Chapter 2:Have we met before?
646 Words
You.
The single word froze Aria in place.
Luca Moretti stood in front of the elevator, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, his expression unreadable.
Aria's fingers tightened around the folder in her hands.
She had imagined this moment a hundred times.
Never like this.
Luca's eyes moved over her face.
Slowly.
Like he was searching for something he couldn't quite remember.
Have we met before?
Aria's heart stopped.
She forced herself to look confused.
No.
Luca didn't answer.
His eyes remained on her for another second.
Then he stepped past her.
Straight toward his office.
Aria released the breath she'd been holding.
She thought she'd gotten away with it.
She hadn't.
---
Luca shut his office door behind him.
Don't disturb me.
His assistant nodded and disappeared.
Luca walked to his desk.
But he didn't sit.
Something about that woman had bothered him from the second he'd seen her.
Her eyes.
Her voice.
The way she had looked at him when their eyes met.
He had seen her before.
He knew it.
Luca poured himself a glass of water and stared through the window.
Then it hit him.
The hotel.
One month ago.
The spinning room.
The burning feeling in his throat.
The woman who had helped him when he could barely stand.
The cleaner.
His eyes narrowed.
He remembered waking up with a woman’s perfume smell beside him.
He remembered her voice.
I'm just a cleaner.
He remembered holding her hand.
He remembered telling her not to leave.
And then—
Nothing.
Until morning.
When she was gone.
Luca's jaw tightened.
He had spent weeks trying to find her.
Not because he cared about the woman.
Because something had happened that night.
Something he couldn't remember.
He reached for his phone.
Send Daniel in.
Seconds later, the door opened.
Daniel stepped inside.
You called, sir?
Luca looked at him.
The janitor.
Daniel frowned.
Which one?
The woman who was cleaning the building when I arrived this morning.
The new janitor?
Yes.
Luca's voice hardened.
Find out everything about her.
Daniel nodded.
And bring her to me.
He turned to leave.
Daniel.
The man stopped.
Luca's expression was cold.
Don't let her know I'm investigating for her.
Understood.
Daniel left.
Luca sat behind his desk.
For the first time in a month, the memory of that night was becoming clear.
The woman hadn't been a stranger.
She had been there.
She had helped him.
She had stayed beside him.
And then she had disappeared.
But there was something else.
Something that still didn't make sense.
His belongings had been missing the next morning.
His gold watch.
His chain.
His ring.
Three hundred dollars.
Luca's fingers slowly curled into a fist.
His gaze hardened.
That was you.
---
Across the building, Aria stepped into the janitor's changing room.
Her hands were shaking.
She had found Luca.
The one man she had spent the last month running from.
And somehow, he hadn't recognized her.
At least, that's what she thought.
She opened her locker and reached for her bag.
Then she heard footsteps behind her.
Aria turned.
Daniel stood in the doorway.
Aria Bennett?
Her stomach dropped.
Yes?
Mr. Moretti wants to see you.
Her blood ran cold.
Why?
Daniel gave her a polite smile.
He didn't say.
Aria stared at him.
She knew exactly why.
She just didn't know whether Luca remembered the woman from Room 801...
or the woman who stole from him.
Then her hand instinctively moved to her stomach.
The secret she'd been protecting for the past month suddenly felt much heavier.
Daniel stepped aside.
After you.
Aria swallowed.
And walked toward Luca Moretti's office.
She had no idea that inside that office, Luca was already holding a photograph of her.
And beside it was a list of everything she had stolen.
This time, she wasn't going to disappear.
TO BE CONTINUED
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