15. QUINN
15
QUINN
Chet is Enzo?
The realization hits me like a ton of bricks, and heat rises to my cheeks as embarrassment floods through me.
I don't even dare looking up from the ground. My dad has just caught me making out with Enzo. All I want is for the earth to open up and swallow me whole.
"Michael, what are you doing here?" Enzo's gaze flicks over between me and my dad.
I don't think he's quite yet realized what's really happened.
"Dad... I.." I stammer, my voice barely above a whisper. "I had no idea.."
He puts his hand up to stop me, not meeting my gaze. He's turned red.
"Chet, a word, please."
Enzo's looking equally mortified now, as realization dawns upon him.
"Listen, I can explain everything." Enzo steps in between us.
I want to hide behind him, but somehow, that would make things even worse.
My dad has his fists clenched so tight his knuckles are white. "Outside. Now."
Enzo sighs and follows my dad out of the office.
It still doesn’t make any sense to me. All this time, Chet was Enzo?
I chide myself for not making the connection earlier.
Marchetti. My dad was always a joker with names, so he’d pick up on the spelling, even if the sound is different. Though it sounds like mar-Ket-ty, Enzo’s last name is spelled mar-Chet-ti. Chet.
But then again, how the hell could anyone have seen this coming?
I remember the stories my father used to tell me about his best friend from Italy. He always spoke so fondly of their time together, and I never once suspected that I’d run into him one day.
Chet was a perfect stranger, a man I'd never met but had heard about from my dad. It wasn't supposed to Enzo.
None of this was supposed to happen.
I can hear them arguing from behind the door. I don't think I've ever seen my dad get this angry before. It's one thing to catch your daughter with another man, but it's a whole different story when it’s your friend.
"Michael, you're blowing things out of proportion here..." Enzo tries to reason.
"Out of proportion? Do you really think there's nothing wrong with you taking advantage of my daughter like that?"
"It's not like that. She's an adult, and none of us could have ever predicted this in our wildest dreams."
"You didn't have to predict anything if you could have just kept your damn hands off of her," my dad fires back. "You should be ashamed of yourself. What if it was Luciana who'd done something like this instead?"
"Don't bring her into this...." Enzo’s voice sounds steely.
"You're damn right I will bring her into it. You lost the right to ask me that when you got involved with Quinn. How long has this been going on?"
I cannot take this anymore. I knew I should have stayed away from Enzo when he'd called me to talk. I'd managed to do that so well this last week, and yet... he'd broken my resolve.
Now look at what that has brought me to.
Without a second thought, I bolt for the door.
The two men stop arguing as I rush past them.
"I'm so sorry," I mumble, my voice choked with emotion, still not finding the courage to look either in the eye.
It's better for everyone if I just go.
"Quinn!" Enzo calls out after me.
But I don't stop, knowing dad won’t let him follow me outside.
As I reach the exit, a hand reaches out to steady me, and I find myself face to face with a pair of concerned brown eyes. "Are you okay?"
Alessio.
I open my mouth to reply, but the words catch in my throat.
He's staring at me, concerned. "Did something happen in there?"
"I... I need to go," I manage to say, my voice barely above a whisper.
Without waiting for a response, I turn and flee down the street, the sound of Alessio's concerned voice fading into the distance behind me.
As I reach my car, I fumble with the keys, my hands shaking with adrenaline. With one last glance over my shoulder, I slide into the driver's seat and peel away from the curb.
What the hell have I gotten myself into? What was supposed to be harmless bit of fun has transformed into my worst nightmare.
My thoughts whirl like a tornado of confusion and regret.
Enzo. My father's best friend. A man almost twice my age. There's no one who could have been a worse candidate to move on with, and yet I'm drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Knowing it'll end up in my own demise but risking it all for a moment of fleeting pleasure.
It isn't like the signs weren't there. Even if he wasn't my father's best friend, he is still trouble.
Silvano's warning rings through my head. He told me that Enzo isn't all that he seems.
What else do I not know about him? Do I even know him at all?
I reach the hotel room, getting the slightest bit of relief for being away from all the madness.
My phone is buzzing non-stop.
Enzo. Dad. Enzo. Enzo. Dad.
I never once pick up. I can’t face either of them right now, not after what just happened.
I need a distraction, and I turn to the only thing that I know will help.
My work.
It’s proven useful before to restore some semblance of calm when my world is falling apart. It might just help again now.
I open up laptop and turn to the pile of videos waiting to be edited.
But as I sift through the footage, frustration gnaws at me.
There he is again.
Enzo.
He’s in almost all of the videos I’ve taken. It’s like no matter how hard I try, there’s no escaping him.
It’s crazy how looking back, things were much simpler. Before shit hit the fan. The two of us laughing together, his handsome face showing annoyance when he realizes I have the camera on and then playing along anyway.
I shut my laptop, throwing it to the side.
That’s what I get for mixing business with pleasure. Even at work, I can’t escape the one thing I’m trying to run away from.
My phone begins to ping again. This time, notifications demanding my attention.
With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I check the comments on the video I last uploaded.
What a slut. I’ve heard she’s sleeping with the owner.
Social climbing her way to the top. Some people stop at nothing.
Ugh… what does he even see in her?
Some of my oldest followers are trying to defend me against the criticism, but the trolls don’t stop.
How do they even know about Enzo? No one knows we’re seeing each other. He’s done a great job at keeping that a secret.
As I continue to scroll, things take a turn for the worse. Several of the influencers are posting against Enzo.
At first, I think maybe someone had a bad experience with him. But the videos keep coming in.
It’s too organized to be just a bad experience. The entire thing is suspicious.
“What the hell has gotten into everyone?”
I watch some of the videos they posted. None has anything substantial to say, but they are all hinting toward some big secret.
The same thing Silvano had tried to suggest.
My blood boils as I put two and two together. This is an obvious smear campaign against Enzo.
Silvano tried that with me, too. But I didn’t give him a chance to talk for too long after I realized that he had an agenda.
Are the other influencers gullible enough to believe the ramblings of a drunk man?
I decide I want some more input on this whole thing, and track down Lilly, who’s lounging by the pool.
“Look who it is.” She looks up. “Little Miss Busy Bee.”
“I’m sorry for blowing you off these last few days,” I mutter. “I just got too caught up.”
Lilly holds my gaze for a moment, but then her expression softens.
“As long as you realized what you did.”
Lilly’s whole thing is living in the moment. Thankfully for me, that means she doesn’t like holding grudges.
“Have you seen what’s been going on online?” I sit down beside her.
“Not really. I’m on my week-long digital detox.”
“Some of the influencers are posting really… strange things about Enzo.”
She lowers her sunglasses. “Can I see? My phone is locked in my room upstairs.”
I nod, handing the phone over to her.
“This reads more like a conspiracy theory than it does the truth,” she comments. “Does Enzo know about this? What’s gotten into the other guys?”
“I have a feeling it has something to do with Silvano.” I bite down on my lip.
“That drunkard?” She groans. “Ugh, he was trying to talk to me the other day. I had to threaten to call security before he finally decided to leave.”
That gave me the confirmation I needed.
“Do you think he’s paying people? I mean, it doesn’t make sense otherwise for so many of them to turn on Enzo, especially since he’s been such a great host.”
Lilly shrugs, not invested in the matter like I was.
“Maybe. You know people will do almost anything for a cheque.”
Disgust fills me. What happened to having integrity?
Then again, a lot of influencers already use paid views and fake followers to boost their socials. Taking money from someone to spread lies isn’t that farfetched.
“Should we do anything about it?”
It’s more a question to myself than it is to Lilly.
“Do you really want to get involved in this mess?” Lilly asks. “The retreat is going to end soon enough anyway. I know I’m staying out of it. Drama isn’t good for my brand.”
“But it helps engagement.” I wink.
She laughs. “I think you and I both know that not all engagement is good engagement.”
She must have noticed the awful comments on my page, too.
“You’re right.” I sigh, getting up. “It’s best that I stay out of this.”
Enzo, Chet, whatever his name is—he’s going to have to deal with this Silvano situation on his own.
I’m still scrolling through my feed when my phone rings again. I instinctively reach over to cut it, thinking it must be Enzo, but it’s Laurie.
“Hey.”
“Hi, I thought I’d check in.” Her tone is worried. “I saw your latest post, and I was going to leave a comment when I saw what people were saying.”
“Has everyone read the comments by now?” Embarrassment creeps into my tone.
“Well, maybe not everyone. But all four hundred thousand of your followers? Yeah.”
“Perfect,” I groan.
The hate comments are so frequent that even if I delete them, they’ll still find a way back to my page again.
“Just wanted to see if you’re okay. Some of the comments were pretty nasty.”
My face falls.
“Oh Laurie, I wish the comments were the biggest problem in my life right now,” I admit with a sigh.
“They aren’t?”
“Not even close. My dad just caught me making out with his best friend. So, that’s how my day is doing today…”
She gasps loudly. “What the hell? How does that even happen?”
“I don’t even know. I found out that Enzo is Chet, the good friend my dad made when Enzo was on a business trip in the States.”
“Oh my god, Quinn. That is some luck.”
“Now my dad knows everything. I don’t even know how I’m going to be able to look at his face again.”
“Hey, I’ve met Michael before. He doesn’t come across as the most closed-minded guy. Maybe he’ll come to understand it.”
“I just don’t know what I was thinking getting involved with someone so much older. It was never going to go anywhere, and now I’m stuck in an awkward situation with my dad.”
Laurie is quiet for a moment. “You’re being too hard on yourself, Q. Give yourself some slack. You just went through a life-changing event with your divorce. So what if you had a little fun? Your dad will have to accept that you’re an adult, free to make your own decisions.”
Her words made me feel better, even if only momentarily.
Sometimes, I forget that I’m only just human, too. With my divorce with Liam, I shouldered most of the blame, thinking that there must be something wrong with me that our marriage didn’t end up working out.
Whenever I’d see couples around me, I’d resort to comparing my relationship with theirs. How was it that they seemed so happy when I wasn’t?
But Laurie had been a voice of reason even then and told me that I needed to stop comparing people’s surface-level appearances with my reality. Every couple has their problems, they just don’t broadcast them to the world.
I’m grateful to have someone like her in my life, always in my corner, and someone I can depend on.
“Thanks, Laurie. You don’t know it, but you’ve helped me a lot.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
When I hang up, I decide I no longer want to soak in my own misery. I still have a few days left until my flight back home, and I need to make the most of it.
My phone buzzes with a text message.
Dad: Whatever is going on between you and Chet ends NOW!