Episode One

Tatiana Rostova's POV

“Hmm...” I mumbled. Where was I...in heaven? I could smell the fragrant smell of the fresh flowers and hear the sea outside through the open windows.

I wanted to open my eyes but they were too damned heavy at the moment. I heard people murmuring softly but I was too dazed to understand what they were talking about.

“Lei andrà bene.” A male voice assured in a low whisper.

So where was I?

“Hmm...” I mumbled again, shifting on the soft bed on my back. This time I summoned my heavy eyes to open.

The first thing I noticed was the high ceiling and cream walls with expensive paintings hanging around. I looked around slowly and noticed that two men were also present in the luxuriously decorated room.

The first one stared at the endless ocean outside on the French windows with his hands tucked in each pocket of his expensive Italian trousers and the other one stared at the man with his gray head bowed slightly.

“Sua Eccellenza...” The second man said, as he noticed that I was already fully awake staring at them with confusion in my eyes.

The man facing the sea turned around and I felt like my breath had been knocked out of my lungs as a pair of silver eyes stared at me.

“Ci lasciano.” The man with smoky eyes said with undisguised authority and the other man bowed again before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Italians?

So I was still in Italy...not in heaven then.

The man with the pair of striking gray eyes moved closer to the bed and stared at me. “Come stai—”

I shook my head. I was good in speaking fluent English, Russian and French but I was hopeless in Italian. I will have a big problem if my savior didn't understand English. But he surprised me when he switched to flawless English. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” I tried to sit on the bed but I felt a little woozy in the process, large hands suddenly shot out to support me. I smiled sheepishly. “But a little dizzy, I think. Where am...”

“You are at my villa here in Amalfi,” The good-looking stranger said, staring deep into my eyes. “You were lucky that my yacht was passing by when I saw you struggling to stay afloat in the water nearly drowning, signorina.”

So it was the light from his yacht that I saw before I lost my consciousness, not the light from heaven?

I closed my eyes remembering the night before and how the people I thought would be the last to see me hurt were the same people who laughed behind my back for my naivety.

“...signorina?” I stared at the man who had saved me from my death, a frown marked between his strong eyebrows.

“Forgive me.” I replied weakly. “My mind is somewhere else. I haven’t thanked you yet for saving me last night, Signore...?”

“Cavelli.” He supplied with smile in the depth of those silver eyes. He extended his hand. “Lucca Cavelli.”

I shook the offered hand briefly but it was enough to send electricity into my body which I didn’t understand. It seemed that my body was aware of the very masculine aura of this man. “Tatiana Rostova.”

“Russian?”

“Yes. My father.”

“Pleased to meet you, Signorina Rostova.”

I nodded coolly. “Likewise.”

Lucca Cavelli’s POV

The woman I saved last night from the brink of her death was now awake. I had been checking her from time-to-time but she was unconscious though out the night. The doctor had assured me that she had just swallowed a lot of sea water but she will be fine once she wakes up and recovers.

What happened to her when I found her floating in the middle of the dark sea?

I was stunned momentarily when my gaze was held by a pair of violet eyes. Those beautiful eyes showed profound pain and betrayal as she held my gaze. Whatever had happened to her last night, she’d been badly hurt in that.

She wasn’t classically beautiful with her pale skin and jet black hair that was out of style. She could be considered as ‘plain’ but when you stared at her uncanny amethyst eyes you could set her apart in the crowd as if she has been transformed into someone else.

Right now, those violet eyes were hidden from my view as she lowered her eyes. “Are you okay, signorina?”

“Forgive me,” She said weakly, her voice was soft and melodic...and all American. “My mind is somewhere else.”

I bet my fortune that she’s remembering the events from the last night and how she ended up in the sea almost drowning and dying.

“I haven’t thanked you yet for saving me last night, signore...?”

I bit back my smile. Did she seriously not know me? Maybe she was still in a state of shock that she didn’t recognize me. “Cavelli.” I completed for her, extending my hand. “Lucca Cavelli.”

There’s no need to brag my title...yet. Taking my offered hand she shook it briefly, just as I thought her hands were as delicate as the rest of her, she withdrew her hands giving me her name totally unaware of my thoughts. “Tatiana Rostova.”

I was perplexed for a moment. I didn’t see that one coming. “Russian?”

“Yes. My father.”

“Please to meet you, Signorina Rostova.”

She nodded coolly. The woman is icy cold. “Likewise.”

A discreet knock on the door disturbed me from the fascinating lavender fields that were her eyes I was busy admiring. “Come in.” I said in Italian.

A maid entered with trays of breakfast for me and my guest, Tatiana Rostova. She silently placed the fresh fruits, smoked hams, cheese and bread with a pot of hot tea and a local newspaper on the terrace table overlooking the blue sea before taking her leave.

“Breakfast is ready, signorina.”

She shook her head, standing from the bed. “Thank you. But I need to go. I have a plane to catch for New York.” She looked down and noticed that she’s only wearing my silk pajama top showing her white creamy legs, which in my opinion were really sexy. “If you could just ask for my clothes from your servants, I will be really grateful to you.”

I shook my head in return. I was not going to let her go without knowing that she's truly fine. “You are not leaving without having breakfast. You should eat first and then we’ll call your family to assure them that you are safe here in my villa.”

The amethyst eyes turned cold as the arctic region. “I don’t have a family to worry about me anymore.”

I frowned at her answer. “But, someone who knows you might be going crazy looking for you right now.”

“No one would be anxious if I am missing, signore.”

The woman was damned stubborn. “I’m sure...”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re so annoying?” She snapped, her violet eyes spitting fire.

“No.” I answered honestly. No one would dare.

“Well, you are!”

I smiled privately. She was the first person and probably the last who dared to tell me in the face that I was annoying and bravely defied my wishes. I admired her for that. “You know what? Why don’t we discuss my annoying attitude and why no one would be concerned if you are missing, over the breakfast?”

“I’m not hungry.” Tatiana Rostova said persistently, which I, of course, know that is not true.

“Indeed,” I mocked. “Still, why not sit in the terrace with me and watch me eat. After all, I love the company of the people who are annoyed with me.”

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