Chapter 9 - Eight: Punishments

I looked around the office which was located in the basement. The room was huge with shelves after shelves filled neatly with books and documents.

Various paintings were hanging on the walls and a huge mahogany table was placed on one side while a sofa set was placed around the small fireplace.

I was sitting at the table with Domenic sitting right in front of me on his boss chair.

"She's too quiet."

The boy who was sitting on the seat beside me suddenly said, making me turn to look at him.

Of course, he was talking about me, but I still had to find out about his identity.

He was the one who had grabbed my hand in the living room a few minutes ago as I was being dragged into this basement office.

I had no idea who he was and from where did he come from? All I knew was that Domenic knew him very well.

"Who are you?"

I know that at the moment I was repeating the question but I did not care. I just wanted to know exactly who that boy was and why was he with us.

"I'm Jackson, Jackson Hart. It's a pleasure meeting you Emilia." The boy who looked like he was in his late teens with dark black hair and matching eyes which were hiding behind his round glasses, said as he offered me his hand.

I know that the guy was probably trying to be sweet but I was in no mood of making friends. Therefore, I just stared at his hand and then turned to look at Domenic with questioning eyes.

I heard a sigh leaving the Jackson guy as he too turned to look at my guardian, probably thinking of me as a weird creature.

"He's Jackson Hart, the eldest son of Mr. Hart who works for me." Domenic introduced the guy to me by adding another piece of information in it.

I just stayed silent, not even sparing a single glance at the Jackson dude. I was waiting for the bomb that both my heart and mind were anticipating for Domenic to drop.

"He's here as your personal tutor," Domenic added this new piece of information which left me a little confused.

He probably noticed my confusion because soon he was explaining, "There is still quite sometime before the schools will reopen. Jackson will help and guide you in your subjects. You are a part of the Alessandro family and you need to maintain the fame of this name."

I was left completely shocked. Never had I ever imagined that returning to my home and becoming the Alessandro princess would be like this.

"Brother Domenic, I'm thankful t..."

"No, you are not!"

I was about to voice out my objection against that so-called private tutor in a nice way. Not because I was being bratty but because I didn't need them to burn their hard-earned money on me.

However, before I could even complete a single sentence, Domenic interrupted me. But what shocked me the most was his deep voice and his eyes which were pointed at me as he continued.

"No Emilia. You are not even a single bit thankful towards me or any of your brothers. Running away without any explanation from your brother who spent his entire morning making sure that you have a nice morning doesn't look like a thankful action to me."

I felt my cheeks burning with embarrassment as my head dropped. My eyes were fixed on the designer tiles as I was not confident enough to look into Domenic's eyes any longer.

"But since I saw you asking for forgiveness from Daniel, I'm letting you go easily this time. This private tutoring is your only punishment for now. But you have to make sure that such things won't be repeated. I'll not be lenient every time. Alright?"

At Domenic's question, I immediately nodded my head. But when I didn't hear anything in reply for the next few seconds, my curiosity made me raise my head.

Domenic's cold gaze that was staring right at me made the word fly out of my mouth on its own.

"Yes!"

When I saw his shoulders relaxing as he nodded his head once, made me relax too.

"Since everything is clear now, let's head to the dining room. Everyone is waiting for us." Domenic said as he stood up from his chair.

Jackson, who had been silent throughout mine and Domenic's conversation, also stood up from his seat and started following behind Domenic.

I was also quick to leave that basement office since I didn't like it even a single bit.

The three of us made our way out of the basement and towards the dining room where the rest of my brothers were already waiting for us.

As we all sat down on our seats for the dinner, I realized that Jackson too was joining us for the dinner, and not only that but after the dinner both of us, Jackson and I, were supposed to discuss our time schedules and other things related to our sessions.

Just great!

"Em, all the things that we bought today have already been sent to your room. If you want help in setting them up you can ask one of the servants and if not them then one of us can help you." Crist said as he filled my glass with orange juice.

I was quick to answer this time and I know that somehow every single pair of eyes and ears in the room were trained on me.

"Thank you. But it's alright. I think I can manage." I said while plastering a soft smile on my lips.

I think my reply did its work as soon everyone started eating their dinner and their attention was no longer trained on me.

For the rest of the dinner, I was quiet as I tried to finish my dinner. Though everyone noticed my quietness but no one questioned.

Daniel, Crist, and Leo tried to involve me in their conversations where I replied with a simple yes, no, or mmhmm, otherwise I stayed silent and the dinner passed calmly.

Little did I knew that the coming night was bringing a storm for me.