Chapter Two
Enzo always had to have the last word.
After he’d been shot, Harper expected their routine to go back to normal, or some semblance of normal. Only, it didn’t. Enzo didn’t leave the house all week. Any work he did was in his office.
She had to learn a whole new routine, which included making him breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Enzo also demanded that she eat with him, so it wasn’t about preparing his food and leaving him to eat.
Nope, he didn’t accept that. She had to sit with him through every meal and eat with him too.
For all meals, she sat with him at the dinner table or in his office. Enzo often took lunch in his office.
Sometimes they would eat in silence, and other times, he’d ask her questions—some of them not too personal, but others a little more so.
He asked her if she had a boyfriend, which she answered with a snort, seeing as she hadn’t left this building in two years.
It was kind of strange to openly admit she’d not left the house in two years, other than to go to the garden.
She hadn’t even dared to use the pool he had, nor the gym in the basement.
If she was honest with herself, knowing Enzo Castelli was a member of the Villa Mafia, she had spent the first year assuming the basement was a murder zone where he brought people to torture and kill.
That soon changed when she was given the order to clean the basement.
Once she went down there, she’d been shocked by how dusty it had become, and she spent a good four days getting it back up to standard where there was no dust, and the scent of sweat was gone completely.
She told Murphy, who’d given her the instructions at the time, how sorry she was.
She didn’t realize the basement held a gym.
Harper never went anywhere she wasn’t supposed to go.
By Sunday, she was getting used to the routine, waking at five, as she liked to rise early and go to bed early.
She had on a pair of pajamas as it was getting cold. Fall was already upon them, and she made her way down to the kitchen to flick the coffeepot on. She let out a yawn, rubbing the back of her head.
“Cute,” Enzo said.
Harper let out a little scream. This was part of her routine, had been for two years, and not once during those times had Enzo been in the kitchen. No one had been in the kitchen.
“You’re the coffee queen.”
Harper put a hand to her chest. “You scared me.”
He didn’t say anything, just watched her.
She noticed his gaze moved down her body, to her dolphin pajamas.
She loved gimmicky and kitsch pajamas. When October arrived, she’d be in her Halloween-themed clothes, and she loved them as well.
Of course, there were a few times she freaked herself out with the spiders on her pajamas, but once she realized they were fake, she’d get a good laugh out of it.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing at all.”
He didn’t wear a shirt, and he had on a pair of old-looking sweatpants. “I just wanted to see what you did.”
Harper frowned and she pushed some of her hair of her face.
She was very much aware she was not put together.
Her hair was a mess from sleeping deeply.
Her pajamas were creased from a night’s sleep.
She didn’t have a single hint of makeup on, not that she wore a lot, but she did put on a little of what she owned.
Enzo always saw her well put together. Nothing like this. This was a bit of a nightmare.
“Do you want a coffee?” he asked.
“Uh, yes.” He’d gotten closer, and Harper couldn’t believe how good he smelled. She knew he always smelled good, but this was up close and personal before it had a chance to mellow out. She tilted her head back to look at him, and he stared down at her.
“I better go and get changed.”
Her nipples had hardened. Her stomach felt like it was in knots. She never felt this way about anyone. Not even boys in high school, because none of them appealed to her.
There was no way she was falling for her boss. Enzo was grumpy and was a part of the mafia, and he was her boss. All of them were giant red flags. Yet, even as she kept trying to tell her body this wasn’t going to happen, her body craved something.
She was a freaking virgin.
Growing up with a man like her dad, she had hated men most of the time, assuming they were all like her father. She didn’t trust him. He was a cold, hard man, only interested in earning money and a title.
She closed her bedroom door, leaning against it. This was bad. Not that Enzo had even given any hint of wanting her. This was all inside her head. He simply stared down at her pajamas, there was no come-on, or whatever it was men did. She could totally be misreading all of this.
Harper pulled the clip from her hair and grabbed a brush, convinced this was all a giant mistake.
Enzo was not looking at her for sex or fun.
He had all kinds of women falling over themselves.
Besides, he was part of the mafia, and he was a Capo, which meant he had to marry a woman who came from a good family.
The right kind of family. A family that provided wealth and status.
She changed into her uniform and made her way to the kitchen. There had to be a reason Enzo was up early. Did this mean he was going to leave the house?
He was in the kitchen, sipping his mug, holding another in his hand, which he held out to her. She took the drink from him, and had a sip.
“Why do you wear a uniform?” he asked.
Harper frowned and glanced down at herself. “This is what was provided for me on the day I started here.”
He wrinkled his nose. “You don’t have to wear it. You’re the only one working here, so wear what you want.”
Harper didn’t know what to say. The uniform was the easiest thing to choose every morning.
She had three of them, giving her one to wash, one to wear, and one for spare in case of emergencies.
This worked for her. Besides, she didn’t have a lot of clothes.
A couple of pairs of jeans, a few shirts, and a couple of dresses. She didn’t need anything else.
“It’s fine. I like wearing it. How’s the pain today?” she asked, looking at his arm.
“Fine. There is no pain.”
He refused to take pain medication, even though she did offer it to him. She knew Kent had also offered him pain medication, but the man was stubborn and refused. She wasn’t going to question him. He was the boss.
“What’s the plan for today?” she asked. She hoped he’d tell her he was going to be out most of the day. This meant she could catch up on work, not have to worry about cooking him lunch, and perhaps just worry about dinner.
“You’re coming to the gym with me,” he said.
Any hope she had of having a day far away from him evaporated right before her eyes.
****
Enzo knew she was trying to get rid of him. He wasn’t going to make it easy for her.
She stayed in the servants’ quarters of the house, in a small room. He’d already checked over all of her stuff and knew she didn’t have a lot of possessions. The wardrobe was sparse, and the clothes she did possess were well-worn. Something wasn’t right here.
He paid her a fortune and had done so for the past two years, yet she didn’t spend any money.
All she had were the notebooks, which she had gotten one of the other staff members, when they were employed by him, to get them for her.
Harper hadn’t left the house in two years, but he wasn’t keeping her prisoner here.
Changing into his gym equipment, he made his way to the basement to find Harper already there, cleaning. She had a polishing cloth in her hand, and he saw her sideways look. Did she even realize that both of them were constantly sharing looks between each other?
He knew a lot about her—everything a file could garner. He’d read high school accounts from teachers. She’d been a bright young woman, and college should have been in her future. Instead, there were no applications. Some teachers were disappointed.
Again, this wasn’t stuff he could get from simple files about her. Her father had said she didn’t want to go to college, that she wanted to start working and making an honest living. He didn’t trust Bradley.
“Tell me about yourself, Harper,” he said, going toward the treadmill. He turned it on to start a speed walk.
Harper moved toward him. “What do you want to know?”
“You’re twenty years old, right?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you go to college? I’ve seen you in the library. You’re obsessed with learning.”
“Is the library off limits?”
“No, answer my question.” He was happy to use a firmer voice to get what he wanted.
“I wasn’t allowed.”
This made him look at her, but she stared at him. “Allowed?”
“My father forbade me to go. He told me a woman didn’t need to learn, and then he got me a job here.”
Enzo gripped the sides of the machine, holding it tightly. “Did you want to go to college?”
“Yes, I even came up with a plan that meant I could work my way through. I had everything organized and planned, but he refused.”
Enzo had a feeling the father used fear to keep her in line.
“Why haven’t you left this house in the last two years?” he asked.
“I was told I wasn’t allowed to leave,” Harper said. “My dad said my job was here, and I was to do everything you asked, and well, I also don’t have any money.”
This made him stop using his treadmill, and he pressed a few buttons and stepped off.
“What do you mean you have no money?” he asked.
“My dad took my bank cards.” She shrugged. “I don’t even know if I’m getting paid here. He paid me two hundred dollars last Christmas.”
Enzo’s anger was starting to build.
“Two hundred dollars?”
She nodded.
He’d paid her close to eighty-thousand dollars. He was a wealthy man.
“And you don’t know what you’re being paid?”
“My dad controls everything.”
He was going to have to have a word with her dad.
Moving from the treadmill, he went to the weights, taking off two twenty-kilo weights. He moved to a bench and started to pump his arms. He was aware of Harper watching him as he worked.