Page 70 of Tour Wars
This couldn’t be happening. Not after all the efforts she’d made. The weekends spent leading tourists through Pompeii. Smiling through her exhaustion and never missing a shift. Giving thirty-three people a truly memorable tour of southern Italy. Busting her ass at the site, never taking a day off, even when the heat spiked to ninety-five degrees. And for what? To end up fired because some prick couldn’t handle a blow to his ego?
“What about my pay for the tour?” she asked. “I put in a lot of work.”
“You won’t get another dime out of us,” Angelo said. “I suggest you leave before we throw you out.”
She’d leave all right, but not without a parting shot. “Go fuck yourself, Angelo. You, too, Maurizio. And tell Luca he can burn in hell. Tell him…I’d rather be fired than let him fuck me. Got all that?” She strode out, slamming the door behind her.
* * *
When TJ heard yellingfrom Dr. Roberti’s office, he grew worried. Had he and Emilia been found out? Were they chastising her for breaking the rules?
But we didn’t break them. We waited, damn it.
Even so, he was worried they’d screwed up and Em was taking the heat for it.
Or had something else happened? Had one of the guests left a bad review? A rant so spiteful that they were both in terrible trouble?
The door burst open, and Emilia stormed out. Her face was red, her eyes glistening with tears. Before he could ask her why she was so upset, Giada poked her head out again. “You.” She pointed to TJ. “You’re up next.”
“I…just give me a minute, okay?” he said.
The older woman scowled at Emilia. “You need to leave. If you’re not gone in twenty minutes, I’m sending security after you.”
Emilia flipped her the finger. “Fuck you, Giada.”
TJ stood there, too stunned to move, until he realized Giada was still waiting. “I need a minute.”
“One minute, then I’m dragging your skinny ass in here.” She closed the door.
Once she was gone, TJ approached Emilia. He wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her, but she held up her hand. “Don’t. If you touch me, I’m going to bawl like a baby, and I can’t do that here. I have to go before they kick me out, but I need you to do two things for me. Can you agree to that?”
His stomach knotted into a tight ball. “Wait. I don’t understand. What just happened?”
“They fired me.” Her voice wobbled like she was on the verge of tears, but she didn’t cry. “Davis posted his first review, and it was great. Five stars. But they think he did it because I fucked him. As a bribe.”
“What?” TJ’s heart pounded frantically. While the words registered in his brain, they made no sense. “Why would they think that?”
“Because that’s what Luca told them. Clearly, he couldn’t handle it when I rejected him, so he cooked up a story to discredit me. He claimed I spent the night with Davis, and his uncles bought into it. They said I ‘compromised’ Buon Viaggio by trading sexual favors for a five-star review.”
“That’s total bullshit. I can vouch for you.” TJ needed to do something—anything—to fix this situation.
She gave a rueful smile. “You can try, but I doubt they’ll believe you. Plus, I just told them to go fuck themselves, so I think they’re done with me.”
Shit. There was no coming back from that. “What about your job at Pompeii?”
“It’s over. Dr. Roberti fired me because I messed with his family.” She wiped her eyes. “Anyway—about those favors?”
TJ still couldn’t believe this was happening. One minute, he and Emilia had been on top of the world, and now, the Robertis were tossing her out like she was yesterday’s garbage. “What do you need?”
“I can’t face the others. Not like this. But I don’t want to lose my equipment. Once you’re done, can you go by my lab and grab my stuff? Paulo will know which tools are mine.”
He wanted her to slow down, to stop, to rewindeverything, but he could only nod. “Um…sure. I can do that.”
“The second thing. Don’t be a hero. Defend me if you want, but don’t quit on my behalf. Got it?”
“But…” How could he continue working for the Robertis when they’d behaved so badly?
She frowned. “I don’t want you quitting in solidarity or telling them off. I know how much you need this job.”
