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“Sure. So, when are you planning the wedding for? Only I should probably order a maid of honor dress now.”
“I hate you.”
She sticks her tongue out. “I’m sorry. Look, I’m happy for you. I think it’s great that you clicked with someone at last.”
“Yeah, lucky me for clicking with a man who’s got no interest in me whatsover.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Come on, look at me.”
“You’re a hottie, Fee. You might hate yourself but I’ll let you in on a little secret.” She lowers her voice to a joke whisper. “All women hate themselves. It’s as common as politicians lying. But trust me, you’re more appealing than you think you are.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“He came to see you in the library, didn’t need to do that. He got his driver to take you home last time you saw him. He didn’t need to do that. He gave you a whopping great check. And now he’s offering me an office for rent in order to impress you. Do you think he’d do all that if he didn’t like you?”
“Maybe he’s just being nice.”
“I told you his reputation. He doesn’t do nice to anyone but he did it to you. He likes you.” She smiles. “I better check the average prices for the area, make sure I’m ready with my offer.”
“You do that. I’ll sit here and pine wistfully for my lost love while looking plaintively out the window.”
“With much sorrow and a violin soundtrack playing in the background?”
“Good plan.”
She gets her phone out and starts typing on the screen. I stare out at the city whizzing by and think about what she just said. Could he like me? Is that possible?
I glance at the other commuters packed into the train. The men in here, I look at them, and I feel nothing at all. So different to when I’m with him.
She’s right. I’ve never had an interest in men before. I don’t know why. I guess none of them ever really appealed to me. But with him? It’s a very different feeling I get when I look at him. When he appeared in the library it was all I could do to resist jumping across the table and throwing myself into his arms, beg him to make my dream a reality.
I smile as I imagine his shocked reaction. I doubt it would have ended how my dream did this morning.
I distract myself by reading up about him on my phone. I can’t find out much. He’s a businessman, very successful. Stripping assets from other firms and not giving a shit about the human cost, the unemployment it causes. Just taking the profits for himself.
His life seems to consist of boardroom meetings and acquisitions. Nothing to suggest why his employees looked so petrified of him when they were thrown out of that room in the Felici Building. Cathy thinks they were frightened of losing their jobs. In this economy, maybe she’s right.
But there’s something about him that I can’t put my finger on though. An undercurrent of something darker than just business. Like his driver knowing my address or him finding out I was in the library. Something is going on. I just wish I knew what it was.
Maybe this is going to be my chance to find out.
More likely, I shouldn’t want to find out. Once Pandora’s box is opened, it can’t be closed again.
I scroll through the most recent article I can find. Vincenzo Felici under investigation by the FBI. Head of Felici Inc. suspected of money laundering and insider trading.
There’s a lot of terms I don’t understand in the article but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. No arrests have been made. No charges have stuck. A whole lot of smoke and mirrors, according to the journalist.
The only other thing I was able to find out about him is he has a brother called Michael, two years older than him. Also a father, Rafael, back in Italy. No mention of a mother. No partner, no wife, no kids. From what I can work out, his entire life revolves around work.
No personal life, that I can establish. Multiple properties and multiple businesses in different cities and countries. Nothing at all of a personal life beyond occasional charity benefits and summer parties.
I feel sorry for him. He might be rich but his life seems empty. Rattling around enormous mansions, no one to share them with.
Maybe that’s why he wants to help me. Something for him to do that isn’t work.
I get interrupted in my thoughts when we reach our stop. It’s only a ten minute walk from here to his building and we make it with five minutes to spare.
