Page 4 of Winter With You

‘OK, stop, stop, Luca!’ Steffi said, her fierce expression thawing just a little. ‘You are getting too good at doing impersonations of Mom. Surprising, as you don’t see her that often.’

He nodded. ‘Yeah, OK, I’ll wear that.’

‘So, you’ll come to her birthday dinner?’

His sister wasn’t giving up. Would it kill him if he made an appearance? He could make it brief. Arrive late or leave early. He loved his mom, but sometimes when she looked at him, he could see the disappointment in her eyes, almost like she knew…

‘What time is the party?’

‘Eight. You know it’s always eight.’ He could see the joy in his sister’s expression like it was already Christmas morning and she had opened up a gift of anarchy-related merchandise.

‘OK,’ he answered. ‘I will see if I⁠—’

Luca didn’t have time to finish the sentence before Steffi had wrapped him in a hug any bear would have been proud of executing.

‘So, who’s the client? A-lister? Someone who knows Oprah?’ Steffi asked, putting her arm through his and leading him down the street.

‘You know I can’t tell you,’ Luca replied. ‘It will be confidential until you can read about it in Harper’s Bazaar.’

‘But I can keep a secret,’ Steffi whispered. ‘I’m a Marcello.’ She lowered the volume of her voice even more. ‘I know where some of the bodies are buried.’

Luca swallowed, forcing a smile. ‘Yeah? Well, the only dark grounds I’m interested in right now are from coffee so let’s get to it.’

‘OK,’ Steffi said. ‘And bagels. Let’s have bagels.’

3

RIVER PARK TOWER, BATTERSEA, LONDON, UK

Gabriella sipped at her mineral water as she looked out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Here, she wasn’t quite in the thick of the city, it was more like she was floating above it. And, as the sky darkened, the lights got brighter, illuminating the slithering thick, grey ribbon that was the Thames. She took a breath, looking into the scene, and picked out a woman pushing a bicycle along the bank. Sarah. Thirty-two. Single. Reads whatever Heat magazine recommends. It was a game she used to play. Gabriella could still hear Lulu’s voice, like the thoughts in her own head belonged to her sister. She sighed and tried to hone in on the contents of her own mind. Gabriella Felix’s thinking was that all the real richness of life was down there, while the richest in life were apparently trapped up here.

The penthouse suite wasn’t her choosing. Her choosing had been a small two-bedroomed house in a vibrant area sandwiched between a building firm and a cemetery. It had been at the end of a cul-de-sac, next to greenery – admittedly also headstones – but there had been a homely feel inside its four walls right from the get-go. She felt it was what Phoebe needed, somewhere safe and warm and comforting. All the attributes the Felix family mansion didn’t contain. And Gabriella, as Phoebe’s legal guardian, should have the decision. However, her mother, Monica Felix, had insisted that what Phoebe needed was more space, light and a fridge that dispensed sparkling water and she had used her unique brand of emotional blackmail to ensure she got her way, waving her platinum bank card until the contract conclusion.

Phoebe slurped at her boba. ‘Sorry.’

Gabriella turned around from the window. ‘What are you saying sorry for?’

‘I slurped.’

‘So?’

‘Grandmama says it’s ugly to slurp.’

Of course her mother had said that. There were many things in the life of Monica Felix that she considered ‘ugly’. Basically, anything that gave other people joy. With that notion spurring her on, Gabriella put her glass to her mouth and made the loudest, most obnoxious noise she could make as she sucked up the water exactly how she imagined a dehydrated dragon might.

‘Argh!’ Phoebe said, putting her hands to her ears. ‘Sensory issues.’

Gabriella put her glass down on the marble dining table that was always cold even when the heating was Equator hot and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Sorry, Pheebs. But, how about we get all good and tasty sensory overload with sushi? We can order in and we can stream a terrible shark movie and⁠—’

‘I don’t know if I can go to New York with you.’

Phoebe got up from her position on the sofa then and stood stock still, arms hanging by her sides, seeming to be taken aback by her own words.

‘Phoebe,’ Gabriella said softly. ‘We talked about this. It’s a big opportunity to really capture the American audience.’

Phoebe nodded.

‘The book, it’s a bestseller there and the readers, they want to meet me and find out more and I put it off last year because⁠—’