Page 80 of Unrelenting
I don’t speak to Daniele as we drive out of the city and toward the vineyard. Instead, I rehearse in my mind what I’m going to say to Lorenzo.
When we pull up at the winery, Daniele opens the car door for me.
“You’ll find him in the new restaurant, Signorina.”
I don’t ask him how he knows that. As I walk through the gift shop and coffee shop, I’m stunned by how busy it is. I check my phone for the time. It’s eleven thirty and this place is packed out.
Some of the tables in the existing restaurant are also filled. I head to the side of the room and walk along the corridor to the new dining space.
When I reach the door, I stop dead. The room has changed since that day Lorenzo showed me around. The walls have been painted a dove gray and there are beautiful gray marble tiles on the floor. There’s a sleek black bar at the far side of the room. The décor is not what surprises me, though.
At the far side of the room, Lorenzo is hunched over a table which has papers scattered across it. Stefan, Suki and Nicolo are gathered around him.
“So this is the font we’ll use?” Lorenzo taps something on the table.
There’s a murmur of agreement.
“Now we just need to settle on a name.”
“I like Gianetta’s at the Vineyard,” Stefan says.
“No, no,” Nicolo says. “We need something new. How about Aurora?”
“I was thinking something simple like Dine.” This is from Lorenzo. “Dine at the Vineyard.”
“It’s okay.” I can almost hear Suki wrinkling up her nose in disapproval. “But I think it needs something more personal.”
“Casa Lucia?” Stefan suggests and is immediately shot down by everyone around him.
I walk toward them, almost tiptoeing. “What about Restaurant Lucia Lazaro?”
Everyone turns to me at once and I find myself enveloped in hugs. Only Lorenzo hangs back.
“Why don’t we take a break?” he suggests. “We can discuss the name later.”
I watch the others as they leave and then turn to Lorenzo.
“You’re stealing my staff?” When he doesn’t answer, I spin around slowly, examining the room again. “I like what you’ve done so far.”
Lorenzo leans back against the table. He’s in his signature blue jeans but today he’s worn a white button down shirt with it. I guess that’s his idea of business attire.
“I didn’t want you to see it until it’s finished.”
“You planned to surprise me?” I ask and he nods. “How were you going to get me out here?”
He shrugs. “I thought throwing you in the trunk of my car and bringing you out here against your will would be the way to go.”
I can’t help smiling as I think about the night he did that. Though I was mad at him at first, I soon got over it when he fucked me so thoroughly.
“I ran into Damiano.”
Lorenzo looks over my shoulder as if expecting to see his brother.
“Did he bring you out here?”
I shake my head. “Daniele did. You’ll be glad to hear he let me ride on the back seat.”
Lorenzo doesn’t return my smile. He’s looking at me warily, unsure of why I’m here. I take a deep breath.
