25. Antonio
Chapter twenty-five
Antonio
I get back to the apartment just as my cell phone rings with a call from the reception desk.
“Hello, Mr. Vitale. I have Mr. Auclair and two other gentlemen here for a meeting, shall I send them to the meeting room?”
“Hi, no it’s okay, you can let them up to the apartment. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Vitale.”
I groan and toss my hat on the kitchen island. I run my fingers through my mess of curls, trying to tidy up the dent the cap must’ve left behind. I glance down at my outfit and tug on the t-shirt to cover more of the cargo pants.
The elevator dings and cuts my adjustments short. Gabriel, Kylian, and Enzo all walk in, dressed to the nines in suits. I would say perfectly tailored, but I’d be lying because besides Enzo, the rest of the suits are quite ill-fitting compared to the ones they usually wear.
I sigh in relief because it gives me the impression that this meeting is informal. My business casual outfits are usually a form of armour, a way to remain professional and keep a wall between my personal life and clients, but these three men may have just caught me in the most vulnerable position only under that of being naked. I look unready and boy do I feel it, especially since we’re meeting in my living room.
That would be normal for my brothers and me, or even Enzo since were related, but this is far beyond my comfort zone.
“Gentlemen, could I get any of you water?” I offer stepping around the kitchen island to greet them.
“Water? Why so formal cugino ? Where’s the whiskey?” Enzo chuckles, and I shoot him a look. He may be a year younger than Ambrose, but he acts younger than me, simply with how he handles serious situations.
“Water is fine. Thank you, Antonio,” Gabriel says.
“Please.” I gesture to the living room before turning to grab a few bottles of water.
Minutes later, a large cart with canvases and miniature sculptures is pushed into the centre of the apartment by the bellboy.
“What is this?” I raise a brow at the man probably around my age.
“Mr. Auclair asked that these be brought up,” he says, and I nod slowly, gesturing for him to head into the living room as well.
When I enter, the men have made themselves comfortable. Pages are scattered across the coffee table, laptops are open, and cigarettes are lit. They came ready to work.
I pass the bell boy a hundred Euro note for his time and he disappears.
“So, care to explain why I had to drop everything and return home?” I ask as I place the water down.
“Where is Theá?” Kylian asks.
I ignore him, looking at Gabriel for an answer to my question, but he simply looks at me expectantly, clearly wanting that answer first.
“With my brothers and Valerie at the concert you made me leave.” I bite back as much venom as I can from my tone, but the truth is, I am bitter. I’m fucking pissed because all I wanted to do was get lost in tonight with her and not have to deal with reality. Because whenever reality rears its ugly head, it brings problems like last night.
“You left her somewhere alone?” Kylian fires.
“Are you hard of hearing? I said she’s with my brothers and Valerie, which means she’s surrounded by ample security. You may be able to inconvenience me as you please, but you definitely won’t be ruining her night.” I glare at him and he falls silent.
“We need you to appraise a few artworks for us,” Gabriel says calmly as he puffs on a cigarette.
I push an ashtray in his direction. The smell doesn’t irritate me as much as it does for Ambrose. If anything, it’s nostalgic, bringing back memories of sitting in meetings with my father as he built the company from the ground up.
“Should I ask how you knew I was qualified as an art appraiser?” I look over at Enzo who is suddenly very consumed by the view from the penthouse.
“Best to not waste time with technicalities,” Gabriel says.
“This isn’t something that happens in an evening, it takes time and research,” I say, walking towards the cart with the artwork on it.
“Good thing we researched for you,” Kylian says.
I raise a brow in his direction, pulling a canvas out. “I’m not following.”
“We know exactly how much each piece can be sold for, we just need you to sign it off,” Enzo says.
“Hmm…these are fakes,” I say absent-mindedly as I pull out another canvas, scanning it the same way I did the first one.
“How do you know?” Gabriel leans back on the sofa, his curly, grey hair catching the light.
For a brief moment, I catch a glimpse of a resemblance to Theá. They may be related, but his personality clouds just how much they look alike.
“Because I care about art, and anyone who does would know they’re fakes, too.”
“Impossible, the artist who worked on these replicas is one of the best,” Kylian fires, rising to his feet and walking over.
“One of the best, but not the best,” I scoff. “The colours are all off in this one. It’s tonal, but it’s noticeable. And in this one, it’s the scale.” I hold another up.
Kylian looks over at Gabriel who seems irritated.
“You told me they were perfect. The men buying these are rich, not stupid. They have to pass as the original,” Gabriel grumbles.
“What about the others?” Kylian asks, gesturing to the rest of the cart. “The rest aren’t copies, they’re just artworks we want to inflate the value of.”
I head back to the cart and pull them up, scanning them. “I’ll do these, but I’m not touching the others,” I say and Kylian glances over to his father.
“We don’t have time to fix them. You’ll appraise them all tonight for the values we say.” Gabriel shrugs. “The auction is in a few days.”
“It’ll put my reputation as an appraiser at risk. Isn’t that the whole point of this? You want to use my reputation?” I fire back. I’ve worked insanely hard outside of Vitale Holdings to develop my name in the art world. Outside just curating, I’ve built trust as an appraiser, trust I’m not willing to break for a few poorly done fakes.
“Exactly, and you haven’t lied before. That means they’ll believe you regardless.”
“And what happens when they realise the original exists somewhere else?” I raise a brow.
“Trust me, they won’t come running back. We’ll make sure of it.” Kylian smirks.
I remain in my spot unmoving, contemplating my next move cautiously.
“It’s your decision. What’s more important, Antonio? Your silly reputation in the art world or the safety of your mamá? She’s alone in Tevici right now, isn’t she? What with Ambrose and Adriano being here, and Augustus being in Milan. Hell, Mattia is downstairs asleep.” Enzo is the one to voice the threat, and my eyes widen and I stare at him throwing the last shred of our family ties to the wind.
“Touch her and Ariella is first on my list,” I fire back at him.
“You are in no position to be threatening my men, even if you are related,” Gabriel says. “You will appraise every single artwork, or this arrangement is off and I will kill every single one of your family members, leaving you alive to mourn alone.”
Ice runs through my veins as his words settle in the air. “Fine.”
The word is barely cold on my tongue when the elevator dings, and I all but pray that Ambrose does not walk in with Theá.
Thankfully, he doesn’t, but the sight is so much worse.
Theá dances in, singing one of Natalia’s songs. She freezes once she catches a glimpse of everyone in the living room. “Sorry for interrupting,” she says in a hushed tone.
“Theresa,” her father greets. She walks over to greet him, and then Kylian.
“What are you wearing? And what is this?” Kylian wipes the side of her neck where she previously hid the hickeys with makeup. His eyes flash up to me.
“You’re dressed like a slut, go change.” Her father says.
She physically flinches at his harsh words before nodding.
“Theá, don’t you dare take one step,” I bark out, and she freezes just as she’s about to walk away.
“What are you doing? Theresa, go upstairs,” her father brushes her off.
“If either of you speak to her like that again, me refusing to appraise some artworks is going to be the least of your problems,” I fire, the sudden anger running through me as I see red.
“She’s my sister, I will speak to her any way I want—"
His words aren’t even out of his mouth before I have the front of his shirt in my fist. "Your older sister and my wife . You will speak to her with respect or I will fuck up your face to the point no one recognises you. Now apologise,” I threaten, looming over him.
His eyes are wide as he looks up at me.
“Antonio,” Theá squeaks, but the sound is drained out by my rage.
“I’m-I’m sorry, Theá,” Kylian says in a voice so small.
I push him backwards, letting go of his shirt. He scurries off until he’s next to Enzo, who is just watching the scene with a smirk.
“As for you,” I point at Gabriel, “she may be your daughter, but this is her house and she can be wherever she wants. So don’t shoo her around under my roof. Now, give me the papers to sign so you can all get the fuck out of here and leave us alone.”
The room hangs in silence before Gabriel shoves the papers in my hand along with a pen.
“Theá, can you grab me the stamp off my desk in my office? It’s blue,” I ask, offering her a way out of this suffocating room without making it seem like I’m asking her to leave.
“You actually have a pair of balls on you.” Gabriel smirks. “I’m impressed.”
“It’s not for your approval,” I fire, signing the last page just as Theá returns with the stamp. Her eyes meet mine and I can see the colour change in her cheeks. She hands it to me and steps back to leave, but I grab her arm, pulling her to sit on the armrest of my chair as I stamp the documents with my appraisal stamp.
“There you go. Goodbye,” I say in a firm tone as I pass them back to Gabriel.
He nods and looks between Theá and me for a few seconds. “Have a good evening,” he says, standing before extending a hand to me. I stand and shake it before following behind them to make sure they actually leave.
Kylian pushes the cart and I stifle back a chuckle. Enzo, however, lingers back. “Be careful who you threaten, cugino . It’s going to backfire in your face,” he says, patting my shoulder before joining them in the elevator.
I watch the door shut and exhale a sigh of relief that they’re gone. When I return to the living room, it’s empty, but the balcony door is open. I head out in search of Theá.
She’s standing at the edge of the balcony, overlooking the harbour.
“How was the concert?” I decided to start easy with something comfortable.
“Amazing, easily one of the top ten experiences of my life,” she beams, and I chuckle.
“I’m glad, I’m sorry you had to come home to that.”
She shrugs. “I’m used to it, thank you for standing up for me.”
“Don’t thank me, it’s the bare minimum for you to be treated with respect in your own house.” The words feel hypocritical coming from me, especially after the way I treated her last night, because I didn’t handle her with the respect she deserved. “With that being said, I didn’t treat you with respect last night.”
She stays silent and turns so that her back rests against the railing. “Why don’t we start with what was going on in your head. Because from what it sounds like, there’s more to what happened than what you said.”
I nod. She’s right, there are a million things I wish I said, because a million thoughts are running through my head whenever I think about her, and I’ve been struggling to organise them.
“I don’t want to be just sex for you,” I say. She raises a brow, but allows me the time to formulate my sentence. “I don’t want your first time to be with me just because you’re horny. I want it to mean more. I know I said I want you to beg, but that was all some bullshit. I want you to want to give it all to me because you want to, not because you feel like you have to,” I say.
“Did you even stop to think that maybe I do want to or did you only think about your feelings?” she asks. It doesn’t come across as malicious, but rather as if she’s genuinely curious.
“If anything, I think I’m considering your feelings more than mine.”
“I think you’re still holding onto that idea that virgins get attached.”
“No, Theá. You’re not understanding me. I don’t want to just fuck you, I want to make love to you to the point that you forget the idea of another man. And I will only do that when you understand the consequences of what that means.”
Her deep brown eyes meet mine, large and doe-like as they search mine. “It’s getting late, we should head inside,” she says.
I cup her face gently and bring her gaze back up to mine. “You’re more than a pawn, Theá. You’re the queen. You control this entire chess game. It’s all about what you want.”
“What if I don’t know what I want?”
“Then we’ll figure it out together.”