Chapter 21
FRANKIE
The winter holidays are fast approaching, and Bellanti Vineyards is booming.
It feels like not a day passes where we’re not filling massive amounts of orders, shipping wine all over the world for all sorts of upcoming celebrations.
Not to mention what’s going on inside the offices.
We’re swamped, every single one of us, and it’s only going to get busier.
Luckily, my morning sickness is finally starting to ebb. I can go entire days now without getting sick, though I do still get queasy at times. Thank God for my mom’s tummy tea.
I’m in my office with Candi sitting across from me, a leather portfolio open on her lap.
She’s taking notes for our meeting the old-fashioned way, with paper and pen, something I appreciate—it feels more personal than having her eyes glued to a laptop screen.
Both of us are chatting away excitedly about expanding the winery’s distribution network, ideally further into South America and even Australia by next year.
“If we can just get someone in Antarctica to sell our wine, we’d be on every continent,” I tell her. “Wouldn’t that be incredible?”
“I’ll start working on that for you,” Candi says. “It’ll be a fun market to break into, and a new challenge for me. I’m always up for a challenge.”
“Excellent,” I say, rubbing my hands together like a cartoon villain. “Expanding our reach is critical for our master plan.”
“Of world domination?”
I laugh. “I like the sound of that.”
She scribbles a few more notes while telling me about her contact in Sydney. “So I’ll touch base with him tomorrow and get the ball rolling.”
Candi taps the end of her pen against her lower lip.
She’s dressed in a lovely light blue suit with a ruffled-hem pencil skirt.
The color brings out the golden highlights in her hair, which is gathered into a loose bun.
She’s wearing black framed glasses, too, and the effect gives her an all-around sexy businesswoman vibe.
I wonder if the ensemble is for Armani’s benefit, and if he’s seen her today…
We’re still going over all the paperwork when my office door flies open and Dante storms in, his stoniest face in place.
“Can I help you?” I say peevishly.
Dante glares at Candi. “Get out.”
His tone has me jumping straight up out of my chair. “Excuse me? You will not speak to my colleagues like that. And we’re in the middle of finalizing a deal.”
“I don’t care,” he says. “Whatever the deal is, it’s off. Candi, you’re done here.”
My jaw drops. Candi starts packing up her things.
I cross my arms over my chest, livid. “You can’t do this. I’m the VP of Operations.”
“And I’m the fucking CEO,” Dante shoots back.
“See you later, Frankie,” Candi says, not bothering to say anything to my asshole husband before she hustles out the door, closing it behind her.
“What the hell is the meaning of all this?” I ask.
“You lied to me. You paid me lip service and then you went behind my back and did whatever the hell you wanted anyway.” His eyes burn into mine and I swear I see red.
Fucking what? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dante smirks cruelly. “The babymoon?”
My face flushes hot as I suddenly remember the conversation I had with Charlie. I’d thought we’d just been daydreaming, making plans that might work out at some point in the future, maybe, but not ones we’d actually follow through with.
“Shit,” is all I can muster.
“Yeah. Clayton just filled me in on your little plan to sneak off to Montana with your sister. You’re willing to risk your life and that of our baby for a fucking spa weekend?”
I rub my temples, shaking my head. “No, Dante. It wasn’t like that—it was just idle conversation. We were daydreaming. I wasn’t planning on actually going. And I certainly never agreed that it would be—”
“Does your sister know that?”
I flip my hands palm up. “I assumed she did. I can’t speak for her—”
“You’re just trying to placate me so I’ll let my guard down. You’ll sneak away the second I turn my back. I can’t believe you want me to trust you when this is how you act.”
“You’re impossible!” I throw my hands up. “And you’re jumping to conclusions. I’m not going to stand here trying to defend myself when I’ve done nothing wrong. This conversation is over. I need to go try to salvage the deal you just ruined.”
“I said the deal was off, so it’s off,” Dante says, doubling down.
“Get bent, Bellanti,” I fume, stomping out the door.
I hurry to the parking lot, relieved to find Candi’s car still there. Bending slightly as I approach, I look in the window. She’s sitting behind the wheel, staring straight ahead. She’s not quite crying, but it looks like she’s on the edge of it.
I tap on her window. She jumps and then forces a smile. When I point to the passenger side, she unlocks the door.
Sliding into the car, I take a breath to settle my emotions. “Candi, I am so sorry about that. If it was up to me, this deal would absolutely be done already, but I’ll have to work on him a bit, get things back on track.”
Candi nods, waving me off. “I get it. It’s fine. I just…really needed this deal. God, they’re such assholes sometimes. The whole lot of them.”
I can’t argue with that. “You’re not wrong.”
She subtly blots the corners of her eye. Has business not been good lately? I know her reputation is flawless, and she used to be so busy that she was closed to new clients. But I don’t feel comfortable prying. We’re friends, but not close ones. There’s still a boundary between us.
“Maybe you could talk to Armani and—”
“Ha. I don’t think so.” She looks over at me, her voice bitter. “He won’t do a damned thing without Dante’s permission. Trust me.”
We’re not going to get anywhere with this until I bring Dante around. Leaning over, I give Candi a hug and promise to work on my husband and call her next week with an update. It’s too much money to be turning down just because of a tantrum.
I get out of the car and watch Candi leave, giving her a little wave as she rounds the curve in the drive and heads to the main road.
Pulling out my phone, I dial Charlie as I head back to the office.
“Hey, Frankie.”
“So Dante just ruined your babymoon surprise, thanks to your husband’s mouth.”
“Awww.” Charlie makes an apologetic sound. “I’m so sorry. Clayton’s such a little gossip. He’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight.”
I laugh. I hope my sister can’t tell it’s a little forced.
“It’s really okay,” I tell her. “It’s actually probably for the best. The OBGYN said it wasn’t a good idea for me to travel long distances, so we’ll have to raincheck it anyway.”
I am purposely not mentioning Dante’s shit fit from earlier, because I don’t need to give my big sister any more reasons to think my husband isn’t treating me right.
And since Charlie has no idea what’s going on with the Bellantis and the unknown threat, his reaction will just seem overblown and controlling.
“Oh, um, yeah. We can totally raincheck,” Charlie says, but I can hear the disappointment in her voice. “I understand.”
“Sorry. But I promise, we’ll go away and do something really fun as soon as we can.”
“Yeah, sounds great. Unless…” There’s a pause. “Okay, how about this? Meet me at the tennis court at seven tonight. Bring your favorite bathrobe. Oh, and make sure you come hungry. Now that you can actually eat without tossing everything right back up.”
My sister sounds so chipper, and I want to say yes, but I need to make sure we’ll be safe.
“We won’t be leaving the winery, right?” I ask. “I kinda want to stay on the property.”
“Not a problem—we won’t go far. And this time I won’t tell Clayton, so he can’t ruin it. It’ll just be me and you, on Bellanti property, having ourselves a secret girls’ night.”
I nearly agree, but hesitate again. My nerves are overwhelming me. But if we stay on the grounds, the guards won’t be far away. What’s the worst that could happen?
“Okay,” I relent. “See you at the tennis court at seven.”
“Yay!”
We hang up and I enter the lobby of the Bellanti offices.
It feels chillier in here than before. Probably because I’m immensely irritated with my husband and the chill is following me around.
I say hi to Ruby when I see her in the break room and then make my way to Dante’s office, but he’s not there when I peek inside.
The light is off, his laptop gone. The scent of his cologne doesn’t linger in the hall. Wherever her went, he went a while ago.
Fine then.
I’m not in a hurry for another fight. It’s one step forward, eight steps back with him. Besides, if I can avoid him until it’s time to meet my sister, then he won’t have a chance to ruin it.
He’s already ruined enough of my day.