AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A knock cut through the memory of Amelia’s edict and he returned to the seat behind his desk, hiding the near constant state of arousal he’d been in since he and Amelia Seymore had returned from the successful deal in Hong Kong six weeks ago.
‘Come.’
His secretary entered the room two strides and stopped, having learned quickly that he liked his space.
‘There are no changes to the schedule for today. Asimov has checked into his hotel and he and his people will be here for the eleven a.m. briefing. Lunch is booked at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester and Gianni called to say, “Don’t mess it up.”’
‘He said “mess”?’ Alessandro queried.
‘I’m paraphrasing.’
Alessandro held back the smirk at what his cousin would have really said. Raised as close as brothers, their knowledge of each other’s thoughts was only one of the reasons for their immense success.
‘And the nine a.m. meeting?’ he asked his secretary.
‘The room is set up, the audio and visuals have been tested by IT, Ms Seymore is already in the room and has given me a spare presentation pack for you to view now, if you’d like.’
‘That won’t be necessary.’
And it really wouldn’t. If Amelia Seymore said that she’d do something, she did it. She assessed projects, met with clients, ran projections, assessed workflows and got it done. She was nearly as exacting as himself. Which was why he’d entrusted the Aurora project to her. Not because they had shared one utterly incendiary and completely forbidden night together, but because she was excellent at her job, always early, always correct and always had the right answer. She could have been made purposefully for him.
‘Sir?’
If only she didn’t distract him in ways that no other person had ever done.
‘Repeat the question?’ he forced himself to ask, as distasteful as he found it.
‘Would you like your coffee in here, or down at the meeting?’
‘Here.’ Clearly, he needed to gather himself.
As members of her team filtered into the glass-walled meeting room, Amelia lined up the presentation packs with the notebooks and pens she’d asked Housekeeping to provide. Alessandro was particular, he liked things neat and exact.
And he’d liked the way she’d sounded when—
Red slashes heated her cheeks and a light sweat broke out across her shoulders. She slammed the door shut on her memories, trying to ground herself in the moment. Stepping back from the large boardroom table, she caught sight of the sketch of the building that might have changed the face of inner-city apartment living across the world, had the Rossi cousins not built their empire on the back of her father’s broken soul. Really, Alessandro and Gianni had brought this on themselves.
For ten yearsthiswas what she and Issy had planned for. The stars had aligned in a way that had seemed almost preordained. After two years of project after project, Amelia’s position within RI was unquestionable. And because of that, the most important project the Rossis had ever undertaken was in her hands, just as Gianni’s annual holiday broached the horizon. Everyone knew that together Alessandro and Gianni were undefeatable. But separated? It was the only time there was a chink in their legendary armour. A chink that Amelia and her sister would use to bring them to their knees.
Issy had spent years turning herself into the perfect distraction for the legendary playboy with his own hashtag #TheHotRossi. Yesterday, an Issy styled perfectly to Gianni’s tastes had flown to the Caribbean with the sole purpose of luring him onto a boat and keeping him away from Alessandro while the final decision on Aurora deal was made. And with Gianni safely out of contact, Amelia could now commit the greatest act of industrial sabotage ever recorded, ensuring that the Rossis’ world was left as obliterated as hers and her sister’s had been.
We’re doing the right thing, aren’t we?
The question Issy had asked before she left for the airport yesterday had poked and prodded at Amelia’s conscience. Not because Amelia didn’t absolutely know that they were doing the right thing, because shedid. But in order to set their plan in motion, she had been forced to lie to her sister. Something she’d never thought she’d ever do.
Years before, when they had first started their quest for vengeance, they had made a pact.No revenge without proof of corruption.From even the beginning they had refused to become the very monsters they hunted. And, of course, Amelia had agreed. Because therewouldbe a paper trail. Therewouldbe evidence of countless corrupt deals and ruined businesses Alessandro and Gianni had left in their wake on their journey to becoming a globally recognised name in property development. But in two years she’d found...nothing. Nothing other than what had been done to their father.
Panic had begun to nip at her heels. What if she could never give Issy the justice she’d promised her? What if everything they’d sacrificed to achieve their revenge was for nothing? While normal teenage girls had been going to parties and clubs, Issy and Amelia Seymore had planned and plotted. Amelia had forced herself through every business course and language module possible to make herself the perfect future employee for Rossi Industries. And her sister? Issy had trawled through the online world, researching every inch of their enemies’ lives. No corporate press release, business deal, tweet or social media post was left unseen. They had spentyearson their mission, forsaking so much of their teenage and young adult years.
But then had come the business trip to Hong Kong; her third major project with Rossi Industries and one she and her team had invested months of work on. Alessandro wasn’t supposed to have flown out for the meeting himself. It was highly unusual, but she hadn’t let it put her off her stride. She’d nailed the presentation, and the strong relationship she’d built with the client had earned them not only the commission but a personal invitation for her and Alessandro to dine with Kai Choi. It would have been a grave insult to refuse, so while her team members had returned to London, she and Alessandro had remained in Hong Kong.
Even now she was shocked by how thrilled she’d been to land the deal. Amelia’s job was supposed to be a ruse. A means to an end. But instead, the dizzying excitement she’d felt had been reflected in the eyes of the very man whose opinion should matter least. Eyes that had turned excitement into heat after holding her gaze for just a little too long. Her heart jerked in her chest, as if it were tied to the memory of the moment that the line between them had been shattered.
A shattering that had forced her to do something she had never intended. She couldn’t wait to find proof any more. The guilt, tension, thedesireshe still felt for a man who had destroyed her family was pulling her apart from the inside, spinning her further away from the control that she was known for. Amelia’s plans were beginning to unravel, her command of the situation slipping from her fingers like sand.
So, she had done the unthinkable.
Amelia had told her sister that she’d found proof of their corruption and, in doing so, set in motion the takedown of the Rossi cousins. It was a lie that would take Issy’s trust—the beautiful, delicate but utterly unbreakable thing that it was—and break it. Amelia had betrayed the one person who had been her constant companion since the death of their father and the emotional and physical retreat of their mother. Issy, who was bright and lovely and always, unfailingly,good. Just the thought of it chipped away at the crack that had formed in her heart, even as she told herself that she had done it for the right reason. The Rossisneededpunishing.
