8. Renata
Chapter 8
Renata
Present Day
The man staring at me from across the bar is handsome but in a boring, city boy way. I don’t do trust fund babies, and I don’t do finance bros. They are the worst in bed. Those guys don’t know how to fuck. They never had to learn because their money got them all the pussy they wanted.
I’m horny but not desperate enough to lower my standards. I should have gone to a different bar, but this one is near the house I want to buy. It was easy to pop in here for the cocktail I craved.
It’s nice being back in London. It was boring up in Scotland, and now that James is also crazy in love, it’s even more so. I used to think that maybe one day, I could get beneath his steely exterior and fuck him. He’s hot, but that’s not why I would have done it. I’d have done it to mess with Nico.
Sex is either fun for me, or a weapon. I think back to the first time I had used sex as a weapon. The time I gave myself to Duncan, Matteo Fuckface Mancini’s best friend. I’d laid very still and grit my teeth as he’d thrusted in and out of me, his hot breath against my neck. I’d pretended to enjoy it. I hadn’t. It hurt. Physically and emotionally. Afterward, Duncan became a little bit obsessed with me, and I had to get one of our family guards to scare him off in the end as I didn’t want to repeat the experience.
I’ll never forget Matteo’s face after he found me at his friend’s house. The stony fa?ade he presented as he drove away, refusing to even glance my way. I tried to tell myself that I got all I wanted from it, which was Matteo upset and made a fool of. It never felt like enough. It hurt, but like a machine set to self-destruct, I made it worse. I ensured our circle of friends found out. There might have only been a handful of people who knew about Matteo and me, but it was enough to make Matteo look like an idiot, which is what I told myself I wanted.
God knows what happened to Duncan, but his and Matteo’s friendship never recovered.
Screwing around with James would have been a similar thing. It would have got under Nico’s skin as I would have taken someone he relied on away from him. I bet unlike with Duncan, sex with James would have been epic. It would have also been safe. I’ve found that recently, any guy I date befalls an accident or ghosts me. I’m not sure what that’s about. I’ve wondered if Nico is doing it, but he has no reason to. Despite being a total pain in my ass, he’s not as old fashioned as our father. He’s not going to go around defending my honor. As if. The thought almost makes me laugh.
At the thought of my entitled, smug brother, my jaw clenches. My family is the fucking worst. No, scratch that. They’re the second worst. The worst are the Mancinis. I’ve just found out that those bastards were trying to buy up shares in the board of our family business. How sick would that have been? Them, our arch enemies on the board of the family business, and me, their daughter, not. It was a while ago that it happened, and as usual, I found out after everyone else.
Of course, I didn’t find out from my family. They don’t tell me things like that. I found out because I’m also buying up shares, under a shell corporation, and I have an investigator and hacker who works for me. She’s been feeding me information, and the latest morsel is rather interesting. Seems some of the older Mancini members were trying to buy up enough to get a vote on our business and sway the board. Not anymore, though. No, James paid them a visit. Put a stop to it.
He spoke with Aldo’s daughter, Bianca. Probably put the fear of God in her too. James is fucking scary.
Sadly, Bianca Mancini died not long afterward. Then Aldo, her father, died. Alberto is now old and infirm, and that means Matteo and his cousin Clifford will be running things. I don’t trust anyone in either family, and I would love one day to bring them both down. I have fantasies where I imagine walking into the boardroom and being the new secretive shareholder who now holds sway. I have the money to do it if I wanted, but that’s a step too far.
What I don’t have is the guts, not when it comes right down to it. It’s a terrifying thought to think your own brother would put you in the ground, but I do fear, in my darker moments, that Nico might do anything to stop me from having my say.
Then again, he’s definitely softer now that he’s with Cindy. There are times when I see sparks of humanity in him I didn’t believe existed. That might be good for me if he uncovers my plans.
The handsome man smirks at me, and I roll my eyes. He frowns and then shakes his head and looks away. If only he knew that the men who get entangled with me seem to be meeting surprising accidents.
Is it my brother? God, I wish I knew. It would give me a clue as to what my fate might be when Nico finds out about my meddling. At some point, I’m sure James will be sent to speak to the CEO of the secretive finance organization that is slowly buying shares in the Andretti business, and he’ll find himself face to face with me. I’m not trying to take over the business. No, I just want a vote. I want on the board.
I want a fucking say.
The one thing I’ve wanted my entire life.
Power. A little at least. Or maybe, I just want recognition.
James has said he wants to talk to me about a way I can be involved in the family business. He said it’s to do with importing luxury goods and sent me a link in the email to some socialist eco-lunatics in Italy who hand-make bags and other goods.
Handbags.
He and Nico think they can buy me off with a little handbag business, do they?
“Fucking men,” I growl under my breath.
“Yeah, we’re the pits, aren’t we?”
I glance in surprise at the seat next to mine at the bar. I was so lost in my own world, I didn’t see anyone take it.
He’s not a banker or a financier of any sort. He’s too rugged. I appraise him. “You don’t fit in here,” I say.
“Ouch.”
“God, no. It’s a compliment. Everyone in this place is an asshole.”
“Does that include you?” He smiles at me. It’s a warm smile, and he has a nice face. Not handsome, but attractive for sure.
Better still, he’s blond. I don’t go for dark men anymore. Not after a boy with floppy, black-brown hair, and eyes the color of dark coffee ruined my life.
“It most definitely includes me,” I say with a smile. “I’m probably the biggest asshole of them all.”
“Are you a banker?” he asks with a bit of a scowl.
“God, no. You?” I already know he’s not.
“Fuck no. Why are you in a banker’s bar then?” His gaze is direct and a little challenging. I like that.
“I might be buying a house around the corner from here. Then again, if all the local watering holes are like this, I might change my mind.” I sip at my cocktail. “Why are you here?”
He sighs. “I came here to try to get extra finance for my family farm, but they turned me down. It looks like we might lose it all.”
He rubs at the deep line between his brows as if he can erase it. “I failed them.” His words are soft.
“Nah, you didn’t fail them. This fucked up system did.” I give him a soft smile.
A sad smile tips the corner of his lip. “Do you want to see it?” he asks. “The farm.”
I nod.
He takes out his phone and swipes a few times before handing it to me. “Just swipe right. It’s all pictures of the farm.”
I do as he says and smile as I look at them. “God, it’s beautiful,” I say.
“It really is.” He sighs again and beckons the barman over. “Another brandy and whatever it is the lady is drinking.”
The barman nods.
I look at the man, and sympathy tugs at my stomach. I try to tell myself that I am hard these days. Nothing but a brittle shell, but underneath it all, I’m not. There’s a soft, squidgy inside if you can break through my surface, and I have to protect it at all costs because that underbelly is what gets you hurt.
“Do you want to come back to my hotel room?” he asks me. “I’m not normally this direct but you’re a beautiful woman, and I’m a sad man, and maybe it would be a moment of joy. For us both.”
“Do you have the paperwork on you?” I ask him.
He frowns. “For the farm?”
“Yes.”
He nods.
“Come. Lets go grab that table over there. I want you to show me.”
* * *
“You bought a fucking farm ?” Nico’s voice is disbelieving. “In Yorkshire?”
“No. I didn’t buy it. I financed it. I took a share in the land for our family.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Because you used family money, and you didn’t run it by either me or our father.”
“I didn’t use family money; I used my own.”
“You have money left?” He sounds mock shocked.
I smirk. He doesn’t know everything about me, and I prefer it that way. “Yes, I have some left from my divorce. I’m not a total idiot, you know. My marriage had to be good for something, right?” I actually have a lot left and made some excellent investments.
“Christ, you’re a frigid fucking bitch.”
“And you’re a dumb fuck. Now, go look again at that land and what it will be worth when they come knocking for planning permission for wind turbines. Then get back to me about how good an investment it was.”
“Wind turbines?” Nico frowns.
“Yep. Prime spot for them. None on there yet.”
“So … you’re not going soft.” He laughs. “I thought for a moment you’d found a heart and bought it to save the farm for the family.”
“I did.” I shrug. “Maybe I do have a tiny sliver of a heart, but I’ve also bought some prime real estate for when the green economy gets even more traction, which it will.”
“How do you know it will?” He rolls his eyes.
“Because unlike you, Nico, I do my research, and I follow the news and political leanings of the nation. In a few years, there won’t be a spot of that part of Yorkshire they aren’t vying to put wind farms on. I’ve agreed with the son, the one who I did the deal with, that we allow a quarter of the land to be used for that purpose; the rest is to be protected as farmland. That will make him and us a huge profit, and let the farm go for many more generations. Win-win.”
He sighs, but when he speaks again, there’s a grudging respect in his voice. “How did you find out about this?”
“I met him in a bar.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Did you screw him?”
I didn’t, but I like to piss Nico off. “Yes. I did. Five times.”
“Gross. You’re a slut.”
“Says the whore. I have to go now. Say hi to Cindy for me. Poor girl.” I give him the finger.
I’m referring to his wife. What that gorgeous creature sees in my disgusting brother, I have no idea. I hang up our video call before he can say anything else.
Fuck him and his handbag company.
I’ve just made a great investment for our family, and it won’t be the last.
And as I get more shares in the board, there will come a day when he and Babbo must listen to me, and then I’ll mold the company and the family into the shape of my dreams. In my image. Not theirs.
The men have been in charge for far too long.
My phone buzzes, and I glance at it. It’s a message from my mother.
Darling. Be at the house on Friday, come for three in the afternoon. Babbo wants to speak with you .
I try to ignore the way my stomach sinks. It’s never good news when you’re summoned to the house this way.
The last time Nico was, he was ordered to marry Yvette.
I wonder what our loving parents will have in store for me.