18. ENZO
18
ENZO
“I’m sorry, sir,” my assistant says. “They just showed up and said they refused to leave without talking to you, so I put them in the conference room.”
“You did good. I’ll take care of it.”
Inside, Silvano and his team of lawyers are waiting for me.
Silvano scowls when I enter. “You’re late.”
“You should be grateful that I’m even giving you time of day from my busy schedule. Unlike you, I actually have a successful business to run.” I take a seat.
His lawyers hand me a stack of papers, and I skim over them briefly.
“The property lines need to be redrawn, Enzo,” Silvano says. “This has gone on for too long, and you’re monetizing on something that is rightfully mine.”
“The land has never been yours,” I remind him. “Let’s start with that.”
“Haven’t you taken enough from me already?” Silvano’s face darkens.
“I bought the land with my hard-earned money from Valentina’s father. My name is on the property deed. Your claims are baseless.”
I turn to his lawyers. “Surely, someone on your team must have told you that.”
“The land belonged to both my family and Valentina’s.” Silvano raises his voice. “Your agreement was only done with one party, and I can challenge it in court.”
“It’s your word against the law.” I cock my eyebrow at him, sliding over the papers back to his side of the table. “Whatever agreement you had between your families was merely a verbal one. You’re grasping at straws here.”
“Why does it matter to you so much anyway?” Silvano continues. “The land holds value to me, unlike you. It was where I spent my childhood with Valentina.”
There he goes again. I shake my head.
“Silvano, you seem to have some form of selective memory loss. Valentina and I were married,” I remind him. “She was my wife, and we built this company together. It holds far more value to me than it ever will to you.”
“And you choose to defile it?” he asks. “I know about that new woman of yours, Enzo. You didn’t deserve Valentina. Betraying her like this over a slut…”
For a moment, I freeze. His words have taken me off guard.
How is it even possible that he knows about Quinn when we have been so careful?
“How dare you?” I stand up from my seat, squaring him up as anger replaces my initial shock.
He smirks, probably happy to have gotten a reaction out of me.
“You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you? With your business and your little family and all your success. Let me remind you that it doesn’t take long for all of that to come crumbling down.”
“If this is what you thought would get my attention, then you’re wrong. You have nothing but empty threats, Silvano. You’re just desperate to make me agree to something that I never will.”
“Empty threats?” Silvano laughs. “Oh, we will see about that. You’re going to pay for this, Enzo.”
Silvano storms out, with his lawyers quickly following suit.
Heat seethes in my veins in the aftermath.
“Sir…” my assistant trails behind me, hesitantly.
“Cancel my meetings for the afternoon.” I dig my pockets for my car keys. “I’m taking the day off to go home.”
Staying in the office is only going to make my mood worse. I need a change of setting.
On the drive back, my mind is racing.
How does Silvano know? Quinn wouldn’t tell him herself, would she?
It irks me to no end that I cannot even ask her, since she’s been avoiding all of my calls.
When I enter the house, I find Alessio in the kitchen, lounging against the counter with his attention buried in his phone.
“What’s up, father of mine.” The glassy look in his eyes tells me he's been drinking more than he should.
“Alessio, it’s early afternoon.” I sigh, frustrated. “You’ve already been drinking?”
He shrugs half-heartedly. “It’s not technically “already” if I’ve been doing it since last night.”
“Alessio,” I start, my tone gentler than I feel. “This isn’t right. You should really consider putting more effort into your studies rather than spending your nights out chasing after booze and girls.”
“I’m just trying to live my life, Dad. Weren’t you young once?” He rolls his eyes, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, probably expecting another lecture.
Disciplining my children has always been something that fell on me. When Valentina was around, it was easier. I’d reprimand them as needed, and she’d take on the role of the gentle parent, so I knew they had someone to hold them if they needed.
Together, we’d work well as a team. But now that she was no longer around, I struggled with it.
They’d lost enough already.
“The least you could do is not look at your phone when I’m talking to you.” I sigh, taking a seat beside the breakfast counter.
Something changes in his expression, and he straightens, and then with a bewildered expression, shoves the phone at me.
"Dad, what's this? You need to see it now."
I barely register the images flickering across the screen, but it's enough for me to realize its not something that my son should be seeing. I snatch the phone from his hands.
“That’s…” I try and keep my tone as calm as I possibly can. “Where did you find that?”
“TikTok. It’s gotten so many views already. Is that really you?” The shock seems to have sobered him up rather quickly.
It occurs to me then that this is where Silvano must have found out about Quinn and me as well. My mind is spinning, and I don’t understand how these apps work well enough to know just how something like this could have gotten leaked.
“It was just a one-time thing, Alessio,” I say, dismissively, to make it seem smaller than it is. “You don't have to worry about it anymore. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
He nods, not entirely convinced. “I guess I’m not the only one chasing after girls,” he mumbles under his breath as an afterthought.
“That’s enough. You should learn a thing or two from you brother and be more responsible.”
“Can I get my phone back at least?”
I slide it back to him. There’s not much I can do at this point. The video is already out there, and there’s no taking things back from the internet.
What I need now is a strategy moving forward. This whole thing with Quinn has been a mess.
As I leave the kitchen, the weight of my own advice settles on me.
Don’t waste your time chasing after girls.
Chasing after… Quinn.
Quinn—vibrant, beautiful, intoxicatingly young Quinn.