Page 52 of The Fixer

“And then, I’ll give back the money,” Hugh agrees.

I don’t like this plan. At all. I have all kinds of misgivings about keeping secrets from Leo. But Romeo explicitly said that if I told Leo about him, he’d kill my family. And my brother believes, with one-hundred-percent certainty, that this isn’t an idle threat.

I can’t risk doing anything that would put my family in danger.

“Okay,” I say reluctantly. “Let’s do it your way.”

25

LEO

As promised, Violette texts Rosa and me on Monday morning.

Great news! The Excelsior has a vacancy on Saturday, October 6.

I pull out my phone and open my calendar. That’s in three weeks.

I know it’s soon, but I’m confident that we can make this happen. What do you think?

I pick up my phone and call Rosa. “Did you get Violette‘s text?”

“Yeah, just now. October 6.”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” she replies, a note of stress in her voice. “It’s less than a month away.”

That was the same thought I had, but when Rosa says it, I’m suddenly nervous. My grip on the phone tightens. “Yes,” I say, keeping my voice level with effort. “It is.”

“I mean, you wouldn’t think it from the amount of fabric I own, but I don’t have the right silk for my wedding dress. I need to go shopping, and if I can’t find it in Venice, I’ll have to head to Milan.”

“Fabric,” I repeat like an idiot. Of course. Rosa is a fashion designer. She wants to sew her own wedding dress, but there’s not a lot of time, and she’s already incredibly busy. That’s why she’s hesitating.

“The design itself is simple,” she continues. “There’s not a lot of lace and no finicky hand sewing, but still. . .” Her voice trails off thoughtfully. “Yep. I can do it. As long as Violette handles everything else, I can make the dress happen in three weeks.”

“Let’s call her.”

We conference call Violette. “Let me guess,” she says when she appears on the screen. “You’re freaking out. Before you ask, I’m positive we have enough time.”

“You are a mind-reader,” Rosa laughs. “Eitherthat, or we’re really predictable. Nice dress, by the way.”

Violette grins. “Thank you. The designer first came on my radar when she dressed Lucia Moretti. I’m a huge fan. I think I own five of her dresses.”

“Do you?” Rosa looks pleased. “I didn’t know that.”

Ah, this is one of my soon-to-be wife’s designs. I know nothing about fashion, but it’s a blue dress and looks good on Violette. I lean forward. “Canwe make it work?” I don’t know anything about weddings, but the last time I did this, it took Patrizia, her mother, and her sister a year to do the planning. There was at least one three-ring binder involved, dozens of wedding magazines, and lots of details I didn’t care about or remember.

“You said you wanted a small wedding,” Violette replies. “Less than fifty people. Is that still true?”

“Yes.”

“Anyone traveling from out of town?”

“Just one on my end,” I reply, thinking of Rocco Santini and his insistence that he dance at our wedding. “Rosa, what about you?”

“Everyone I want to attend lives in Venice,” she replies.

Violette nods. “Then, yes, it’s definitely doable.We’ll need to send out wedding invitations right away. Why don’t I draft one up in the next couple of hours, and if you okay it, I can get them printed and in the mail this evening.”

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