Page 15 of The Art of Ruin

“She’s four.”

“She’s a Mancini.”

Nico makes a sound that might be a laugh.

I sit, pick up the next file, and put Letty’s voice where it belongs.

Somewhere safe. Somewhere I can reach it later.

The rest of the afternoon moves cleanly.

Meetings. Calls. Signatures. A quiet correction to a contract clause that would have cost us six figures if left untouched.

No one thanks me for that, and I don’t need it. If they noticed everything I prevent, I wouldn’t be doing it properly.

At five-thirty, I close the final file.

Matteo is still talking.

I stand.

He stops mid-sentence. “You leaving?”

“It’s six.”

“So?”

“So I’m leaving to eat dinner with my daughter.”

Nico doesn’t comment. He knows how it is to want to be with someone else. Only his is his wife; mine is my daughter.

Matteo watches me button my jacket. “One day she’s going to realize you’re the easiest man in the world to control.”

“She already knows.”

I pick up my phone and keys.

By now, Letty will be at the table, pens pushed to one side but not put away. One cap missing. Possibly two.

Something will be on the stove. I told Elena not to cook for us as she’s there for Letty, not to run around after me, but she said she wanted to. Letty will likely be interrupting her every other word. She always talks over people when she’s tired. Luckily, Elena Romano and my daughter have formed a solid bond, and I’m grateful for it. If it were up to me, I’d hire her full time. But Isabella would have my balls for dragging her mother out of retirement, and so would Rossi, our head of security and Elena’s newman friend,as she calls him.

I’ll roll my sleeves up again when I get home.

For now, they stay buttoned.

2.Casey

It’s beena week since my world imploded. A week since my heart was shattered, and I still feel numb. I cried my heart out to my best friend, who turned up at the hotel she’d booked for me within an hour of my checking in, armed with ice cream, wine, chocolate, and hugs.

I hadn’t planned on telling her. The humiliation was still too raw. But the moment she wrapped her arms around me, everything spilled out.

My darling friend somehow managed to turn my tears into laughter when she offered to have Nico pay him a visit and break his legs. I think she was joking, but honestly, I’m not even sure.

Either way, it worked.

I felt less alone.

Declining had been easy, even if I’d played out the twisted revenge in my head and enjoyed seeing him squirm.