Page 37 of Angelo

"At least we know where they stand now.”

Her husband's change of heart was both a shocking and splendid sight to behold. "I asked Malina to do more digging on Valentina as well."

Elyse leaned in. "And?"

"Malina learned Valentina was fucking around with none other than Célia Toussaint that night in my villa."

"Célia… Toussaint?"

The name felt vaguely familiar on Elyse's tongue. Had she read that name before in a news article?

"Célia is the granddaughter of a prominent French politician and banker."

Of course.Elyse remembered skimming a few articles at random about the Toussaint family not long ago. Olivier Toussaint had recently stepped into the role of CEO at Crédit Ardisson, one of the largest banks in France by total assets, and his ex-wife, Francine Balland had served as the previous Minister of the Economy and Finance under the last French president.

"The two of them have been involved for quite some time now. They were using the Zurich villa as their rendezvous point for the past year."

A whole fucking year? Those two sounded like they were in an actual relationship. Elyse demanded, "Are you sure that Célia won’t try to stop Valentina from marrying Gaspare?"

Alessandro confirmed, "Valentina assures me that Célia is on board. As far as her engagement to Gaspare is concerned, I am confident that my stepsister and I finally see eye to eye on something.”

8

Alessandro and Valentina wereon the same page for once?

Hell must be freezing over.

At first, Elyse felt encouraged to hear this new development between them. But then it hit her.Alessandro had been plotting with Valentina behind her back.Her expression soured with annoyance. Apparently,shewasn't allowed to keep secrets from him, buthewas allowed to keep secrets from her.

“I can’t help but wonder, husband,” drawled Elyse, “how was your chat with Valentina any different than the chat I had with Benny?”

"You are right," he agreed, "I have been guilty of withholdingsomeinformation. But I am telling youeverythingnow."

Indignation fired up some more. Elyse growled, "You broke the rule that you asked me to follow. I thought there weren't supposed to be secrets between us?"

Alessandro winced at the sharpness of her tone. "I did not intend to hide anything on purpose."

Elyse crossed her arms over her chest. "No?"

"No," Alessandro rushed to clear the conflict between them, "Valentina and I were very much at odds when I sent her to Salemi, so there was nothing new to share with you."

She glared at him. "You swear?"

"I swear, Valentina did not change her tune until recently, and the past two days have been so hectic, I could not find the time to update you until now."

Her anger didn’t wane. Where there was a will, there was a way, and her husband hadn't tried hard enough for her liking. Hadn't she found a way to warn him about the music box? Despite the chaos in their lives, he should've afforded her the same courtesy.

She huffed, "When, exactly, did Valentina start changing her tune?"

Like a snake charmer trying to placate a hissing she-cobra, Alessandro kept his tone cautious and mild when he answered her, "A day ago."

Only one day? Her aggravation faded by a small degree. Perhaps, he hadn't been concealing this news from her intentionally? Curiosity crept in. "How did you manage to change her mind?"

He sighed. "I should start from the beginning..."

“Please do.”

"Not long after our wedding, I started working with my lawyer, Mr. Schmid, and his associates on an impossible task."

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