"Bye Zio!" Lia waved as Lorenzo dragged her out of the house. Enzo gave a single nod to acknowledge it, his hands in his pockets.
Earlier that morning he had lost track of time when he was at lsla's house so he had to call Rose,his fifty eight year old maid , to head over to his house to help take care of Lia.
He returned in the afternoon only to find Claire and Lorenzo waiting for him.
"Brother!"Lorenzo smiled when he saw Enzo walk in. "I've missed you so much!" he moved to hug Enzo but he was given a death glare , which he ignored and hugged his brother anyway.
"Hey Claire", he nodded towards Lorenzo's wife who gave a faint smile in return. Enzo could see how uneasy she was, but she was always uneasy around him so it didn't matter.
" Thank you for taking care of Lia."
"I had no choice," was Enzo's response as he walked towards the bar. He grabbed a bottle of vodka and a glass when a small voice stopped him.
"Are you going to drink alcohol again, Zio?" It was Lia. She was holding her coloring book as she descended the stairs.
"No. It's just water," Enzo replied, pouring himself a glass. "You want some?" He tilted the glass towards Lia who make a face to show how disgusted she was.
"Eww Zio! I'm just a kid."
"Sucks for you," Enzo smirked.
Before Lia could respond, Claire chipped in. "Lia, your uncle had had a long day. Don't bother him."
Lia wanted to resist but seeing her mother's stern look, she nodded and moved to her dad's side.
~~~~~~~~~~
With Lia gone, the house was now too large, cold and silent. Everything felt controlled, clean, ordered, a sharp contrast to Isla's world of chaos and warmth.
He didn't know why he was suddenly thinking of her, but he just couldn't get her out of his mind.
"Let's color this together," Isla said as she opened her animal picture coloring book. She opened the box of crayons and spread them all over the dining table.
"Color the dog and I'll color the bunny," she smiled, causing Enzo to chuckle as he felt something within him crack slightly.
"Why do I get to color the dog?" He thought out loud.
"Because the dog is like you," Isla said, not looking up from her work.
"Like me?" Enzo frowned.
"Yes," Isla nodded. "Dogs look scary until you get to know them. That's when you realize they just want to be loved. "
The memory tightened in his chest. He stared at his ceiling the image of the dog vivid in his mind.
Loved.
The word sounded so foreign. So out of place. He looked at her, searching for any sign of a lie or something to tell him she just kidding but she wasn't serious about what she said.
But all he saw was innocence and complete trust.
At that moment, he understood she didn't fully understand the dangers of this world. If Isla believed dog like him deserved to be loved, then that reckless, innocent love and trust was going to put her in danger.
He knew how dogs like him loved to take advantage of innocent, fragile things like her but he wasn't going to let that happen. The world didn't deserve to be near her.
Then he picked up his phone.
Not to check on her.
But to make sure no one and absolutely no one gave her a reason to be afraid of dogs again.
"I want surveillance installed on the street of an address I'm going to send you. I want that place watched 24/7 as well." He told the person on the other end of the phone.
"Check the area for any apartments and rent it immediately. Buy the apartment if you have to. Make sure an eye is kept on the woman in the picture I sent."
"Yes boss," the person on the call said and Enzo hung up, taking out a deep breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The city was still half -asleep when Enzo pulled onto the road with his brother in the front passage seat. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and his phone in the other. After a few minutes he looked and frowned.
"Enzo…?"
Enzo didn't look at him, instead he took a left turn.
Lorenzo glanced outside again, then back at Enzo. "You're going the wrong way."
Silence.
"We have a meeting at the company in less than forty minutes. Board. Investors. Remember?"
"I remember," Enzo said, flatly.
"Then why are we headed the wrong way?"
Enzo sighed softly, eyes still fixed on the road Ahraf.
"We're stopping somewhere first."
"Stopping where?" Lorenzo frowned.
Enzo sighed. "There's something I need to see."
Lorenzo studied him, really looked. The sleepless eyes, his jaw clenched too tight. The quiet that meant Enzo had already made decisions without him.
"This isn't about business, is it?" Lorenzo asked.
Silence.
It was almost like Enzo was…..hesitant?
"Enzo…?" Lorenzo frowned slightly.
"No." Enzo finally spoke.
That answer alone told Lorenzo everything.
He sighed, rubbing his temple.
"Enzo, whatever this is…..I think it can wait…."
"It can't ." Enzo cut him off sharply.
"Enzo what's going on?"
Enzo ignored him and parked in front of a building. He pulled out his phone and called someone.
"Enzo, can you just tell me what's going on?
Lorenzo said seriously but Enzo kept staring at a particular door.
"You don't come here." Lorenzo frowned.
"I do now."
"Hold on," Lorenzo said, confused. "Why are we even here? Do we do business here too?"
Before any of them could exchange another word, there was a faint tap on the window.
"Alex? What is Alex doing here?"
Enzo didn't answer his brother's question, instead he nodded for the man outside to speak:
"Everything is done sure. The cameras have been installed on all the streetlights. There's a small one right in front of her door and another opposite. I placed one above her window as well.
"Who? Who is this her?" Lorenzo asked gently putting his hand on his brother's shoulder.
Without another word, Enzo nodded once, rolled the window back up and drove away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Remember the girl who jumped in front of my car?" Enzo suddenly asked as he drove into the parking lot of Lorenzo's company. Enzo killed the engine and the two of them walked into the huge building, glass and steel swallowing them whole.
Lorenzo snorted softly. " I'm afraid you have to be more specific brother. Alot of girls have done that."
The elevator dinged and they stepped in.
"There was Amber.....Clara....Sophia, Sonia....T...."
"Fuck, I asked one question Enzo. And how the fuck do you remember all of them?"
"Not all of them, just the interesting ones." Lorenzo shrugged. " And I'm afraid you have to be more specific too."
"The one with the pigtails." The words left Enzo's mouth so quickly, Lorenzo almost didn't catch it.
"Isla?"
"You remember her name?" It was Enzo's turn to look at his brother.
"She's one of the interesting ones. And just so you know I did more checks on her after I sent you that email. I wanted to know more."
"And you didn't bother to tell me?"
"Well, I would have, if I knew you were in love with her."
The elevator doors opened and Lorenzo stepped out first.
"I am not in love with her," Enzo said sharply, trying to ignore how fast his heart was beating all of a sudden.
" Don't deny it brother. The signs are clear," Lorenzo flashed his brother a teasing smirk.
"Gosh, I want to kill you right now," Enzo groaned as they entered the conference room.
"You can do that after the meeting," was the last thing Lorenzo said before putting on a professional face.
" You're late," one of the men present said as they took their seat.
" We had something urgent to take care off," Lorenzo said, adjusting his tie.
" You are two hours late."
"He fucking said we had something urgent to take care off."
All heads turned to Enzo who rarely spoke during meetings.
" I'm sorry Enzo but this behavior can't be accepted. We all had urgent things to take care of, but we came here early."
"Well, we aren't the ones who need investment, are we? And if you have a fucking problem with that, you can leave."
The place fell silent as everyone held their breath, anticipating the next move.
"Let's proceed," the man said earning a scoff from Lorenzo.
" I suggest you mind the way you speak next time, if you don't your struggling company to go bankrupt.",