Betrothed To The Mafia Lord novel Chapter 98

Luca’s POV

“Where did the whole bunch of paintings which were on this side of the wall go?” He asked in a low voice, confusion evident on the facial expression he was currently pointing at me. I shifted my weight from foot to foot and glanced up into the roof, dragging in a deep breath and puffing it out loudly out of my lungs, my hands moving up to start to unbutton the first three buttons of my shirt in tne next second, as I slowly lowered my head and stared back at James who was still obviously still waiting for a reply from me.

“I took them all off.” I said to him and ran my fingers through my hair after a few seconds, feelimg the urge to take off my suit jacket as well as my inner shirt, suddenly everywhere was feeling really stuffy and like I really needed to drag in more deep and refreshing breaths into my lungs.

“Oh, you did?” He asked after afew moments of him watching me quietly. I nodded my head at him in reply and turned away from him, starting to make my way forward, towards the side where the kitchen was located at.

“Luca, wait.” He called out and paused in my tracks without turning around, dragging in a deep breath and puffing it out ever so slowly.

“Why did you take the paintings off?” I heard him asked and I shook my head at him in reply without bothering to supply him with a reply. “No reason.” I replied after a few moments.

“But the paintings meant so much to you, because it was painted by–'' He started to speak agsin and I turned around to stare at him before he could complete his sentence, lifting my hand in a sigh to stop him before he could get the words out of his mouth.

“Just let it go man, it’s not important.” I said to him with a pointed look, and telling from the accusing look he directed at me, I didn’t need to try to convince myself that he had believed me for a second, because he obviously didn’t.

“But it is important, it was–” He started to say again and I shook my head and growled low in my throat, which shut him up almost immediately.

“James, just let it go.” I rephrased once again and his eyes narrowed at me as he started to walk towards me, closing the distance between us, but I wasn’t unfazed by the look he was sending me.

“Why should I let it go?” He demanded and I rolled my eyes for a few seconds.

“Because I said so.” I informed him and he glared at me for a few moments before finally throwing his hand up and moving away from me for emphasis.

“Fine, I will. I’ve let it go already.” He rushed out, a glare still evident on his face.

“Thank you.” I said to him and watched as he rolled his eyes at me before coming closer towards me once again, until only a few inches of space was separating us from brushing against each other.

“What was it that you were saying before about your phone notifications?” He asked, staring at my face before dragging his eyes towards my phone which was clutched in the other side of my hand.

“Oh.” I breathed out as soon as his words sank into my head, feeling super grateful that he had dropped the previous subject like I had requested – and had even decided to change the subject himself.

“I thought you had an idea about how popular you are.” He said and I shrugged my shoulders and puffed out a deep breath.

“I knew I was trending on the day I got married, I guess?” I paused and raked my fingers through my hair before continuing after a few moments. “I didn’t bother to check because I was so damn busy, I had just assumed that I was going to trend because I knew I was popular, and that some people were definitely going to take the news over to Twitter, including a lot of news casters – I just didn’t know it was going to get to the extent of it having its own hashtags and the likes.” I slowly explained to James and started to scowl at him when he started to shake his head at me.

“Oh man, you have no idea about how popular you are, do you?” James started to tsked and I shrugged my shoulders a little before mumbling beneath my breath. “Obviously not.”

“Do you even check your direct messages on those apps? There might have been huge businesses offers from some individuals and companies in your direct messages on different apps where you’re popular on.” James started to ask and I bit on the lower side of my lower lip, staring up into the roof and lifting my hand to tug on the roots of my curls as I dragged in a deep breath and exhaled it in the next second.

“Are you serious? You don’t check your direct messages?” James demanded when I remained quiet, which was all the answer he needed– sounding outraged and I scowled at him before starting to pocket my phone almost immediately.

This whole thing was a mistake.

“No, I don’t.” I informed him and watched as he stared at me with a perplexed facial expression on his face. “Why?” I questioned and I stared at him quietly for a few moments before throwing my hands up.

“Because I am always so damn busy, it’s so hard and stressful having to work every damn day, only to unlock your phone and get flooded with thousands of messages and notifications all at once, from different apps.” I informed him with the scowl still intact on my face and watched as the perplexed facial expression on his face started to melt away in the next second.