Aurora

"Stay with me."

Aurora froze when she heard that. Did she hear that right or was her ears just not working anymore?

"W-what?" she mumbled, moving her head away from his chest.

He wasn't staring at her and when she looked in his eyes, she saw his brows were dipped and he had a small frown on his face. If seemed as if he was confused, but why? It must have been such a foreign thing for him to say something like that to her, as if the words slipped out of his mouth.

"Come live with me." he said. He was looking in her eyes now, those dark eyes staring hard into hers.

"But why?"

He made a confused face as if not understanding her question.

"W-why would you want me to move in with you?" she whispered, looking down at the fabric of his shirt.

She hadn't even known this man that long and they were practically strangers. All she knew about him was his name and that he was a very scary man, but other than that she knew nothing about him.

It was shocking to hear him ask this. Matteo didn't look like a generous man and seemed to not care about anyone or their situation.

"You can't live in a dump like this and if you leave, you have nowhere else to go."

His words were harsh but it was the truth.

"Let me help you." he whispered in her ear.

Aurora thought all of this was just a dream. There was no way a man like Matteo would ever offer her a place to stay not make her want to be by his side all the time. There was a need in her, deep within her that started to ache as they spent more time together. A need for something, just something and it was Matteo.

A man who could make a woman wobble at the sight of him, his dark and alluring aura that casted a spell on her to forever want him closer. He was a man of few words and of no emotion, but she would be lying if she said it wasn't the most attractive thing about him.

Why would he want to help her? A girl like her didn't deserve any act of kindness and she already felt like a bother for having his sister take her out for shopping. It was bad enough that Aunt Jocelyne had to provide her with a place to stay, and now she had to depend on Matteo like she did that time. However, it was different this time.

It was different because she felt different with him.

"I don't w-want to burden you." she said as tears formed in her eyes.

Why she was crying, she did not know. It was maybe because of his generosity that was shocking to her.

Warm fingers burnt against the coldness of her pale skin, as they tilted her chin up to have her glazed eyes meet his. She nearly gasped when their eyes met, never knowing that he was one to have his masked expression crack. The deeper he stared into her eyes, the more she could see the softness in his eyes.

The tenderness in his gaze as he looked at her made her heart flitter with the sheer intensity it produced.

"You are not being a burden." he said softly.

"Then why?"

His thumb grazed the side of her face. "For you."

"Me?" What did he mean by that?

He gave her one last look before he let go of her face. Her body felt even more cold when he stepped away from her, missing the heat that radiated from his body. She felt disappointed that he moved away from her as if he realized that she revolted him and he didn't want to touch her.

It was confusing how quickly his mood can change. He could be nice and then the next moment he would ignore her, or just pretend like had never shared an intimate moment with each other.

She watched as he messaged his temple with his two fingers, eyes closed as he breathed hard through his nose.

"I'm picking you up tomorrow at noon. Make sure you are packed by then." he said before walking out the door.

She felt hurt that his behavior had changed and wondered why he was back to his cold self again. He left her standing in front of the door with teary eyes, so very confused by what had just happened.

Noon had arrived and Aurora was disappointed to see that it wasn't Matteo who came to pick her up. Even though his driver, Enrico was a friendly Italian man, she wanted it to be Matteo who came to fetch her. She felt a bit hurt by this but thought that he was maybe doing something important like having a business meeting.

While they drove to Matteo's house, they made small talk and Aurora learnt a few things about Enrico. She found out that he has two children and a wife who he seemed to love dearly. She loved the look in his eyes when he spoke about his wife and she hoped that one day a man would look at her with the same look in his eyes.

Enrico had taken her to the house which she remembered waking up in, and seeing the outside for the first time because she passed out that night, she was stunned. His house was incredibly large and looked like it came out of a movie, like the ones the president lived in or something. It was so beautiful and she wondered what he did to have so much money to afford a place like this.

The place was exactly how she would picture a house Matteo wanted. He was a dark and he resembled every aspect of this house.

The car parked in front of the unnecessarily long stairway that led to the front porch. The stairs made of a dusty colored stone with black tinted railings on the side, connected with a two way balcony, one on each side of her. The bricked walls of the house were like the color of the stairs, a very dark off white color.

She was guided inside the house by a maid who she recognized from the first time she was here. She was probably informed by Matteo about her arrival and was disappointed once again when the maid told her that Matteo was not home, and would most certainly be back home late at night.

What a wonderful welcoming, she thought.

The maid, whose name was Malinda, gave her a tour of the house. She was a very nice person and she didn't know how such nice people like Malinda and Enrico were able to cope with a person like Matteo. They were polar opposites and thought it would be difficult to cooperate with him but they were still working for him.

She just hoped that he treated them with respect or they would be having a nice chat.

Malinda showed Aurora to her room and it was the one closest to the staircase. When she walked into the room she gawked at what she saw. Kitty jumped out of her arms to sniff the furniture in the room and she could tell Kitty must like the room too. It was unbelievable to see that she could fit her entire apartment inside this one room from how big and spacious it was.

What caught her attention was the large bed that was placed close to the window which had a seat against it. It was something she had never seen before and to her it looked weird because it was a outstretched comfy seat against a window. It was beautiful and she couldn't believe that she would be staying in this house.

She couldn't be more thankful towards Matteo.

"I am surprised the don took you in. He not very kind." Malinda said, waltzing around in the kitchen.

What is a don? Was it Matteo? Maybe the servants call him don in alien language.

"H-he may be a bit mean but somewhere I know d-deep down he is a good man."

Malinda chuckled. "Don not good man." she said in broken english. "Not very nice to women, at all."

"He doesn't like women?" she asked confusedly.

Malinda nodded, handing her a plate with steaming hot food. "Always working. No time for relationship or family. You are special if don bring you home."

Aurora blushed. "I-I'm not special."

"Non è vero mia cara. Don don't let family stay over at home, not even sister. He enjoys being alone and cooped up in office. Very surprising to hear girl coming over." (Not true my dear.)

She didn't want to think too much about the fact that she was practically the only business Matteo has ever brought home. That thought alone had a weird sensation bubble inside her tummy and a ghost of a smile appeared on her lips.

"Was he a-always this way?" she wondered out loud.

"What way?"

"So...cold."

She began to pick at her food as she was starting to get full. She couldn't waste this perfectly cooked meal that Malinda had prepared just for her, so she had to finish it.

Malinda sat down beside her at the table.

"He just like his padre. Both men have hard times in expressing what they feel. Don was raised to be a man who could not be soft, it went too far when that cruelty was shown to familia."

"Why was he raised that way? W-why did his dad want him to be like that?"

Malinda patted her hand softly. "Not my place to say. Don's hatred for women developed when the mother disappoint family. Left don heartbroken and the man he is today." she said sadly.

She bit her lip. "What h-happened with Matteo's mother?"

Malinda was about to reply but another voice had interjected, having Aurora and Malinda freeze in their seats.

"None of your business." said the voice.

Malinda jolted up from her seat as if her bottom had just been caught on fire and bowed in his presence. She scurried away back in the kitchen not before sending an apologetic look to Aurora. Aurora however was frozen to the core, she could feel his domineering presence from just a few feet away from her.

She felt a bit scared that he came home just in time to hear her pry into his personal family matters. She didn't mean to it was just that her curiosity of his mother had gotten the better of her, and now Matteo must be furious. No, he is furious just by hearing his tone of voice.

She just wanted to disappear.

"I hope you settled in well." he said.

She turned around to reply but didn't when she saw his back turned to her and he was now walking away. His tall and muscular frame had now descended the stairs, his longs legs carrying his perfected professional suited body to his section of his house. Everything he did was so graceful and it made Aurora feel fuzzy whenever she saw him in a suit and looked all proper.

She had wanted to see him all day. Now that was ruined because he came home late and heard her talk about his family.

What a nice way to welcome her in his home.

I'm so sorry that this chapter is so short and I feel like it's so crappy guys i'm really sorry *cries in a corner*

BUT YOU GUYS ARE INSANE! We hit 2k reads, like dood seriously?? I am so so so thankful for all of you guys, you all seriously rock. I love you guys so much, my heart is literally melting.

This is going to be the turning point in the book hehe, I felt like I was progressing the drama for far too long. I mean we always need some spice am I right ;)

Anyways, thank you all for reading and giving this book a chance. Words can't describe how grateful I am.

Until next time, bye bye :)