Page 11
Story: Empire of Seduction
But I wouldn’t. Besides, she thought I was married. This was for the best.
Maggie
Grinding my teeth, I jabbed the shovel into the wheelbarrow of mulch. Then I lifted the shovel and spread mulch over the vine roots, trying to be careful despite my fury. My babies didn’t deserve my anger.
A day after receiving the worst news of my life, I was still trying to wrap my head around it. How could Mikey do this to me? To the winery? To our staff?
God, the staff.
How were we supposed to explain this to the eighteen winery employees?Oh, no big deal. One of the owners is an idiot and we’ve been taken over by a mob boss.
And Vito was fuckingmarried?
That dick. He’d broken his marriage vows and turned me into a homewrecker. The other woman. A mistress. Something I swore I’d never become.
What a scumbag.
I shook myself.You’re focusing on the wrong thing.That scumbag now had a majority interest in our winery, which was all that mattered.
Mikey had arranged everything yesterday, calling our lawyer and asking him to draw up paperwork that would hand seventy percent of the winery over to that Italian maniac. Vito was probably signing the papers at this very moment.
I couldn’t stand to watch. This was Mikey’s mess, so let him deal with Vito. I’d rather be outside with the plants anyway.
And when I was ready to have a civil conversation with my brother, it was forcing him to go to Gamblers Anonymous.Because this was bullshit. I’d lost everything because my brother had an addiction.
Blowing out a white cloud of breath in the cold, I put down the shovel. Then I got down on my hands and knees to evenly spread the mulch. I had to find a way to get rid of Vito. To buy the winery back. He lived in Toronto, so why in the hell would he want a business here? And it wasn’t like our winery was profitable. Vineyards were unpredictable, the grapes fickle little bitches. One year was up, the next down. As far as investments went, this was a bad one.
Last night I considered reaching out to Val and Luca. My best friend’s husband was also a mob boss and he loved Val. Better yet, he definitely had the money and influence to get rid of Vito.
Except Val and Luca were in Italy on their long-postponed honeymoon. What kind of a shitty, selfish friend messaged a honeymooning couple to complain about their problems?
It’s not just a problem. This is the winery.This place was my entire life.
Still, I couldn’t do it. If I convinced Luca to loan me the money to get rid of Vito, then I would owe Luca—and therefore Val—a huge chunk of cash. And that was weird. Borrowing money from a friend always ruined the relationship. Especially true in this case, because I didn’t think we’d ever be able to pay back such a large amount. I’d still be owned by the mob, just a different mobster.
God, I wanted to strangle my brother. Our parents were surely spinning in their graves right now.
“Allora. Here you are.”
At the deep Italian baritone, I sat on my heels and dusted off my hands. Vito D’Agostino stood a few feet from me, once again in his fancy black overcoat. The devil wore Prada, indeed.
My baseball hat blocked most of the winter glare, but I still had to squint up at him. “What do you want, Vito? I’m a little busy.”
“Merely wondering why you weren’t present to sign the paperwork.”
To see him gloat? To let him witness my heartbreak? No, thanks. “You might want to learn a little bit about your new investment, boss. You see, this is a working winery. My job is to ensure that we actually grow grapes to produce into wine. Get it?”
He cocked his head thoughtfully and regarded me, his expression revealing nothing. “Is this going to be a problem?”
I couldn’t tolerate another second of kneeling at this man’s feet, so I stood up. “You, having majority ownership of my winery? Yes, it’s going to be a very big problem. Ahugeproblem. So why don’t you hurry back to Toronto and let me do my job?”
“I know this is a blow to your pride—” I made a choking noise in my throat, yet he ignored me “—but are you too stubborn to see how this might benefit you?”
“Benefit me? I’ve lost almost everything.” I folded my arms. “How does that benefit me, exactly?”
Vito reached into his overcoat pocket and my blood went colder than the air around us. I took a step back and glanced around for help. Was this it? Was he going to kill me?
“Calm down,” he said, then presented a pack of cigarettes in his gloved hand.
Maggie
Grinding my teeth, I jabbed the shovel into the wheelbarrow of mulch. Then I lifted the shovel and spread mulch over the vine roots, trying to be careful despite my fury. My babies didn’t deserve my anger.
A day after receiving the worst news of my life, I was still trying to wrap my head around it. How could Mikey do this to me? To the winery? To our staff?
God, the staff.
How were we supposed to explain this to the eighteen winery employees?Oh, no big deal. One of the owners is an idiot and we’ve been taken over by a mob boss.
And Vito was fuckingmarried?
That dick. He’d broken his marriage vows and turned me into a homewrecker. The other woman. A mistress. Something I swore I’d never become.
What a scumbag.
I shook myself.You’re focusing on the wrong thing.That scumbag now had a majority interest in our winery, which was all that mattered.
Mikey had arranged everything yesterday, calling our lawyer and asking him to draw up paperwork that would hand seventy percent of the winery over to that Italian maniac. Vito was probably signing the papers at this very moment.
I couldn’t stand to watch. This was Mikey’s mess, so let him deal with Vito. I’d rather be outside with the plants anyway.
And when I was ready to have a civil conversation with my brother, it was forcing him to go to Gamblers Anonymous.Because this was bullshit. I’d lost everything because my brother had an addiction.
Blowing out a white cloud of breath in the cold, I put down the shovel. Then I got down on my hands and knees to evenly spread the mulch. I had to find a way to get rid of Vito. To buy the winery back. He lived in Toronto, so why in the hell would he want a business here? And it wasn’t like our winery was profitable. Vineyards were unpredictable, the grapes fickle little bitches. One year was up, the next down. As far as investments went, this was a bad one.
Last night I considered reaching out to Val and Luca. My best friend’s husband was also a mob boss and he loved Val. Better yet, he definitely had the money and influence to get rid of Vito.
Except Val and Luca were in Italy on their long-postponed honeymoon. What kind of a shitty, selfish friend messaged a honeymooning couple to complain about their problems?
It’s not just a problem. This is the winery.This place was my entire life.
Still, I couldn’t do it. If I convinced Luca to loan me the money to get rid of Vito, then I would owe Luca—and therefore Val—a huge chunk of cash. And that was weird. Borrowing money from a friend always ruined the relationship. Especially true in this case, because I didn’t think we’d ever be able to pay back such a large amount. I’d still be owned by the mob, just a different mobster.
God, I wanted to strangle my brother. Our parents were surely spinning in their graves right now.
“Allora. Here you are.”
At the deep Italian baritone, I sat on my heels and dusted off my hands. Vito D’Agostino stood a few feet from me, once again in his fancy black overcoat. The devil wore Prada, indeed.
My baseball hat blocked most of the winter glare, but I still had to squint up at him. “What do you want, Vito? I’m a little busy.”
“Merely wondering why you weren’t present to sign the paperwork.”
To see him gloat? To let him witness my heartbreak? No, thanks. “You might want to learn a little bit about your new investment, boss. You see, this is a working winery. My job is to ensure that we actually grow grapes to produce into wine. Get it?”
He cocked his head thoughtfully and regarded me, his expression revealing nothing. “Is this going to be a problem?”
I couldn’t tolerate another second of kneeling at this man’s feet, so I stood up. “You, having majority ownership of my winery? Yes, it’s going to be a very big problem. Ahugeproblem. So why don’t you hurry back to Toronto and let me do my job?”
“I know this is a blow to your pride—” I made a choking noise in my throat, yet he ignored me “—but are you too stubborn to see how this might benefit you?”
“Benefit me? I’ve lost almost everything.” I folded my arms. “How does that benefit me, exactly?”
Vito reached into his overcoat pocket and my blood went colder than the air around us. I took a step back and glanced around for help. Was this it? Was he going to kill me?
“Calm down,” he said, then presented a pack of cigarettes in his gloved hand.
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