Chapter 3

The venue we always had the annual ball at was booked before we could get to it and let me tell you, it caused my mom a great deal of unnecessary stress because this was her time to shine. We always prebooked and the owners knew us very well but when they said they had to throw a family wedding there, all hell broke loose. Thankfully however, my dad was the one that held the fort because not only did he find an even better venue, he also managed to calm my mom down when she found out her favourite venue was booked.

My dad was superman for real.

We arrived at the new venue, I actually hadn't seen it beforehand so when I saw it standing tall from first glance, my jaw dropped.

"Thank god, that means it's better than the last" My mom commented once seeing my reaction as the door opened for us. We thanked the driver before one of the guards guided us to the entrance, there were waiters at the entrance holding trays of Champaign glasses and juice for the younger adults.

I smiled at the waiter who kindly bent down for me to take a drink, "Thanks for respecting my shortness" I grinned as he was obviously bending down just so I could comfortably take a drink.

"No problem ma'am" He grinned back. The 'ma'am' instantly making my smile drop.

"Please call me Savanna, and tell everybody else to too, ma'am is not me" I said with an awkward smile as he laughed nodding his head. "Okay Savanna, whatever you want" Okay he was flirty and cute? I like.

I turned around to instantly have the drink taken out of my hand by my mom who handed it back to the kind waiter behind me.

"You know you can't drink alcohol here Sav, Aldo's mother will have me killed" I laughed at her because she and my dads mom really didn't get along, my grandma was just super critical of my mom and protective over me so it didn't work. My mom just avoided her but sometimes they had to communicate, and it usually ended in bickering.

I complied anyway before we made our way in to the main ballroom. It was grand, tall and lit up with dainty hanging chandeliers. It had a renaissance theme to it with different statues in each corner, some with a soft waterfall flowing over top of it. The ground was marble and the entire place was white / marble themed. It was beautiful. People crowded areas, talking, lightly dancing, and drinking. I recognised some faces but every year more and more people were invited that I didn't know of but leave it to my mom to ensure I met every single one of them.

"Oh my goodness, it's like every year you get prettier and prettier!" A very distance family friend exclaimed, literally shoving her son in to my face to be introduced.

My mom and I exchanged a glance before she proceeded to pry the woman's son off of me and have guards stand close by.

The evening had most definitely begun.

A few hours later, I had reunited with a family friend of ours who's daughter was only 2 years older than me but we were super close despite us living in different countries. She lived in Canada but her family literally would never miss this ball for the world.

"I'm like totally in love with your dress, gosh I wish I had your body!" She exclaimed as she pinched my side making me laugh. "Girl, you know you are so hot" I replied shoving her as she smirked doing a twirl.

"I heard you brought a date tonight Sav!" She exclaimed, her voice high pitched from excitement making me instantly hush her as well as look at her with confusion. Date? Me? I was literally a boy repeller, it was like I was cursed.

"Whenever told you that was evidently lying as the only action I've had so far is my makeup artist giving me a peck on the lips" I told her instantly making her laugh out loud.

"Sweetheart, your grandma just showed up, I'm sorry Alex, I'm going to have to steal her from you before the lady sends a search party for her" My mom interrupted as she spoke sarcastically about my Dad's mom. We both laughed before I said goodbye to Alex and followed my mom through the crowd.

As we approached my dad I noticed my grandma wasn't there, in fact, it was quite the opposite. In front of my dad stood 3 men, it was obvious they were in this industry just from the way they stood, their body language said it all and from here, I could see tattoos. I shifted a little in order to see their faces but it was near to impossible considering my dad was stood right in front of them.

"Oh mom I think dad's busy maybe we should-" I spoke before my mom interrupted me, "That man is never too busy for his favourite girls" My mom grinned before she literally dragged me along with her. I had to hold the bottom of the dress because of its trail and how easily it was to be stepped on.

"Hello gentleman," My mom paused as she stood in front of them, as soon as I looked up from my dress, I felt nervous. There were two men who were white obviously bodyguards as they stood tall wearing black suits, much like every other guard here. However, the person they were guarding was one to stare at. My eyes fell in to the eyes of the main event, his eyes were hazel almost and it matched his caramel brown hair that was styled perfectly. My eyes travelled down to his suit, it was safe to say this man knew how to dress. He wore a navy blue suit with a white button up underneath, a black tie around his neck. His sleeves were rolled up revealing the masses of dark ink on his arms and his wrist was accessorised with diamonds and a watch. He definitely had great taste.

He was drool-worthy. And I was most definitely about to drool but for some reason I couldn't take my eyes off of him. This was so unlike me, it was like I want lost in his good looks.

"Oh great, I'm glad you're here," My dad paused, making me break the long stare I held before I realised he had been watching me drool over him the entire few seconds. It's safe to say my already blusher filled cheeks were turning red. "Honey, this is Jason McCann, I'm sure you must have heard of him?" The name for me was slightly familiar but then again, I had the worst memory. But, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered such an attractive looking man.

"I have, it's a pleasure to meet you Jason, I wasn't aware you were back in the states?" My mom continued, shaking hands with this man that I now knew of as being Jason McCann. Pretty powerful name if you ask me.

"Actually I just arrived, but I'm glad I'm back." His voice. Damn, it was so... manly. Like seriously, I know he was a man and all but it was so intimidating but raw and deep.

I don't know what had come over me.

His eyes shifted back to me again, I noticed them fall down my body before he looked in to my eyes again. He was so serious, despite him checking me out. I almost didn't want to breathe in front of him. "This is our daughter, Savanna" My mom introduced making him look at her and back at him again. Before the two guards had a chance to even look at me, Jason used his hand to motion them away and indeed, they did. The entire time, he kept his eye contact with me as if it were only us two in the room. The power? The dominance? Gawd.

As the two guards turned away, I felt as if I had seen them before but once Jason spoke, I didn't have the time to focus on anything else. I didn't want to either.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Montano" Jason spoke. The simplest of words sounded so attractive.

"It's nice to meet you too Mr McCann" I responded, almost forgetting how to talk. My attention soon turned over to the lady who walked towards us, a smile on her face as she was being guided by one of my dads guards which only made me laugh at how boujee she was.

"Ah my little Savanna!" My grandma exclaimed as she came over to me, giving me a warm hug like usual. "Hi Nonna, you look amazing" I grinned looking at her outfit.

"Oh stop it. The real star is you Savanna, tu sei il mio modello (you are my model)" She continued making me smile again at how much she complimented me, all the time. "Lo capisco da tua nonna (I get it from you grandma)" I responded making her wink at me.

The perks of having parents from two different language speaking countries, I knew both of them fluently.

"Nice to see you, Isla" My grandma spoke, looking at my mom with a raised brow making me look over at my mom, holding in my laughter.

"And you nonna" My mom replied, sternly.

After everything fell silent, I glanced over at my mom to give her the look but little did I know, I was not getting out of this one. She quickly gasped in joy as she looked over at the pianist not far from her, a smile on her lips.

"Oh god" my dad suddenly said as he paused his conversation with Jason. I looked over at my mom in confusion as to why my dad looked so mortified. "Slow dance time! Sav, who do you want to dance with?" My eyes widened as she started scanning the crowd as if she was picking flowers from the back yard or something.

"Um mom I think I'm gonna sit this one out" I told her, instantly making her shake her head in disagreement. I felt like a kid and it wasn't the best look in front Jason McCann who I could feel was burning holes in to my skin.

"Well there is a handsome gentleman in front of you Sav, would you mind dancing with my granddaughter?" I almost froze in my spot. Did my grandma really just ask a complete stranger who was insanely hot but intimidating, to dance with me? Slow dance?

I hesitantly looked over at Jason who looked at my grandma with raised brows before glancing at me, "I don't mind, as long as it's fine with Aldo" He replied, glancing over at my dad.

"It's fine it's fine! Come on honey!" My mom quickly replied for my dad before she literally dragged him away leaving me alone with my grandma and Jason who I couldn't even make eye contact with because I was so embarrassed.

"Have fun" My grandma commented, I tried to call out for her but she had already made it her mission to disappear making me slowly turn around back to Jason in defeat.

I slowly looked up from the ground seeing his hand out in front of me. I for some reason couldn't believe he had agreed to this considering I was a total stranger and probably a kid in his eyes but I couldn't back out now. He already must have thought I was a little freak anyway.

You'd think because my dad was a leader of such a big organisation, things like this wouldn't run smoothly with him but it was my mom, she would do anything for romance.

"You know you don't have to do this, right? My mom is too busy forcing my dad to dance to realise we aren't actually dancing together" I told him, I had to at least try one last time; it didn't work because he gave me a look of complete confusion as he furrowed his eyebrows. "You think I'd be doing this if I didn't want to?" He asked, raising his one brow.

Fair play.

I placed my hand in his before he led me towards the couples already slow dancing in the middle of the ballroom. I glanced back at my grandma who gave me a wink and in that moment, I was pulled quickly by Jason who literally pulled me in to his arms making me hit his hard chest.

"Oh, sorry" I whispered as I stepped back. This was so embarrassing, I was a mess.

"You seem a little nervous" He muttered, I could tell he was trying make eye contact with me but I couldn't look in to his eyes for longer than 3 seconds, it was like my legs would turn in to jello and fall limp at any moment. "Nervous? No, not at all" I was so dumb.

I thought I heard him chuckle but I was honestly just hoping for the pianist to suddenly forget how to play so that I didn't actually have to dance with him and probably embarrass myself even more.

But that was not happening. Instead, I felt him rest his hands on my hips, bringing me in closer to him once again but with less force than before. Just from his touch alone, I felt shivers down my spine and we weren't even dancing yet. I had to place my hands on his chest to support myself as he was holding me tighter than I thought he would but slowly, he took my one hand and held it in his, extending our arms out before interlocking our fingers.

He was full of surprises.

He took my other hand and placed it on his shoulder before his placed his hand on my hip, almost hooking it around so that I could feel his finger tips on my exposed back.

The music played softly by the pianist and as everybody else probably enjoyed their dancing partner, I was having a nervous breakdown. But as soon as we started moving and his steps almost guided mine, I felt a little at ease; still nervous because of this totally mysterious but obvious bad boy dancing with me.

"So, you're Aldo Montano's daughter?" He asked making me turn my attention from our feet to his eyes again as he raised his brows at me. I slowly nodded. Why couldn't I speak? I was such an idiot.

"How old are you?" He asked.

More questions, yay.

"I'm 19..." I trailed off. I wasn't trying to sound rude, I was just genuinely super nervous and it didn't help that I had just met him and I was already slow dancing with him. "I've never heard of you" His accent was hard to make out, sometimes it was formal like mine and sometimes it was super... street, I guess. He spoke like my fathers 'workers' which meant he most definitely was involved in this industry, I just didn't think he was a 'worker', more like a boss.

"And I haven't ever heard of you, so we're even I guess" I replied, unintentionally sounding sassy.

He raised his one brow as he looked at me with amusement almost, "I'm sure you're gonna be hearing off me more now that I'm back" He sounded cocky but also cool about it, it was really weird.

"Where have you been?" I blurted out, I normally never asked these kinds of questions because the answers were always... not for my ears, as my dad would say. But, in this case, I kind of had the right to know considering he was asking me every question under the sun too.

Don't ask where this sudden confidence has sprouted from. Something about swaying side to side to an endless beat that just stimulated the mind to feel... superior.

"Canada." He bluntly said, almost like he had rehearsed it or was used to saying that.

"Can I ask what you were doing there?" Okay maybe I was getting a little too brave.

He suddenly hit his bottom lip softly, almost as if he was figuring out what to say but in all honestly I didn't care. I couldn't help but look down his lip as he bit it, not aware of how good he looked right about now. But I had to compose myself as he was not biting his lip for some sort of sexual tension right now, or I'm guessing he wasn't.

He slowly let go of his bottom lip, "Business" he muttered suddenly twirling me around and pulling me back in to his arms again.

"Business? Is this the kind of business every American man deals with or is this the kind of business somebody like my father would deal with?" I know it sounded super confusing but he didn't seem to be confused by it, which is all i wanted. "I'm sure you can figure that out on your own, you seem like a clever girl Savanna" He didn't leave me a second to even comprehend his words because as soon as he finished, he took my hand and spun me around, after two twirls he pulled me back in to his arms completely catching me off guard. His hands were now on my back, holding me in place in front of him; I could feel his fingers against my skin as my back was exposed and man did it give me all kinds of feelings. It was almost like I was under his own weird spell and it felt good.

To stop myself from yet again falling roughly in to his chest, I placed my palms against his chest as I looked up in to his eyes. Some pieces of hair stuck to my mouth as I steadily caught my breath, looking up at him and in to his eyes as he looked at me with amusement.

"Did I catch you off guard or somethin?" He knew he had, but he was asking me this on purpose, to get to me.

"Or, do I just make you nervous?" He continued, his eyes piercing in to mine before they looked down at my lips before he licked his own. He slowly raised his hand in front of my face, using his fingers to move my hair from my face, touching my lips in the process with his thumb as he held my chin in his hand.

This man knew exactly what he was doing and I somehow was letting him do it; actually, I had no control so I wasn't exactly letting him do anything.

I quickly looked up in to his eyes again, realising I was staring for a little too long at this half strangers lips. I noticed he had this playful look to his face, his eyes were dark but his lips were curled in to a slight smirk which told me he was enjoying this.

Reality hit me and I almost had forced myself to not consider his 'bad boy' side. I was at an event which although, had so much of my family here and people I had known since I was a child, there was always going to be the other side to my life; the life that I rarely ever spoke about and tried to ignore.

The music slowly fizzled out from being classical to a little more upbeat, less romantic but still... piano. I don't know, I didn't know musical terms but I knew I no longer needed to slow dance anymore. I stepped back and almost broke out of his hold, before I could speak I felt a presence behind me making me turn around seeing one of his guards stood behind me.

You'd think because my dad was a leader of such a big organisation, things like this wouldn't run smoothly with him but it was my mom, she would do anything for romance.

"You know you don't have to do this, right? My mom is too busy forcing my dad to dance to realise we aren't actually dancing together" I told him, I had to at least try one last time; it didn't work because he gave me a look of complete confusion as he furrowed his eyebrows. "You think I'd be doing this if I didn't want to?" He asked, raising his one brow.

Fair play.

I placed my hand in his before he led me towards the couples already slow dancing in the middle of the ballroom. I glanced back at my grandma who gave me a wink and in that moment, I was pulled quickly by Jason who literally pulled me in to his arms making me hit his hard chest.

"Oh, sorry" I whispered as I stepped back. This was so embarrassing, I was a mess.

"You seem a little nervous" He muttered, I could tell he was trying make eye contact with me but I couldn't look in to his eyes for longer than 3 seconds, it was like my legs would turn in to jello and fall limp at any moment. "Nervous? No, not at all" I was so dumb.

I thought I heard him chuckle but I was honestly just hoping for the pianist to suddenly forget how to play so that I didn't actually have to dance with him and probably embarrass myself even more.

But that was not happening. Instead, I felt him rest his hands on my hips, bringing me in closer to him once again but with less force than before. Just from his touch alone, I felt shivers down my spine and we weren't even dancing yet. I had to place my hands on his chest to support myself as he was holding me tighter than I thought he would but slowly, he took my one hand and held it in his, extending our arms out before interlocking our fingers.

He was full of surprises.

He took my other hand and placed it on his shoulder before his placed his hand on my hip, almost hooking it around so that I could feel his finger tips on my exposed back.

The music played softly by the pianist and as everybody else probably enjoyed their dancing partner, I was having a nervous breakdown. But as soon as we started moving and his steps almost guided mine, I felt a little at ease; still nervous because of this totally mysterious but obvious bad boy dancing with me.

"So, you're Aldo Montano's daughter?" He asked making me turn my attention from our feet to his eyes again as he raised his brows at me. I slowly nodded. Why couldn't I speak? I was such an idiot.

"How old are you?" He asked.

More questions, yay.

"I'm 19..." I trailed off. I wasn't trying to sound rude, I was just genuinely super nervous and it didn't help that I had just met him and I was already slow dancing with him. "I've never heard of you" His accent was hard to make out, sometimes it was formal like mine and sometimes it was super... street, I guess. He spoke like my fathers 'workers' which meant he most definitely was involved in this industry, I just didn't think he was a 'worker', more like a boss.

"And I haven't ever heard of you, so we're even I guess" I replied, unintentionally sounding sassy.

He raised his one brow as he looked at me with amusement almost, "I'm sure you're gonna be hearing off me more now that I'm back" He sounded cocky but also cool about it, it was really weird.

"Where have you been?" I blurted out, I normally never asked these kinds of questions because the answers were always... not for my ears, as my dad would say. But, in this case, I kind of had the right to know considering he was asking me every question under the sun too.

Don't ask where this sudden confidence has sprouted from. Something about swaying side to side to an endless beat that just stimulated the mind to feel... superior.

"Canada." He bluntly said, almost like he had rehearsed it or was used to saying that.

"Can I ask what you were doing there?" Okay maybe I was getting a little too brave.

He suddenly hit his bottom lip softly, almost as if he was figuring out what to say but in all honestly I didn't care. I couldn't help but look down his lip as he bit it, not aware of how good he looked right about now. But I had to compose myself as he was not biting his lip for some sort of sexual tension right now, or I'm guessing he wasn't.

He slowly let go of his bottom lip, "Business" he muttered suddenly twirling me around and pulling me back in to his arms again.

"Business? Is this the kind of business every American man deals with or is this the kind of business somebody like my father would deal with?" I know it sounded super confusing but he didn't seem to be confused by it, which is all i wanted. "I'm sure you can figure that out on your own, you seem like a clever girl Savanna" He didn't leave me a second to even comprehend his words because as soon as he finished, he took my hand and spun me around, after two twirls he pulled me back in to his arms completely catching me off guard. His hands were now on my back, holding me in place in front of him; I could feel his fingers against my skin as my back was exposed and man did it give me all kinds of feelings. It was almost like I was under his own weird spell and it felt good.

To stop myself from yet again falling roughly in to his chest, I placed my palms against his chest as I looked up in to his eyes. Some pieces of hair stuck to my mouth as I steadily caught my breath, looking up at him and in to his eyes as he looked at me with amusement.

"Did I catch you off guard or somethin?" He knew he had, but he was asking me this on purpose, to get to me.

"Or, do I just make you nervous?" He continued, his eyes piercing in to mine before they looked down at my lips before he licked his own. He slowly raised his hand in front of my face, using his fingers to move my hair from my face, touching my lips in the process with his thumb as he held my chin in his hand.

This man knew exactly what he was doing and I somehow was letting him do it; actually, I had no control so I wasn't exactly letting him do anything.

I quickly looked up in to his eyes again, realising I was staring for a little too long at this half strangers lips. I noticed he had this playful look to his face, his eyes were dark but his lips were curled in to a slight smirk which told me he was enjoying this.

Reality hit me and I almost had forced myself to not consider his 'bad boy' side. I was at an event which although, had so much of my family here and people I had known since I was a child, there was always going to be the other side to my life; the life that I rarely ever spoke about and tried to ignore.

The music slowly fizzled out from being classical to a little more upbeat, less romantic but still... piano. I don't know, I didn't know musical terms but I knew I no longer needed to slow dance anymore. I stepped back and almost broke out of his hold, before I could speak I felt a presence behind me making me turn around seeing one of his guards stood behind me.