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‘For remembering I’m not big on meat.’ Gosh it was good to relax and eat her favourite dish from home. ‘I’ll eat whatever comes tomorrow, of course...’
‘It’s a restaurant.’
‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘Just dinner.’
‘I’m having breakfast with my father on Sunday, but he knows what’s coming—that I’m going to walk away. I’ve given him ten years, Alicia. And they’re hardly lambs to the slaughter. My father, if you can call him that, played me.’
‘How?’ She shook her head, because from where she sat, from every vantage point of her life, no one had ever played Dante.
‘He caught me off guard.’
‘You areneveroff guard.’
‘Well, I was.’ He looked at her. ‘And he exploited it. The proverbial long-lost son whom he’d share his wealth with, bringing me on board with his business...’
‘That sounds like a father to me.’
‘You know what charisma is?’
‘Of course,’ Alicia said. She was sitting opposite it.
‘My father has it in spades. He can close a deal, charm the birds... My mother had it too. When she smiled every man thought she was his—at least for his allotted time.’
‘You got a double dose?’
‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘but it’s not just an inherited skill, Alicia, you have to hone it. Matteo, who you just met, has none. He has been pampered and spoiled all his life. Nice guy—just no drive because he’s never needed it. However, my father is not a miracle-worker, and if he knew if he wanted to keep his empire going he needed...’
‘You?’
Dante nodded. ‘I don’t like how he goes about his business. Shady, sleazy... But I don’t scratch anyone’s back—’ Dante halted, perhaps recalling the time he had scratched hers. ‘He has a lot of international backers, and when they’re in Europe they want to be entertained. He was starting to struggle. He couldn’t be everywhere. Matteo would happily sit with his mineral water on his phone and then leave early, because he had a marathon or a cycling event he was training for. He was into racing cars for a while, but useless at that...’
‘Whereas you’re a showman?’
‘I’m sick of casinos and my father’s way of doing deals. All of this—’ he gestured to his home and the beauty beyond ‘—was correctly done. All my dealings are clean. And now I’m just stepping back. Devoting more time to you, my love...’ he mocked, and blew her a kiss. ‘Believe me, I’m being far nicer than I intended to be.’ He looked at the view. ‘They’re not getting their hands on this.’
‘Do they want it?’
‘They want the boutique hotel it could be. Still, the bedroom arrangements at present would suit my father and Giustina. I’ve never been able to figure out why she stays if she knows he cheated so regularly...’
‘Perhaps she has a lovers of her own.’
‘Giustina?’ He snorted. ‘Good luck to her, then.’ But he considered it for a moment. ‘You think?’
‘I’ve no idea.’ She shrugged. ‘But people always have their own reasons for staying, even if they’re not all on display...’
Shewas here after all. Sitting opposite him and pretending it was easy, that her heart could handle being exposed again to the ice of Dante.
‘I wonder who summoned who in the old days?’ Dante said.
‘The man would summon,’ Alicia said. ‘Women probably weren’t allowed to.’
‘Please...’ he refuted. ‘They were at it all the time in days of old...’
‘Really?’
‘They had none of our hang-ups and promises of one person for ever—perhaps I should have lived then.’
‘Perhaps,’ she said, gazing at the huge moon over the water.
