffee, to go.” I always get to the point. It is simple and not irritating. The opposite of women.

“Coming up.”

After finishing breakfast, I head to my office, look at the E-Mails and see I have one from my sister.

Good Morning, big brother. I am coming to the office today. I have big news.

2 o’clock, by your office door. I love You.

I type a quick E-Mail and head to the bathroom, to brush my teeth and fix my hair.

I will be waiting for you. Love you too.

It took me 20 minutes to brush my teeth and fix my hair. Heading out, I call my security guard, Sanders, and let him know we will be leaving in 30 minutes.

At my office, I saw another E-Mail from my PA.

Good Morning, Mr. Massimo,

Today:

Internship in Business and Management – John Crade.

Internship in Publishing – Laura Rosalba.

Internship in IT – Romeo Giovanni.

Meeting at 11 am.

Alexandra Rizzo. Personal Assistant, of Eric Massimo.

We have to talk about the internships. Since, a week ago, there were graduates, I wanted to offer internships to students.

It was a good opportunity. Always fresh minds in a company is a very good decision, which I imply every year.

I type an E-Mail to Alexandra, to let the heads of the departments know about the meeting.

She already has, she replied. Good thing I have a great PA.

I look at the watch. 8:25 am.

I head to the garage, where I find Sanders, waiting by the car.

“Good morning, Mr. Massimo.”

“Sanders, I have a meeting with my sister today. She has news. When I find out what and how I will let you know when to pick me up.”

“Sir.” He nodded and climbed to the driver’s seat, while I climbed on the back.

Today there was not much traffic as always, which was relaxing. I took out my phone and looked for other E-Mails, but I had none.

I had to tell my PA, about the trip I had to take to New York. I hate the idea of leaving Italy, but I have to take a look at my companies in New York, Los Angeles, and Boston.

“Sir. We are here.” Sanders said, taking my mind off things.

I climb out of the car and let Sanders know about some other few things, he has to arrange.

I leave him and he drives off. I took the elevator to the 15th floor. I heard the ping of the elevator and I head out.

My PA, sitting behind her desk, taking calls. The moment she sees me, she asks me if I want coffee.

“I already did. Please come to my office.”

“Yes sir. Let me, take this call and I will be right with you.”

“I need you to take notes,” I said and headed to my office.

I sit on my chair and open my notebook. It is 9 am. I have two hours to kill, before the meeting.

I hear a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Alexandra opens the door, comes in, and closes the door behind her. Good girl.

“Alexandra please sit. My agenda today?”

“Yes, Mr. Massimo. 11 am meeting, which I E-Mailed you this morning.

At 1 pm, meeting with Mr. Risso about the new project in New York.

2 pm, meeting with your sister. She had me book a table at La Pergola.

5 pm, meeting with the board.”

“Thank you, Alexandra. I head out to New York, next week. I have to take a look at the company there, in Los Angeles and Boston.

Let them know about my arrival and tell the housekeeping to get my apartment ready for next week.”

“Will do sir. For your information, Mr. Massimo, the assistant in Local Business Department, in Massimo- Hayward, was fired and needs to be replaced.”

“Why was she fired?” I needed to know every detail since it is my company as well. My co-founder Jake Hayward was a guy in need, as I was, at age 19 and we helped each other. We dropped out of college and decided to start a company together. I get reminded of the time, I decided to drop out.

-Why do you want to drop out, Eric? We sacrificed a lot, so you could get into college. Why now?

-I am sorry uncle. I know you and Aunt Genevieve sacrificed a lot, but this is something I have to do.

-I can’t stand here, and watch you, ruin your life.

-I won’t uncle. Believe me.

I worked my ass off, to make some money and so did Jake. We made 10.000 dollars. It wasn’t enough, but we managed to create a company. A small one, but now it is one of the biggest companies in New York and the States.

We had some help too, but I try to delete that thought from my mind.

Don’t go there now, now prick.

“She tried to steal from you, sir. I got a call from Mr. Hayward’s PA, and let me know about the situation.”

“When did that happen?” I was curious to know if it was recent, or not.

“Two days ago.”

“Did Hayward take care of her?” I hope he did, otherwise, I would.

“Yes sir.” She smirked at me. From that, I gathered I didn’t have to worry about it anymore.

“Anything else I need to know, Alexandra?”

“No sir. If anything comes up, I will report straight to you.”

“Great. I will need an assistant, for the time I will be in New York.”

“I will arrange that.” She smiled and stood up. She walked out.

I have plenty to dig my head into. I took the paperwork about the new project, in New York and wrote down some notes.

Hayward and I had an idea, of opening a Helping Center for the homeless, the old, and sick ones. All expenses on us. Rooms, food, and clothing.

After a long fight with Hayward, we agreed to name the building, Angel’s Hearth. I wanted to name it after my sister. I know Hayward wants his name written everywhere, in capital letters, if possible, to let the world know, how capable he was.

It was a torture, to make him like the name.

-No. You know how I feel about putting names there, where they do not belong.

-It is my sister’s name, and I think it sounds better than Hayward’s Hearth, don’t you think?

-I don’t know. I have to think about it. I mean, your sister didn’t as much lift a finger, for this project.

-You know it is not about that. We are caring people, Jake. What better way to show it?

-You always think about the others first, then you.

-I do what I have to do. I have money and power. Why not use it right? I work my ass off, to earn my money, but the people who can’t, need help. You know we both have been there, Jake. Don’t forget where you come from.

-Alright. I agree. You sick bastard, always make your way to my heart.

-I try my best.

The sketch of the building looks amazing. I will E-Mail Hayward, about the notes I took and the sketch. There is probably something bothering him. I know how he gets when there is a new project. He always finds something wrong, and he sure as hell never fails.

I sort out the notes I made and type an E-Mail to Hayward. I send it and continue with other paperwork, waiting on my desk.

I find the one about the Internships and open it.

80 Students applied for Business and Management.

260 Students applied for Publishing.

76 Students applied for IT.

260 Students, only for Publishing. That is very concerning. We have places for 20 interns in Publishing.

We will manage to sort things out, today at the meeting.

No one has applied for Law. Well, all the positions are taken, there are still interns in the Law Department under the supervising of Marina de Luca.

She is the best corporate lawyer I have encountered. When she opens her mouth, she drips bullets.

I remember, last year, we had over a thousand students, who applied for Law, only because of Marina.

We made tons of money because she taught her interns well. They even got in court and won all the cases. Marina of course has other lawyers under her supervising. Criminal Lawyers, Divorce Lawyers, Immigration Lawyers, most of the common types of Lawyers. But none as good as Marina.

I noted that Law Department will be out of Application Permit for the next two years.

If there will be any request from Marina, so that the Department needs to reopen the Application Permit, only then will it reopen.

Until then, we don’t need any other interns in Law.

I looked at the time. 10:45 am. Fifteen minutes until the meeting. I E-Mailed Marina, to let her know about my decision, in case I have to cancel it.

Luckily, she responds 5 minutes later.

Good morning, Eric. We still have 10 interns from last year.

I am employing 5 of them, so this year and the next, I don’t think we will be needing any interns.

I have to take care of my law birds before they open their wings and fly away.

Thank you for letting me know,

Marina.

Marina de Luca, Corporate Lawyer, Massimo Holdings.

There I have my response. I take the paperwork about the internships with me and head to the meeting room.

I take a seat and wait for the others to show up. I always show up first, in the meetings. Something I learned from the best. My uncle, Don Bernardo Massimo. He is a wise man.

-Never let your employees wait for you. They don’t appreciate a boss who is high-handed.

Be the one who makes the best out of everyone. You sit and they sit around you, with respect.

Don’t forget that, son.

My uncle is a wise man. He always was. He had a difficult life, raising his children, and then me.

I ran away from my family because my father was abusive. Only with me. He loved my sister, but he despised me.

I always wondered why, but I never found out the truth. I didn’t want to. He died because of using drugs.

I never felt guilty for leaving him and never seeing him again for 11 years. I was 16 when I left.

My sister, on the other hand, stayed with him until she turned 18 and left. Now she is 23 and I am 27.

I returned to earth again, when I heard the door open. I didn’t lift my eyes and waited for the person to sit.

“Good morning, Eric.” I heard John say. I lift my head and find his eyes.

“Good morning, John.” He always wore a suit and a tie, whether it was a business meeting or dinner with his friends.

We waited for the others to come, and started the meeting.

“I looked at the paperwork and took some notes as well. I want the details about each Department’s Intern capacity number, and how long will it take them to finish the internship.”

John goes first. Always. He is a businessman, who knows how to start a proper conversation.

“I would like to state the numbers. There are 80 students, looking for an internship. The capacity is 12. We have other interns from the past years. The number of applications is decreasing, which is a good sign. We don’t have to deal with a lot of students and applications. The main point, on which we are focusing, is the talking and business skills. The GPA doesn’t affect the intern. It will take up to three years for them to complete the internship.”

“Good. I want that sent by E-Mail. Laura?” I returned my focus to her and her cheeks turned pink. Miss Pink, I nicknamed her.

“Yes, Eric. We have 260 applications, which topped last year. The maximal intern capacity is 34 this year. Most of the interns have found a job in America, at our companies as well. I found this as an opportunity to send them off already so that we can have enough places for the interns. The internship years will be decreasing from 3 to 1 since we have a lot of offers from a lot of writers and we want to focus on that too.”

“I like the idea, of reducing the internship years. Good job, Laura. Please E-Mail me the details.”

And last Romeo.

“Don Massimo—” I raised my hand in disagreement.

“Don Massimo is my uncle. You call me Eric in our meetings Romeo.” This guy was too shy, but one of the best in his job. Romeo was a genius in IT. Computers are his life but talking, not his strength.

“I apologize.” I relaxed and so did he, and he proceeded.

“There are 76 applicants this year. We have 19 opened spots this year. I didn’t want most of the applicants of last year. They were too into games. I look for mad skills in design and programming. I want them also flexible at the weekends. The internship will last for 16 months. If they are smart they will find a way to stay.” He smiled and looked at his screen. I saw him type something when I heard an E-Mail pop in my notebook.

He already sent me the details. Why did that surprise me? He always is the one to send the details first. That thought made me smile.

“Thank you, Romeo. I will look at the E-Mails and I will let you know about my decision. You are dismissed.” I said and they all said their good-bye’s and left.

Finally, some peace. I looked at the time. 12:15 pm. I was hungry. I called Alexandra from my office and told her to order me a sandwich.

“Like always sir?”

“Yes.” I hung up. I stay in my office and think about what my sister has to say to me today.

I dial Alexandra again and tell her to put Boyce on the line.

“His assistant answered sir. She says he is in a meeting and will call you, once the meeting is done.”

“Thank you, Alexandra.”

Boyce is my best friend and my sister’s boyfriend. They met through me. I hated the thought of my friend f*****g my sister. But he loved her, and she loved him. That I am sure of. They have been together for 4 years now.

I remember I almost punched Boyce when I found out he was dating my sister. Behind my back. That was a low move but he did it only because Angel told him to.

My sister knows I am overprotective. Good. I looked at the time and it was almost 1 pm. Risso will come by any minute.

Alexandra entered my office, after knocking first, of course, and let me know that Risso is here and my sandwich as well. I tell her to place it in the coffee room.

“Tell him to join me in the meeting room in 2.”

“Will do sir.”

She headed out. I took the paperwork with me and headed to the meeting room.

I sat on my chair and waited for Risso to come any second now.

A knock on the door distracted me and I saw Risso come in.

“ Ciao amico. Come te la cavi?”

“Good Afternoon, Risso. I am fine thank you. Thank you for joining me. Do you have the blueprints with you?”

“Si, sempre.” He winked and took out the blueprints from a long thin bag and opened them at the table.

“What do you not like, amico? Dimmi.”

“I like it very much, Leonard, but you haven’t explained the balconies on the east side of the building. Why only there?”

“Ascolta, the east side of the building, is facing a big park. Which people like to see in the morning when they sip their coffee. The west side is facing the buildings and streets. Too much noise and dirt. No one wants that. Capisci?”

“Okay. What if we add balconies on the west side, but instead of an open balcony and railing, we will put glass, so that the people can enjoy their morning coffee in peace. If we need to, we make the glass, soundproof.”

“Mi piace la tua idea.” We continue talking about the building, the materials, soundproof glasses etcetera.

“I will redo the sketch and let you know. Please inform Hayward about our meeting. I will head out and work on it. Arrivederci.”

“Nice having you.” We shook hands and he headed out. It took at least 45 minutes.

I am going to enjoy my sandwich, once Alexandra brings it into my office and wait for my sister to appear.

After having my sandwich I see if I have any E-Mails. I open and see the E-Mail from Hayward’s assistant.

Good Afternoon, Mr. Massimo,

Mr. Hayward is coming to Rome in two days.

He is going to get married and wanted me to invite you to his wedding.

It will take place at the ‘Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva’ at 12pm, on Saturday.

There will be a party in Mr. Haywards Mansion, at 6 pm.

‘You are obliged to bring a date to the wedding.’

Mr. Haywards words

Samantha Ross,

Personal Assistant of Jake Hayward.

Jake is getting married?