It was an hour and a half drive there, almost two hours because of the summer traffic. When we approached the winery, the main gate opened to let us in.
Wolfe drove up to the villa in his dark Range Rover and then put it in park. “I’ll head to the house to grab a couple more things.”
“Okay.” I saw Salvatore and Leo both smoking cigars in front of the villa, staring at us in the vehicle.
“I’m just down the way if you need me.” He moved his hand to my thigh over the center console because he could easily reach it with his long arm. Then he leaned in and gave me a quick kiss. “Love you.”
It was the first time he’d said it to me as a goodbye, the first time we’d exchanged it the way long-term couples did, like the words were merely an afterthought because we’d loved each other forso long. “Love you.” I left his touch and got out of the vehicle, walking around to the front of the house.
Wolfe turned the car around and left the winery, a cloud of dust left behind because the soil was so dry in the summer heat.
I walked toward the house and ignored the way Salvatore and my brother stared at me. Judging by the way he didn’t say a word to me, Leo was on my father’s side about Wolfe.
I headed into the house and felt like an outcast even though I’d been gone for just a week. Whenever I crossed paths with people I used to see every single day, they weren’t sure how to react to me. Even the kitchen staff was hesitant to say hello to me. The men who guarded the bottom of the stairs barely gave me a nod in acknowledgment.
The villa was still under reconstruction, but it seemed like a lot of the work had been completed in the time I’d been away. I made it to the third floor and walked down the hallway, seeing the light coming from the open doors, stretching across the floor and onto the runner rug in the center.
Once I was outside my father’s office, my heart rate picked up significantly. He was the one person I shouldn’t be nervous to see, but he was currently the person who made me the most uneasy. Our last conversation had wounded me with a dozen bullets of emotional destruction. I wasn’t ready for this. I could stand out here for days, and I would never be ready for it.
But I inhaled a deep breath that inflated my lungs and straightened my spine before I rounded the corner and walked into his office. My expression was hard and unreadable, and my eyes were sharp as knives.
I wouldn’t take any bullshit.
I strutted into that room, and my eyes immediately locked on my father’s. Someone must have texted him when the Range Rover approached the gate because he was already seated in his armchair when I entered. His eyes immediately moved to mine.
I went to the armchair across from him and took a seat. I crossed my legs and sat up with a perfectly straight back. I folded my hands in my lap, and I looked at him like this was a business meeting—because it sure felt like one.
He was slouched in the armchair, wearing a brown blazer over a collared white shirt and black jeans. His dark hair had a slight curl to it, and his jawline was shadowed with the growth of an incoming beard. His eyes were dark like my brother’s, steaming espresso. After he stared at me for a bit, he straightened and moved to the edge of the chair. “Thank you for coming.”
I didn’t move even the slightest bit. I had been emotionally provoked when he’d reached out to me, but after I’d replayed our last conversation in my head, I was just furious. Not because he took my job away, but because he tried to manipulate me into behaving the way he wanted. Because he didn’t accept the man I loved.
He continued to look at me.
I stared back, refusing to speak first.
After what felt like a lifetime, he gave a quiet sigh. “I’ve given this a lot of thought over the past week, and I realize I behaved irrationally. The last thing I want is to destroy the most important relationship in my life. You’re more than my daughter, but my right-hand man in this business. I was arrogant to believe I could continue on without you.” He metmy gaze head on, his eyes vulnerable, rather than hostile and guarded like they’d been before. “I fully admit my error.”
I hadn’t expected his opening statement to be so apologetic. I tried to keep my face composed and not react to his vulnerability, because I was still mad.My father was the type of man that didn’t apologize, so the fact that he had was a major act of humility on his part. But it would take more than that for me to bury the hatchet.
“I would like you to come back and oversee operations once again.”
“You have Leo.”
“And we both know he’s an idiot.”
“No, he’s not,” I snapped, thinking about the way he’d sobbed at the sight of me, the way he’d held me and had shaken because he was so worried about me. It was a touching moment we’d shared, and I would never forget it. So I felt defensive, even if he clearly sided with my father about Wolfe. “He has his strengths, and I have mine.”
He rubbed his hands together absent-mindedly, his eyes moving elsewhere before they came back to me. “I want you to come back, Frankie. This is a family business, and I want it to stay that way.”
“I appreciate your apology, but you haven’t addressed the reason this falling-out happened in the first place. And until that’s resolved, I can’t return to my position.”
He stared at me, his eyes slightly hardening as the seconds passed.
“I have to decline because our circumstances haven’t changed.” My tone shifted, containing a surge of pride for the man I loved. “I’m going to marry Wolfe. He’s my family, and if you don’t accept my family, then I don’t want to be a part of yours.”
His visage remained glued in place, but he did swallow.
“Those are my terms. Accept them or don’t.”
