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She could also see a mess of curly hair.
Matteo Frenzi.
She couldn’t tell what he was doing, but one thing was clear—he wasn’t where he said he’d been.
Actually, he hadn’t known where he’d been. Or that was the story. His words cycled through her head:
The last thing I remember is touching down in Lyon, and one of the guys getting me in a headlock, telling me he was going to get me laid. Next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor of the conference room in a pile of vomit. I think it was my own.
He hadn’t been passed out, sleeping it off. In this picture, he was clearly upright.
She scrolled to the next photo, and there was an even better shot of him. Here, she could see his face. He was facing Erin, a charming smile on his face, as if he was trying his luck with her.
He wasn’t passed out.
He wasn’t sleeping in a pile of his own vomit.
Not even close.
In fact, he was right by the blender. Hadn’t he said he didn’t know where any of that stuff was?That’s what stewardesses are for,he’d said.
Spoken like a true privileged jerk.
Her mind started to reel as something came to her.Matteowasn’t the privileged one, born into money. That was Dorry. No, Matteo had grown up poor. Goldie had bought him a meal, and they’d hired him to teach Franklin Italian. He was used to doing things for himself. So had he said that he never prepared his own drinks because he’d wanted to convince her he’d never been anywhere near the prep area . . . when he clearly had?
Grabbing her own phone, she typed “Matteo Frenzi” into the search bar.
Hundreds of articles appeared, with pictures of Matteo and Franklin standing, arm-in-arm.TATE’S WONDER KID,an article from a leading business journal claimed.
But once she got past the more high-profile articles, she came to one with quite a different tone, from just two weeks earlier:
New York-based law firm Brandt and Brandt has launched an investigation against crypto mining company Frenzi LTD over claims that its leadership had been involved in securities fraud and activities that negatively affected its stock price.
In a press release Monday, the firm said it is acting on behalf of the company’s investors concerned that “Certain directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.”
“I assure you that these allegations are false,” CEO Matteo Frenzi said.
Frenzi, LTD, one of the industry's largest crypto miners, today announced that it has filed for bankruptcy.
Matteo was not only in financial trouble, like his mentor, but he was in legal trouble. And something like that had probably come about because the protégé had taken bad advice.
She sat up straight in alarm. That was it.
Arlo’s voice was piped into her ears. “Everything okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah, but can you get this plane to go any faster? I have an idea, and I need to check it out.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
The sun was sinking in the sky by the time Daisy reached that little boat house where Matteo Frenzi lived.
He was lying in the exact same position she’d left him—on that lounge chair, overlooking the sea. There were a few more beer bottles littering the ground around him, and his head lolled on his shoulder. Despite the fact that the sun had already disappeared beyond the hills, he was still wearing sunglasses. Slumped on the chair with his heavy stubble, in nothing but a pair of jeans rolled up almost to the knees, he looked like an island castaway.
She came up close to him and stood at his bare feet. “Why did you lie to me?”
He stirred, dropping his sunglasses, one eye cocked at her. “Lady detective, again. Hello, beautiful.”
Maybe he thought he could charm her, like he’d been trying with the flight attendant. It wasn’t going to work. “Are you going to answer my question?”
