SERAFINA'S POV
I woke to sunlight streaming through the windows and the weight of Lorenzo's arm around my waist.
Then his eyes opened, and he looked at me like I was something precious but dangerous as well.
"Good morning." He said, his voice still rough with sleep.
"Morning." I started to pull away. "I should…"
"Stay." His arm tightened around me. "Just a few more minutes."
"Okay." I whispered.
We lay there with his fingers tracing patterns on my shoulder.
"I could get used to this." Lorenzo said.
"To what?"
"Waking up with you. I'm usually alone."
"Me too."
He then kissed me slow and thorough like we had all the time in the world.
When we finally made out of bed, he insisted on making breakfast again. I watched him move through his kitchen with confidence, and his powerful aura.
"You're staring." He said without turning around.
"I'm studying you for the portrait."
"Ahh yes. The commission." He glanced over his shoulder. "How's that progressing? I haven't seen you sketch me in days."
"I've been distracted."
"By what?"
"You know exactly what." I accepted the plate he handed me. "But you're right. I should work on it. That's the excuse for me being here, after all."
"Is that what this is? An excuse?"
"You know it's more than that."
"Do I?" He sat across from me. "Because sometimes I look at you and I can't tell what's real and what's performance. It's unsettling."
"This is real." I said.
"Okay. I believe you."
After breakfast, I insisted on actually working on the commissioned portrait.
"Where do you want me?" Lorenzo asked, sitting on the leather chair by the window.
"Natural light is better. Stay there." I took out my sketchbook, settled onto the couch opposite him. "Just be yourself. Read, work, whatever you normally do."
"I'm supposed to ignore you? That seems impossible."
"Try."
He smiled but took out his phone, and started scrolling through emails. I watched him for a moment, then I started. My pencil moved on the paper, capturing quick gesture sketches. The angle of his shoulders, the line of his profile, they way light and shadow fell on his face.
"Tell me about your first love." I said, trying to get him to relax into the session.
Lorenzo looked up, surprised.
"Why?"
"Because I want to understand you. And first loves tell you a lot about a person."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Her name was Yuki. I was seventeen. She was…" He stopped and smiled. "She was completely wrong for me, and I loved her desperately."
"What happened?"
"Reality. Our families didn't approve. We were from different worlds." His expression turned distant. "She left and I buried myself in taking over the family business. We both did what was expected of us."
"Do you still think about her?"
"Sometimes. Mostly I think about who I was when I was with her. I was younger, stupider, more hopeful that love could fix everything." He looked at me. "I know better now."
"Do you or do you just tell yourself that?"
"What about you, piccola spia? Who was your first love?"
"I've never been in love. Never had time for it."
He smiled. Then he stood up, came towards me and looked at the sketches.
"These are good. You've captured…" He stopped.
"What?"
"You see me as lonely. In every sketch there's an isolation in the way you've drawn me." He traced one of the lines. "Is that really how you see me?"
"It's how you are."
"Not when I'm with you."
"Lorenzo…"
The intercom buzzed, shattering the moment.
Lorenzo frowned, and walked towards the panel by the door.
"Yes?"
"Mr. Vitale, you have a visitor. Ms. Tanaka. She says it's urgent."
I could feel the tension in Lorenzo's body.
"Send her up." He said after a pause.
"I need to meet her. It's….complicated."
"Should I leave?"
"No. Stay. I want you to meet her."
"Who is she?"
Before Lorenzo could answer, the elevator opened, and walked in the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She was stunning.
"Lorenzo." Her voice was melodic. "It's been too long."
"Yuki." Lorenzo's entire demeanor changed. "I wasn't expecting you."
"I know. Forgive the intrusion." She looked at me. "But I've some private matters to discuss."
I started to stand.
"I should go…"
"No." Lorenzo said quickly. "Sera, this is Yuki Tanaka, an old friend. Yuki, this is Sera Moretti. She's…" He hesitated.
"His mistress." I finished, looking at Yuki's eyes. "It's nice to meet you."
"His mistress." She said it slowly, like testing the words. "How... modern, and here I thought Lorenzo had sworn off complications after…" She stopped herself. "But that's not why I'm here."
"Why are you here?" Lorenzo asked.
"Business that we shouldn't discuss in front of outsiders."
"Sera is trustworthy."
"Is she?" Yuki's smile didn't reach her eyes. "You work quickly, Lorenzo. It's only been a week since you met her and now she's trustworthy enough for family business?"
"That's not your concern."
"Everything about you is my concern. That's the deal we made. But if you insist on including your new pet in sensitive discussions, that's your risk to take."
Pet.
I forced myself to smile.
"I actually should go. I have work to do in my studio anyway." I started gathering my sketches.
Lorenzo caught my wrist.
"Stay."
"I'll come back later. You two obviously have things to discuss."
I pulled free from Lorenzo's grip, grabbed my bag, and headed for the elevator.
I was on my way to my apartment, and thought about Yuki Tanaka. The first love he'd mentioned not thirty minutes ago. I called Matteo.
"Sera? What's wrong?"
"I need you to run a background check on Yuki Tanaka, japanese, late twenties or early thirties, some kind of business connection to Lorenzo."
"Why?"
"Because she just showed up at his apartment uninvited and demanded a private meeting, and Lorenzo let her stay."
"You sound jealous."
"I'm concerned. There's a difference."
"Is there? Alright, I'll do it. Give me an hour."
"Thank you."
Lorenzo had a past. Obviously, he was thirty, handsome, powerful.
My phone buzzed. It was a text from Lorenzo:
I'm sorry about that. Yuki is complicated. Can we talk tonight?
I stared at the message.
Did I want to know? Did I want to hear about the woman he'd loved before?
Then suddenly my phone rang. It was Matteo.
"That was fast."
"Yeah, because this is important. Sera, Yuki Tanaka isn't just Lorenzo's ex-girlfriend."
"Then what is she?"
"She's a high ranking Yakuza. Her family controls most of the organized crime in the Pacific Rim." He paused. "And according to my sources, she and Lorenzo have been working together for years from intelligence sharing to business partnerships to territory agreements."
"What kind of partnership?"
"The kind where she has access to his operations and he has access to hers. Sera, if Lorenzo is sharing information with the Yakuza, if Yuki has access to his business…"
"Then she knows about me." I finished.
"Or she could be the one who warned him about you in the first place. Think about it…Yakuza have the best intelligence networks in the world. If anyone would know the Rossis sent a spy, it would be her."
The pieces started falling into place. His complete lack of surprise at my Rossi connections. The way he'd been playing me from day one.
Yuki. She'd warned him. She'd been protecting him all along.
"What do I do?" I asked.
"You get out. Now. Before this gets any more complicated." Matteo paused. "Sera, if Lorenzo and Yuki are working together, if she has the same access to him that you do, your entire mission is compromised. Everything you report back could be false. Everything you think you're learning could be what they want you to know."
He was right.
"I won't." I whispered.
Matteo sighed.
"Then at least be careful. And Sera? Watch your back around Yuki Tanaka. If she decides you're a threat to Lorenzo…"
"I know. I'm dead."