Page 46 of Empire of Temptation

Except it would need to wait because Giovanni set the risotto in front of me. I scooped up a bite and blew on it to cool it down. When I put it in my mouth, I almost died. “Oh, my god. This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Thank you, Giovanni.”

“Better than chicken parm,” I heard him mutter under his breath.

“Except for chicken parm,” I shot back.

He shook his head, but he was smiling as he returned to the stove.

Roberto stuck around as I ate, so I figured it was a good time to catch up. “Have we seen an invoice from the construction guys yet?” I needed to work on finances today. My mother’s life insurance was covering these renovations, but I had to be careful. I didn’t have much left. We needed to open soon.

“No,” Roberto said. “I haven’t received one.”

“Is John out there?” I asked, referring to the head of the construction company. “I’ll just go ask him.” I put down my spoon and rose.

“Wait, signorina—” Roberto said, but I was already through the door. The workers were replacing light fixtures when I went into the dining room. “Hey! Is John around?”

They pointed to the bar. I peered over the top and saw John working on installing a new water line. “Hi, John. Have a minute?”

“Sure, Val.” He screwed in some plumbing pieces, then dried off his hands. “What’s up?”

“I’m wondering if you have an invoice ready for me. I’d like to pay some of what I owe now, rather than waiting until the end.”

“I don’t have one drawn up yet, but I think you owe five hundred.”

“Fivehundred? That doesn’t make sense.” The estimate was eight thousand dollars. Why was it so cheap?

“Uh, the prices went down.”

“By seven-thousand and five-hundred dollars?” I looked over at Roberto. “Did you know about this?”

Roberto shook his head. “No, it’s the first I’m hearing of it.”

John rose and shifted on his feet. “Well, you’ve been doing this on your own for a long time, Val, with your mom dying and everything. Sometimes we all need a little help and there’s no shame in accepting it.”

The words . . . they were too close.

And the price drop was too drastic, too convenient. Alarm bells went off inside my head, my heart kicking hard in my chest.

I looked at my contractor. “John, on the life of your little brother, Daniel, who I used to babysit, tell me the truth. Is Mr. DiMarco paying the difference?”

There was a long pause. “Come on, Val. Don’t make me swear on my brother.”

That was enough confirmation for me.

“I’ll be back,” I told Roberto. “I have an errand to run.”

Luca

“She’s at the gate.”

I looked up from my laptop. There was no need to ask who Aldo meant. Roberto called me the second an angry Valentina departed from the restaurant.

“Want me to turn her away?” Aldo asked, then took a bite of the apple in his hand.

“No. I might as well get it over with.”

“Should I bring her in here?”

I considered this. Gabriele was somewhere on the estate and I preferred that my son not run into Valentina. Best to have this conversation in private. “Yes.”

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