“You know his grandfather?” Cole caressesmy face.
“It’s a small world.”
Cole blows out a breath and looks over atLuke. “It’s up to you, man,” Luke states.
“You have five minutes.” Cole walks usover to one of the chairs and sits with me in his lap. Luke comes up behind usbut stays standing.
Rafael walks around his desk sitting onthe other side. We leave Mr. Not Important to his nap. “I’m sorry for Mel. Hedoesn’t take his orders from me. I wasn’t aware of the tactics he was using,but I didn’t ask either. Tell me how I can make amends. How can I fix this?”
Cole sits there brooding, and how can Iblame him? Rafael’s family has put us through hell the past two weeks.
“You ship from Lawton,” I finally say.
“At what rate?” Rafe asks. “Are you goingto gouge me?”
“You kind of deserve it,” I say.
“No, you do deserve it,” Cole states.“Whether or not you were directly involved.”
Rafe blows out a breath. “Let me speakwith my grandfather. I do not approve of violence, and I’m offering to use myinfluence to end this. If you accept, I will call a meeting of my family, andthen contact you to let you know if I’m successful.”
“Like a business meeting?” I ask toclarify.
“Yes. I’ll bring an offer to the table.”
“Um—Cole?” I whisper to him.
“It’s up to you Kate. Lawton is yourcompany.” He’s tense, I know he’s not happy.
“Um—well, we will meet—that’s all I canpromise. But Mr. Mezzo, no more Mr. Not Important and no more Shane, and um—thescary scar faced guy has to go to. If I even think they’re in the vicinity, alldeals are off.”
Rafael nods. “They are on the first planeback to New York.”
Cole stands. “Time’s up.”
“I will call Monday.” Rafe stands. “I’mtruly sorry for what’s happened.”
“Me too,” Cole says flatly.
The house is eerily quiet as we make ourway out. Cole helps me into the Escalade, then sits me on his lap. “Cole,” Ibreathe, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pulls me closer, kissing me. Ifeel a shudder run through him. “I’m all right.” He doesn’t say anything butpulls me down so my head is in the crook of his neck. I sigh with relief.
“Will you tell me about the statue?” hewhispers. “And how on god’s earth do you know Vincenzo Mezzo?”
“It’s when I was working and interningfor Foster’s. These four statues came in from some estate in Europe. Foster wasasked to clean, authenticate, and appraise their value. Which meant I did it.He was super busy, and it was only him and I, so I did all the grunt work. Thestatues had been neglected for a very long time. I didn’t know what they wereat first, but as I cleaned them, I realized they were statues representinggods. I got online and did some research. I made some calls and did somedigging. I authenticated that they were the Loggetta Gods, and Cole we had allfour of them. Do you know how rare a find that is? It took me almost six monthsto clean them. I did all the work on them. I’m the one who really authenticatedthem, but when it came time to sign the papers, Mr. Foster did it. I couldn’targue, it was his company. He started getting offers on the pieces, but thenMr. Mezzo showed up with a lot of money. I only remember his name now becausewhen we met, he asked me to call him Vince. He wanted to know all about themand asked Foster all these questions, none of which he knew the answer to. SoFoster came and got me and told me to do anything to get him to buy, even lie.I didn’t need to lie. I knew everything about them already. Vince and I hadtea, and I showed him all the wonderful details about the statues that I loved,and the steps I took to authenticate them. After that, he shoved a suitcasefull of money at Foster and made him sign a confidentiality clause saying hecouldn’t tell anyone who he sold them to, and then he was gone.”
Cole nods but doesn’t say anything.
“Cole?”
“Yes, baby.” He kisses my forehead.
“Do you know who Vincenzo Mezzo is?”
“I’ve heard the name, but my grandfatherknows him.”
“Oh,” I yawn. “I really hope you stillwant to do pleasurable things to me when we get home.” I feel Cole laugh andthen drift off into sleep.
I feel myself being lifted and open myeyes. “Shh Cookie, we’re at the villa.”
