A snowstorm had attacked the city in the early morning hours, and the blanket of fresh white reflected the bright sun shining in a cloudless sky outside the penthouse foyer’s windows. So clean. So pristine. So unlike the jumbled mess of my emotions.
I sipped the double latte I’d bought for myself along with Mr. DeVita’s breakfast and set it on my desk. I hadn’t slept well, not after my conversation with Jeff. There were still too many unanswered questions, too many ways we might be in danger. My racing thoughts had kept me awake following leads and exploring rabbit holes until physical exhaustion forced me into a fitful sleep.
I delivered Mr. DeVita’s breakfast without words. He was engrossed in something on his computer screen and didn’t spare me a glance, but I hesitated before heading back to my desk. Neither his handsome face nor his commanding presence had changed overnight. He was the same man he’d been before I’d learned of his influence in the world of organized crime or how he’d used that influence to save my best friend’s life. If anything, the power I now knew he wielded grounded his self-possession, legitimizing it and making it even more alluring.
I settled behind my desk with my caffeine to start the tedious process of assembling input files while waiting for my model to compile.
Hours passed sifting through megabytes of data, separating input streams, formatting files for ingestion. I found the first data hole just before lunch.
Mr. DeVita,
I have complete housekeeping expense reports from January of 2022 through December of 2023, but June through August of 2023 are missing. Maybe an ill-formed query?
Anna
His reply appeared in my inbox only a few minutes later.
Missing months attached.
You’re wearing a turtleneck today.
M
My lips twitched, fighting a smile. He hadn’t even looked up when I’d brought him his breakfast. How had he noticed what I was wearing? One thing was certain, regardless of my newfound knowledge or my near-sleepless night, my attraction to the man hadn’t changed.
Thank you.
Local and state taxes are not included in your expense reports. Do you bookkeep those separately? I’ll need that information as well.
??? It’s cold, and someone makes me walk three blocks every morning to get his breakfast.
Anna
I sat back in my chair, smug, and played with my necklace, watching my inbox for his reply. I didn’t have to wait long.
All foreign taxes are journaled separately. Attached.
How am I supposed to stare at your tits if you’re wearing a turtleneck?
M
“Oh my God!” I mouthed through a shocked smile and pressed the backs of my cold fingers against my unbearably hot cheeks. That man was turning me into a pre-teen at a boy band concert. Ridiculous.
I shook out my hands, shifted in my chair, and brushed the hair out of my face. “Okay,” I mumbled to myself. Resettled, I chewed my lip and considered my reply.
Tsk, tsk. There’s that sexual harassment again. Careful or I’ll file a complaint with the management.
Anna
The little angel on my shoulder told me I shouldn’t be encouraging him, that I should put an end to this dangerous game of cat and mouse. But his sinful attention was too powerful a temptation. It excited me, good sense be damned.
Fifteen minutes with no new emails and I regained enough focus to work on the input files instead of mindlessly clicking through the internet. Ten minutes later, the office door opened, and Mr. DeVita strode into the foyer with his coat and gloves.
“I got your message about the permits and the paperwork required for the financial district purchase,” he said and leaned against the side of my desk. “I emailed you the information about my prime contractor in Italy. They’ll be managing the renovations of the new Tuscany property I finalized last week. The signed contract as well as receipts from the initial deposit are attached.”
“I see them.”
“That should be the last piece of information you need to determine if we can meet the city and seller’s escrow and solvency requirements.”
“Let me look.” I opened the email and pulled up the attachments. “The permit fees themselves won’t be a problem,” I mumbled as I scrolled, looking for the bottom line. When I reached it, I blinked, dizzy from all the zeroes. “How—” I swallowed. “How big is this property in Tuscany?”
“Twenty acres.”
I swiveled my chair to face him. “Twenty acres?”
“Yes. The property has tremendous potential. The villa will need to be expanded, and a spa added to match the other properties, but the acreage provides an opportunity I don’t have with my other locations—land.” The nonchalance with which he described his new, quarter-billion-dollar piece of real estate was enough to make my head spin. “It was too good a deal to pass, even with the poor performance of Rome and Sicily.”
I stared at him, awestruck. No wonder his reserves were low. The down payment on a quarter-billion-dollar property was an outrageous amount of money.
“I’m going to have to look at these numbers. Obviously, this changes your liquidity,” I said dryly, “and your debt-to-income ratio.”
He nodded. “I need an answer by this evening. I’d like the escrow in place as soon as possible; the waiver could come through as early as tomorrow. The zoning commissioner will email you when it’s ready.”
“I can have an answer for you by the end of the day, and setting up the escrow will take no time at all, but…” I pursed my lips and furrowed my brow, not wanting to stick my nose where it didn’t belong, but he had referred to me as his financial advisor at city hall. “This is a huge amount of outgoing liquid assets in a short amount of time. I’m not sure I understand the urgency, especially given the performance of your European branch.”
He studied me, perhaps deciding how much information to share. It was hard to tell. The stone wall of his expression gave nothing away.
“I’ve mentioned another party is interested in the property?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think the drop in my liquidity right before I’m about to make this purchase is a coincidence.”
“You think this other party is somehow behind the leak,” I said with no small amount of skepticism. “That they’re trying to sabotage your purchase.”
“I think it’s a strong possibility.”
“But it would take months, a year even, to create a drain like this. And that’s if there really is a drain.”
“The property went up for sale nine months ago. I’ve been in talks with city hall for almost that long.”
“But why? Why would someone go to those lengths to prevent you from buying a piece of property?”
“To get a foothold in the financial district. To prevent me from getting a foothold in the financial district.”
I frowned. Was that what this was about? Gang territories?
At every turn, new evidence pointed to Mr. DeVita being entangled in Mafia affairs, and at every turn, I found rationalizations to explain them away. Mr. DeVita was hinting at territory expansion, and there I was trying to convince myself he must be referring to wine bars and fine dining.
“I’m not going to lie. This is going to be tight. And you’re right—it wouldn’t be if your European office was performing. But I’ll dig in this afternoon and email you as soon as I know for sure.”
His jaw muscle ticked as if he chewed on my words, and the downturn of his tight mouth told me he didn’t like their taste. “Rome and Sicily should be doing better than Montreal and Vancouver.” His voice rumbled with frustration. “We need to find the leak.”
“Numbers don’t lie. If there’s a leak, we’ll find it.”
His eyes darkened, and he ground his fist into the edge of my desk, knuckles white from the pressure. “I want to know who.”
Passion simmered just below the surface of Mr. DeVita’s steely veneer, and for the first time, he allowed it to break free in my presence. He was angry, that much was certain. But it wasn’t just anger coming across in his flared nostrils and flashing eyes. It was hurt. He felt betrayed.
This time, I held his eyes, determined to give him the support he needed. “I’ll find the leak,” I said. “I promise.”
His fist unclenched, and his jaw relaxed, my promise easing the tension holding his body taut. And just as quickly as it had vanished, his mask of control snapped back into place. “I’ll be out the rest of the day. Off-site meetings. You have my number if you need me.”
“Okay.”
“I know you have a lot on your plate with the permits and the model, but I could use your help with one other thing. If you’re up for it?”
“Mr. DeVita! Are you asking me for help?” I feigned shock and hoped the gentle teasing would lighten his mood.
His lips twitched, and he raised an eyebrow. “I’m hosting a charity gala here at Terme. Not this weekend, but the next. Before this arrangement, Diane was helping Siobhán with preparations. It slipped my mind, but Siobhán asked if you’re available.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Call Siobhán.” He pulled on his coat and stepped toward the elevator. “She’ll let you know what she needs.”
“Will do.
“Oh. I almost forgot.” He walked over and placed one hand on the back of my chair and one on the edge of my desk. His big body hovered over mine, and his dark eyes simmered with intent. “I am the management, and you don’t have a case.”
I licked my lips, my body held captive by his hungry gaze. “I don’t?”
“No.” He lowered his eyes to my chest, and when he looked back up, they burned with desire. “Not when your nipples harden every time I look at your chest.” He brought his lips to my ear, so close they tickled its ridge and made me shiver with lust. “Like they’re straining for my mouth.”
I gasped on an intake and held on to the air like it was my last breath.
He lingered a moment, letting his warm breath caress my ear in a sultry promise I desperately wanted him to keep. Then, he pushed off the chairback and desk, his long legs carrying him across the foyer and onto the elevator. The doors swooshed shut.
“Jesus.” I collapsed onto my desk, resting my forehead on the backs of my hands.
That man made every nerve ending in my body come alive. I was so turned on, my skin felt like it was on fire. I wanted to strip naked, run outside, and throw myself onto a snowbank.
All the warning signs were blazing red neon lights—his complete lack of boundaries, the way he ordered me around, his involvement, however unofficial, with the Mafia. Any sensible person capable of rational decision-making would run far, far away. Yet there I sat, unabashedly aroused, excitement coursing through my veins, not wanting the rollercoaster ride to end.
I was done with quiet classrooms filled with bored students. Done with stuffy department mixers and windowless offices with only my books to keep me company. Done with bad dates and even worse sex.
I’d escaped my rut. I was on a new path, a path fraught with danger and pointing me in the wrong direction, but I was willfully marching down that path with reckless abandon. I was taking risks, living life with the urgency it deserved. A phoenix reborn out of the fires of Marco DeVita’s indomitable presence.
Who was this woman emerging from my midlife awakening? Liberated-Anna shocked the hell out of me. Even more surprising? I liked her.