Page 38 of The Associate
“Which one?” His eyes flick up to the centre mirror. He seems way too calm about being followed, kind of like he has seen that the car behind us has been there for a while and it is hard to tell if he knows who it is.
“The black Dodge Challenger,” I say. “It has made every single turn we have since we turned off the motorway. Even a U-turn when you did one.”
“Hmm” is his response. There is something he isn’t telling me.
“What are we going to do?” I ask, panic lacing my voice, worry spreading over me. Are these people here to hurt or kidnap me? Maybe it is Rico?
“It will be ok. It is either one of Rico’s men or Rico himself; he does lend his car out to them from time to time.” He glances in the mirror again quickly. “And if it is Rico, then him watching us as we go into a jewellery store for an engagement ring will be even better. He will realise that he has no claim over you anymore.”
“You think this may make him back off and move on?” I pull down my sun visor, opening the little mirror that is embedded in the flap. I use that mirror to look at the car behind us.
“One can only hope.” He stops the car outside of the fancy jewellery shop. “Now let’s go find the most beautiful engagement ring you can think of.”
He steps out of the car and makes his way around to my side. Opening my door, he holds out his hand, helping me out. As I step out, I scan up and down the street, making note of the same Dodge Challenger parked just slightly down the road. I just hope that Mason knows what he is doing.
After closing the door behind me, he takes my hand in his and we walk up to the doors of Eternal Elegance: the most prestigious jewellery store in the area. If you want to buy a piece from this place, an appointment is always necessary. They create the most divine, one-of-a-kind pieces.
Mason squeezes my hand gently. “Are you ready?” I can feel him looking at me.
My nerves start to kick in, the butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. With the way we opened up to one another today, we both know this shopping trip isn’t completely fake. There is going to be something more behind this.
“Let’s do this,” I smile. His hand reaches out and pushes the door open, and we walk inside.
“Welcome to Eternal Elegance!” A blonde woman calls from behind the counter. Her smile stretches across her face. “Do you have an appointment today?”
“Wedo, yes,” Mason says as he wraps his arm around my waist. Walking forward, he continues, “Under the name Hawthorne.”
The blonde looks down at her diary and then up at us again with what seems like a larger smile. “Of course, Mr. Hawthorne and Miss —” She looks in my direction. There is a look of jealousy that crosses her features, but Mason doesn’t seem to notice.
“De Luca,” I provide for her.
“Miss. De Luca?” Her eyes widen slightly as she looks between Mason and myself. “The one and only daughter of Salvatore De Luca?”
I just nod and try to hold back a laugh as she visibly swallows. I can see that I made her nervous, but whilst I am trying to hold back my laughter, Mason snickers at my side. I lightly tap his chest with the back of my hand. “What?” He raises a brow at me with a smirk crossing his face.
“Be nice.” I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing. “Don’t laugh at the poor girl’s discomfort.”
The blonde standing in front of us, looking between Mason and I, is dumbfounded. Clearly, from the way she has been eye-fucking him since we walked in, she has seen him before, but I can’t imagine why he would be coming in here.
My hand moves up to the necklace I’m wearing. The one my father gave me when I first came back as his way of trying to buy my love. It isn’t working, but this necklace is beautiful and just my taste — did Father send Mason here to pick it for me?
He glances down at me, his eyes trailing down to my fingers playing with the necklace and gives me a knowing smile, confirming my suspicion. He turns and looks back at the blonde. “Please bring us your top-of-the-line engagement rings,” he says as his arm slides over my shoulders. As she runs off to find the rings, he places a finger under my chin, lifting my head up and planting a gentle kiss on my lips. “While we wait for her to come back, let’s look around the shop. There may be something here that is more to your taste.”
He walks over to one of the front counters that has more rings in it. It faces the street, and my eyes catch movement off to the side. Tilting my head, I step closer to the window.
A man is standing there, watching me. His arms are folded across his chest. They’re covered in tattoos, but I am unable to make out what those are. More ink protrudes up from the collar of his shirt. I look closer at the tattoo on his neck. A skull, surrounded by lilies, with barbed wire cutting through the left eye and emerging back out of the mouth of the skull. He is staring at me.
My eyes lock onto his face. Sunlight glistens off an eyebrow piercing. He also has snakebite lip piercings and I imagine his tongue is pierced as well, going by the look of the other metal on his face. He has chocolate brown hair that is short on the sides and a little longer on top. A single clump of hair falls over the inner corner of his right eye.
He must know I am staring at him because his eyes darken as he looks at me, a smirk crossing his features before he pulls the left snakebite into his mouth and he winks. This must be Rico. The motherfucker himself.
I lean over the counter, standing next to Mason. I try to ignore Rico, but knowing eyes are on us and not knowing what he is planning makes me a little uneasy.
I look down into the cabinet, spotting a simple diamond ring. There are five diamonds across the band. Nothing that protrudes too far out that could catch onto anything. The diamond in the middle is a one-point-five carat and the other four are only naught point five carats. It is perfect. Beautiful, yet simple. “That one,” I point it out to Mason. “That’s the one I want.”
“Then that is the one you will have.” He smiles, and we wait for the blonde girl to return.
“I also think Rico is watching us.” I lean into Mason as he wraps his arms around my waist. “It’s either Rico or he sent one of his brutes.”
