To Success!

   Sun Peizhi gets into the backseat of a black Maybach waiting outside the hotel. He has a faint smile recalling Sara’s cute expression on her face as she was waving to him while standing by the elevator. She was obviously embarrassed when she was caught looking back at me. He is quickly brought out of his trance when Freddie says, “The higher ups are bugging me to tell them your plan since you haven’t contacted them since you reached Milan. What should I say?”

  Lifting his eyebrow, Sun Peizhi frowns as he takes his phone out of his pant’s pocket. If  that is who was calling I will ignore it. “I got a call from this number quickly find out who it is before I return the call”

   Freddie dials a number, after he listens to the person on the other end he hangs up. “Wasn’t anyone associated with headquarters and the number isn’t traceable.”

  “Yan can’t find out the information?”

   Freddie looks in the rear view mirror at Sun Peizhi, “Just call the number back. If it is someone from headquarters you are going to need to explain yourself before the operation. Dammit Peizhi, Yan warned you shouldn’t deviate from the original plan to obtain the flash drive. You are just going to piss alot of people off changing the plan on your own.”

   Freddie drives through the city honking his horn as he gets stuck behind a minor accident. He  impatiently leans out his window screaming, “GET THE CAR OUT OF THE STREET!” A stylishly dressed woman is tryng to hand a piece of paper to a man whose  blue mid size car she rear ended. When she hears the shouting she glances over at Freddie and curses in Russian. Turning around looking at the crumpled hood of the brand new red Maserati she wants to cry. She didn’t want to wait for her driver and stole her brother’s car to go to the Chloe Design fashion Show.

   When Freddie yells out of the window Sun Peizhi looks up to see what is going on then recognizes the woman standing by the wrecked sports car. Martina Rushnikov? He taps Freddie on the shoulder, “Stop the car.”  He gets out of the backseat then walks over to the accident scene. He smiles at Martina, speaking Russian he asks, “Can I help you?”

   She has a relieved expression when she hears him speaking Russian, “Do you speak Italian?”

   “I do.”

   Martina starts waving her finger towards a short bald man not far away. “I can’t get through to this man! I will pay compensation. I don’t want the traffic police called, I borrowed this car and don’t have a driving license. I need to be somewhere!” 

    “Calm down. Let me see what I can do.” He walks over to the man leaning on the bumper of his slightly dented car. Sun Peizhi tries to converses with him in Italian, “The woman wants to compensate you.” The man rolls his eyes then ignores him while talking into the phone, obviously to the police. Sun Peizhi’s aura becomes oppressive as he takes the phone away from the agitated man then hangs it up. “You don’t want to do that.”

   The man is indignant, “Who the fuck are you!I just bought this car and the bitch ran into me while I was stopped at the red light! How do I know she will pay for the repairs properly!” He rubs his neck, “I need to go to the hospital too, I might have a concussion.”

   “I’m someone who wants to help you.” Sun Peizhi quietly says as he leans down, “I would take the money before her bodyguards arrive. If you wait you might end up with more than a smashed bumper and mild concussion.” He points to four black Land Rovers stuck in traffic several cars behind them. “It looks like the Young Miss snuck out of the house.”

   The man listens intently while staring at the Land Rovers, he can see in the first vehicle two intimidating looking men wearing sunglasses. Sweating he hurries over to Martina., waving his hand he gestures to Sun Peizhi, “Tell her 5,000 no less.”

   Sun Peizhi tells Martina, “He says he will take 5,000 for compensation.”

   Martina gets out her wallet and wrinkles her forehead,“I don’t have that much cash.” She is getting nervous seeing her father’s men approaching.” I have 3,000 euros”

   Sun Peizhi takes the money from her and some cash from his wallet then hands it to the man. “Here is 4,000 euros your car isn’t even worth that much. Scram.” 

  The man is satisfied he didn’t think he would get more than 2,000 Euros which is why he wanted his brother in law who works for the police department to come to help him shake the rich woman down. Once he is in his car he tries to maneuver into the lane next to where his car was stopped. Waving at the car next to him he honks yelling out of his window, “Let me in goddammit!”

   Sun Peizhi leisurely strides over to Martina Rushnikov, “I can pull your car to the side for you while you call a driver.”

   Martina‘s eyes widen watching the bodyguards slowly moving forward. She holds onto Sun Peizhi’s arm as she coquettishly looks up at him fluttering her eyeashes, ”Can you give me a ride? If I wait for a driver I will be late.”

    When he saw her bodyguards approaching he knew she would ask for a ride and this is a good opportunity to find out where Nikolai Naralov might be since she is his fiancee. “Of course.”

She stands on the side as he pulls her car out of the way of traffic. The sun is beating down on her face and Martina worries she will get a sunburn. She waits under a tree while watching Sun Peizhi move her car out of the road.

I was too consumed by worry to notice what an incredibly handsome man he is and such a gentleman! Why couldn’t that arrogant bastard Nikolai be more like him! Where is he hiding from me now! I haven’t been able to find him since I saw him in Viktor’s suite two days ago! He better call before the Bellini Reception or I will have Papa deal with him! I am not attending by myself. She raises her eyebrow while looking at her watch, my fitting for my evening gown is in forty five minutes.

  Freddie has been sitting in the car observing the accident scene, what the hell is Peizhi doing now is not the time to try to pick up a beautiful woman. Wait… since when did he ever have that inclination. He opens a piece of chocolate and pops it into his mouth then tosses the wrapper out the window.

    Sun Peizhi opens the back door of Freddie’s car so Martina can get into the back seat. As she approaches she stumbles when one her 10cm high heels gets caught on a grate then falls into his chest. Right after Martina trips, a Rolls Royce is passing in the other lane with Li Tian and Sara. Sara happens to look out the window to see Sun Peizhi embracing a beautiful blonde woman in his arms. Is that why he couldn’t come to work this morning? He was meeting his girlfriend? She sees the battered red Maserati, his girlfriend must have been in an accident and he rushed over to the scene.

Sara’s heart tightens as a flood of emotions wash over her, a sense of panic and apprehension witnessing the woman’s brilliant smile as she looks up at Sun Peizhi. The woman is clutching onto his sleeves as he holds her in his arms.They make a really beautiful couple.  Well Sara , that answers your question..he does have someone in his heart.

  Li Tian has been working on his laptop but paying attention to Sara next to him. He can feel a change in her aura, typically he would ignore another person’s mood but he is working on his plan to make her fall in love with him. When he questioned Yang James he emphasized a man should be in tune with the woman’s emotions. At the time Yang James didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when Li Tian was asking him about women, of all the people he knows there is no bigger egomaniac than Li Tian. The first two adjectives that came to mind to describe his cold personality are heartless and selfish.

   Yang James emphasized women like a man who is sensitive. “Sara, is there something the matter.”

  Sara snaps out of her trance, “No…well, I was looking at the accident we just passed.”

  He glances over that direction but they are already at the intersection and he is unable to see. Li Tian lies, “It didn’t look too bad everyone should be alright. ”

  Sara stares at him blankly, Did he even see it? Wouldn’t he mention Sun Peizhi? She decides to change the subject thinking Li Tian is acting weird this morning. First he put the ointment and bandaged my arm personally now he sounded concerned about me. Very strange. “CEO Li..”

He frowns as he interrupts Sara, his tone sounds impatient, “I told you to call me Tian.” Upset at his lack of progress with her even though he is being attentive.Why does she still have that indifferent tone? I took care of her injury  and I just fucking asked her if she was okay! Why does she have to be so difficult, any other woman alone in my car with me would be hanging all over me!

   “Well..CEO Li I can’t call you that when we are working, it sounds like we have an inappropriate relationship. People might misunderstand.” People will definitely misunderstand and I don’t need any more problems from your immature psycho fiancee!

  He stares at Sara, his intense dark eyes give her a chill down her spine as he growls, “If I say to call me Tian.. call me Tian. Do you think I care what anyone thinks?” He hmmphs..What a fucking joke!

  Sara feels the temperature in the car dropped several degrees, “As you wish…Tian.”

  Satisfied at her obedient response he closes his laptop. “Good that sounds better.” His tone softens considerably, “What did you want to say.”

  Sara nervously grips her skirt between her slender fingers, My God! This man ‘s aura flip flops back and forth like no one else’s I have ever seen. So scary! One minute I felt I was on the tip of an Arctic iceberg, now it is like a warm tropical beach.  She hesitates, Wuwuu..I forgot what I was going to say!

  “Speak.”

  “Ahh..”

  He is perturbed when he looks at Sara’s expression, her face is pale and she looks frightened of me. All I did was say to call me Tian what is the big fucking deal about that. Goddammit! “Whatever it is you can tell me over lunch.” James said to take her to a romantic restaurant and show her Milan, I need to proceed with the plan.

  “Lunch? Don’t we need to meet Mr. Armand.”

  “He said he has some urgent business, he needs to go to a client’s villa outside the city then will join us at the restaurant to have our meeting.” 

   “Oh.”  Sara can feel her stomach grumbling although she ate earlier she is famished again. Maybe that is from drinking too much last night and being drugged.

   The driver pulls up in front of the elegant Trussardi Restaurant. He opens the door for them to get out of the backseat. Sara looks at the restaurant, this is the same restaurant Sun Peizhi and I went to last night. What an odd coincidence.

    They enter the restaurant and the manager greets them with a big smile. “CEO Li follow me we have our best private room ready for you.”

   Li Tian and Sara follow the man upstairs and he opens the door, Sara has a faint smile when she sees the interior of the room. Her aura gets very warm recalling how much she enjoyed dinner last night with Sun Peizhi as she walks into the room beside Li Tian.

He glances down at her infatuated look as she stares at the private room and can feel the warmth radiating from her body. I need to give Yang James a raise for suggesting this restaurant. The little kitten looks impressed, she probably has never been in a private room at such an expensive restaurant.

  The manager sees the pleased expression on Sara’s face has caused the cold man beside her to be satisfied. He has seen this situation before, a powerful man using his wealth to seduce  a young girl. She looks naive and has an innocent look of happiness on her face glancing around the room. “Your server will be up immediately, did you want me to send some wine while you wait?

   “Yes, your best bottle of red.”

    Sara feels strangely nervous for some reason around Li Tian. Considering his cold and rigid personality his actions are out of character. He is obviously trying to be considerate of me, but why? Is it because he knows Long An mistreated me? No..he doesn’t seem to be the type of man to worry about an insignificant secretary.   Too absorbed in still thinking about Sun Peizhi she decides not to try to figure out his motives. She follows behind Li Tian to the table and sits down.

   They both sit there silently lost in their own thoughts as a server brings in the wine and pours them each a glass. Sara doesn’t want to drink after last night and she is uneasy from seeing Sun Peizhi.The intimate posture of the two people extinguished the glimmer of hope she had. The woman was driving an expensive sports car and was wearing a designer dress how did he meet her? Through his work, was she a client then they fell in love? Sara’s imagination is working overtime thinking about them hugging and is depressed. She takes a sip of water and sighs, Sara being with a handsome heroic man like Sun Peizhi is a pipe dream..a pipe dream. You have no chance at all.

   Li Tian has been studying Sara, although he has a low EQ he is good at reading people’s body language. There is something bothering the little kitten, is it Long An? He tightens his grip on his wine glass, nothing can stop me from getting Song Sara into my bed! I need her body! When have I ever not achieved my goal? NEVER!

  His inner pep talk has bolstered his confidence and resolve. He has a faint smile anticipating his victory as he lifts his glass, “To success.”

  Sara has no choice but to raise her glass. She forces a smile and responds, “To your success.”