Claimed By The Rogue Alpha novel Chapter 14

==Matteo==

I was there. Again. Surrounded by nothing but darkness. Just like the previous time, I couldn’t move. No matter how hard I tried. No matter how much effort I put in doing so. My lips were sealed, only opening up moments later and just in time for me to say, “Anyone here?”

I got no response. Again. I cursed. What a fool I was. Of course, I'd been stuck in this limbo to know what the drill was. So, I waited.

It wasn’t long before she appeared.

Angela De La Crux, as she had told me. Donning a dazzling white gown, she drew close to me till it was just a foot that separated us.

“Could this stop?” I said before she speak. I knew just what she wanted to say. “Who are you and what the fuck do you want from me?”

She smiled, irking me more. “You’ve made so many mistakes in your past, Matteo. Don’t you think it’s time to make corrections?”

It wasn’t in me to roll my eyes. But at this point, I could care less about habits. “And who do you think you are to tell me that?”

She was silent for a moment. “I’ve told you. You know who I am.”

I couldn’t help but scoff. “So I’m to believe that you are my…” I stopped myself. There was no point. “Listen, if you don’t let me be, you’re going to have a lot of regrets.”

“Wow.” Her tone as flat as ever. “Who would have thought someone can cause the almighty Matteo Roberto-Macini such amount of distress?”

Her smile surfaced again. “Oh, I know. The species considered as weak.”

My patience was hanging on a thin thread. Sinner than later, it would snap and this lady—whoever she was—wouldn’t find it funny.

I found speaking instead. “What’s your point?”

She held that gaze of hers. Looking straight into my eyes. “You’ve found her.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve found her, Matteo. But you’re too proud to admit it.”

My butler poured in sparkling wine into my glass. I watched the bubbles rise.

“Has she had anything to eat today?” I asked the maid who was laying the cutlery, without making eye contact with her.

“The slave, sir?”

I was forced to look up. And as she saw my glare, she looked away. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Her apology made me question why I had gotten angry. The fact that she used the term ‘slave'? Well, technically, Oliva Haynes was a slave. But then, I and I alone was meant to call her that.

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“I'm afraid, no, sir. She wouldn’t touch any—”

“Send for her.” I told me butler this time. Miss Haynes and I were going to have a lengthy discussion. And should she refuse to come, goddammit, I would drag her myself.