Page 20 of Bellini Born

Loan Paid in Full.

What in the world?

It took a full minute for it to sink in what that meant. Then my sharp gasp split the air.

I knew with absolute certainty that I hadn’t paid off this loan. Shit, if I had two hundred grand just lying around, I wouldn’t be living in this shithole apartment, eating ramen and canned soup for dinner most nights.

So, who did?

“Hey!” Gabi’s chirped greeting had my head whipping up.

“Uh, hey,” I mumbled.

Ditching her keys on the kitchen table, she cocked her head to the side as she took a seat opposite me. “What’s with the resting bitch face?”

Wordlessly, I handed over the letter from the bank.

Dark eyes scanned the words before growing comically large. “Holy shit, Summer. This is amazing!”

I snatched the paper back, grumbling, “Would be more amazing if I knew who did this.”

Gabi huffed out a laugh. “You seriously can’t figure it out? It’s so obvious.”

“What is?” I snapped. “Because I stopped believing in the fairy tale that my sperm donor was going to magically show up and rescue me from the trailer park a long, long time ago.”

She cringed. “Not what I was thinking, but nice to know you’ve still got daddy issues after all this time.”

Sighing, I slumped in my chair. “Come on, Gabs. I don’t know anyone who’s got this kind of cash to spare.”

A sharp snap rang out before she pointed a finger at me. “And that’s where you’d be wrong.”

“Why don’t you enlighten me, then?” I folded both arms over my chest.

“Literally paying off your debt is a little on the nose. Thought he would have been a little more creative than that,” Gabi mused to herself.

“Who?” I demanded, my voice rising in frustration.

“Matteo, duh.”

Swallowing, I licked my lips. “You’re saying a mob boss paid off my student loans?”

“I mean, that would have been my guess, even if there wasn’t a note at the very bottom of the paperwork that states he did.”

The paper wobbled in my grasp as my hands began to shake. My eyes dropped to the printed text, and just like Gabi said, there was a footnote that listed Matteo Bellini as my far-too-generous benefactor.

“But I was only doing my job. Th-this is too much. I can’t accept it.”

My best friend rolled her eyes. “You can and you should. You saved his daughter’s life, remember? Technically, he got off cheap because you can’t exactly put a price on that.”

Eyes bulging, I screeched, “This is getting offcheap?”

She shrugged, unbothered. “Dude’s loaded.”

“I don’t want his blood money.”

Gabi leveled me with a look of pure annoyance. “It’s the 21stcentury, Summer. It’s not like they’re shaking down shop owners for ‘protection.’ Sure, some of their pursuits aren’t exactly above board, but Matteo is the CEO of Bellini Real Estate, which I can assure you is one-hundred-percent legit.”

Guess that explained the suit.