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“I’m going to be based in London, ongoing.”
“But you manage our Rome operations.”
“Enrico’s been my right hand for three years. He can slide into my role easily enough, and I’ll still be coming back for weekly dinners – I can come to Villa Fortune via the Rome office. This is going to be fine.”
“But London? You don’t even like London.”
Luca’s grin was wry. “No, not particularly.”
“So why –?”
He thought of Bronte and clarity sharpened in his mind. She was back with Ashton, but that didn’t matter. This wasn’t about needing to be with her romantically, it was just about needing to be in her life, in some capacity. Ashton was probably a safer bet for Bronte, anyway. It meant Luca wouldn’t hurt her anymore, but he could still see her. Speak to her. Hear her laugh. It wasn’t everything he wanted but it was better than nothing.
“I realised it’s the only place I can be.”
She listened as Alex – her temporary replacement – ran through the items she’d missed, leaving, perhaps the most important detail to last. “And of course Mr Montebello is here, but you know that already.”
Her fingers trembled. “Which Mr Montebello?” There were six after all. Statistically, it was far more likely it was anyone other than Luca.
“Luca,” Alex confounded that thought, shifting the papers into a neat stack and placing them on the corner of her desk. “Didn’t he contact you?”
Her stomach rolled; she shook her head. “Why would he?”
“Oh, he went tearing out of here when he heard about your dad. How is he, by the way?”
Impatience was screeching through her ears. “Fine. But you were saying?”
Alex pulled a face. “He just came in and shouted at me to send him everything I could on your dad’s accident. I presumed he came to the hospital?”
Bronte blinked slowly. “I – no.”
“Oh. Strange. Anyway, not to worry. He’s here now, if you need to see him.”
Bronte’s head jerked towards his door, her pulse going into overdrive. “Why?”
“Mmm,” Alex rifled through the papers and withdrew one – an email that had been printed out. “Company restructure, apparently.”
Bronte took the piece of paper with fingertips that were trembling, her eyes struggling to focus as she read the text.
From: Personnel
Re: Company structure – important changes
Effective immediately, Luca Montebello will be based in the London office. His vacancy in Rome will be filled by Enrico Di Amato, in the interim, while Rafaello Montebello continues his recovery. Fiero Montebello will ensure a smooth transition on the ground in Rome.
Bronte had to read it three times before it sunk in. Luca was going to be based here? In London?
“I guess it makes sense, with the Watney Group deal going ahead. There’s a lot of staff to absorb, and that’s going to require hands-on management.”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“Anyway, I’ll get back downstairs. Thanks for the loan of your desk.” He looked towards the window. “I like it up here.”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Okay, thanks, bye.”
Her equilibrium hadn’t fully returned when, half an hour later, she decided to get the information straight from the horse’s mouth. She’d driven herself batty trying to fathom exactly what had led to this – why in the world he would have decided to base himself in London. Perhaps it was just the Watney Group, like Alex had said, but even then, it didn’t make sense. There were other executives who could manage the transition. Heck, The Watney Group had their own CEO and board of directors in place.
But this wasn’t about her. It couldn’t be. She’d got her hopes up once and she refused to do that again. He’d made his feelings perfectly clear.
