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“I’msorry,sir,”myassistant says. “They just showed up and said they refused to leave without talking to you, so I put them in the conference room.”
“You did good. I’ll take care of it.”
Inside, Silvano and his team of lawyers are waiting for me.
Silvano scowls when I enter. “You’re late.”
“You should be grateful that I’m even giving you time of day from my busy schedule. Unlike you, I actually have a successful business to run.” I take a seat.
His lawyers hand me a stack of papers, and I skim over them briefly.
“The property lines need to be redrawn, Enzo,” Silvano says. “This has gone on for too long, and you’re monetizing on something that is rightfully mine.”
“The land has never been yours,” I remind him. “Let’s start with that.”
“Haven’t you taken enough from me already?” Silvano’s face darkens.
“I bought the land with my hard-earned money from Valentina’s father. My name is on the property deed. Your claims are baseless.”
I turn to his lawyers. “Surely, someone on your team must have told you that.”
“The land belonged to both my family and Valentina’s.” Silvano raises his voice. “Your agreement was only done with one party, and I can challenge it in court.”
“It’s your word against the law.” I cock my eyebrow at him, sliding over the papers back to his side of the table. “Whatever agreement you had between your families was merely a verbal one. You’re grasping at straws here.”
“Why does it matter to you so much anyway?” Silvano continues. “The land holds value to me, unlike you. It was where I spent my childhood with Valentina.”
There he goes again. I shake my head.
“Silvano, you seem to have some form of selective memory loss. Valentina and I were married,” I remind him. “She was my wife, and we built this company together. It holds far more value to me than it ever will to you.”
“And you choose to defile it?” he asks. “I know about that new woman of yours, Enzo. You didn’t deserve Valentina. Betraying her like this over a slut…”
For a moment, I freeze. His words have taken me off guard.
How is it even possible that he knows about Quinn when we have been so careful?
“How dare you?” I stand up from my seat, squaring him up as anger replaces my initial shock.
He smirks, probably happy to have gotten a reaction out of me.
“You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you? With your business and your little family and all your success. Let me remind you that it doesn’t take long for all of that to come crumbling down.”
“If this is what you thought would get my attention, then you’re wrong. You have nothing but empty threats, Silvano. You’re just desperate to make me agree to something that I never will.”
“Empty threats?” Silvano laughs. “Oh, we will see about that. You’re going to pay for this, Enzo.”
Silvano storms out, with his lawyers quickly following suit.
Heat seethes in my veins in the aftermath.
“Sir…” my assistant trails behind me, hesitantly.
“Cancel my meetings for the afternoon.” I dig my pockets for my car keys. “I’m taking the day off to go home.”
Staying in the office is only going to make my mood worse. I need a change of setting.
On the drive back, my mind is racing.