Page 15 of The Picasso Heist
“That’s funny,” he says. “You’re funny.” He looks me up and down. “You’re also quite beautiful.”
Actually, there’s a third thing Enzio Bergamo is known for: philandering.
“That’s a nice compliment,” I say. “Thank you.”
“No, I really mean it. You’re beautiful.” Bergamo sounds as if he’s had a little too much to drink. It’s to be expected. It’s baked into the plan. Men are capable of making plenty of bad decisions while they’re sober, but nothing greases the wheels of indiscretion quite like alcohol. “What’s your name?” he asks.
“Halston,” I say.
“She’s beautifulandnamed after one of my favorite designers.”
“What are the odds, right?”
“Which makes this even harder for me,” he says, straightening his shoulders. “I’m afraid you need to leave.”
“Wait—what?”
“You heard me.”
“But why?” I ask.
“You know exactly why.”
“You’re serious? Just because I’m not wearing one of your designs?”
“How did you get by my spotter? He’s definitely fired,” he says.
Bergamo holds my stare. Then he starts laughing. We both do.
“You big jerk,” I say.
“I totally had you.”
“You totally did.”
He gives me another head-to-toe. “Bottega Veneta, right?”
“That’s right.”
“It’s very nice. Still, I can’t help thinking you’d look even better in something of mine,” he says.
“Is that a sales pitch? If it is, you can forget it. I couldn’t even afford this dress; it was a gift. Which means I definitely couldn’t afford a BFD.”
“Well, I happen to know the head of the company quite well. He and I are very close. Extremely so, in fact.”
“So you have an in, huh?”
“You could say that. Would you like to try one on?”
“Where?” I ask.
Bergamo nods over his shoulder at his quaint twenty-thousand-square-foot home. “Inside, of course. Rumor has it the handsome devil keeps an entire showroom here.”
“Is that like the rumor about his having a spotter?”
“No, this rumor’s actually true,” he says. “Come, I’ll show you.”
CHAPTER14
