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Rachel wasn’t going to like that.
I already didn’t like it.
“If you can get it done sooner, excellent – but if you can’t, we’d rather you not take the shot. If you miss, Van der Linden will go underground, and we won’t get another chance before the auction. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Good. You leave Monday morning for Milan. Your ticket is in the envelope, as well as the location where you’ll pick up your car. The chateau has been rented for a month; you’ll purchase your return plane ticket when the mission is either completed or aborted. Any questions?”
“No.”
“Good. Photograph, please.”
I handed over van der Linden’s picture, which Alistair slid inside his trench coat.
“Knock this one out,” he said, “and I’ll give you a month off.”
“Sounds good.”
“One last thing… we noticed that you made a rather large purchase yesterday from a jeweler.”
I looked at him in alarm. “You’re monitoring my bank account?!”
“You’re a new employee, and trust has to be earned. Until it is, we monitor everything. I was just curious… was it an engagement ring for Rachel?”
“Why – does that violate the firewall?” I asked sarcastically. “Is it forbidden under ‘company policy’?”
“As long as she never finds out who you work for, I can live with it. So – did you buy an engagement ring?”
“Yes.”
Alistair gave me the barest hint of a smile. “Good luck. I hope she says yes.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“Just be sure to make it back for the wedding,” he said as he stood up and walked away.
80
Ididn’t have much time. I wanted to propose before I left for Milan, but that left me only 36 hours.
I knew I could propose to her after I returned from Italy… but part of me didn’t want to put it off any longer. I had the ring, I’d made the decision to pop the question, and I was excited to do it.
So I planned a romantic outing to St. James Park – the spot where I’d told her I loved her the first time. The plan was to take her to that exact spot, get down on one knee, and tell her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
Then we’d go for dinner at a fancy restaurant in the middle of London –
And come back to the hotel and make love.
Things didn’t exactly go the way I’d planned.
The rain got worse Saturday afternoon. There was no way I was going to propose to her in a downpour, so I checked my weather app. Sunday was supposed to be cold but sunny, so I put it off until then. I made the dinner reservations for 6 PM and told them to have a bottle of champagne ready.
Sunday morning, Rachel told me she had to go home to do some work for the upcoming week.
“Could we go out a little bit later in the day?” I asked.
“I guess.” She sounded more like she was placating me than interested in doing anything.
