GIANNI
“I wouldn’t mind going through the motions, if I didn’t know it’s a waste of time,” I grumble on my way through the large glass doors of the lawyer’s office. It’s no surprise to find so many associates working at this hour of the night, chugging lattes and energy drinks at nearly nine o’clock. Roger and I wait at the front desk while he texts Bob to let him know we’re here. The receptionist has gone home, I assume.
“Do you think she’s here yet?” Roger mutters, now changed from the dark clothes he wore only an hour ago into a suit that’s slightly more in line with a visit of this nature. Nobody would ever know he’s fresh off a home invasion.
Another reason to hate my ex with all of me: I want to be home, watching the feed from Caterina’s room, not arriving at my lawyer’s office for a late–night meeting I’m sure will get us absolutely nowhere.
“Of course she isn’t,” I mutter in reply, lifting a hand when I see Bob striding our way past a row of offices. “It was her great idea to have the meeting this late, to begin with. Now she’s going to make sure we wait even longer for her to show up. This is her MO. If the ball isn’t in her court, then she steals it.”
At times like this, it’s damn near impossible to remember what I ever saw in her. Aside from her looks and her body, what was it? What made me stick around after we fucked and before Tatiana came along? Why the fuck did I marry her? What made me believe there could be something real?
It was a turn–on. I had never met a woman like her before. She wasn’t satisfied with simply taking my money and leeching off my success. She wanted that success for herself, for both of us. She drove me to be bigger and better than I was, the poor kid whose father still lived and worked in a tiny go–nowhere townL
In some ways, I have her to thank for what I’ve accomplished, because she encouraged me. Her cutthroat attitude helped guide me to where I am today. I know now there was no love behind that encouragement, no genuine desire for me to be better since she knew I was capable of big things. She wanted it for herself, was all, and spotted a willing tool already on his way up in the ranko
We were supposed to build an empire together. For us. A life, a family, a legacy.
Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t leave well enough alone.
Just like then, tonight is yet another act of manipulation. Bob winces when he reaches us, shaking ou Is. “Sorry we couldn’t talk her down to an earlier meeting time,” he offers. Amazing to think of a time when I didn’t know this man. Amazing to remember believing innocent, naïve as I was–that our relationship would be a short one.
“I’ve learned to expect the worst from her,” I assure him. “I know you did your best.”
He looks visibly relieved at my acceptance. I guess working for a known arms dealer with a violent reputation could give a guy an ulcer or two. “Can I offer either of you something to drink?” he asks, leading us back to the conference room. “Amalia and her team are also running a few minutes late.” Roger and 1 exchange a knowing look behind him.
“Did any of her team give you an idea of what she feels is so important that we have to get together at nine o’clock on a Wednesday night?” Roger asks, his eyes sweeping the conference room. An act of habit, making sure everything’s safe. I doubt there are many safer places we could be, yet that doesn’t stop him from surveying the room, then sweeping his gaze over the buildings on the other side of the windows lining one wall. Bob frowns when Roger begins lowering the shades, although he offers no argument.
“No, only that she felt it was imperative to meet.” He offers me a pained, sympathetic look. “Of course, the hope is she’s come around.”
Yeah. And I still hope Santa Claus will come down the chimney, butit
Inever happen.
It’s five past nine when a team of men in suits come marching toward the glass–walled room, and in the center of the cluster is none other than the venomous snake I made the mistake of marrying at a young age, too stupid to know better. She’s sleek, polished, like she just stepped out of a salon. Her blond hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, and her stiletto heels click smartly against the floor when she strides into the room. She’s wearing a red business suit, so all the attention is drawn to her.
‘Please, have a seat,” Bob invites, and I watch with little amusement as the six–person team arranges themselves on the opposite side of the long, shining table in the center of the room. He offers them drinks and a few accept bottled water.
Amalia merely shakes her head, too busy giving me a look I know very well. Smug, almost playful. She’s fighting back a smile. The best I can do is show no effect at all. She wants to get a rise out of me like the child she is.
One
ne of her lawyers clears his throat, looking up and down the table like he’s making sure his team’s ready to begin. “Mr. Rosselli.”
A single glance at Bob shuts that down. “You’ll be addressing me,” he informs her team. “I speak for Mr. Rossetti.”
Amalia arches an eyebrow. “Did you lose your voice?” she murmurs. “Must be all the screaming you did when I visited you at home over the weekend.”
Bob sits up a little straighter. “Did we or did we not agree that neither party would trespass on the other’s property without advance warning to the legal team? If so, I didn’t hear anything about this.”
The stupid bitch. Her face falls when she realizes the trap she stepped in, though she quickly recovers. “I was worried about my daughter.”
“Then why do you imply Mr. Rossetti would have any reason to scream at you?” Bob counters. “Miss Rossetti lives in her own wing of the house. There was no reason for you to interfere with Me Rossetti.‘
Her cheeks grow redder with every second that ticks by. Roger, who is seated at my left, snorts softly. I don’t. The most powerful weapon I have in my arsenal is a blank face. That gets to her better than any screaming or threatening can ever do. A typical bully, unable to deal with being ignored. The second she gets you to react emotionally, she has you trapped.
“Our client has reason to believe her husband is more motivated to come to a final agreement,” another of her lawyers announces. “And if that’s the case, it’s time to get serious. We’ve drawn up a new request for a settlement, plus increased monthly alimony payments until such time as Mrs. Rossetti remarries.”
“Absolutely not,” Bob replies without bothering to skim at the papers the lawyer slides his way. “There will be no alimony payments beyond what the judge sees fit to award, and the settlement Mr. Rossetti offered back when the divorce proceedings were in their early stages is more than generous. There are also several investments that Mr. Rossetti is prepared to sign over, as well as the house in Vail. That was the final offer yesterday and will remain the final offer today. The change is for it to decrease, not increase.”
way that offer will
I don’t blink, smile, or snarl I stare blankly across the table at the woman I once believed I loved Funny, I saw only what I wanted to see. Hell, her ambition was a turn–on. Right up there with her tits, legs, and those lips that had the power of a hoover vacuum. I had no idea how thin the line between ambition and ruthlessness could be, but I knew now.
“If Mrs. Rossetti is interested in more money,” Bob continues, “she can always sell the Vail property once it has been signed over to her. She can also cash out the investments, though that would be a mistake akin to killing the golden goose. Nonetheless, she is a grown woman and can decide as she sees fit.
The lawyers exchange book’s. “Then there is no agreement,” one lawyer murmurs, glancing at Amalia for verification. She’s seething. Her carefully constructed façade is on the verge of collapse. It’s all a mask. Each piece is placed strategically. Nothing
.
about her is genuine; she’s only an endless pit of misery and emptiness. Dark, screaming emptiness.
I know that now. I know what it means to be with a woman who possesses a soul. One with genuine warmth and kindness, who gives a shit about the people in her life. Tatiana, her father–hell, even Luciano. She even wanted to protect him after he ran her down. She showed more compassion in one single moment than Amalia has in her entire lite
After the woman seated across from me twisted him around her finger and put ideas in his head. She’ll never admit it, but she doesn’t have to. The flash of guilt on her face when I initially accused her back in my bedroom told me the entire story. Like a child caught doing what they were so sure nobody else was aware of
It’s low even for her. It’s not typical for her to do the dirty work. She twisted me up, pushed me to claim more power all for her own endless materialistic needs, then discarded ine for other med once it was clear I was over being manipulated. Now, she has this team of clueless assholes doing the dirty work of fighting for more than she deserves.
“You’re this determined to screw me over?” Her voice drips with declining without even reading what my lawyers have put together
“You’re this determined to screw me over?” Her voice drips with disbelief while she shakes her head slowly. “Are you seriously declining without even reading what my lawyers have put together? To be so stingy and vicious. It doesn’t fit you, Gianni.”
My jaw aches, I’m clenching it so hard. I want to tell her she does move me. Doesn’t have the first else, but even so nothing t say to her will matter.
Me
ar
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Bob lets out a bubble of laughter, yet he’s a lot gentler about it that would be “If you consider the millions offered you as an example of stinginres, it’s clear toner como a final agreement. Mrs Betal, I’ve been marital disputes and divorce agreements for thirty years, and we had a clear odlingly offer och a group
1’ve of their net worth. Mr. Tineertti hai Het naine
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inchine “So I won’t get another red penny” She felt her arms or her chest, aching bone “Netangler starts ter head to the side, examining me “I thought were mettested taghter diamees befunt her other has the power to raise my backdes Fran’t give her the explosions se to stably wants Especially in front of sy “You shouldn’t” one of her lawyers cautions, but the dismiter chim because she’s always ignored common sense “Aren’t you in a hurry to get me to sign the papers?” the contin
batting her eyelashes at me Like that we fucking core
to break “Wouldn’s It make sense for you to be free, at least legale That way, you can move on with your e
Roger sits up a little straighter, but a soft grow from me keeps himquiet. She’s at a high simmer now, outing The longer I sit here, refusing to react, the greater her rage che sheer herself in the foot the war the bons drom’s only a matter of time.
, stay
“It would be wise of both of you to come to an understanding, so can both be free, Bob points out in a fi veri losing control of the situation and he knows it.
“Mrs. Rossetti played a large part in Mr. Rossetti’s success, one of her tram prints out. “She only wishes to–be compensated
for that ”
“Mrs. Rossetti Dived an extremely comfortable life while Irving beneath her husband’s root,” Bo counters, all appearances, lives very comfortably now. Mr. Rossetti filed for der when evidence of his wife’s warious indidest ten ver uncovered–it it wasn’t for that, we might not be sitting here now
|
He checkes his watch, sighing “And we’re wasting time Eather shes the papers as they stand
already been offered
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about her. And you don’t have the first fucking clue what we are or aren’t. But then again, how would you?” I demand, and Roger grips me by the shoulders, pulling me back before I climb over the table and wring her neck until the light leaves her eyes for good. “You don’t understand anything beyond your fucking bank balance. And if you think I won’t find a way to make you pay for what you’ve done to me, and Tatiana, you’re out of your fucking mind.”
“Boss, that’s enough,” Roger warns and pulls me away from the table. He backs me up to the window, placing himself between me and the evil bitch still glaring at me.
Fuck. I’m not proud of that. All the fighting against playing into her hand, and I did it anyway. She got the reaction she wanted
out of me.
“I promise you,” I warn, straightening my suit as I sidestep Roper to look her in the eye. “You will get exactly what’s coming to you and then some. All of the shit you’ve put in place will come back and bite you in the ass, and I can only hope I’m there to see it happen.”
“Is that a threat?” she asks in a sickeningly sweet voice, “Because we are in a room full of lawyers, and it’s not exactly the best time to threaten me.”
1 grant her a smile that makes her breath catch. The smile people see before they realize they’ve pushed me too far and there’s no going back. “Not a threat, sweetheart. A promise. You’re playing with fire, and we all know what happens to people who do
that.”
We‘
We’d better call an end to this.” Bob wastes no time gathering everybody and ushering them out of the conference room. Amalia glares at me, almost pouting as she leaves. Almost like she believed she would have gotten somewhere tonight. Like the mention of Caterina would inspire me to sign on the dotted line.
She never was one for subtlety.
Roger blows out a heavy sigh once we’re alone, with Bob showing everyone else to the door. “So much for playing it cool.”
“Was I supposed to sit idly and let her insult Caterina that way? I don’t give a shit what Amalia thinks about me. She does not disrespect the woman I-
He lifts his brows yet says nothing, only waiting by the door for me to cool down and give the other tean. building before we go. I wouldn’t trust myself to do the right thing if I had to set eyes on her again this evening.
to clear out of the
I never imagined blowing up the way I did. It isn’t me, especially not when there’s so much at stake. Not in front of a half–dozen lawyers. Specifically not when it was so clearly what she wanted. None of those things matter, in any case. When it comes to Caterina, all bets are off. There’s no predicting what I will or won’t be able to endure when she’s involved.
The thought of her unravels a deep unsatisfied need. It’s only been a couple of hours since I saw her outside Charles’s dump, but it might as well be a lifetime. I crave her, burn with the need to possess her. Only I can’t. I can’t do anything, not while she’s there.
“Let’s go,” I decide, already crossing the room. “I have things to do at home.”
Like watching her. I need to see her, to hear her, to exist even on the fringes of her world because it’s better than enduring the emptiness of being without her.
That’s all I have to go on. It won’t be this way forever. Caterina will be mine again in due time. I just have to devise a plan to get her back.
And I think I know the perfect place to start.
“I know that look.” Roger’s voice drips disapproval as we step out of the elevator in the parking garage. “You’re plotting something”
“And if I am?” I counter. “I pay you to make things happen, not to judge
“Just promise one thing” He comes to a stop at the driver’s side door, throwing me a fatigued look over the toot of the car. Promise I won’t have to break into a girl’s bedroom again.
“This time, I’ll be working solo,” I assure him before climbing in
Don’t worry, Caterina. We’ll be together again soon.
