High Stakes Seduction - Book 5 (14 page)

"Well, Thompson will take me to the doctor and hospital and such, so he'll provide my transport of course."

Angela laughed. “Like he'd let anyone else take care of that."

I grinned. "I know, sweet, huh? In the meantime, I'm putting together everything the gallery will need for the lease program. Then once we get it cataloged and insured, Gregory will store it at the gallery, so I won't need to worry about any of that—it'll be out of my hands. Woo Hoo!" I waved my hands in the air, doing my personal version of a happy dance.

"But I don't mind admitting that I'm nervous about the hospital. It's silly, but I can't help thinking about what it felt like to wake up after the accident. I know they had nothing to do with my injury, but still… I just don't know what to expect. And Lord knows, as excited as I am, there's still a chance this won't work. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high."

"Maria, I'm sure you're worried, but the more upbeat you can be when you go in, the better your chances for success, and for a full recovery from the surgery."

I knew Angela was right, and I felt the same way. It's just that sometimes I forgot and gave in to my worries.

"This is such excellent news. I think we should celebrate." Angela grabbed two glasses from the counter, and a bottle of white wine from the fridge.

I wasn't much of a drinker, but this
was
a special occasion. I pulled out some cheese puffs and sliced up an apple. It was party time!

Chapter Thirty-Nine

ANGELA

"
We are free! We fire him! Carlo is happy. We can work with just you now?
"

Poula's text brought a smile to my face. The more I knew the twins, the better I liked them. They were clever, creative, and industrious. With their manager out of the way, I suspected things would go a lot more smoothly now.

"
Very good, yes you can work with me directly. Contact me anytime. I will send you an email shortly with some questions
."

I set the phone down on the counter. I was just about to head to my office, to look at the information I had gotten about potential locations. I cashed out the register, taking the drawer into the back office. I verified the receipts, and counted the cash, making the proper notations for Priscilla and the accountants. I dropped the cash into the safe, clocked out and headed up to my cozy little office on the third floor.

I opened the door, looking at the wall above my computer, and smiled. Maria had insisted I bring in my favorite painting. She'd replaced it at the gallery with something else that was suitable, telling me that since this wasn't for sale anyway, she might as well use the space to her advantage.

It fit beautifully above my desk, dominating the room the same way our tree dominated the back yard. I gazed up at the painting, remembering the story Maria had shared about the chrysalis, and realized this painting had become even more special and significant to me because of her revelation.

I wondered how she was doing. We'd been up pretty late last night, giggling and drinking like a couple of schoolgirls as we celebrated the news from Dr. Quesh. I probably shouldn't have let her drink so much, but it had been so long since I'd seen her having this much fun. And besides, we both deserved a little levity, so many things were going right for us.

She hadn't looked so good this morning, though. In fact, she looked a little queasy when I offered her some breakfast. But she sat with me while I ate mine, even though she obviously had a hangover. I hoped she'd gone back to bed after I left.

Maybe I should pick up some Chinese take-out on the way home.
I'm sure she would appreciate not having to cook after last night.

I sat down and flipped on the computer. Then I picked up my cell phone and texted Ryan. I thought he should know about Naomi and Brad at the gallery, and besides, I wanted to make sure he'd gotten the flyers I'd mailed.

While I waited for a response, I glanced through my email inbox spying an email from Carlo and Poula, apparently sent the prior evening.

"We are so frustrated! That manager, he drives us crazy. Carlo, he is wanting to fire him. Maybe tomorrow.

The photographs you send are so beautiful! These are places you visited? They will look nice with our designs, I think. We have many friends who travel, and we shared the photographs with them. They will help to find locations that look much the same.

Attach are some designs we are finish now. Do you like them?

We will be happy to see you. Poula"

I looked over the designs, admiring the simplicity of the lines. The twins might be high strung, but they certainly could design beautiful clothing.

I finished up my response to their email and hit send, just about the time my phone rang.

"
Hello Ryan," I said, recognizing the telephone number as it rang in. "Did you get my mail?"

"Hi Angela. Yes, it came in a couple days ago. We knew Walker had two operations going, but that was an interesting catch about the other services. We're checking into them now."

"Good. Glad to help."

"Listen. I appreciate the information, but you need to stay out of this. There's already an official investigation going on. Besides, you'd only get underfoot."

I sighed and rolled my eyes.
What was with these guys anyway?
Neither Ryan nor Antonio were giving me any information, and both of them were telling me to stay out. But how could I do that? There were still too many questions that needed to be answered.

"I got to see Naomi in action with your Brad Stephens."

"So I gathered. Did you see anything interesting?"

"Well, between the two of them, they seem to know a lot of people. He also seemed awfully chummy with the local alderman."

"That's to be expected, don't you think? Especially since Brad is the D.A."

"I suppose so." I didn't say anything about my own interaction with Naomi since it really wasn't any of Ryan's business.

"Do me a favor, Angela, stay out of this. This Walker guy is a pretty sleazy character. You need to steer clear of him. I promise you, I'll let you know if there's anything of importance."

"I get your point, Ryan." I sighed, shaking my head. "Is there anything else?"

"Not unless you'd like to meet me for lunch?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm kind of busy at the moment, maybe another time." He was a sweet guy, and I liked him. But if it came to choosing between him and Antonio, I had already made my choice.

"I was afraid you would say that." He sounded more resigned than disappointed. "I'll call you once I have something of interest."

Well, I was glad to know that he had received the brochures, and I hoped he would find something that could be of use to them in the investigation.

I turned my attention back to my work and printed out the designs from the twins. I knew Antonio would want to see them.

A moment later the phone rang again. This time it was Mr. Conner's office. Maybe he'd have some news.

"Hello Mr. Conner, have you found anything else out about Maria?"

"Not yet." He was silent for a moment on the other end of the line. "How are things going with Antonio Mancini?"

"Good," I said, assuming he was talking about my job. "I'm working as the Creative Director for a European line." I was hardly going to tell Mr. Conner about my sex life!

"Angela, how much do you know about this man?"

"What do you mean?"

"After our last conversation, I decided to dig into Antonio Mancini's past a little bit more."

"And?" I tried not to sound too impatient. Or worried. Conner was an attorney, and trying to get him to come to the point was sometimes difficult.

"His father had pretty heavy mob connections. He somehow managed to stay on the right side of the law, but some of his associates were not so clean."

"What does that have to do with Antonio?"

"I'm not sure, but I think you should be careful. Working for Antonio Mancini may be okay, but still, his father had some pretty rough connections. There's even some question about his death. Some suspicions that it wasn't accidental."

"What do you mean? Not accidental? How did he die?"

"Oh, there's nothing conclusive, but he died pretty quickly after crossing one of his partners. Seems he managed to ingest some kind of poison. It didn't kill him immediately, but once they discovered it, there wasn't much they could do."

I thought carefully for a moment, looking for the right words. "Thank you, Mr. Conner, I appreciate your concern. But I'm okay. Better than okay. I trust Antonio. He's been good to us. In fact, he just arranged for a gallery showing of Maria's artwork. You can see it down at the Lakeside Gallery. It'll be there through the end of the month."

"Well, that's nice Angela, however…"

"No, wait. It's not only that. He's also paying for Maria's experimental surgery. He says it's coming from my health insurance, but I know better. I've read the insurance coverage, and they don't do anything experimental. I even checked with Human Resources, and they told me it wasn't possible. So, he's paying for it out of his own pocket. Mr. Conner, if the surgery works, Maria may be able to walk again."

The other end of the phone was quiet. Then Conner cleared his throat.

"Okay Angela. Just do me a favor, please. Be careful. If you need anything, please call me."

"Mr. Conner, what I need is for you to find out the name of Maria's father."

"I'm working on that," was all he said.

Chapter Forty

ANGELA

"Hello Angela! You're looking very nice," said Hilary. "How's the new office working out?"

"It's great, Hilary. Thank you for all your help. Is Antonio in?"

"Sure is, and he's not busy at the moment." She looked down at the intercom, then back up at me smiling brightly. "Go ahead and knock, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

I tapped briefly on the door, then turned the handle to open it. "Hi there, you got a couple minutes?"

Antonio smiled up at me. Then he set down his pen and stepped around the desk, walking to where I was standing. "Angela! I’ve been thinking about you." He grabbed my arms and pulled me close, kissing me full on the lips.

"Come on, none of that now!" I laughed. "I'm here on business you know." But this was the kind of business I wouldn't mind having every day, I admitted to myself. The warm sweetness of his lips still lingered on mine.

"If you insist," he slid his arm behind my back, pressing at my waist to pull me closer.

"AnTONio," I gasped, feeling his rigid manhood pressing against my stomach. "You
have
been thinking about me."

"Oh yes I have, Princess," he replied, his dark eyes twinkling.

I put my free hand on his chest, pushing slightly until I had moved him away about eight inches. Then I stuck the papers from my other hand in between us, saying, "You'll want to see these."

"Okay, okay. I get the hint. When did you become such a harsh taskmaster?"

"I learned from the best," I laughed as we sat down on the sofa in front of his desk.

"I just got these from the twins today. And I wanted to show them to you."

"Very nice. I like what they're doing with this line. So how about their manager? Did they ever get that straightened out?"

"I understand they fired him yesterday. I thought you were going to try to work things out with him?"

"Well I called, but he didn't seem very receptive. Do you think you can handle them yourself? Or should we see about getting them some more onsite help?"

"Oh, I know they're young, but I think they have a good business sense. They certainly know what they want, and personally, I think they'll do just fine without a manager."

"I suppose if there's a problem, we can always recommend that they find someone else. And maybe even send a couple of people their way."

"Is there anything you'd like me to tell them? Or ask of them?"

He shook his head. "Not at the moment. I think they're in good hands." He winked. "But if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask Priscilla, or to let me know."

"Okay." Well, that was easy enough. But I wasn't sure how he would take my next question. "Can I ask you something, Antonio?

"Angela, you can ask me anything. I thought you knew that."

"Well, this is a little different." Sheesh, I wasn't even sure how to start this conversation. I looked up at Antonio. He had a calm, relaxed look on his face, and his eyes were soft as he gazed at me.
Never a better time than now
, I thought, taking a deep breath.

"What is Walker to you? I mean, I know you're gambling buddies, but are you tied up with him in other ways?" His face darkened into a scowl, and I held my breath.