Page 62 of Forging Caine

I approached him. “Lorenzo—”

“Congratulations,” he said, barely looking at me. “Papa, we should get our meeting done.”

“Of course.” Papa braved the fray of women and they parted so he could give Samantha a hug. “Congratulations, my love. I’ll be proud to have you in the family.”

“Thank you.” Samantha’s face had turned several shades of crimson, her discomfort at being the center of attention clear. With the opportunity to change the subject, she looked over his shoulder at me. “Did you get your things yet?”

“I’ve not had a chance. Can you give me twenty minutes?”

“Take your time.” She checked her watch, inspiring me to do the same. We had two hours before Jason would arrive. “I brought those onionskin sheets with me in case I had some downtime.”

“More wonderful news!” Papa waved his hand in the vague direction of the office upstairs. “Why don’t you use the investigator’s space? Youaredoing an investigation for Ferraro’s, aren’t you?”

“Need a hand with anything?” asked Lucy. “I was just going to hang out and wait until Lorenzo’s done, anyway.”

Samantha grinned at her best friend. “I don’t suppose you have your computer handy?”

“Of course!” Lucy walked to the desk and held her hand out in front of Lorenzo.

Without a word between the two of them, he dropped his keys into her hand and she darted out the front door.

Samantha watched Lucy go, then frowned at Lorenzo. That look told me she knew more than she’d told me.

Sofia smacked the back of Lorenzo’s head as he left with Papa, ensuring our father didn’t see it. “Come on, Antonio. Let’s find whatever it is you need.”

“Remember, we have to get lunch and be home in two hours.” I kissed my fiancée on the cheek. There was a fifty-fifty chance she’d become so absorbed in her research she wouldn’t want to leave.

Chapter 20

Samantha

Lucyplacedherbackpackon a desk upstairs, once the two of us were alone. “Did you ask Elliot if he was the guy in the letter from your mom’s book?”

My brain stuttered. I couldn’t escape Dad’s last message. “I’ve got something else that’s higher priority.”

“Ooh!” She rubbed her hands together. “What are we looking at?”

I handed her the envelope the sheets had arrived in and made my way to the big windows at the front of the office. Not as tall as the ones downstairs, but they were roughly eight feet, starting at thigh height. Between the light streaming in through the front, plus the open space overlooking the studio and the light coming in from the skylights, this would be an amazing office to work in.

Classical music filtered through the air from recessed speakers in the ceiling and walls. It shifted to a rock bass line, and Sofia broke the calm, yelling, “Antonio!”

Lucy laughed again. “They’re as bad as when we worked on the Scott case last summer.”

“Always.” I hung the onionskin sheets on the window with some bookbinder tape I’d grabbed on my way upstairs. Antonio and I had already secured them in the correct orientation before moving them from his light table. Next to them, I taped a scanned printout we’d done, after digitally enhancing the drawings. “These sheets arrived at Ferraro’s on Friday, in that envelope, addressed to Ferraro’s FAI.”

“FAI?”

“Fine Art Investigations.” I pointed to the sign leaning against the wall separating the stairs from the office. “It’s a new initiative Dom’s launching. Given some of the cases Antonio and I have been involved in, as well as some stuff that happened to Dom’s brother Andrea—”

“The brother who runs the Rome branch of the company?”

“That’s the one.”Should I ask about how much she and Lorenzo discuss his family? Or why she’s waiting around here while he’s in a meeting? No.“Dom’s passionate about combating art crimes, so he’s doing something about it.”

“Hold up, now.” Lucy raised her hands, craning her neck to look at the Investigations sign and back to me. “You’re marrying into this family. Isthiswhat you’re leaving Foster Mutual for? Not the FBI?”

“I never said I was leaving.”

“You said you weren’t sure.”

---