Chapter One #3
She was filled with remorse for not asking Adele all those finer details.
For being arrogant enough to assume she could handle a job she was barely qualified for.
But this man was even more arrogant. He thought he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it.
He was a cold-blooded, avaricious ass who cared only about himself and his money. Most of all, he was a coward.
And she would not cower before him. She stiffened, trying to tug her arm free. ‘Ms Simonini. I’m your new office manager.’
His eyes narrowed and he still didn’t release her. She knew he wouldn’t recognise that surname—it was her maternal grandfather’s; she’d rejected her family name the moment she’d turned eighteen.
‘Okay, Ms Simonini, what did you mean about me leaving people alone to suffer?’
‘What do you think I meant?’ She swallowed.
He put profit and prospects before people. Before loyalty. He was a user and he would cheat to win.
‘You’re English.’ He dropped his hold on her so suddenly she had to take a step back to keep her balance.
She immediately rallied and stepped forward again. ‘Actually, I’m half Italian.’
He stared into her face. His brain ticking over. It took him so long to place her it was almost an insult.
‘Mia,’ he muttered. His head lifted and he snapped. ‘You’re not Simonini, you’re…Lorenti. You’re Dario Lorenti’s sister.’ He inhaled sharply. ‘You can pack your things and leave immediately.’
‘Why?’ She held fast. ‘Does my presence cause you guilt? Shame, perhaps? I should hope so.’
Her brother would completely freak out if he knew who she was standing in front of now.
Which meant he wasn’t about to find out.
This was only a three-month contract and she was never letting Sante Trovato intimidate her out of here just because her presence prickled his conscience. So it damned well should.
He folded his arms across his chest and glared at her. ‘Whatever offer Adele made you, its terminated.’
Yeah, no. Mia didn’t let anyone tell her what she could or couldn’t do. Not anymore. And she was not going to make this easy for him by walking out of here and not looking back. She was not doing that to Adele. She was not doing that to her brother.
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ She stepped close, suddenly determined to thwart the jerk.
While she and Dario weren’t as close as she’d like, the opportunity to be the thorn in the side of his sworn enemy was too good to pass up.
She’d been too young to defend Dario properly back then.
Or to be an ally against their horror of a father.
But she was different now and this was one fight she wasn’t backing down from.
‘I signed a fixed contract with Adele,’ she said. ‘You can’t simply terminate it.’
That muscle ticked in his jaw again. ‘I think you’ll find I’m—’
‘Obliged to observe employment laws just like everybody else.’
‘No.’ He inhaled sharply. ‘You’re done. Don’t worry, I’ll ensure you’re paid until the end of the week.’
Of course he thought he could just get his way. He always got his own way. He was the most selfish man in existence. He even trounced her father in that arena, which was really an achievement.
‘You’re dismissing me on what grounds?’ she asked.
There were a few tense moments as he glared at her.
‘Gross misconduct,’ he eventually bit.
‘What?’
‘Stripping in the office. This is no place for sexual impropriety.’
Oh, he had to be kidding! Mia lifted her chin. She’d been slut shamed by her father simply for developing breasts and she wasn’t having it here. ‘Says the man who was equally undressed.’
‘Because it was my office bathroom. You walked unannounced in there and started stripping.’
‘Only in your wildest dreams would I have done that had I known you were there.’
For a split second an unreadable emotion flickered in his eyes. It almost looked like amusement. ‘Okay, then you’re suspended on suspicion of corporate espionage.’
‘Excuse me?’ Mia gaped at him.
‘You’re in here spying for your brother.’
Well, that was the most outrageous and infuriating thing she’d ever heard because Sante Trovato was the true thief around here. ‘My brother doesn’t need to steal anything from you.’
‘Because he has all that inherited wealth?’ Sante said acidly. ‘That wouldn’t stop him trying. People like your brother can never have enough.’
She was speechless. Sante Trovato was the greedy one. He was the morally dubious. Never her brother.
‘There’s no other reason for you to be in my private domain,’ he added.
‘I had no idea it was your private domain. If I’d known I wouldn’t be within fifty feet of anything, anyone or any place to do with you,’ she said scornfully.
‘So much ferocity merely confirms my theory that you’re in here spying.’
‘I came in here to change my shirt.’ She ground her teeth.
‘That’s your convenient excuse in case you were caught. The likelihood of which would be low given how early you’re at work. Quite the enthusiastic assistant, aren’t you? So eager to please. It’s a very good facade for falsehood.’
‘The likelihood of my being caught is only low because neither you nor your supposedly genius workers like to actually show up to work.’
‘So you admit you’re in here snooping.’
‘Of course I wasn’t. I just wanted to change my shirt—’
‘Because you’re a messy eater?’
‘Sometimes, yes. Absolutely.’ And she wasn’t ashamed nor afraid to admit it.
He blinked. ‘There’s another bathroom for the workers. This one is mine.’
‘As I’d thought the boss was permanently AWOL, I figured it was okay to change in here. The other bathroom is ages away from my desk and I didn’t want to traipse all the way through the office dropping more cream.’
‘Why don’t you use your true surname? What are you trying to hide?’ he asked.
‘Unlike you I have nothing to hide.’
He looked furious all over again.
Good. Mia used a different name because she didn’t want to be associated with her father—not that he’d ever bothered to bestow his name on them legally.
But she didn’t want to ride on her brother’s success, either.
She preferred to avoid the assumptions when people found out her connections.
She liked her independence. But now she smiled. ‘Maybe I’m married.’
Fire flashed in his eyes and he quickly glanced at her unadorned hands. ‘Constantly lying to my face really isn’t going to help your employment case.’
‘Don’t you ever read your emails?’ she asked coolly, determined to get this conversation back on track.
She was even more determined not to leave. She would happily cause his conscience problems for a few weeks with her presence. She was a connection to his past and he immediately wanted to get rid of her. Too bad for him.
His lips thinned. ‘How bad is Bruno?’ There was a beat. ‘Adele should know I would h—’ He broke off and cleared his throat.
At the starkness flashing in his eyes, Mia could almost believe he was genuinely concerned. But she already knew the man had neither conscience nor heart.
‘Why didn’t she get in touch with me?’ he asked quietly after a moment. ‘She only called once.’
‘If you hadn’t disappeared off the planet, maybe she would have tried again. But you’d vanished and apparently when that happens, you can’t be disturbed—no matter the circumstances. It’s written all in caps and underscored three times in the tip sheet she left for me after our handover here.’
He blinked. ‘You had a handover here?’
‘Of course I did. Adele loves this job and she did the best she could in the time she had because she was afraid of disappointing her insanely demanding boss.’
She completely failed to understand why Adele would want to work for him—but clearly, Adele didn’t know what Mia knew. The truth.
‘How long have you been working here?’ he asked.
‘Almost two weeks.’
He looked both horrified and apoplectic. ‘You’ve had access to this office for two weeks?’
‘Plus Adele’s email. Yes.’
‘That’s a gross breach of confidentiality.’
‘Oh? Why don’t you want your new office manager to access company data? What have you got to hide?’
She’d seen his emails. They were unbelievably devoid of any human element. It was lists of tasks. No praise. No personal chat. Nothing remotely nice or supportive or checking in that Adele and the rest of the staff were okay.
‘Oh, I know.’ She smiled viciously. ‘You don’t want the world to know what a traitorous jerk you really are. Is that why you keep your name so discreetly hidden from all company documents?’
He simply stared at her. Not rising to her provocation. That Adele had referred to him as Saint was too ironic.
‘You don’t want anyone to find out your shameful secret,’ she said, her fury rising.
‘What secret do you think that is?’
Was he serious? Did he really want her to spell it out? She’d been there. She’d witnessed it all. But fine. She’d play his game.
‘That you’re a fraud.’ She locked her knees to stop them trembling. ‘You’re a liar. You’re a cheat. And you’re a callous coward.’
He didn’t move. He just whispered. ‘And you know this because…’
‘You caused the accident that almost killed my brother. You ran away, leaving him trapped, injured, alone. And then you stole his ideas to make your first billion using my father’s blood money as your seed capital.
You like a payout, Sante. And all the while he was suffering. Dario suffered for years.’
Sante reared back as if she’d whipped him.
Good.
Mia breathed hard. Her brother Dario still suffered. What had happened back then had changed him. It had changed everything. And it was entirely Sante Trovato’s fault.
Her fury unleashed, Mia jabbed her hand on his chest to emphasise her words. ‘You’re a shark who’ll destroy anyone who gets in your way. But not this time. You’re not getting rid of me.’