“Yes, but our first interaction was so insightful. I feel like I really got to know you.” He opens the front door and waves me forward.
I step out and breathe in the crisp March air. “You mean when you and Rafaele pulled me off the side of the road like two barbarians?”
Nero unlocks the car and opens the door for me. “It was the beginning of your beautiful love story.”
I can’t help but snort as I slide into my seat. “Oh yes, because all love stories involve kidnappings, being forced into marriage, and dates that end in a hailstorm of bullets.”
He grins. “The ones that aren’t boring do.”
I put on my seat belt while he comes around and gets in on the other side.
“Well, maybe some of us like boring.”
He starts the car. “Yeah, but not you.” He smirks at me, like he genuinely believes he knows all about me.
I clench my teeth and decide that I’m over this conversation.
But Nero is not. “So, how are things going with you and Rafe?” he asks as we pull out of the driveway.
He’s trying to sound way too casual.
“Fine.”
“You warming up to him? He’s not as bad as he seems at first.”
I groan. “Is this why Rafaele assigned you to me? So that you could make a case for him on the drive over?”
“No. He asked me to do this because he’s worried about you.”
“He doesn’t worry about anything or anyone.” It comes out bitter. I’m annoyed about this morning and how I actually wanted Rafe to kiss me…until he ruined it. Is there some pathetic part of me that’s hoping this marriage might work? I really am a colossal idiot.
Nero shrugs. “That’s what he’d like to believe, but his actions indicate otherwise. Heard he fired Sabina because of something she said to you.”
“Yes, well, apparently my existence has been reduced to being an extension of him. He takes any offense against me very personally.”
“You really don’t get it, do you?”
I glance at him. “Get what?”
“Sabina’s been with the family for four decades. And he fired her without even thinking it over. Rafe thinks everything over.”
I shift in my seat. “What are you implying?” That Rafaele acted emotionally for once?
“Nothing. I’m just making observations.”
“Just observe the road.”
Nero huffs a laugh and turns on the radio. He cycles through the stations until he finds one playing hip-hop, and then he bops his head along with the song. A puff of air escapes my lips as we get onto the highway. My perception of Rafaele is shifting like a kaleidoscope. I don’t know what to make of my husband anymore.
When the song ends and the commercial comes on, Nero turns down the volume. “You know, there’s at least one other thing Rafe did quite impulsively.”
I glance at him. “What was it?”
There’s a knowing smile on Nero’s face. “Agreeing to marry you.”
CHAPTER 23
CLEO
We pull up in front of a brick building in the Lower East Side. “We’re here,” Nero says. “Sit tight. I’m going to come around to help you out.”
“That’s really not neces—”
He’s already climbing out and slamming his door closed.
I sigh and try to clear my head. It’s my first day at work, and I need to focus on that instead of psychoanalyzing my husband, but Nero managed to confuse me even more. That was probably his intention.
The consigliere walks me to the front door of the shop and presses on the doorbell. “I’ll be nearby. Call when you’re ready to go home.”
“You’re going to wait around all day?”
“Just until Sandro gets here to keep watch so I can grab some lunch.” He gives me a very male grin. “I’ve got a friend in the area.”
I roll my eyes. “Just when I thought you might be more than a barbarian in a suit.”
“Wouldn’t want you to think too highly of me. Rafe might get jealous.”
The lock turns and a woman opens the door. She must be Loretta. Her hair is the same color as Rafaele’s—black with hints of hazel in the light. She and Nero share a quick embrace and greet each other in Italian, but the consigliere doesn’t stick around. He pats my shoulder as he brushes past me and walks back toward his car.
Loretta’s attention moves to me. She gives me a slow once-over and pops her gum. “You looked different at the wedding.”
I shrug. “Left the diamonds at home.”
She doesn’t laugh, and the expression on her face is not exactly friendly. She must be younger than Rafaele since she’s still unmarried, but the heavy makeup she wears makes her look older.
The wind picks up, and she tugs her sweater tighter around her.
I peek inside the shop over her shoulder. It’s filled with bolts of fabric, and there’s a crooked mannequin in a skirt and no top by the register.
“Are you going to invite me in?”
Her eyes narrow. She pops her gum again and then moves aside. “Come in,” she says.
I follow her inside and take in the dusty shelves. The place smells of mothballs and old leather. The register is near the front, and there’s a small desk in the back corner with a laptop, a printer, and a stack of invoices. Another desk beside it holds a sewing machine.
Loretta leans against the register. “Rafaele must really want me to fail if he sent you here,” she says, her tone riddled with mistrust.
Okay, rude. My jaw hardens, but I don’t take the bait. “What’s going on with this place?”
She gestures vaguely at the space around us. “Not enough customers. I bought up all this stock more than a year ago, and it’s been sitting on the shelves ever since. These are good fabrics. High quality, not the kind of polyester crap you see in stores these days. I thought there’d be demand for it, but it looks like everyone just wants to buy off the rack.”
I glance around again. “Do you have a catalogue?”
She shakes her head. “I have pictures of what I’ve made in the past. You can look at them over there.” She points toward the desk at the back.
I spend the next few hours poring over the photos. There are a ton of them, dating back as far as five years ago.
It’s clear Loretta is an exceptional tailor. The intricacy on some of the pieces rivals that of high-end fashion houses. But it’s not hard to see why someone would become overwhelmed. There are so many options here, and so many different styles. It’s almost impossible to choose.
I put the photos back in the boxes they came from and walk over to Loretta. She’s working on a skirt at the sewing machine. “Have you thought about creating a collection of styles? Maybe changing them out every season?”
She doesn’t look up from her work. “The vision for the shop is to create one-of-a-kind pieces. Everything custom-made.”
“You can still do customizations. People can select the fabric, buttons, make small adjustments to the styles. But it would help them understand what they can get from you.”