Page 24 of Marcellus: House of Drakos

Savannah would have been glad to move all the way over to the other side of that California King, given that she was apparently laying in the spot he normally slept in, but as she began to scoot over, he stopped her from going too far from him by grabbing her by her waist. He could tell, by the feel of her body beneath his dress shirt, that she was naked beneath that shirt too.

Which pleased him mightily. He had monumental problems on his plate.

But she wasn’t one of them. He needed a respite, if only for a few minutes, and she was it.

By grabbing her by the waist and stopping her from scooting over any further, he kept her within an inch of his body as he placed the bed coverings over both of them. He also kept his arm around her waist, forcing her to turn onto her side facing him. But he remained on his back.

She was worried about the optics. How was she going to tell this stressed-out man who was already aroused by her mere presence in his bed that she wasn’t that kind of girl?

How did it look to him that she had taken a bath in his shower, had put on one of his dress shirts, and had gotten into his bed as if she was waiting for him?

But yet she expected him to believe she wasn’t that kind of girl?

Any man would laugh her to scorn if she tried that line on him. Was he any man too?

“I didn’t want to be alone,” she blurted out.

Marcellus looked over at her when she made that statement. When he saw the anguish in her big, beautiful eyes, he turned onto his side. He began what she saw as him dissecting her once again, with his soft, knowing eyes giving her the sense that he was keenly aware of her anxiety.

“And you may not believe it by the fact that I’m in your bed like this,” she added, “but I’m not that kind of girl. But after seeing what happened to Niko, I didn’t want to be alone.”

He still had his arm around her waist, which gave her a feeling of protection she never felt before in her life except the other time she was laying with him.

He continued to stare at her as if he was processing what she’d just said. Then with his free hand he took her bang and slid it sideways across her forehead. “Neither did I,” he shocked her by saying. “I never do.”

Savannah had not expected him to be candid with her about something so personal. “You never like to be alone either?”

“That’s correct. Most people think I’m a loner by nature. But I’m not. That’s not what’s worrying me.”

Savannah didn’t understand. “You mean you’re worried about Niko?”

“Of course I’m worried about him. But I can’t do anything about that until they tell me what they want in exchange for him. But that’s not what I meant. I have a confession.”

Savannah found that an even odder thing to say. “What?” she asked him.

“When you first walked into my parlor, I behaved as if I didn’t remember you.” He stared into her eyes. “But I’ve never forgotten you.”

Savannah stared back at him. “It took me a minute, but I knew you remembered.”

Marcellus smiled. Then he actually laughed. “Why do I ever question your perceptiveness?”

Savannah smiled too. Then they both thought about Niko, and the gaiety left.

After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again. “So you don’t like to be alone hun?”

“That’s correct.”

“Why?”

Marcellus was unaccustomed to anybody questioning his reasoning.

Especially on such a personal matter. So personal that he was inwardly shocked that he had conveyed it to her at all.

“Ever since I was a young man growing up in France, struggling to find my own identity, nightfall always got to me. Whenever the night came, that loneliness that was my friend during the day became my archenemy. Many times I had nowhere to lay my head. Many times I had to look out for my mother until she died. It was difficult. I always preferred a warm body beside me to remind me that I wasn’t so alone in this world. ”

“A specific warm body,” Savannah asked, “or any body would do?”

What a perceptive question, Marcellus thought. He gave a weak but effectual smile. He slid her bang sideways again. “Any would do,” he admitted to her.

To his surprise, he didn’t see judgement in her eyes.

Just understanding. “I guess I’m the exact opposite.

When I was working, whenever I made it home, it was only then did I feel at peace.

Okay, now I can exhale. Now I can get some much-needed rest. But during the day, when I’m working all day long and half the night with problem after problem, and I’m forced to be around so many vain young models and designers with their outsized egos, that was when I felt the most alone.

That’s when I wanted somebody to hold me, to touch me, to make me feel like I’m worth more than a robot on this earth to put out this fire, or contact this designer, or let this person see the boss while that person can’t, or make sure venues are booked and appointments are kept, and egos are massaged, and on and on and on. It was a tough job.”

“But you loved it.”

She nodded. “I loved it. It just didn’t love me.”

Marcellus stared at her. “Why did you leave that morning?”

Savannah hesitated. But she knew what he meant. Then she let out a long exhale. “My mother died.”

Marcellus’s eyes stretched. “She did?”

“She was in a car accident. By the time I got to the hospital, she was already gone. It was a tough loss.”

“Why didn’t you call me? I could have been there with you.”

But Savannah was shaking her head. “No, you couldn’t. I wouldn’t have let you in. I was kind of mad at the world when I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. I needed time away from everybody.”

“I went to your apartment, but a man answered the door.” Marcellus said it casually, but he looked at her intensely.

“That was my best friend’s husband. He’s her ex-husband now, but back then they were married. She had rushed over and he came too. I didn’t know you had come to my apartment.”

“I didn’t stay. I thought I had the wrong apartment number and left.”

“Oh.”

Marcellus felt like every kind of horrible. Here he was angry with her for not saying goodbye when she was grieving the most important person in her life. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Savannah. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

She smiled. “Thanks.” It was a kind thing for him to say, and Savannah found herself staring at him and studying him too.

But then she could see that look come over his face, and that sense of dread overtook her too.

“You’re thinking about that video?”

Marcellus nodded. “I can’t help but think about it.”

“They could have killed him. That Dodge Durango came out of nowhere and could have killed him.”

Marcellus frowned. “Yes. It could have.”

“But why Niko? Why would they take him? He wouldn’t harm a flea.”

“He was mixed up with some unsavory characters apparently. Do you know why? Is his business in trouble?”

Savannah nodded. “He was doing well. At least from what I could see. And then when Covid hit the whole fashion industry went into a tailspin. Niko was at the top of his game for the most part, but he wasn’t immune to the setbacks.

He lost a lot of money. All of us took pay cuts, which really hurt me since I wasn’t making that much to begin with. But we understood it had to be done.”

Then her looked turned somber. “But I never knew anything about the finances. That wasn’t my lane at all. He would tell me there were some problems with this vendor or that designer, and that all those mini-mergers he was doing wasn’t helping him much at all.”

“But you knew there was a big merger in the works?”

“A really big one from what he was saying, yes. But I didn’t know the extent of it or what company was involved. I especially didn’t know he was turning to the Mafia. He told me a lot of things, but he never even mentioned that.”

What she said interested Marcellus on a different level. “Did he ever mention me?”

“All the time.”

“What did he say? That I’m his awful absent father?”

“He actually said just the opposite. He said you weren’t an absent parent at all. He said every single month since they were little kids you would bring all of them together under one roof, with their mothers too, for a family dinner.”

“Yes, we still get together. It’s my chance to come to America, check out my businesses, and get caught up with my children.”

“That’s what he said. Every single month like clockwork they could look forward to that dinner.

He said it’s the only time you all got together.

And he said you still, to this day, took financial care of their mothers, which he seemed to appreciate.

He said you were very much involved in the financial and professional parts of their lives. ”

“But?” Marcellus knew there was always a but when it came to him and his children.

“He just said all of his siblings worked for you.”

“All positive press from my son? Surely there was some negative.”