Chapter 25: Caught; Antonio knows

"Sweetie, if Antonio hated you, you wouldn't be in his room. You'd be locked up in the basement no matter how severe your injuries must have been. He never let people come into his room. At a point in time, it was so intense that, he used to take care of its cleaning himself and I used to help him out. After a while, he was often too busy so authorized me to have only a trusted few of the maids help out. That was until you came around. Now, he has given up his bed for you...."

"Wanda, don't say things like that...."

"But it's the truth Andrea. From what I know, he even beat up one of the guards who had you kidnapped and he would have hit Lauren...."

"Then don't say it like that. He just probably feels guilty. No, that would mean he has a conscience and he doesn't. It must be something else. He..."

"Do you have your phone?" Wanda cut Andrea.

"Yeah, he gave it back. Why?"

"Then that says it all. I understand if you're still mad at him for everything you've been through but I know that you know the truth. I'll leave you to get some rest now. I'm so tired. Tomorrow, I'll have to deal with Antonio for the fact that I let you out. I'll need some rest for that," she chuckled and gently brushed her fingers over Andrea's nicely braided ponytail.

Andrea's eyes slowly fell on her fidgeting fingers. She felt bad for the trouble she had put her in. "I'm really sorry Wa..."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Good night Beautiful Miss."

A few minutes later, Andrea stepped out of the closet, sighing with exhaustion before yawning almost immediately. Suddenly, her eyes fell on Antonio, who stood some feet away from the closet, staring with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. Andrea shook out of fright the moment her eyes fell on him. She hadn't heard him come in and definitely didn't expect to meet him staring at her so oddly. She placed her hand on her chest and shut her eyes softly, sighing with ease. Opening her eyes once again, her body suddenly tensed up when she met Antonio's intense glare and the distance between them had suddenly shrung.

'Sheesh! Is he trying to give me a heart attack?!' she thought. "Oh what the heck is wrong with you?! Do you intend to come accusing me again?....because I'm not in the mood!" she said furiously and moved to the bed. Unfortunately for her, just before she could climb in, Antonio grabbed her arm aggressively and pulled her towards him, barely an inch of space between them. "A-A-Antonio, wh-what..." she stuttered but he interrupted her, his intimidating aura finally getting to her.

"4515 Douglas Avenue, Bronx, NY 10471," he said through gritted teeth, looking down at the frightened little lady before him.

The horror on Andrea's face grew as she registered his words. "W-Why are you reciting that address? What do you want with my family?!"

At her words, Antonio let her go and turned around, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "You had better call home and..."

"What have you done?" she asked, barely a whisper. Antonio turned to look at her. The rage in his eyes suddenly disappeared when he saw tears fall down her shocked and confused face.

"I've done nothing but I can't say same for your beloved family. Here's some advice. Pick up your phone and reverse whatever it is you told them about what's going on between us. Then, tell whoever is responsible, whom I assume is your brother, that he should be ready for the consequences for his actions."

"What are you talking about? I-I never told them anything about us. I haven't even spoken to them since I got here."

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" Antonio asked angrily.

That seemed to snap some confidence and irritation in Andrea. "Listen Antonio. To be clear, I couldn't care less what you think of me. In case you haven't realized, you're not someone I could even consider as a role model so what you think bugs me in no way," she said with annoyance clear in her voice, stepping closer to him.

"Oh, good to see that same irritating bravado is back," he said with a threatening smirk. He slowly started to close the gap even further which she unconsciously reversed by moving backwards at his pace until she hit the wall. Just when she was about to move away, Antonio grabbed her by the waist and held her against his body staring mischievously at her blushing face. "I wonder why you're blushing Andrea Cabrera."

"I-I," she stuttered, looking away.

"You you what?" Antonio asked slowly with his hoarse voice. Andrea looked at him and met his intense gaze. Her face became even redder than before.

'He's doing this on purpose. Why the heck am I even blushing because of him? There's no point denying it now,' she thought and a sassy comeback came to mind. "I guess monsters don't blush so it's not wonder why you'd be wondering why I'm blu..."

Before she could complete her statement, Antonio pinned her against the wall, still with his arm around her slender waist. He brought his lips closer to her face, not cutting eye contact. Andrea was flustered and almost paralyzed by the shock of his swift movement. He slowly moved his lips to her ear and whispered. "Stop overthinking so you can hear what I'm about to say clearly."

His words jolted her out of paralysis. "Get away from me Antonio," she whispered back into his ear, in a soft soothing voice.

"I'm going to get your brother. As a matter of fact, I already have," he said and took huge strides to the bathroom. Andrea was too bothered to look at him or even notice how he rushed away. She had to contact her brother as soon as possible.

Antonio looked the door behind him immediately. He looked into the mirror and to his horror, his face was slightly red. 'She purposely whispered into my ear like that,' he thought and immediately splashed water on his face to cool it down. 'I should take a cold shower now.'

Back in the room...

Andrea placed a call to Jake, her little brother. "Jake?!" she called out to him in a whisper-yell immediately he picked up.

"Andrea? W-What's wrong? And why the whisper in your tone? Are you in danger?" he started to panic.

"I'm okay Jake but...Jake what did you do?"

"W-What are you tal...."

"Jake, this is not the time to try to play dumb. You know what I'm talking about."

"Andrea, I found out someone had excessively been stalking your account so I checked the person out but it was a very complex system guarding the user so I tried to get into that system but got carried away and rather hacked it just to show the person not to mess with you. That was when I actually even noticed the system belongs to Robles Corporation. I didn't mean to do any harm really. I just wanted to give them a little scare. I realized the system for them almost immediately after. I didn't tamper with anything else, I promise. I was worried someone intended to harm you. I wanted to scare them away," he rattled worriedly.

"Oh Jake, I really appreciate you....but please don't get involved with this company or it's owner. I assure you, I'm fine and-and I'm not in danger," she said as composed as she could, trying to hide the worry in her voice. "You're home?"

"I'm leaving right now for school. I had a feeling they'd try to track me down so I'm heading to school. I intended to hack the system once more the moment I get to Cambridge so it would lead them there instead. I don't want to get mum and dad involved...just in case..."

"Nothing's bad is going to happen to you, not on my watch....but please, don't hack their system again. He already knows you did."

"He?"

"Antonio Robles, the..."

"The owner of the Robles Group of Companies and one of the richest men in the world?! The boss of Robles Corp himself?! Wait, he told you? You're acquainted with him? Are you working for him?"

"Yes, he's the one and no, I'm not working for him..." she responded and tried to change the topic from Antonio, knowing Jake would keep asking till he got the truth. She couldn't afford to get him involved but he seemed enthused and curious.

"You're seeing him? Is that why he was inves, sorry, stalking your social media accounts?"

"Jake, please take care of yourself and don't worry about me. I'm fine and I'll be fine. Now, hurry and get to school safely. It's late."

"Andy, you didn't answer my...."

"Bye Jay."

"Andrea, wai..." She hung up before he could complete his sentence.

'Antonio couldn't have been stalking me. He did say he wanted me to work for him because of the skills he believes I possess from checking me out on social media. Now, I have to find a way to get Antonio off Jake's back.'