Chapter 582: +Chapter 582+
Angelo woke up to a ray of sunlight on his face, the dreary clouds had dispersed, leaving behind gentle sunlight and a hint of warmth to the previously cool day.
He scanned the room as soon as he was awake, searching for...
The door opened right then, Nikolai walking in with bags of food. "How did you sleep?"
Angelo looked right into those dark blue eyes that held endless patience for him and was reminded of why he needed a nap in the first place. "Okay." He mumbled, sitting up as Nikolai approached.
The Mafia King dropped off the bags and stepped back, making Angelo look up expectantly. "You’re not going to eat?"
Nikolai should return to the trio of business associates waiting for him in the club but he didn’t, "Scoot over."
Angelo glanced down at the armchair he had napped on, it barely fit him, there was no way he could make space for Nikolai.
It didn’t stop him from making space however, rising to his feet to move to a sofa with more space. While he waited for Nikolai to join him on the sofa, he took out the food in the bags.
"I hope there aren’t any pancakes in here," He mumbled as he did, his hair spilling forward, Nikolai’s coat still around his shoulder because he refused to separate himself from the piece of clothing.
"Are waffles safe?" Nikolai asked with a smile in his voice, taking his seat beside him.
As the Mafia King spoke, Angelo took out a transparent pack of a stack of waffles, berries and syrup piled generously on it.
"Do you even like pancakes?" He had to ask, laying out the rest of the food.
"I like noodles," Nikolai said instead, surprising him. "The spicier the better."
Angelo couldn’t hold his gaze, focusing on the food. "I can make it for you tonight if you like." He offered, his voice quiet.
"I’ll take you up on that," Nikolai jumped on the chance, making mental notes to call Davian to tell him not to worry about dinner for them.
Nikolai didn’t linger after lunch, slipping out noiselessly to attend to the important duty he had so shamelessly ditched.
It wasn’t until well after Nikolai was gone, the center table cleared of their lunch, that Angelo realized the deal they had made.
Weren’t they supposed to go on a date tonight? Was it not going to involve eating of any kind?
He shut down the spiralling thought as soon as it sprouted, if he asked Nikolai, the Mafia King would certainly tell him, but Angelo didn’t want to, he wanted to find out for himself.
He couldn’t help but try to figure out what Nikolai had planned out despite that, going round and round in circles about it.
-+-
Davian got down from the car, wasting no time to go to the other side to open the door for his mate.
Rosie hopped out of the car, still wrapped up in the excitement of having to do just her job again. And even better was having her boss and Mafia King back.
Lake stepped out gracefully out of the car with the help of his mate, the smile he had been wearing in the car disappearing as soon as he stepped into the parking lot.
They were attending a late evening business meeting, and usually, Davian let him sit at the head of the table alone, joining Rosie in the break room.
He wasn’t worried about his mate’s safety because he always walked Lake into the meeting rooms, only taking his leave when the meetings were about to commence.
It was clear to everyone then that he was just in the next room, and if even a hair on Lake’s head was hurt, everyone wouldn’t be making it alive out of the boardroom.
He could easily stay in the boardroom with Lake but Davian wanted to proudly show off the fact that it was his mate that was fully in control of everything. Except for today...
This was one of the few meetings he would be attending, and that was because Clint Ryder would certainly be in attendance.
The Alpha was insufferable, constantly sticking to Lake like taffy why eyeing him up the entire time like his precious mate was in danger.
Davian clenched his free hand that wasn’t supporting his mate’s waist into a fist, pissed off in advance.
Rosie noticed this and guessed that they wouldn’t be taking it easy in the break room. She didn’t like to be in there all by herself ever since the threat on her life.
She had a gun she could use now, and she knew they wouldn’t dare with Davian and Lake back but she would rather just stick to their side.
Lake, unaware of all this, strutted into the foyer, his black, silk dress shirt had a flower cut, setting around his slender hips, gold pins in his hair.
The attention on him was something he had gotten used to, walking right to the elevator.
Naturally, with the recent moves by the High Council, stakeholders in most of their companies had gotten antsy, most of them eager to take desperate moves when the war had only just begun.
Some had faith that the Mafia Kings would easily win the war, why a far larger percentage were worried about how much their interests would be impacted, and were hastily cutting costs to avoid that.
Perhaps it was his mate rubbing off on him, but Lake had no plans to lose to the High Council. They were breaking a lot of treaties and rules with their attacks but as it was only targeted at Nikolai, even if they took it up with the Council, the bastards could easily weasel their way out of it.
For now, all he could do was reassure stakeholders. And if shareholders insisted on liquidating and selling their shares, he wouldn’t stop them - more for him.
There were already a handful of people seated in the board room, now familiar faces to Lake after running the Mafia House for a couple of months.
Despite himself, he found himself scanning the boardroom for the only pleasant familiar face in the room. It was odd that he had to do that though, because Clint was usually in his face as soon as he stepped into the meeting room.
Lake took his designated seat, maybe there was a delay with Clint and that was why the Alpha was running late. He didn’t mention it, his friendship with the Alpha had always been odd from the start.
He respected his mate and kept their relationship strictly formal, only getting to interact with the other at business meetings and functions.
It wasn’t just Lake searching for the eccentric heir. Davian steely gray eyes kept sweeping past the door when he couldn’t find Clint Ryder in the boardroom.
Rosie was also curious, it was always like the Alpha found a way to show up to every business meeting she went to while Lake was still on vacation, and now that her boss was back, he seemed to have completely vanished.
Lake turned to Davian who was standing behind him just like Rosie was, the boardroom was almost full, the meeting would be beginning anytime soon.
Davian immediately reached for his hand, bending over so his mate wouldn’t have to strain himself.
"Are you staying for the meeting?" Lake asked hopefully.
Davian’s expression was dark as his gaze drifted to the door again. "Yes."
The chairs on either side of Lake were never occupied, no one daring to sit too close to him. And the one person that dared to, never got the chance to because Davian was always present whenever he was around.
Rosie took that as her cue to take her seat on Lake’s left side. She never had to do anything at these meetings, so she usually spent the time completing personal tasks or chatting with Patty, sometimes both.
As the meeting went on, Rosie was elated all over again that she didn’t have to be the one to pay attention at the boring meetings. Noting that her Mafia King was still occasionally staring at tbe door expectantly.
The meeting soon came to an end and there was still no sight of Clint Ryder, Davian only relaxing when they were on their way out of the company.
Feeling generous, he offered Lake a proposition as he opened the car door for his mate. "What do you want to eat for dinner?"
Lake didn’t find Clint’s absence all that odd, a lot of the time, he felt that the Alpha only came to the meetings for his sake.
Lake got comfortable in the car, doing up his seat belt. "Whatever you want, baby." He said with a smile. "Surprise me."
Davian darted into the seat impatiently even though they still had to return to FluxCorp before they could call it a day. He was practically beaming as he drove out of the parking lot, his mood doing a complete one-eighty from the boardroom.