Francesca
Wolfe worked out in his gym on the second floor while I headed to the market to grab fresh flowers and a couple of things for dinner.
When I returned, I clipped the ends of the flower stems and arranged them to fit the vase I’d found in one of his cupboards.
The vase was a beautiful cerulean blue, and the white and pink flowers I picked out went so well with it.
I’d been living with Wolfe in Palermo for a week, and it had been the fastest week of my life.
My phone started to vibrate on the counter, and I glanced at it reflexively, expecting it to be a spam call or nobody important.
But it was my father.
I stared at the name as the phone continued to ring and ring, paralyzed by something between fear and panic. My stomach dropped as if someone had punched it, and I was so surprised by the cold call that all I could do was stare until it stopped ringing.
The phone remained bright until the screen suddenly went dark.
The beautiful morning I had was suddenly shattered by his intrusion into my life. When I’d walked to the market that morning, I was at peace, just enjoying my day. Having no other care in the world besides flowers and dinner was pure serenity.
But now, my day was ruined.
A voice mail notification didn’t pop up on the screen—but a text did.
Frankie, call me.
I stared at the sentence until the screen went black again.
I carried the vase to the top floor and set it on the edge of the kitchen island. The windows were open, so sunlight drenched the room. I could distantly hear the shower running down the hallway, so I knew Wolfe had finished his workout.
Every morning, he got out of bed before I did. Sometimes he would fuck me, and sometimes he would let me sleep. I usually drifted off again because I was too lazy to get out of bed when it was so comfortable and smelled like him.
Wolfe eventually joined me in the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt like he was ready to go out. “What do you want to do today?” His arm circled my lower back, and he gave me a kiss before he looked at the vase. “Did you do this?”
“Yeah, I got them at the market.”
His face immediately turned back to me, picking up on my tone or the weakness in my voice. “What’s wrong?” He knew me that well that he could pick up on it that easily. His eyes flicked back and forth between mine, reading the emotion in my gaze.
“My father called a little bit ago…”
He gave a single slow nod as he accepted that information. “What did he say?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t answer.”
He continued to stare at me.
“He texted me. Asked me to call him.”
“You don’t have to call him back if you need more time.”
“I know. But it’s going to hang over my head until I do.” I would rather just get it over with so I could not worry about it anymore. It’d only been a half hour, and it felt like the longest half hour of my life.
He continued to stare at me for a moment longer before he took a step away. “I’ll give you some privacy.” He moved to the stairs and descended to the second floor. I wasn’t sure if he kept going to the bottom floor or if he left the house entirely.
I took a seat at the dining table, blanketed in warm sunlight from the window. I considered sitting on the terrace but didn’t want my voice to carry to neighbors who had their windows open. Their day shouldn’t be ruined by my family drama.
I called him back and put it on speakerphone so I wouldn’t have to hold the phone next to my face.
He answered immediately, just the way Wolfe did whenever I called him.
“Frankie.” He said my name right off the bat, but instead of using his typical authoritative tone, he was a little more subdued. “Where are you?”
I didn’t expect an interrogation right off the bat. “Did you need something?”
He gave a long pause, probably irritated he didn’t get what he wanted immediately. “Could you come by the winery so we can talk? I’d rather not do this over the phone. And I’d like it to be just you and me.”
As in, no Wolfe.
I couldn’t avoid my father forever. I just wished I could know his attitude before I got there. “When?”
“Today. Now.”
I glanced out the window, as if I’d find my decision out there in the blue sky. “I can be there in a couple of hours.”
There was a pause like he didn’t hear me. “Okay, thank you.” He had an audible breath of relief in his sigh, as if he’d expected me to resist his request. “I’ll see you soon, Frankie.” He hung up before I could say anything, as if I might change my mind.
Wolfe had left the house to grab breakfast, and when he came back, we talked downstairs.
“My father wants to speak face-to-face,” I said when he walked in. “I told him I’d be there in a couple of hours.”
He slowly walked up to me then crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes unreadable. He was usually an open book, but ever since my father had called, he’d been a little guarded. “I can drive you.”
“He said he wants it to be just me.”
“I can still drive you and drop you off,” he said. “It’s a long drive.”
“I don’t want you to waste your whole day driving back and forth.”
“If I’m with you, it’s never a waste, baby.”
It was an hour and a half drive there, almost two hours because of the summer traffic. When we approached the winery, the main gate opened to let us in.
Wolfe drove up to the villa in his dark Range Rover and then put it in park. “I’ll head to the house to grab a couple more things.”
“Okay.” I saw Salvatore and Leo both smoking cigars in front of the villa, staring at us in the vehicle.
“I’m just down the way if you need me.” He moved his hand to my thigh over the center console because he could easily reach it with his long arm. Then he leaned in and gave me a quick kiss. “Love you.”
It was the first time he’d said it to me as a goodbye, the first time we’d exchanged it the way long-term couples did, like the words were merely an afterthought because we’d loved each other for so long.
“Love you.” I left his touch and got out of the vehicle, walking around to the front of the house.
Wolfe turned the car around and left the winery, a cloud of dust left behind because the soil was so dry in the summer heat.
I walked toward the house and ignored the way Salvatore and my brother stared at me. Judging by the way he didn’t say a word to me, Leo was on my father’s side about Wolfe.
I headed into the house and felt like an outcast even though I’d been gone for just a week.
Whenever I crossed paths with people I used to see every single day, they weren’t sure how to react to me.
Even the kitchen staff was hesitant to say hello to me.
The men who guarded the bottom of the stairs barely gave me a nod in acknowledgment.
The villa was still under reconstruction, but it seemed like a lot of the work had been completed in the time I’d been away. I made it to the third floor and walked down the hallway, seeing the light coming from the open doors, stretching across the floor and onto the runner rug in the center.
Once I was outside my father’s office, my heart rate picked up significantly.
He was the one person I shouldn’t be nervous to see, but he was currently the person who made me the most uneasy.
Our last conversation had wounded me with a dozen bullets of emotional destruction.
I wasn’t ready for this. I could stand out here for days, and I would never be ready for it.
But I inhaled a deep breath that inflated my lungs and straightened my spine before I rounded the corner and walked into his office. My expression was hard and unreadable, and my eyes were sharp as knives.
I wouldn’t take any bullshit.
I strutted into that room, and my eyes immediately locked on my father’s. Someone must have texted him when the Range Rover approached the gate because he was already seated in his armchair when I entered. His eyes immediately moved to mine.
I went to the armchair across from him and took a seat. I crossed my legs and sat up with a perfectly straight back. I folded my hands in my lap, and I looked at him like this was a business meeting—because it sure felt like one.
He was slouched in the armchair, wearing a brown blazer over a collared white shirt and black jeans.
His dark hair had a slight curl to it, and his jawline was shadowed with the growth of an incoming beard.
His eyes were dark like my brother’s, steaming espresso.
After he stared at me for a bit, he straightened and moved to the edge of the chair. “Thank you for coming.”
I didn’t move even the slightest bit. I had been emotionally provoked when he’d reached out to me, but after I’d replayed our last conversation in my head, I was just furious.
Not because he took my job away, but because he tried to manipulate me into behaving the way he wanted.
Because he didn’t accept the man I loved.
He continued to look at me.
I stared back, refusing to speak first.
After what felt like a lifetime, he gave a quiet sigh.
“I’ve given this a lot of thought over the past week, and I realize I behaved irrationally.
The last thing I want is to destroy the most important relationship in my life.
You’re more than my daughter, but my right-hand man in this business.
I was arrogant to believe I could continue on without you.
” He met my gaze head on, his eyes vulnerable, rather than hostile and guarded like they’d been before. “I fully admit my error.”
I hadn’t expected his opening statement to be so apologetic.
I tried to keep my face composed and not react to his vulnerability, because I was still mad.
My father was the type of man that didn’t apologize, so the fact that he had was a major act of humility on his part.
But it would take more than that for me to bury the hatchet.
“I would like you to come back and oversee operations once again.”
“You have Leo.”
“And we both know he’s an idiot.”