chapter 6: A Hint Of Jealousy

Autumn

"How could you be so careless? This one time that I didn't come to the port in the middle of the night as usual to check, and you dozed off? When you knew I was busy; you should've been more careful! This is insane!" My nose flared in anger as I continued yelling at Dante. If I could, I would have been choking him through the phone right now.

"Woah! I thought Ian did something wrong. I came running here, thinking you were about to kill him. But now, I pity the person you are talking to over the phone," Steven spoke out of nowhere.

I glared at Steven when I saw him giving me a mocking look after I cut the call. He stopped approaching me and said, "I better go back. I am stepping inside a lion's cave."

"Hold on," I commanded, which made him stop from taking another step further. "If Ian gets to know about whatever you heard, it will be your body in the cemetery," I warned him clearly.

He was Ian's brother and his best friend at the same time He was loyal to him. There was no doubt that he would tell Ian about what he had overheard. But I had to warn him because I really didn't want Ian to know. If Ian knew, he would taunt me about it, making me angrier than before.

"No promises," he said before walking away.

If he promised me, he would never break it. That's why he escaped before I could make him take an oath. That sneaky bastard!

I went to Ian's room, only to find him sleeping peacefully on the bed. How could one sleep so much? I envied his peaceful slumber.

Changing into jeans and a crop top, I decided to wear my black leather jacket over them. I took my gun and left the mansion, making my way towards the port. Though it was only 5:30 AM, I had to handle the problem those stupid executives had created.

I met Dante and Reece first. Reece Nile was one of the executives of the Mafia Shadow. Seeing me, they instantly lowered their gazes.

"I put my two most trusted men into this work, and this happens! I have no words to say. How will you function if something happens to me? Huh?" I hollered, but they didn't make a single sound, "Answer me!"

"We are sorry, leader."

"No, Reece. Sorry won't bring back my products, now will it? I didn't expect this from you." I pointed my index finger at Dante and told him, "Especially not from you, Dante."

"Autumn, I��" I interrupted him before he could give an excuse.

"No excuses. Just tell me the whole story because I need to resolve the issue."

They started explaining the full story. I checked for any kind of proof that might show me that he did it, but I found nothing. It never happened to us before. We had been attacked, but our boxes were never stolen.

"If any Mafia did this work to harm us or to take revenge, they would leave some kind of clue. A symbol of their gang or something. Why isn't there any?" I uttered.

"Maybe they just wanted to scare us," Regina spoke.

My mind stopped functioning for a while when I heard her saying that.

He couldn't possibly do this... could he?

Stop it, Autumn! Don��t even think of that vile person.

Sucking in a deep breath, I said, "We suffered a huge loss. Make arrangements for the next deal. We have to repay the loss."

"But leader, we just can't��"

"My words are final, Dante," I said, leaving no place to argue. While walking towards my car, I heard my cell phone buzz. I checked it.

Asshole Ian: Leaving with no words? That's not a sign of being a good wifey.

Ignoring his text, I checked the time. It was almost nine in the morning. I decided to go and check on my restaurant. I could have breakfast there because I was starving.

As soon as I entered my restaurant, my manager, Mr. Atticus, greeted me, "Good morning, Autumn!"

I smiled. "Good morning, Mr. Atticus."

He was a man who recently stepped in his fifties. He helped me raise this restaurant, which I would be grateful for my entire life. He has as many rights as I had at the Blooming Restaurant.

My restaurant was classy yet homely. Sometimes, I cooked the food here when I wished to. When we opened this restaurant, I and Mr. Atticus were the only cooks. When we began earning popularity, we started to appoint chefs.

"Today, we have 18 bookings for the morning," he said as he started to fill me in regarding the restaurant and continued, "Mr. Narcos, Ms. Jenny, Mr. Beckett, Mrs. Sars��"

"Wait. What did you say?" I had to cut off in between because I wanted to be sure whether I heard all the names correctly or not.

He repeated, "Mrs. Sars."

"No, no. Before Mrs. Sars."

"Mr. Beckett. Ian Beckett, your childhood friend," Mr. Atticus answered.

I cringed at the mention of him being my childhood friend. However, I neglected that fact. The thing which bugged me was, why did he make a reservation here?

I asked, "For how many people, did he book the table?"

He checked his phone and replied, "Table for two, in the romantic area."

We had different areas in the restaurant: for couples, for business meetings, for birthday parties, and other occasions.

With whom was Ian planning to come?

"I am going to cook his food, whatever he orders," I said and entered the kitchen. Waiting for Ian was tiring and annoying, even though I tried to keep myself busy.

"He is here," Mr. Atticus informed me after half an hour. Before I could ask further questions, he continued, "With one of the most famous businesswomen, Ms. Alana Oakley."

Instantly, I tightened my grip on the knife and questioned, "What did he order?"

"Fruit custard and espresso with no sugar for himself, strawberry pancakes with Vanilla Mocha Deluxe for the lady."

I gave a tight-lipped smile before saying, "Okay, I will make it."

Mr. Atticus asked with concern, "Are you okay, dear?"

I nodded abruptly. "Indeed, I am."

I made strawberry pancakes, fruit custard, and Vanilla Mocha Deluxe perfectly. However, I added three spoons of sugar in the espresso.

"Annie, serve it to table No.1 in the romantic area," I said, handing the tray to her. "If there is any problem, just call me."

Annie took the tray and went to serve it on Ian's table.

"Let's see how you drink your espresso, Ian Beckett," I muttered and started chopping the vegetables, eagerly waiting for him to lodge a complaint.

After enough waiting, I decided to Google Alana Oakley. She looked smart. Her light brown eyes matched her straight mid-length black hair. She was the owner of Oakley Inc.

"Ma'am, the Sir on table No. 1 is calling for the owner. When I asked him the reason, he said he would only tell it to the owner," Annie said with a scared look on her face.

I suppressed my smile, which was dying to escape from my lips. "It's okay. I will handle it. Do your work." I patted her back and went to the place where Ian was sitting with Alana.

The woman was indeed more beautiful in person than in the pictures.

"Excuse me, Sir��wait, Ian? Is that you?" I feigned an act. "What happened? Did my workers make any mistake?"

Ian was wearing a navy-blue suit. Whereas Alana wore a navy-blue dress.

They freaking matched!

I didn't like this feeling.

His lips curved into a smile. "Now I get it."

"Get, what?" Alana asked curiously. "Lodge your complaint. Do you know her, Ian? Who's she?" The tone she used was very mean. I could sense jealousy in that tone.

Yeah, right. You should totally be jealous of a wife and a husband knowing each other, Alana.

"Yes, Alana, I know her. She is my cousin. Distant cousin," he answered slowly, resulting in my eyes growing as wide as saucers hearing Ian's reply.

"What?" I breathed out, dumbstruck.

Did he just call me his cousin? How can he call his wife, his cousin? It was insane.

"Oh, nice to meet you." Alana let out a sigh in relief and announced, "I am Alana Oakley, Ian's girl."

Get a grip, Autumn.

"I am Autumn. You are Ian's girl?" I inquired, to be sure if I heard correctly. I glanced at Ian. His face held a plain look��that familiar calm look. "So, why did you call me, Ian?" I looked straight into his eyes.

��I had a complaint regarding my espresso. I strictly ordered an espresso with no sugar. However, it was extremely sweet,�� he answered innocently.

I gave a blatant look. "I'm sorry. I will make sure this mistake doesn't occur again."

He narrowed his eyes at me. Nonetheless, he nodded.

"You may go now. We can meet some other time, Ian's sister," Alana spat out.

This time Ian spoke, "Alright, Alana. She's just a distant cousin, not my sister."

I rolled my eyes. I felt like I have seen enough drama now. "Whatever, I am leaving," I retorted before walking out of the romantic area and stepped inside the kitchen. "I will be handling all the orders today," I said to Mr. Atticus.

He looked at me in shock. "Autumn, honey, there's a lot of orders today and you can��"

I glared at him, daring him to speak further.

"You can handle it. Of course, you can. Everyone, leave the kitchen." He let out a nervous chuckle and further spoke after pushing a tray towards me, "Here, chop more vegetables. Murder them like the way you were planning to murder me with your glare."

Abruptly, I took the knife while Mr. Atticus went away along with other staff, leaving me alone.

While chopping vegetables, all I could think was how Ian introduced me as his cousin to that stupid Alana girl. How could she be Ian's girl? If Ian had a girlfriend, why did he even agree to marry me?

I would rather get humiliated by my gang than marry a two-timing person.

But Ian didn't do girlfriends as far as I knew.

Maybe, it was my mistake. I never bothered about Ian's social life. All I knew was about his mafia life. Yet, how could he introduce his wife as his cousin? Even if I was his wife just for six months, he should respect me.

How could he do this? His cousin, seriously?

My foot.

"Are you planning to ruin everyone's food today? The way you are chopping these vegetables, you might cut yourself and then blood will be everywhere." I heard Ian's voice.

My head snapped in his direction. Quickly, I placed the knife on his throat and spat out in anger, "What are you doing here? Who let you in?"

He responded, "If you don't remove the knife, you will be the one who won't let me out forever." He had an amusing expression on his face, which made me want to slice his throat with the knife. "We just got married yesterday and my wife is already getting jealous," he teased me, pushing the knife away.

"I am not getting jealous. It's just that, you should have told me that you have a girlfriend. Even if you have one, why did you do this stupid marriage then? Also, how dare you, introduce me as your cousin? Do we look related from any angle?"

He took a step towards me and sighed. "Look, wifey, it's not that. Actually, she's��"

Alana cut him off by popping out of nowhere saying, "What are you doing in the kitchen with your sister, Ian?"

Ian turned to face her.

"Ian? What's wrong?" Alana asked him and slipped her hand through his arm, grabbing him tightly.

"He was just asking how I was since we met after a long time,�� I covered up with a blunt lie and gave a tight-lipped smile. ��You guys may go. I am okay."

��Let��s go, babe,�� Alana said to Ian, who looked at me one last time before going away.

I felt my heart getting sliced, like the vegetables.

How would I tolerate this new catastrophe taking place in my life?