Chapter 15 - Fifteen: Stalking Women

Back to the present

Leo picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he reached the one he wanted. He then dialed it and it rang twice before it was answered.

" Boss?" That was the first thing the person on the other line said.

" I need you to look into someone, the CEO of Atlas, find out everything you can about her". Leo commanded. " I won't tolerate any slip-ups, do I make myself clear?" He asked.

" Crystal!" The man on the other line answered.

" One more thing, Kristina Ramus, Find her!" With that he hung up, leaving no room for debates, not like he would even condone any. To his people, his word was law and was never to be questioned.

He slipped his phone back into his suit pocket and sunk deeper into his chair. He cast his eyes to the ceiling, taking deep breaths to calm himself down as he needed to think but his mind kept drifting off to Becca, that sneaky little minx. He wondered what she could be thinking because by now then he shook his head at his pitiful state.

He stood up and walked out of the room as it was getting very depressing. It was even more wretched than his current problems. He walked out of the building to where his car was parked. Getting into the car, the driver immediately started the ignition and drove off.

His thoughts were in chaos and he needed to clear his head to think properly as he didn't want to mess anything up. There were just too many thoughts running through his mind at that moment and he needed to escape from it all but first, he had to visit someone.

Three days later

Becca pulled up at Osteria Mozza, an expensive Italian restaurant and it was 6:00 pm on a Friday, so she was sure that her cousin would be in there right now sipping champagne like it was no one's business. After getting out of her car, she walked to the entrance with the sound of her heels clicking with every step she took.

She had purposely worn heels that night just in case she would need to smack some sense into him. Becca was supposed to have dinner with her cousin, Liam, who is her late mother's nephew and despite being seven years older than her, he still acts like the most immature child on earth. And although he was a very successful businessman with many accomplishments under his name, he still behaved like a screw loose sometimes.

Becca walked into the restaurant and was greeted by a young waiter who was as welcoming as beautiful flowers in spring.

The waiter escorted her to her table where she saw Liam busy munching on his food and sipping expensive champagne, just as she predicted.

Liam was a very handsome Asian man who had dark hair, a perfectly chiseled jawline, and a nice muscular frame that made him look so attractive that he could easily be noticeable in the crowd especially by women. His flawless skin, dark brown eyes, and pointed nose only added to his good looking and irresistibility that people really couldn't help but stare at him where ever he went and this restaurant wasn't an exception as people, women, kept throwing glances at sexy eye candy in their midst but he was too focused on his meal to notice the amount of attention he was getting.

" If it isn't my favorite person, How are you doing?" He said as he stood up and took out a chair for her to sit on. The sight of the handsome Asian man pulling out a chair for another woman made the eyes of the women that were watching him in the restaurant burn with jealousy.

' She's pretty, who is she?'

' Perhaps his girlfriend because there is no way a guy that hot could be single.'

' Maybe she's his wife, we better back off.'

'Well I for one don't see a ring on her finger and you know how the saying goes; when there's a will, there's a way.' The women in the restaurant murmured against themselves.

" I'm good," Becca answered after she took her seat and the waiter started pouring her a glass of champagne. She picked up the menu to see what specials they were serving tonight and ordered it.

" I really can't believe you, Becca. I mean practically live in the same city but you don't even make an effort to stay in touch. Is calling to say hello too much to ask?" He asked in a complaining tone.

" It's not like that, Liam. I have just been busy...." She trailed off knowing that it wasn't much of an excuse.

" Let me guess. With work, right?" He asked and put down his cutlery.

" Yes" She answered indifferently and he let out a disappointed sigh.

" Is work more important than family?" He asked.

" You know it isn't," she answered.

" Your actions certainly say otherwise." He said and she sucked in a lung full of air.

" Not this topic again, please!" She begged as she was already growing tired of hearing the same lecture every single time.

" You shouldn't punish yourself, you know." He said with a calm voice and she retracted her hand from the table when she saw he was trying to grab it. She knew he was trying to be comforting but she didn't want him to be, she didn't need it.

His comfort. His sympathy. His pity. She was perfectly fine without them. She hated people taking pity on her.

" Why did you invite me here anyway?" She asked after a while of being silent, wanting to go straight to the point.

" Do I need a reason to see you, Becca? To see how you are doing, huh?" His tone soften like he was talking to a child.

" And as you can see, I am perfectly fine." She said emotionlessly and averted her gaze. There was a long silence between them and he just kept looking at her like he wanted to peel off the indifferent expression on her face with his eyes and see what she was feeling.

" No, you are not and we both know that." He broke the silence and seeing that she didn't say anything to refute his statement, he took it as permission to continue.

" You drown yourself in work in attempts to block out your feelings but it doesn't change a thing, does it? It only makes you more miserable. I understand you're depressed from what happened, you miss her, we all do and I'm here for you, nothing and no one will ever steal her place in your heart. But it has been years since she passed away, don't you think it's high time you stop grieving. Moving on doesn't mean you love her any less or you're forgetting her, you know that right?" He asked after giving a long speech and she couldn't help but admit that all he had said was the truth with him being right in every way possible as she was tired of grieving, tired of being sad. She wanted to be happy and live a carefree life like she used to. She wanted to change and as the year was ending, she also wanted it to be the end of her grief, her sadness. She wanted the new year to mark the beginning of her new journey, her journey to happiness and joy-filled life. The atmosphere between them was undeniably heavy and silence between them was deafening.

" There you go again, trying to pour all your old man wisdom upon the younger generation." She said, breaking the thick layer of silence that enveloped them as she tried to lighten up the mood and hopefully change the topic.

" Okay, I will pretend that I didn't just hear you call me an old man just now," Liam said with an offended tone as the waiter brought the food she had ordered and placed it on the table.

" You shouldn't pretend if you didn't hear it as you of all people should know how bad old people's hearing Is," Becca said and dug into her food, completely ignoring the frown that marred her cousin's face.

" That's not the point of our discussion." He said, trying not to fall victim to her Childish antics.

" Do you know what should be the point of our discussion? Why you are still single at your age?." She asked with a grin. Now, this was more fun.

" At my age? You make it sound like I'm ancient." He whined when he saw Becca's mocking grin. He hated when she taunts him about his age and it's what makes him tick.

" But you are." She replied, not bothering to hide the teasing smile on her face.

" I'm just thirty, you know." He said in annoyance.

" Exactly, thirty! We all expected you to be married with children by now but no, you had other plans in mind instead." Becca complained and saw him looking at everything in sight but her, desperate to avoid eye contact.

" You are so selfish, don't you want me to play with my nieces and nephews? Sometimes I feel like you intend to sleep with all the women in the world before finally settling down." She nagged, making him roll his eyes, and had a 'here we go again' look plastered on his face.

" Do you think I'm unaware of your Playboy tendencies?" She asked.

" But I'm a changed man now." He defended himself. " I haven't even had a one-night stand in three years" He added.

" Changed man my ass, I will believe you once you put a ring on a woman's finger." She said, making all the ears of the stalking women peck up.

' I see, so she wasn't his girlfriend, after all, interesting. Very interesting indeed' They whispered, feeling very hopeful.

" Gosh, you sound just like my mother," Liam muttered and pinched the bridge of his nose.

" That's because your mother is a very wise woman." Becca's smile widen even more as she resisted the urge to laugh at his facial expression right now.

He looked so frustrated and it was amusing. She was also happy that she had successfully changed their topic of discussion to a less depressing one.

" I'm not ready to get married just yet. I'm waiting for the right time." He explained while Becca stared at him with an unbelieving look on her face and it was shocking how fast her expression changes, from indifferent to nagging, now it mocking with her mood changing like the direction of the wind.

" Are you waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ or something? Don't lie to me, the time isn't the problem, is it?" She asked and immediately regretted asking when she saw him raise his head to stare at her with pleading eyes.

"Yes, you are right, it isn't about waiting for the right time but the right person and you know very well who it is. If you could be a good little sister and help me out with..." He couldn't finish his sentence before Becca cut him off.

" Nope! Never! I'm not gonna help you score one with Kristina." She instantly refused as she already knew that was where he was heading because he always brought it up whenever they spoke. He has been asking her for three years now to put in a good word for him whenever she spoke to Kristina as he had been head over heels for Becca's sister, Kristina, for the longest time but was too chicken to make a move.

" Please, do this for your favorite cousin." He said and flashed her a charming smile that showed off his cute dimples and she rolled her eyes at him. As for the other women in the Restaurant who were stalking, after seeing his adorable dimpled smile they all felt like they were going to faint as they were already feeling quite dizzy from gazing upon his heavenly beauty, their hearts couldn't take it anymore.

" I don't intend to play the role of matchmaker for anyone, so stop expecting anything from me," Becca said, refusing to budge. " Why don't you do it yourself?" she asked.

" Kristina is always out of the country doing fashion shows and signing endorsement deals. What do you want me to do? Call her and be like; Hey Kris, uhmm...You know, I'm in love with you, like I've been madly in love with you for a long time now, so can you please come back home and let's get married." He blurted while putting his palm on his ear, gesturing like he was talking on a real phone, and on hearing the handsome creature talking about loving someone else, one of the stalking women even started silently sobbing, feeling heartbroken and knowing that she had lost her chance of becoming Mr hottie's wife before she even got it

" Well, that would be one heck of a confession which could also work if you weren't such a baby about telling her how you feel. She's just a woman." Becca was now done with her food and currently sipping her wine after asking the waiter to pour her a very generous amount. She wasn't worried about how much it would cost, she didn't care, and she didn't even want to care because she wouldn't be the one paying for it. Hehehe

" She's just a woman? What do you mean by She's just a woman? Kristina is a goddess, my goddess." He said with a fond smile on his face, making Becca choke on her drink. The wine must have gone down through the wrong tube.

" I'm still not gonna help you." She reminded after she stopped coughing and Liam made a sullen face.

" Then I guess I'm going to remain single since you just love seeing me that way." He said, acting so overly dramatic and it made Becca's palms itchy to smack the living daylights out of him but she restrained herself because they were in a public place.

" Fine with me and while you're still on your single bus driving to singletopia, I need you to do me a favor." She twirled the wine in her glass with an innocent smile on her face as if she hadn't done anything bad in her entire life.

" oh! So now you need my help, huh?" He asked annoyed tone.

" You know my family has this weird thing where they throw a huge party every end of the year, right?" She asked.

" By your family, you mean Regina?" he asked as he knew how much Becca's stepmother, Regina, loved throwing lavish parties.

" Yes and I'm leaving for Massachusetts in a few days, Navaya isn't coming with me so I need you to accompany me as a date to the party." She explained and he sat up straighter on his seat.

" Hmm, let me think." He put his finger on his chin, tapping it like he was thinking of something.. " No" He deadpanned.