17. Renata
The planthat I finally come up with is audacious and mildly terrifying. I”m going to get Matteo back in my own way. I”m going to hit him where it hurts, and that”s his pride. Let my parents spend their time messing around, trying to come up with a way to hit him in the pocket. That”s not going to work. The Mancini pockets are deep, and they are defended violently if needs be.
The longer I have thought about this, the more I’ve realized two important truths. One, my fantasies of revenge are only going to hurt me in the end because I have nobody at my back. Two, I’ve wasted my life being full of anger and hate, and I am sick and tired of it. Funnily enough, it is Carol who has shown me a different way. She just enjoys her life. I have the money to do that. I can do anything I want.
I”ve made a huge decision as I’ve calmed down. I”ve spent my life planning against these people, and now I”m simply going to do what I should have done years ago. I”m going to walk away. Not from a place of weakness but of strength. My family won’t rule my life anymore because they will become as nothing to me.
There”s a whole world of opportunity out there. I”m a young woman, a beautiful, wealthy one. I also have brains that my family never recognized. Of course, I wonder just how smart I am. I”ve wasted a hell of a lot of time angry, planning for the downfall of those who”ve hurt me.
During my endless night of tossing and turning, I came to some stark realizations. Firstly, my family is never going to change. They’ve been the way they are for many years, and it”s unlikely that any of them are going to get a heart or a soul soon. At one point, I harboured desires to be on the board and to bring Nico down. But Nico? He’s in love now, and one day that will bring him to his knees. I truly believe it. Plus, we still drive each other crazy, but truthfully, he’s not as much of an asshole as he used to be.
My parents are a different matter. The only way to get my revenge on them would be to bring everything crashing down around them, and ultimately, I”d only be hurting myself. While they may not give me the credit I am due in life, they have provided for me well within their will. Whilst Nico will of course get the business, I will get most of the other assets. That includes a lot of money and a lot of property.
So why burn it to the ground?
Instead of spending my life eaten up by anger and resentment, why don”t I spend it doing something that I love. Of course, I”m not quite sure yet what that might be. There are so many things that I am interested in, and with my money I could explore any of them. Carol says that lots of her friends need interior designers, and it”s very hard to find people they can trust. I”m great at interiors when I put my mind to it.
I love art, and I”ve even thought about doing an art history course. Where better to do that than in Italy, the land of the Renaissance itself?
Yes, I feel much lighter today. Life is full of possibilities, and the world is opening.
The second truth I realized is that Matteo Mancini made me fall in love with him twice, and both times he betrayed me.
While I may have decided to finally let my family off the hook, because at the end of the day they can”t help being narcissistic sharks, Matteo Mancini is most definitely not off the hook.
The one thing that hurts me above all else is thinking about a future without him in it. Without his touch, his dark gaze on me, and the way he makes me scream when he fucks me. I’ll never find anyone as good as him again, I know it soul deep. It’s inevitable though that the end is coming for us. He’s playing a game with me and if I let it play out, he will win ... again. So even though it hurts, I’m going to be the one to end it.
Tomorrow night, at a glittering society even I’ve discovered he’s attending, he”s going to find out what happens to people who crossed me the way he has, twice.
Speak of the devil, my phone buzzes with a text, and his name pops up. He’s messaged me a few times, and I managed so far to put off another meeting by pretending my migraine had left me exhausted. He will know that I am holed up in my apartment because the crazed asshole has his men parked a few doors down watching me.
There”s an event tomorrow night, and I would very much like you to come with me. I’ll pick you up around 8:00pm.
It’s an order, not a question. I knew he was going to the event tomorrow night, and I had planned to turn up in a way that he’d very much notice. I didn”t plan to attend with him, but why not? It will make my revenge even more delicious.
I’d very much enjoy that. I’ll see you then.
I take the thick embossed card out of my purse and hold it between my fingers as I smile.
Tomorrow night can”t come soon enough.
* * *
By the timeseven-thirty the following evening arrives, I’m practically dancing with agitation. I”m dressed in a sleek, clinging sheath of pure silk. It wraps around my curves like liquid gold. It”s a rich, deep bronzed gold, and I have paired it with turquoise heels and a matching bag.
It”s a striking combination, and I”ve matched the shoes and the bag with a flash of turquoise eye shadow and a sharp black wing of eyeliner. I very rarely wear eyeshadow of this color because my eyes match it, and I like to wear muted shades to bring out the ocean hues. However, on this occasion I really want to make a statement. The color of the eye shadow along with the thick black line framing my gaze really makes my eyes pop. My hair hangs down my back in rich, luxurious waves, and my lips are a shimmery bronze. I”ve gone heavy with the contouring and applied bronzer to my cheekbones. I stare in the mirror and hardly recognize myself. I look like a goddess, thanks to some incredibly powerful shaping underwear and the leg lengthening effect of these heels.
The phone in my hallway rings, and I pick it up to be told by Sammy on the reception desk that a gentleman is waiting for me in the foyer. I glance at myself one more time and swallow down my nerves. In fact, I wish I”d had a drink before heading out the door because the nerves are bad.
This could go incredibly wrong, but I won”t back down. Nobody makes a fool out of me, and Matteo Mancini has done it twice. Actually, he”s done it three times. Firstly, when he betrayed me at his party. Secondly when he married the bitch he betrayed me with, and thirdly when he pulled me into his manipulative web of lies, stalked me, and set me up to betray my family for him. It’s a litany of crimes against me, and he deserves to pay. Every time I feel myself softening, I must remind myself of all the despicable things he’s done.
I reach the foyer, and he glances up from where he”s standing by the door to look at me. He does a classic double take, and I bite back the smile of triumph that tugs at my lips. As I near him, his gaze rakes over my body greedily.
“You look beautiful,” he says. “Have you come as Aphrodite?”
I suppress the eye roll at the cheesy line and smile brightly at him. “Yes, I”ve come as a Greek goddess. And I see you”re wearing your usual fancy dress of rich asshole.”
“Ouch,” he says good naturedly. He strolls to the door and holds it open for me, gesturing for me to walk through. “Shall we?”
I see that the car he brought tonight is much larger and more formal than the one he usually drives. It’s basically a limo. I sink into the back of it and with a relieved sigh see that there”s a drinks bar. “Do you mind if I have something?” I ask Matteo.
I lick my lips nervously as he studies me. “You seem anxious,” he says.
“I find social gatherings nerve wracking sometimes,” I lie.
“Yes, of course you do.” He shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “What would the lady like to drink?”
“Do you have champagne?”
“Of course.” He takes a mini bottle of champagne out of the bar and opens it for me. He passes it to me along with a silver straw. I hold the metal straw up, watching it glint under the streetlamps shining in through the tinted windows. “Fancy,” I comment.
“It”s not actual silver, you know.”
“It”s still fancy,” I say.
I sip at my champagne and watch the world go by. Soon the lovely bubbles start to ease my nerves, and I relax into my seat. Matteo’s scent wraps around me and I have to almost sit on my hands to resist the urge to touch him. This is going to be harder than I thought. Part of me almost can’t bear to go through with it, but each time I waver, I think to how badly he’s treated me, repeatedly. How stupid he must think I am.
We arrive at the venue twenty minutes later, and I watch the people mingling around the red carpet rolled out at the entrance of the museum.
Tonight is a fundraiser with all the local richie-riches out in force. As I exit the car, I check for a tall, broad figure and breathe a sigh of relief when I don”t see anyone who fits the bill.
I need for him to be inside for this to work, not outside where he can bump into us right at the start. I need to make my big entrance with Matteo first. Everyone must see him with me, and I need to be photographed with him so it will be seen online and perhaps even in the papers.
Lights pop as pictures are taken, and the glitterati of London Town swirl around. The air is heavy with perfume and smugness. People smile, and women turn this way and that, angling their bodies to show off various jewels and bags. The men smile stiffly. The staff look on with weary, bored expressions.
What a pathetic display of fakery.
We enter the building where we’re handed glasses of champagne each. We are also offered canapes, but I”m far too uptight to eat. I wave my hand and mumble a no thank you.
For a while we wander the various rooms of the museum, and I make sure to talk to all the important people and to be extra attentive to Matteo, so they all know I am with him.
There are some wonderful exhibits, and I lose myself for a while, in the room with the medieval tapestries.
Eventually, a voice rings out over an announcement system asking us to meet in the Great Hall. It has been rearranged this evening especially for this event. An auction will take place on the stage at the far end of the room. There are tables lining the rest of the room, where we will all sit and talk with people we can”t stand, as if they are our best friends for the evening.
We will eat two-hundred-pound plates, while supposedly helping worthy causes. The champagne bill alone could probably fund a homeless shelter for a year. There’s a reason I don’t come to shit like this. I can’t stand the stench of the hypocrisy. Growing up in my home has made me finely attuned to the pungent odor.
We walk forward, and the murmur of conversation covers us like a blanket. I look around the room and count at least thirty tables if not more. Thick red curtains cover the front stage where the auction will take place. The meal will be first, followed by the auction. I stare at that stage and curtains.
That will be the setting for the scene of the crime. My crime. The one I hope to destroy Matteo with.
It’s not by accident that I will take to the stage to carry out the final act in this sordid drama between Matteo and me.
My stomach twists so alarmingly I”m worried that I might need to rush to the toilet. I”ve already seen the order of events for the evening, of course, and checked out the room layout. For my plan to work, however, I”m going to either need to know exactly where those curtains part or figure out if there”s a way to open them automatically.
I move through the crowd with Matteo, heading toward the table with him. I make sure that there are plenty of eyes on us as he holds out my chair for me. I flick my hair and put on a display a fucking peacock would be proud of, and then I sit. I sip at the champagne and try to quell my rebelling stomach.
After a few moments of making small talk with Matteo and a man to my right, I look up and make a small sound of surprise.
“Is there a problem?” Matteo leans in.
“No, not at all. I’ve spotted an old girlfriend whom I haven’t spoken to in years. Will you excuse me for five minutes?”
His face tightens, the control freak, but he nods.
“Thank you, darling,” I say. “It might be ten minutes; of course, you know what girls are like when they get together.”
Before he can tell me that no, he categorically does not know what girls are like when they get together, I turn and walk away from him.
I head into the foyer, glancing at my Cartier watch, thankful that I”m still five minutes early for my meeting.
Now I just have to hope that Matteo gets side-tracked in the conversation and doesn”t come looking for me.
I grab another glass of champagne from one of the trays and stand nervously in the entranceway waiting for the arrival of my second date.
David enters the foyer exactly three minutes early. I”d forgotten what an arrestingly handsome man he is. He eclipses every other man in this place, except for one. That dark haired, devilish Romeo, who will always be the catnip to my Juliet.
Still, David is a very good second best. I thank fate for him chatting me up that evening in the mall when I was getting ready for a date with Matteo.
“You look wonderful,” David says smoothly. Then he takes hold of my hand and kisses the back of it as if we are characters in a historical romance novel.
This is going to be the trickiest part of my plan. The part where I need to get David to go with me and check out the auction items on the stage.
I need him to play hooky with me while everybody else eats their meal, as if we”re being naughty little children at school. If I can”t get him onto that stage, then I can still execute my plan, but it won”t be anywhere near as dramatic. Dramatic is what I want. I don”t care if I make myself look like the biggest slut in the Western Hemisphere, so long as I cuckold Matteo Mancini in public, then my work here is done.
I grab a glass of champagne and hand it to David.
“Do you know what you”re bidding on?” I ask.
“I know a few things I”d like to bid on, but it”s difficult to know how much to keep in reserve for those mystery items.”
Oh Lord, it”s as if the fates are aligned for me. That sentence plays right into my hands. “Hey,” I say, with a very seductive smile. “How about we are a bit naughty?”
“How?” His brows raise as he looks down at me.
“Why don”t we go and take a look?” I jerk my head toward the hallway that leads to the back entrance to the stage. “We could sneak up on that stage and take a little peek at what those secret auction items are.”
“Yeah, right.” He laughs. “If we get caught, they”ll think we’re stealing them.”
“That would be a ridiculous thing for them to assume. We could probably buy the whole of the items on sale tonight outright between us.” I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow gently. “Come on; where”s your sense of fun? Where is the man who was so audacious in the shopping mall? I like to live a little.” I lick my lips and stick my tits out.
He watches me for a long moment, and I can see the indecision play out on his features. I bend forward a little as if adjusting my dress and let him get an eye full of cleavage. I look back at him and part my lips as I tap the champagne glass against them. The second the right side of his mouth twitches up in a sexy smirk, I know I have won.
“Well, aren”t you the naughty girl?” he asks.
“Oh, you don”t know the half of it.” I glance slowly down the long length of his body. “Want to come and explore with me, cowboy?”
He downs the rest of his champagne in one smooth motion and places the glass on one of the trays. “Come on then.” He takes my hand and leads me down the hallway.
“There are some restrooms back here,” I say. “If anyone asks us anything, we can say that”s where we”re headed.”
“Already scoped the place out I see.” His brows pop up.
I simply nod and don”t tell him that indeed I”ve scoped the place out online and looked at all the plans I could find of the building. Or that I looked at pictures of last year”s event, so I could see exactly how the auction worked. Oh no, he would think I was crazy. In fact, I am crazy, because this is not how a sane woman behaves.
There”s still time for me to call this off, but I”m not going to do so.
Sometimes I get this feeling, and the only way to describe it is that it”s as if I”m on a train that I don”t know how to control. It’s barrelling down the tracks, going far too fast, and there”s a huge object in the way, but I simply cannot stop the train. Sometimes that”s how my behavior feels to me. Perhaps it’s part of the Andretti genes.
The crazy that inhabits my family.
I didn”t get all of it, of course. I”m not as vicious as Nico, or as cold as Mamma, and I”m nowhere near as vindictive as Babbo. Still, I”m probably not the easiest of people to be around half the time.
I make a vow then. While I”m out in Italy, I”ll do some serious work on myself. Self-improvement, I think. I”ll try to become a better person. A kinder person. I”ll do yoga every day in the sunshine. I”ll eat fruit for breakfast. I”ll lose that half stone that I can never quite manage to get rid of. I’ll learn Italian and visit art galleries. There will be a whole new Renata born of this experience.
Before that happens, though, I will give in to my destructive impulses one last time. I”m about to make Matteo Mancini look like the biggest fool going for the second time in his life.
Still holding the hand of the man who is about to be complicit in something far more dangerous than he could ever understand, I climb the steps to the back of the stage. He follows me. My poor, handsome lamb to the slaughter.
I take a stroll toward the curtains and glance around to see if I can spot the place where they part. David shoots me an incredulous look as I walk over to them and run my hands against the thick velvet.
“You seem more interested in the curtains than you do the auction items,” he comments.
“I like velvet,” I say.
His face remains inscrutable, but it’s about now he’s going to realize he has a live one here and start backing away.
Damn it, it”s going to be really difficult to maneuverer this the way I need. Then I see it, and my heart lifts. I was worried that these curtains might have the old-fashioned ropes that you had to pull to open them. The kind you see in old-timey movies about the wild west shows. That would make my plan ridiculously difficult. You can”t exactly pull the ropes of the curtains while you”re caught in a passionate moment with a man. Right across from me, though, at the side of the stage, is a large box with one beautiful green button and one red button.
Just in case a person couldn”t figure out what green and red mean, above each button there”s a sticker: one which says open curtains. And one which says close curtains.
I relax a little now that I know as long as I maneuverer David into the area, I can get the curtains open while I”m distracting him with kisses and fumbles, I take my time to look at the auction items.
“This reminds me of the sorts of things we used to have at the church fairs in summer,” I say. “Except for rich, stupid people.”
He burst out laughing, and I put my finger to my lips. “You”ll get us caught,” I say with a wink.
“Why do you say these things are stupid?”
“Oh, come on.” I pick out a basket of expensive beauty items and hold it toward him. “I can tell you with my rather expert eye that this basket is probably worth maximum of about two hundred pounds. Yet tonight, I bet you anything that the bidding goes up to about four or five hundred pounds. People are going to pay way over the odds for this stuff.”
“Of course they are,” he says as if I”m a monster. “It’s to help orphans.”
“They could just give the money directly to the orphans,” I point out.
He leans in close and whispers seductively in my ear. “Ah, but where would be the tax break in that?”
I genuinely giggle at those words. In another world this guy could be someone I could see myself having fun with, but right now he’s nothing but a means to get my revenge. I can’t think of another man while that bastard is sitting out there, thinking he has me under his control again.
I move to the side of the stage away from the gifts and place my champagne down on the ledge right under the buttons for the curtains. I beckon David to me.
“I don”t think we”ve said hello properly,” I say.
He runs his tongue over his lower lip and slowly walks toward me. Glancing briefly to my side to make sure I’m right next to the panel with the buttons, I wrap my arms around my his neck as he nears and start to kiss him.