Chapter 9 - ALESSANDRO ASKED THIS TIME
Fatima's first date with Alessandro happened four months after she stopped working for him.
He asked badly.
“Dinner. Friday.”
She stared.
“That is a calendar entry.”
He frowned.
“You know what I mean.”
“No.”
He tried again.
“Would you have dinner with me Friday?”
“Why?”
He looked personally attacked.
“Because I want to.”
“Better.”
“And because I haven't stopped thinking about you.”
Much better.
“Yes.”
Their first date was at a small Italian restaurant.
Not owned by Alessandro.
Fatima verified.
He found that insulting.
Amara stayed with Fatima's sister.
No bodyguards at the table.
Two outside.
Compromise.
They talked about ordinary things.
Daniel.
Alessandro's mother.
Amara's obsession with dinosaurs.
Why Alessandro owned fourteen identical white shirts.
“They are not identical.”
“They are.”
“Different fabric.”
“No human can tell.”
“I can.”
“That is because you bought them.”
He laughed.
Fatima liked the sound too much.
Their relationship moved slowly.
Amara came first.
Always.
Alessandro never inserted himself into a father role without invitation.
The first time Amara called him “Sandro” instead of Alessandro, he treated it as a promotion.
The first time she fell asleep on his shoulder, he sat unmoving for an hour because Fatima said:
“Don't wake her.”
He whispered:
“My arm is dead.”
“Then perish quietly.”
He almost laughed.
A year after the engagement-party warning, Fatima joined a new Rienzi Maritime worker-advocacy board.
Not as Alessandro's employee.
As an independent representative.
She negotiated against his executives.
Aggressively.
At the first meeting, she rejected one of Alessandro's proposals.
He stared.
She raised an eyebrow.
He said:
“Fine.”
Matteo nearly fell out of his chair.
Progress was humiliating.
Later that evening, Alessandro asked Fatima:
“Do you think Amara remembers what she said?”
“Probably not exactly.”
“She changed everything.”
Fatima shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“She said one sentence.”
Fatima touched his hand.
“You changed what you did with it.”
He looked at her.
“That distinction matters to you.”
“A lot.”
Because children should not carry responsibility for saving adults.
Amara had heard fragments.
She spoke.
Alessandro listened.
May you like
Adults did the rest.
That was how it should be.
