Page 134 of Empire of Temptation

“The meeting was three hours ago.”

I jolted in my chair. “No, that can’t be right.” Leaning down, I fished my cell out of my purse and opened my calendar app. “No, no, no. I’m sure I had the time as?—”

Shit.

I missed the meeting.

My calendar showed the right time, but I hadn’t double-checked, instead relying on my memory. Which was spotty at best these days. Ever since Luca left, in fact.

“Damn.” I tossed my phone back in my purse and lowered my head into my hands. “What in the world is wrong with me?”

“Bella,” he said gently, as if about to break bad news. “You don’t need to push yourself so hard. Take some time off?—”

“I donotneed to take time off. There is nothing wrong with me.” Except for heartbreak, but I’d get over that soon. I had to. “I’m fine.”

“You are not fine. You have lost two people who are very important to you.”

Luca and my father. Flavio left town the second Luca did, saying it wasn’t safe for him here. He promised to contact me from a burner phone every now and again, but he wouldn’t tell me where he was going.

But that loss was nothing compared to Luca’s betrayal.

I shook my head. “Like I said, I’m fine. I need to be here, helping to run things.”

“We can manage for a few days. You could stay with your friend Maggie. Or?—”

“Roberto, I’m not going to disappear and sulk. I need to keep busy. I’m sorry I missed the meeting, but I can’t sit around at home and feel sorry for myself.”

“You are very stubborn.”

“Yes, I know. You’re the one who should be taking time off. Your leg isn’t evenhealed yet.”

He waved his hand in that elegant Italian fashion. “It’s nothing. A scratch.”

“Now who’s lying?”

“Ciao, Val!” a deep voice called from across the room. Gabi came out from the back with a beer keg on his shoulder. He looked so much like a younger version of Luca that it physically hurt to look at him. I’d been avoiding him, actually. Partly because of Gabi’s resemblance, but mainly because I didn’t know what to say.Your dad’s a dick and he lied to me, and oh, did you know he was planning to kidnap me?

Gabi set the keg on the ground and straightened. “Come stai? You missed the meeting.”

Ugh. “Yes, I know. The day got away from me somehow.”

His mouth twisted in a sympathetic smile.

Roberto’s phone buzzed, so he got up from the table. “Perdonami, signorina.”

I was left alone at the table, feeling like a failure. A failure at love, a failure at work. Wow, I was really crushing life this week.

It has to get better.

It had to. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I could barely focus. All I wanted was to stay in bed and watch cooking shows on my phone. When would this terrible ache leave my chest?

You hold my heart and my soul, fiore mio. Per sempre.

Maybe, but he didn’t love me. He wanted to sleep with me, maybe keep me around as a mistress for a few weeks. But he’d lied to me—and I would never believe another word he said.

“Come,” Gabi said, waving me over to the bar. “Sit, bella. Keep me company while I work.”

Roberto wasn’t returning, so I got up and went to the bar. When I was settled, Gabi poured me a glass of juice. “Drink that. It’ll help.”

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