Ten

He knew. He knew that she was in his penthouse and nothing could change that. She contemplated running for the door but he'd probably intercept her way before she made it inches near that door. She wasn't blind to that strong athletic build of his. Plus she had seen him lock the door, so the idea was already a failure before implementation.

Now that she thought about it, he had literally embarrassed and chased out that woman a few seconds ago, knowing very well that she was there listening in. Knowing that he had an audience. Yet, not once did that deter him from doing what he'd done -telling her very impolitely to leave because he was a 'busy' man. The man had no modest bone in him.

So, it was just her and her pail of detergent and whatever else now. In the lion's den. Okay, she really needed to tone down on the euphemisms. She picked up the pail from the marbled floor, took a second to calm herself and walked down the stairs. 

The back of his head was right there -as she walked closer to the couch he was currently seated. If she stretched her hand a little, her fingers would come in contact with those dirty blond tresses. 

Of course that notion was crazy, so she chastised herself right away. There were more important things at hand. Things like whether or not she'd still be owning a job at the end of this no doubt strange encounter, for starters.

She passed his laid back figure, tightly clutching onto the handle of the pail for a jab of courage. She swivelled around when she was standing directly in front of him and a good distance away from his outstretched legs. The man was of a impending height; so it came as a huge comfort to Anelia that he was sat on that couch. Not standing and imposing.

Both his arms were slung carelessly on either arms of the couch. He looked intimidating at the most, despite the fact that the plush piece of furniture just happened to be rather huge. He managed to cut down its size and look bigger. Big enough to tear down Anelia's confidence. 

His eyes found their way to hers. Those two deep pools that held so much and yet, gave nothing away. A cold hard set of black that instantly had her breaking into a cold sweat. 

Nothing about the cold, hard look that he was currently bestowing on her gave away what he was feeling, let alone thinking. Something about him was much larger than life, she realised. It was much larger than all that she had known when it came to the male species and that scared her. 

This man had already broken the unspoken rules when it came to the appropriate behaviour when faced with certain issues. One, he'd seen her naked and instead of being modest -apologising and turning away as she would have expected of a normal person; whether in true modesty or not, he'd bombarded her with questions. Carrying on with the conversation and expecting her to respond like it was as normal as two people sharing a cup of coffee in the morning.

Two, he had kissed her. Scratch that, he had taken that kiss from her and normal people didn't just go around kissing other people just because they felt like it. He'd taken control, staked his power and wanted her to conform to it. Of course, she had to go and indulge him. No, no her traitorous body had. Not her; her body.

If he was planning on speaking any time soon, he sure wasn't showing it. He stared at her. A cold, hard, menacing stare. One that made her want to make a stupid remark like hey, your staring game is really strong, any chance you could tone it down a notch. Ha ha. A W K W A R D.

He stared at her and not in a way that made her panties wet and her body fuzzy. Not in the way that promised of sinful pleasures that involved his nether regions and her nether regions. His gaze was anything but appraising. It was a cold, calculating gaze that was looking to break her resolve.

In a normal situation, people didn't stare long at each other like they could actually convey messages across through their eyes. No, it usually didn't go that way. Anelia for one; was not receiving some encoded message from Mr Black's eyes. Just one cold stare that was unnerving her.

It was dead silent, another reminder that they were the only people in the entire place. She could hear the beat of her own heart echo out against the silence. The silence was getting to her head and not in a calming way. It was condescending, unsettling.

"Sit."

The command was nowhere near polite but of course, she already knew that there was no politeness where this man was concerned. Well, if the scene that had played out right before her own eyes earlier on was anything to go by. Not to mention the last previous two where she'd been on the receiving end of his wrath.

Wrath? Okay, maybe she was being overly dramatic. Wrath she could associate with Grindelwald's reputation, not with some mere mortal. And yet she knew that there was nothing mere about the man. She made to sit but of course, he wasn't done instructing her yet.

"That pail goes nowhere near my carpet. It's the last of its kind," he stated casually. In other words get your filthy pail away from my expensive carpet. The last time she'd been in this place, he'd not held back from having her know that her duster was filthy. He might as well have said it.

On instinct, her gaze moved to that thick black carpet of smooth material. It could swallow up her toes if she ever walked barefoot on it. Which could never happen but one could hope. It looked very comfortable and expensive. However, Anelia found it quite absurd how rich people went as far as purchasing limited editions of carpets just to spring out of the pool of ordinariness.

This wasn't the time to be rolling her eyes so she suppressed that eye roll that was fighting to be let free and obliged. She placed the pail on the uncarpeted floor and turned to sit on the couch opposite the one he was seated on.

Her actions weren't graceful, as she'd noticed of his. He moved stealthily, making walking look like fancy gliding. He dressed equally as elegant, reminding her of the riches in between. Maybe, that could be her lifeline. To remind that she wasn't dealing with a common John rather a powerful, wealthy and influential man who could make her lose her job in seconds. 

Back to present, instead of managing to perform the simple task of sitting on the couch properly, like a proper person would have, she missed her grip on the seat and came plummeting onto the couch, falling short of flashing the man her plain white cotton panties.

Just great Anelia, she thought while blushing viciously at her own expense. Things couldn't have gotten anymore embarrassing than this! Okay, they had actually gotten more embarrassing than this before but that wasn't the point at present. 

Alright, Anelia would definitely not come out best in etiquette class. She didn't really care about such things. From her side of the world there were far much more vital things to care about than etiquette. However, it went without saying that one had to act right when faced with company. Not that she would label the man before her as company -good or bad. He just didn't fit in the criteria.

She glanced at him to find that he didn't look amused at all. The cold look was still plastered on his face and his eyes still glued on her. Jeez. He leaned forward, balanced his elbows on his thighs and clutched his big hands together; all while still staring at her.

If he was working at being menacing, he was doing a good job of it. Anelia shuffled nervously under his cold stare, wanting for nothing more than to tear her eyes away from his. But, remembering her mother's words; eye contact was the best bet to convince someone that you had nothing to hide, she maintained eye contact. 

"Who do you work for? The Chronicle? The Early Times?" He asked cooly, in that deep velvety voice. Was it her imagination or his voice just happened to be octaves deeper than that of an average man.

The Chronicle? The Early Times? It registered that he was asking her if she worked for either of the familiar newspaper firms in the city. She almost felt honoured that he'd think that she could work for such renowned firms but the idea was so far-fetched to her, she didn't want to entertain it at all.

And the last time she checked, she was a cleaner at La Vida not some journalist. The same Hotel that this man was currently indulging in its lavishness. So, she didn't know why he was questioning her job when it was very clear that she had on the Hotel uniform.

"Like I said before, I don't like repeating myself. You can talk, right?"

"Of course, I can talk," she said, refuting from scoffing.

"Yeah, 'cause you were talking just fine the last time I saw you. I have to say that the stunt you pulled was unexpected. Uncalled for, wouldn't you say," he was baiting her. Waiting for her to say the wrong thing and he'd pounce.

She didn't want to give him the benefit of the doubt so, she held herself upright and spoke confidently. "You're right. I was out of line, Mr Black and I would like to apologise for my behaviour."

There. She had acted mature and taken responsibility for her actions. She had apologised to the guest as expected by the Hotel standards. The Guests are always in the right. Why then did she not feel relieved when the cold look was still on his face. When he didn't seem to accept her apology.

"What's your name?" he asked tilting his head to the side.

She blinked. Okay, she hadn't expected that but she recovered quickly. "Anelia," she added after a pause. Was it even allowed to be on first name basis with this man?

"Anelia," he imitated in a hoarse voice that had her unfocused mind reminding her of Vin Diesel's voice. She needed to stop conjuring up thoughts of Vin Diesel's voice and focus.

"I'm going to need you to be honest with me. It would be in your best interests to cooperate."

Anelia kept quiet but nodded her head lightly in response.

"Who do you work for?"

"I work here. I mean in this Hotel," she spoke every syllable clearly, wanting more than anything to get the point across and into his thick skull. For good measure she added, "I am not a journalist."

"Right," if the dry tone he used was anything to go by then he clearly didn't believe her. Something which gnawed at her self-righteousness. "How long have you been working at the Hotel?"

"For...," she abruptly stopped. She didn't know what angle the man was working at and most importantly, she didn't owe him anything further now that she had already apologised. He could be a criminal and she shouldn't be openly telling a stranger about her life.

She looked away for a second to collect herself for what she was about to say next. "With all due respect Sir, I don't see how that's got anything to do with the matter at hand but, I do agree that my actions were completely uncalled for as you've already pointed out. I do apologise for my actions and I give you my word that it will never happen again."

She avoided his gaze as she stood up and concentrated on the carpet. The smooth, fluffy carpet. It was a much safer option. "I don't want to waste anymore of your time so I'll be leaving now."

She clutched one side of her dress that was hidden away from his gaze tightly so that her little confident streak wouldn't go plummeting to the floor. She was internally applauding herself for that little listen-hear-mister speech. So unlike her but, she couldn't have said it better. She turned away from a very very stone-cold stare and walked away in the direction of those familiar double-doors. 

Of course she was literally YAY-ing in her mind in accordance to her you-go-girl moment but, still her heart was drumming with apprehension. Was he just going to fall for that? Would he let her go so easily? Would he really, really just let her...

"Not so fast."

Thought too soon! 

She froze in mid-step and clenched her teeth. Just when she was about to make that safe exit. Would he ever lay off?