Quiet Wealth, page 10
“That’s not how he should die!” someone yelled, and my hand retracted from the handle. “He deserves to feel the pain of all those he tortured.”
“I think a little trip down to the beach wouldn’t hurt anyone,” another voice chimed in.
None of this was meant for my ears. I stepped back then heard someone heading in my direction.
“Damn.” I spotted a small restroom and slipped inside, only to have someone come right up behind and press against me as the door clicked shut. The light was off, but the glow from under the mirror was just enough to know it was him.
“Sienna.” My name sounded like velvet. My knees trembled, and I locked them in place.
“Elio,” I whispered back, “how…” I trailed off when his lips brushed over the back of my shoulder and one hand slowly slid down my dress to the top of the slit, brushing it aside. In a moment of weakness, I gave in, closed my eyes, and allowed my head to fall back against his chest. His hand brushed the inside of my thigh, skimming my thong. My breasts strained against the fabric of my dress as his finger commanded my chin to turn to look up at him.
“Is this real?” he whispered.
“No,” I answered, caught up in his spell.
“Kiss me,” he hovered over my lips, “so I know it is.”
I snapped out of the moment, and I tried to move, but his muscles locked, trapping me in his hold.
“Elio…” I shook my head and pushed on his arms to free myself. I slipped around him and escaped the little room. Once around the corner, I held on to the wall.
“Holy…” I took a moment then started the hike back to the party.
“There you are.” Mariano stepped away from his friends. “Come, I want you to meet a few people.”
What? I was spinning.
Names went in and out of my head. I plastered on a smile and tried to be as polite as possible, which was hard because I could still hear Elio’s voice in my head as he said my name. It repeated over and over and nearly brought me to tears.
“Wow, son, she’s just gorgeous.” I blinked back my thoughts and tuned in to who was in front of me.
“Sienna Giovanna, this is my father Roberto.”
His father? I wasn’t in the right headspace to meet his father right now.
“Lovely to meet you.” The very large man smiled approvingly at his much younger wife.
Roberto set his drink down on the table and stepped closer to me. “I’d really like to have a few moments alone with you, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Sure,” Mariano answered for me.
I wanted to protest, but Roberto took me by the elbow and steered me out of the party room. He didn’t say anything as he escorted me outside to the opening in the garden that led to a giant water fountain. I fought not to trip over my feet. I was caught up in a storm inside my head at the very worst of times. The noise inside became consuming, and I tried to silence it, but it took a tremendous amount of effort.
“I can tell my son likes you,” he finally said. Yes, I discovered that tonight, too. “How long have you known one another?”
“Just a few weeks.”
“Has he shared anything with you?”
“Ah,” I tried to pay attention, “such as?”
“Such as what he does for a living?”
I squinted confused. “Well, yes, that’s how we met.”
He smiled like he was happy with my answer.
“I read the article about you in Fab Magazine. I understand your past, and I think you would have a place here in our lives.”
“Okay…” I still felt that I was missing half the conversation.
“A beautiful woman, with a difficult past, and no family. I feel that you could perhaps use some love in your life?” He stepped closer, and I felt my walls flinch to shoot up. “If our son likes you, that means we like you, Sienna. Will you join us for dinner tomorrow?”
What if I don’t feel the same way about your son? As the thought ran through my head, given the present company, I thought it might be best to be polite and go along with the invitation.
“I would like that, thank you.” I tried to catch up with all that was coming at me this evening.
“Wonderful.” His smile was as wide as he was. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.”
“Me too.”
“We should get back.” He pressed his freezing hand against my back to direct me ahead of him. I cringed at the contact.
“Do you mind if I take a moment? I’ll meet you inside.”
“Certainly.”
I waited a beat and let the events of the night wash over me for a few minutes. I decided I had better get back to Mariano, but as I hit the bottom of the stairs, I felt him before I saw him and looked up to see Elio with his hands in his pockets watching me from one of the balconies.
Breathe, Sienna. Breathe.
The party was in full swing, and I did a quick scan to see if I could spot Sienna. My father came up as he greeted people and handed me a drink.
“Are you all right?”
Not in the least. I felt like I was twenty again, standing at the edge of the pond staring at the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. I read once that when your soul meets its match, they connect in a way that can never be undone. I knew this was true because there had never been one day since I left that I hadn’t thought of Sienna. Every day, I had to face the painful reminder of the sacrifice I had made. Francesco promised that he had people watching out for her but never once shared any details about what she was up to or where she was. He said it was for the best, and he made sure I knew that they didn’t share any of those details with him either. We needed to make sure we cut as many ties with her as possible, for her own safety, yet here we were.
“Did you know she was coming?” I sidestepped his question and referred to the mandatory guest list.
“Of course not, son. I would never put you in such a difficult situation.” He turned to look at me, and I saw he was being honest. My father might be the boss of our syndicate, and had the power to make a lot of things happen, but he was always a father first. “I had no idea. We made a very difficult family decision back then, and if I had any idea that she was coming, I would have handled the situation very differently. Francesco was just as blindsided.” He took a moment to sip his drink. “Mariano had someone else’s name down, and we did our usual background check, and she was cleared. I plan on having a chat with Mariano myself. We have rules for a reason.”
“He’s slipping,” I confessed.
“I know.”
“And now she’s here, and…” The heavy weight on my chest left me feeling exhausted, “I’m not sure how to navigate this.”
“How deep is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“We’ll handle this, son. We always do.”
“That is true. We do.”
“Remember, Elio, time may have passed, but that doesn’t mean the threat has lessened. It is still very dangerous, perhaps more so. But she’s here now, and if you want her—”
“I know.” I cut him off, not needing a reminder of why we had left her years ago.
“Very well.” He dropped the topic and exited just as Aurora approached me, holding up something.
“Have you seen Mariano?”
“No, why?” I was curt.
“I want to take a photo with his date.”
“Why?” I was becoming very unamused with Aurora, or maybe it was because the only woman I truly loved just appeared at my parents’ party on the arm of my best friend.
“Why?” Her tone drew my attention. “Because she’s famous.”
“What?”
“You can have this copy because I will be buying more.” She handed me a rolled-up magazine. “Now, where did he go? I have a zillion questions for her, starting with whether her breasts are real.”
I shook my head, trying to get her words out of my brain.
“My friends are going to lose their heads when they see me with her.”
Resting my drink on the piano, I unrolled the glossy magazine and took in the sexy cover with Sienna draped in a red silk sheet staring into the camera with such raw pain I felt her gaze burn right into my soul. The headline read, “Abandonment, living on the streets, to success.”
So many questions swam around my head, but the biggest one was what were the odds that she and Mariano would ever have met, let alone be here on this very night.
“Elio,” Francesco appeared by my side, and by the look on his face it wasn’t going to be good, “a word?”
With an inward sigh, I turned the magazine face down and let him speak quietly about what was going on.
“Gain and Brando are here and asked to speak with you now.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
I downed my drink, and we headed for the door. Taking the stairs two at a time, I motioned for them to start talking.
“We thought you might like to know who S is.” Gain reached over my shoulder and handed me a photo, and I felt my mouth go dry.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, boss.” He nodded, handing me another photo of Stefano Coppola talking to one of my men at the dockyard. “He has stepped in for his father, who apparently became ill a couple of months ago. He is creating quite the shitstorm with his new power as head boss.”
Great, a new young mob boss with control over our biggest rival syndicate. Let the storm begin.
“You look like you saw a ghost, Sienna.” Mariano sat next to me in the car as we headed back down the hill to his place.
“I think I just got a little overwhelmed with all the people,” I lied and felt guilty about it. I certainly wasn’t ready to share that I was once in love with his business partner.
By the time we reached his front door, I felt pure exhaustion, and it took a great effort to keep the tears at bay.
“Would you like something to eat?” He moved into the kitchen and started to dig through the refrigerator.
“If it’s okay with you, I think I’d like to go to bed.”
“That’s fine.” He closed the door and glanced at me. “I have some calls to make, anyway.”
I nodded, knowing I couldn’t speak. I nearly ran to the stairs, and once I was inside the safety of the room, I leaned against the door, covered my sobs, and let my dam break. Sinking to the floor with the weight of the situation pushing me down, I fell apart just like I had years ago.
I wasn’t sure how long my heart bled into the night, but I woke in a puddle on the floor. I blinked my swollen eyes open and waited for the blur to come into focus. The room was sideways. I must have wriggled out of my tight dress sometime in the night, as it lay beside me like evidence, and the memory of last night came flooding back. My arm felt heavy as lead as I reached for my purse with awkward fingertips and shimmed my phone free. I pushed Wyatt’s name.
“Shit, girl, it’s hotter than an Alabama jock strap out here. Remind me again why I’m not there?”
Just hearing his voice made me homesick. A silent sob ripped through me, and I was lost as to where to start.
“Sienna? Are you there?”
I nodded as though he could see me, and when I finally took a deep breath, a cry escaped.
“You need to tell me what’s going on. Did Mariano hurt you?”
“No,” I managed to get out.
“Then what happened?”
I shifted to sit up and leaned against the door.
“He’s here.” I hiccupped.
“Baby girl, you need to give me more. He who?”
“Elio.”
The phone went silent.
“Elio Capri? The man you fell in love with, the one who broke your heart and turned it to dust?”
“Yeah.” I struggled to breathe.
“Not to sound like I’m questioning you, but are you sure?”
“Very.”
“Holy shit.”
“Wyatt,” I cried harder, “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”
“Sienna,” his voice changed to a more serious tone, “when I met you, you were in the worst state I ever saw someone in. When you got yourself right, what was the one thing you promised you were going to do for yourself?”
“I know, Wyatt, but I never thought it could hurt this much.”
“You promised you would never let a man stand in the way of your career.” He ignored my excuse. “I don’t doubt that the hole in your heart didn’t just get deeper. But you’ve worked your ass off to get to where you are. So,” he took a second to make sure I was listening, “where are you now?”
“I’m on the floor. I fell asleep here.”
“Well, you are going to pull yourself together, get up, have a shower, and write the best damn story that no one has been able to do yet.”
I used my arm to dry my face and leaned my head back against the wall. He was right. I couldn’t let this swallow me up whole again. I could look him straight in the eye and not let him have the satisfaction of knowing he had destroyed a major part of me.
“Yeah.” I let out a heavy breath.
“Good. Now, aren’t you glad you called me?”
I laughed at my best friend. He always knew the right time to be funny and strong.
“Yes.”
“That’s right.”
“How’re the groom’s sisters?” I did manage a smile as I said it.
“Well, I dug a hole in the woods yesterday, you know, just in case I need to dispose of them quickly.”
“Smart.” I sniffed.
There was a long stretch of silence, as we both needed to be together in the best way we could.
“How does he look?”
A flicker of pain stabbed my stomach when I pictured his face.
“You remember the girl who used to work the copier for us last summer?”
“Oh, yeah, I do.” He chuckled.
“Times that by ten.”
“You know what you need, then?”
“What?”
“You need to get some.”
“What?”
“It’s a proven fact, Sienna.” He cleared his throat. “Part of your problem is that you’re sexually frustrated. If you could calm down your thunder-dunder, think how well you could straighten out your head.”
“I could use some thunder,” I joked back.
“Coming,” he yelled out to someone. “I have to go, but I’ll call you later.”
“Thanks. I needed this.”
“You know I’m always here. Well, in one way or another.” As he laughed, he hung up.
I closed my eyes with a chuckle.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and dragged my tired body to the shower.
I found Mariano outside at his little breakfast nook by the pool.
“Hungry?” he asked, not looking up from his phone.
“Yeah, I am.” I took a seat and helped myself to a scone. He pointed to the espresso machine while he typed away on the screen. Carefully, I poured myself a cup.
“Are you feeling better from last night?”
“Yes, I think the wine went right to my head.”
“It’ll do that.” He finally set his phone on the table, but when he went to speak, it rang again, and he held up a finger, stepping away from the table.
Turning away from him, I sipped my espresso as I admired the grounds. My eyes went up to the grand house on the hill where the party was held. It was all very private. There were a few homes around, scattered in a circle pattern. I wondered who owned them all and why they chose to live there. One neat thing that Mariano had pointed out to me was if you stood on either the west or east side of the house, you could see a car coming miles away, so no surprise visitors.
I finished eating and pushed back my chair as I brushed the crumbs from my fingers then relaxed and continued to sip my espresso. I couldn’t deny it was a lovely place to be.
“A meeting came up that I can’t get out of,” Mariano reached for his keys, “so if you want to get out and look around the town, it’s not too far from here.”
That actually sounded like a great idea. I knew my head could use it.
“Sure. That sounds nice.”
“You’re so easy to get along with.” He grinned. “Oh, and dinner tonight with my parents?”
“Should I cook?”
He laughed. “No, we are eating at the Hill House. They have all the cooks we’ll need.”
“Oh.” I looked around, thinking it was a shame for such a nice kitchen not to get used.
“I’ll be back later. You have my number if something comes up.”
And just like that, he was gone, and I was alone in his house.
Wyatt: You are near a local market. See attachment.
That was just another of the reasons I loved my friend so much. He knew I would want and need to get out. I tapped on the attachment and was delighted to see the market was already open. I hurried to get ready.
“Keys.” I searched the bowl on the table in the entryway. “If I were keys, where would I be?” I opened the little drawer and spotted them. “There you are.”
I couldn’t help but notice a copy of Fab Magazine underneath them. My stomach twisted at my face on the front. The photographer had captured the depth of all the pain I held inside, and there it was for the world to see. Not to mention it opened me up for people to come to their own conclusions about who I was. It was exhausting to think about. I noticed that one of the pages was turned down, and I quickly flipped to it. Circled in pen was the line about me moving from Sicily to Florence and that I had gotten a job at the paper. Strange. Closing my eyes and feeling a little guilty for snooping, I tucked the magazine back in its place and stepped outside.
“Good morning, miss.” I jumped about ten feet in the air. “Sorry.” The driver from the party the night before smiled at me. “I didn’t mean to startle you, but would you like me to drive you somewhere?”
“Oh,” I was pleased to see Mariano hadn’t left me completely alone, “yes, actually. I’d love to go to the market if that’s not too much trouble. I was going to drive myself, but it would be nice to go with someone who knows where things are.”
