You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 78

RALI

I put on my best smile and rose to my feet as Vlyrissa and her husband treaded down the steps.

"Good morning, sir. Good morning, ma'am."

Ms. Vlyrissa was on a long pleated skirt and white top while her husband towered in a jet-black suit. Two guards flanked them with communication earpieces tucked behind their ears.

"Zerali. Hope I didn't keep you waiting?" She said in a sweet voice before turning to her husband who was still holding her hand from the final stair. "This is the designer I told you about."

"Hm. The exceptional one," the man raked his eyes over me in an approving stare.

My cheeks burned nervously as I lowered my gaze in a respectful gesture. The incoming Governor. I felt honored.

He shifted his focus to his wife. "I'll be on my way now."

"Okay, hon. Take care."

He pressed a kiss to her cheek before departing.

"Have the helps gotten you anything?" Vlyrissa asked as she walked to sit beside me on the long couch.

She was once again on her best behavior: the soft, eloquent woman I knew and liked. I didn't want to remember how frightening she had been the other day.

"Yes, ma'am. I had tea."

"Oh, great. And dear, I hope you can forgive my... outburst the other day—if I can call it that. I just had to deal with an unpleasant situation."

"It's totally fine, ma'am. Some days can be really annoying."

We shared a small laugh like it was something we could relate to. Well, I definitely could. I've had to deal with annoying days every day of my life since a certain devil walked in.

Ms. Vlyrissa and I went straight to business. We went through a few more designs until she was finally able to make a choice. We discussed some options that could make the dress as a whole look unique. We were gradually coming to a conclusion.

I assured her the dress would be made in less than two weeks, which was the week before the inauguration.

Pricing and other logistical discussions were to be handled by my boss. I took her measurements, and at last, we rounded up.

"Thank you so much for your time, dear. I do hope this is only the beginning of a long and splendid collaboration."

"Same here, ma'am."

I began to pack my things as she answered a call. I wasn't paying attention to her conversation until she shrieked.

"No! No! That's not possible!" Her voice erupted like a siren.

My eyes stretched as I paused on arranging my bag and looked at her in surprise.

His evil character aside, the guy was a walking daydream and it was something I thought God unfair for. I mean, why did someone with his kind of heart have to have the looks of an upgraded version of Chris Hemsworth? Why did he know the right things to do to a woman's body? The right spots to grease? The exact damn buttons to press to have me belting out melodies in his arms?

If only he looked like the monster he was, it'd have been damn easy resisting him. But not this. Not when he looked like a rogue deity coming down from the heavens just to tempt mortals.

I didn't want to be with him.

I swore I didn't.

But an hour later, I was parked in front of his gate, waiting for it to go open.

I'd texted him already, letting him know I was out front. His gate wasn't the type you honked at. It needed a private code input from his phone to peel open.

My fingers nervously drummed on the steering as I waited.

Unavoidably, my gaze flicked to the glove compartment. The moment I got access to the car in the morning, I'd checked the documents, of course. The registered name was Machai Emerson. I didn't need anyone to tell me it was fake.

It was crazy how the guy had forged fake documents around him. What was his real identity?

When the metal gates began their slow slide, I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been caging in and drove in.

There was no sight of him in the living room. My steps up the stairs felt heavier than they should have as I headed to his room.

Outside the door, I inhaled like I was trying to gather courage from the wind. One breath. Two. I stepped in.