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A slow smile curved at his lips. “You’re dangerous,mi leoncina.”
I smiled back, but it was all teeth. "You have no idea. Ask Pippa to come over here. I’m going to open a bottle of wine. I need alcohol to keep my cool.”
I’d had a glass of wine with cheese and bread and was feeling mellow when Pippa Leto, the head of public relations at Giordano Hotel Group, came to the flat.
She said yes to the wine and no to the cheese. “I’m getting married in two months, and I need to fit in the wedding dress,” she explained.
Pippa was a curvy woman, and I liked that about her. Like me, and unlike Lucia, she wasn’t a stick figure without a soul. (Yes, that was aSex And the Cityreference.Duh! I was a New York girl, after all.)
“We need to get ahead of this.” Her glasses were perched at the edge of her nose as she looked through her laptop. "The press is having a field day, and if we don’t respond, they’ll just keep speculating. A pressconference with both of you will be the cleanest way to address this."
“No,” Dante said firmly.
Pippa blinked, clearly not expecting such an immediate rejection. “Dante, staying silent isn’t an option. The longer you go without addressing this, the more control you lose over the narrative.”
“I don’t care about that.” His tone was clipped. His jaw was tight. His hands were curled into fists on the table. "I am not putting Elysa in front of cameras to clean up a mess that Lucia created."
Pippa hesitated before turning to me. “Elysa, I understand how difficult this must be, but?—”
“No,” Dante interrupted. “This is my mess, Pippa. I’ll deal with it.”
His protectiveness sent a slow warmth through me, even as I narrowed my eyes at Pippa.
"I’m not playing the humiliated wife in a redemption arc,” I remarked.
Pippa exhaled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What do you suggest?"
Dante looked at me, waiting.
I gritted my teeth. "Lucia planted this story, which means she left a trail. Let’s find it. And then we make sure she drowns in the same media storm she tried to throw at us."
Pippa studied me for a moment, then nodded slowly. "I’ll see what I canfind."
When Pippa left, Dante turned to me, searching my face. “Are you really okay with this?”
“No. She’s suing you for sexual harassment, saying you fired her because you were having an affair, and I found out. Christ! The woman is a lunatic.”
Dante shook his head like he couldn’t believe that I wasn’t walking away from him. Instead, I was being supportive.
“You’re not the only one who gets to protect what’s ours.”
His gaze held mine for a long moment, and something unspoken passed between us. Then, slowly, he reached for my hand, his fingers firm and certain.
“Move back in,” I said before I could stop myself.
His head snapped up again, his grip tightening slightly. “Are you sure?”
I swallowed hard. "Yes, because I love you.”
His lips parted slightly like he was in awe. “Yes, then, because I love you too.”
I squeezed his hand. "And together, we’re going to burn Lucia to the ground."
Dante threw his head back and laughed. It was real, full-throated, and perfect. I wanted him to keep laughing like that forever.
THIRTY-THREE
Dante