Emmanuelle

I focused all my energy on my work, not once looking into Marco's direction. I could feel his eyes on me and though I wanted to lash out at him again for doing this, I managed to keep myself calm.

At one point I was typing complete nonsense just to seem occupied and leave no room for him to talk to me. I cursed myself for working so damn fast.

The moment the clock showed that it was five in the afternoon I wasted no time in packing my bag and sprinted out of the office, no goodbyes were said. I was far too angry at him to greet him.

Downstairs, Marissa was already waiting on me with Anthony. They offered to take me out to eat in celebration of me joining the company.

We headed to a local cafe not far from work. It was very low-key, different from the places Marissa would normally choose to hang out but I did not mind. If anything I really liked the place.

Anthony held us a table whilst Marissa and I headed into the cafe. We decided to put in our orders ourselves instead of waiting on the staff since we did not plan to stay very long.

I was busy flipping through the pages of the menu when all of a sudden an unfamiliar voice called out my name. Both, Marissa and I turned around. She seemed confused as to how the person knew me, meanwhile I was dismayed to see him.

He stood with his hands behind his back, sporting a friendly smile on his face. This time he was more casually dressed in a fitted T-shirt and jeans.

"Rafael." I whispered, his name was the only thing that came to my mind.

"It's really great to see you again, how are you?" He asked as though we knew each other on a personal level.

I was thoroughly perplexed by his acting skills.

I gulped. "I'm doing well. How are you?"

"I'm doing great." He nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." He turned towards Marissa and held out his hand to her.

"Hi, I'm Marissa. Nuelle's sister." She announced in such a sweet voice that almost seemed flirty as she shook his hand.

"Really? You're Marissa?" He acted surprised. "Rafael. Very nice to meet you. Nuelle has told me a lot of good things about you." He lied.

"Oh, okay. Well, that's great. But, how—" She looked back and forth at us, stopping when her eyes found me again.

"We're old friends. We met in uni and well– we lost contact after she moved back here." He said.

Meanwhile I could feel my heart sink to my stomach. I could see Anthony from where we were standing, but there was no way to alert him about the situation.

"And now you're here in Seattle. Hhmm." Marissa pressed her lips together as she playfully bumped her shoulder against mine.

Rafael chuckled. "No, no," He held up his hands in front of his chest. "I know what you're thinking. I'm not stalking your sister. I'm actually here to visit my mum and well perhaps," he darted his tongue against his lower lip as his eyes found me. "Perhaps I did hope to run into you again." He looked down as a smile spread among his lips.

"Aww. Well no need to be shy about it." She reacted.

He was doing a very good job at incorporating himself into my life and due to her naiveness, Marissa was believing every word that came out of his lying mouth.

"Okay, anyway. I'm sure that I've used up more than enough of your time. So, I'll let you ladies go. But, I hope that we run into each other again and uhh, hopefully then we'll have more time to spend together." He looked at me when he finished his sentence, making clear that it was me who he wanted to spend more time with.

"Say something." Marissa purposely bumped into me once again when I did not reply to him.

"Hhmm." I turned towards her.

"Say something." She repeated.

"Right," Rafael and I locked eyes. "Yes, it was very nice to see you." I forced myself to smile which made him grin.

"Well, enjoy your food and the rest of your day. Marissa it was nice to finally meet you." He waved at us after which he took his leave.

He left the cafe empty handed which indicated that one of two things had happened: that he was following us or that due to his good luck he actually ran into us and used this opportunity to introduce himself to Marissa.

Either way, he did a good job at frightening me because his talent in lying stays unmatched.

"Who was that?" Excitement could be sensed in the tone of her voice.

"No one important." I turned towards the barista that was waiting to take our order.

"Nuh-uh I'm not letting– yes, hi. Can I have one Matcha tea latte and a cold brew. I would also like a slice of the double chocolate cake, two glazed doughnuts—"

"Malted hot chocolate and two blue berry muffins, please." I added to Marissa's order.

"Will that be all?" The barista asked to which we nodded. "Okay, which table will you be at?"

"Fifteen. " I answered.

"Great, you'll have your order in a few." She gave us a friendly smile.

When we began walking back to our table I had hoped that Marissa would let the whole Rafael thing go, but of course she did not.

"So?"

"So, what?" I began walking faster to quite literally run away from my temporary problem.

"Spill."

"Spill what?" Anthony looked up from his phone.

I drew in a long breath. "Nothing."

"We ran into an old friend of hers from uni." She scooted closer towards him.

"Old friend?" He asked out of curiosity since he knew most of my friends.

"Rafael."

The curious look on his face quickly morphed into anger as Rafael's name reached his ears. Yet, he remained quiet and calm as if he was deep in his thoughts.

Marissa did not seem to think anything of it, but I did. It was hard not too.

"He's an old friend from uni?" He raised his eyebrows.

"No, it's not what you think." I retorted as fast as I possibly could.

Rafael's mind games were working, because my answer left both of them confused. However, for different reasons.

"So, you don't know him from uni?" Marissa gave me a quizzical look.

"I—" My answer was cut short when a waiter stopped at our table. He placed the ordered goods then went on his way.

This gave me time to think of an answer that would make Anthony realize what was actually going on without having Marissa ask more questions.

"I met him not so long ago—"

"Right before you moved back here?" She stuffed her face with one of the doughnuts.

"Right," It took a lot of strength to refrain from telling her to shut up and stop interrupting me whilst I was talking.

"Like I said, I met him not too long ago. We didn't plan to meet up, but it wasn't an accident either. He was supposed to meet up with someone else but ran into me and– well, that."

"Huh. Okay?" She looked up from her plate.

Anthony had leaned back into the chair and supported his chin with his left hand of which the elbow was resting on the armrest. "We should head back soon, let's finish up."

I ended up trading one half of my muffin for half of a glazed doughnut.

After finishing up the other muffin and my beverage we stayed for about five more minutes before we headed back home. We ended up staying for longer than we had planned.

By the time I found myself ready to take a shower it was passed eight o'clock.

I could not shake Rafael off my mind, what else was he planning to do?..

I had endless questions and the comments that he made that day when he came by the house troubled me. Eventually I started questioning my involvement.

Does he know something about me? Is Dimitri keeping secrets that involve me?...

I stayed up until early in the morning, hence how grumpy I was when I heard someone banging on my door. I pulled the door open with so much anger and force that it hit the wall.

"What?"

Anthony let out a sigh. "Get ready, we need to leave."

I groaned then it came to my mind that I never asked him if he understood what I meant with what I had said about Rafael.

"I got it. I'm going to report this to Mattia, see what he has to say. Now, go get ready." He explained when he saw the look on my face.

I wondered what Dimitri had to say too.

----------------------------------------//
Mattia

I was expecting Christoph to take me to the facility when Anthony showed up instead. I could easily tell that he had something on his mind, he was not one to come see me if it was not necessary. Especially not during the time of the day when he had other matters to take care of.

"Where's Christoph?"

"Taking the girls to work." He stated.

"How come you're not doing that?" I held onto my walker as I stood up.

I could now stand up with the help of my walker and take as many as three steps before my legs started shaking. The three steps were just enough to get me into my wheelchair.

My progress was slow, but after the many sessions with dr. Leighton I started to see that there was no point in getting angry. It only caused me more pain, so I took his advice on staying hopeful and being patient. It was not easy and I still unintentionally cursed him out from time to time. Luckily, the man was understanding.

"Because there's something I need to report." Said Anthony.

"I'm all ears."

"The girls ran into Rafael yesterday. He pretended to be an old friend of Nuelle's and introduced himself to Marissa."

"What? Where, at the office?"

"No, the cafe not too far from the office. I'm not sure if it was coincidental or if he was stalking them."

Rafael had warned me that he would seek contact with my siblings, but this was the first time he truly kept his word.

"Does Marissa know?"

"She asked questions that weren't answered."

"Then she'll ask them again." I was confident that she would.

"Mattia. He's getting closer and closer. We need to do something, the way I see it you don't have any choice other than to be honest with your family."

"No, I can't do that. I can't," I shook my head. "We'll try something else."

"Try what? You can't protect them twenty-four seven. We don't even know what to protect them from."
Anthony let out a loud sigh as he wiped his face. His eyes then found the ground. He was tired. I could tell, but there was not much I could do about it.

"This is why I was against the idea of Emmanuelle going to the office."

"This isn't just about Nuelle. It's about everyone else in this house."

"But he wouldn't randomly walk up to Marissa if she wasn't with Emmanuelle. That's why I wanted her to stay here."

"Here? What, with you?" Anthony's eyebrows pinned together.

"What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything. I'm asking."

"You don't get to ask me questions, I hired you to do your job—"

"I was hired to keep Emmanuelle safe. My contract doesn't entail a definition of the word 'safe'. In my dictionary it means that I shield her from harm whether it's physical, mental or emotional. So, in my defense, I am doing my job." He cut my sentence short.

"You're getting too personal." I said, although he was right.

"Well, it's hard not to. I looked after her for four years and now I'm dating her sister, it doesn't get more personal than that. So, I'm not just trying to do my job, I'm trying to keep my family safe."

His words left me dumbfounded. I was too ignorant to realize this on my own. This whole time I had been treating him as if he was just another one of my employees when he was not.

"I know what happened between you two. I overheard the conversation between her and Gia and I know how hurt she was by your reaction. That's why I suggested that she helps around the office." He continued.

"It wasn't my intention to hurt her feelings." I uttered in my attempt to explain how I felt about Emmanuelle, but I was too lost to transfer my thoughts into words.

"I know that you're dealing with a lot, that's why I don't blame you for being confused. But, see Nuelle isn't. She's really into you for some reason and you need to keep that in mind. Plus, according to the rest of your family she's your sister. I'll let you decide how awkward you want family gatherings to be."

He stated the obvious. Yet, this was the first time I was acknowledging that her feelings were at play too. How selfish was I to only concentrate on making myself feel better that I hurt her in the process.