Page 62 of The Lies We Tell

Luca’s eyebrows shot up when she used the butler’s name, but he wasn’t looking at her; he was engrossed in the papers on the table in front of him. Or pretending to be, anyway. She wondered if it was the numbers he’d called and asked Matteo about on their last day in Paris. She also wondered if he knew she was the reason Matteo had picked up the phone again, called Luca back, and given him the passcode to his office.

Probably not. And even if he did know, she doubted it would make much of a difference anyway. Luca’s suspicions had not ebbed since the incident at the restaurant, and even though Matteo didn’t know it, Luca had every right to be. And Matteo would probably hate her soon enough too.

“Did you enjoy your holiday?”

There was a bite to Luca’s question, a clear challenge, but she chose not to rise to it. Better to play dumb instead.

“More of a work trip, but Paris is very beautiful.”

He snorted softly. “You call shopping work?”

Tessa bristled at that, but took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. If he was trying to goad her into an argument, it wouldn’t work.

“Matteo insisted.”

“Yes,” he murmured, still pretending to study the pages in front of him. “He insists on a lot of things with you. It’s certainly a departure from the norm where my brother is concerned.”

The butler returned with her latte and donut, setting both on the table in front of her before retreating to the far corner of the room.

“I’m not sure I understand,” she said.

Taking a sip of her latte, she watched Luca over the rim of the mug. He slowly organized the papers into a stack, tapping them on the table until they were perfectly straight and then slipping them into a pocket folder.

Pressing the flap closed, he sealed it with the metal pin and laid it on the table next to his plate, adjusting it with his fingertip until it was perfectly perpendicular to the table’s edge. Only then did he look up at her.

The anger and disgust on his face were palpable, and she shrank as far away from him as the chair would allow.

“There isn’t an impulsive bone in Matteo’s body. For as long as I’ve known him, he’s been steady, cold, calculating. Then you came along.”

“Me?”

His scowl deepened. “Yes. You. I don’t know what the fuck you said to him back in Syracuse, what sob story you’re feeding him now, but he’s the only one who believes it.”

“I’m not feeding anyone any sob story.”

“Please,” Luca said with a derisive laugh. “Sienna told me about looking for your mother. You don’t really think she’s alive, do you? After all this time?”

She opened her mouth to speak, and he waved her words away.

“No, don’t. It’ll only piss me off when you lie.” He shoved away from the table, leaning his knuckles against the edge to get as close to her as he dared. “I don’t care how mesmerized my brother is with you. I don’t trust you. And I’m going to figure out what your end game here is if it’s the last fucking thing I do.”

Snatching the folder off the table, Luca stormed out of the dining room and slammed out of the house. The mug rattled as Tessa set it slowly back in the saucer.

Luca shook her, and for good reason. If anyone was going to put together the pieces of what she was really doing here, it would be him. She desperately needed her father to call.

Because if her mother really was alive, the choice was simple. Or at least it used to be.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Scanning through the red pen edits from the lawyers for the Gallo contract, Matteo made notes of his own in the margins. Far enough out from the holidays, there was finally forward momentum.

Despite Antonetti’s botched assassination attempt, the sale of Gallo Industries would go through in the next week or so. And hopefully not long after that, he’d slide Antonetti Hotel Group in right beside it. Then his empire would be booming.

Luca had been meticulous about the details of the deal for Gallo’s foundering company, constantly offering notes and suggestions. He was adamant that it was fair and Sienna didn’t get screwed somehow. He was half the reason the process had taken so damn long.

Matteo didn’t see how he could screw her. The girl had a sizable inheritance after claiming what was owed to her from her father’s estate, and she’d continue to benefit from its profits once Luca proposed and she became a Bianchi. Matteo had noticed the ring Luca thought he was concealing well.

Plus, it’s not like he was stealing the damn company. He was paying fair market value for a failing enterprise. It hardly mattered that he was the reason it was failing in the first place.

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