The Moretti Arrangement (2 page)

Stark Security had been in the business of protecting the rich and famous for over a hundred years, not as a bodyguard service but as an intellectual properties security firm. Ian protected the secrets of the famous. And he did a damn fine job of it.

Now he was going to catch Dominic’s corporate spy. In fact he was already en route now. Which was cause for celebration, Dom thought.

However, his brothers were all occupied right, and though he was having dinner later this evening with his parents, he wanted to celebrate now.

Or was he just looking for an excuse to ask his lovely secretary out for a drink?

Yes, he was.

He walked out of his office and found her desk empty. He was just sitting down in her chair to write her a note when she came back in.

“Ah, there you are,” he said.

“Yes, here I am. Did you need something?”

“Yes. Get your coat, we are going out for a drink to celebrate.”

She smiled at him. That shy sweet smile that had played a part in a number of fantasies for him lately.

“What are we celebrating?”

“Success,” he said.

“I’ll drink to that,” she said.

He stood and realized how small his assistant was and how very feminine. The dress she wore today was cut close to her body and had a plunging neckline. The skirt flounced around her legs as she stepped closer to him.

Her curly hair reached almost to her jaw, and swung around her creamy skin whenever she moved her head. She had stepped close to get to her desk, but he didn’t move away.

He took a good look at her kissable lips. How the lower lip was fuller than the top one. He started leaning down toward her before he realized what he was doing.

“Dominic?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you thinking about?” she asked. She seemed nervous and licked her lower lip as she watched him.

God, he wanted her mouth under his. He wanted to know exactly what she tasted like, what she felt like in his arms. And now that he was taking care of the problems at Moretti Motors, he could move his focus elsewhere.

An affair was exactly what he needed, and Angelina was the woman he wanted. “I’m thinking about you.”

“In what way?” she asked.

She seemed almost nervous. Normally he preferred a more sophisticated woman—a woman who knew the score and didn’t become attached. And in the last two years working with Angelina he knew she wasn’t that type of girl.

Maybe he should walk away, but he couldn’t. He’d tried to ignore Angelina since she’d started working for him. At first it had been relatively easy since they’d still been struggling to bring the company back up to speed, but for the last year or so he’d started seeing Angelina more and more as an attractive woman and not just his secretary.

“I’m thinking about kissing you,” he told her.

Her hand covered her lips. “Why?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he asked.

“We work together, Dom,” she said.

“Is that a problem?”

She tipped her head to the side, one inky curl felling across her face, and he tucked it back behind her ear before she could. Her skin was soft, but then he’d expected it to be. He
hadn’t
expected her to turn her head to the side and rub her cheek against his finger for a brief moment.

“I think it is a problem,” she said. “I like my job too much to compromise it.”

He dropped his hand and stepped away from her. He could respect that. “You are a top-rate assistant and you would be hard to replace.”

“So you’d fire me?” she asked.

“No. Just transfer you to another department. I wouldn’t want you to feel pressured to date me…it’s just that lately I can’t seem to stop thinking of you in terms that aren’t exactly suited to the office.”

“I’ve had a few thoughts about you, too,” she said.

He arched one eyebrow at her. “Have you? Want to tell me what those thoughts were?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. But I will join you for the celebratory drink. What are you celebrating?”

“Stark Security found our leak. As of tomorrow morning that person will be in police custody and we will be back on track.”

She flushed. “Did they give you the name?”

“No, not yet. Ian doesn’t like to deliver that type of news over the phone.”

“How did he figure it out?”

“I’ll tell you while we are having our drink.”

She glanced down at her calendar. “Oh, I can’t go. I forgot it was Wednesday.”

“What do you have on Wednesdays?” he asked.

“I meet my book club. This week I’m hosting, so I can’t be late. I’m sorry, Dominic. But congratulations to you on finding the leak.”

She gathered her purse and coat and walked out the door. Dominic rested his hip against the edge of her desk and watched her leave. He had a feeling of what might have been but let it go. Having Angelina at his side was important to the future success of Moretti Motors.

Instead of going home when she’d left the offices, she’d wandered through the streets of Milan, ending up at the Piazza del Duomo. Now she sat at a small café nursing a glass of wine and watching the evening crowds.

Their lives seemed so simple, so uncomplicated compared to hers. How had her life gotten so messed up? How long before her freedom was taken from her and she ended up in prison?

She knew Dominic was going to prosecute her. And she couldn’t blame him.
Dios,
she wished she’d made a different choice when Renaldo had first come to her.

But after she’d said no and the men he’d owed the money to had beat him…well, visiting her brother in the hospital and seeing him so close to death had changed her mind.

No matter that she’d been half in love with Dominic Moretti, Renaldo was her brother and she couldn’t allow him to be killed when she had the means to save him.

Somehow she doubted that explanation was going to make any difference to Dominic.

“Angelina?”

She glanced up to see Marta Kingsley, another secretary from Moretti Motors, standing by her table. “
Ciao,
Marta.”

“Can I join you?”

“Of course. Are you alone?”

“I’m meeting a guy that I met online,” Marta said.

“Online dating? I can’t believe you do that.”

“It’s a lot of fun actually. And I don’t think I’m going to meet Mr. Right this way but hey, I’m an American in Milan and it gets me out of my apartment.”

Angelina laughed for the first time since she realized that Dominic had found his corporate spy. “It does get you out.”

Marta smiled. She was very pretty and her life seemed uncomplicated. Angelina knew that Marta went out at least three times a week.

“You should try it.”

“I don’t think so,” Angelina said. “My life is pretty complicated right now.”

“I get that. Dominic is one demanding boss.”

“Yes, he is.” And he was also a very enchanting man. Her mind kept replaying his asking her out for a drink. God, she’d wanted to say yes. But she’d known if Dominic found out she was his spy, he’d be doubly angry that she’d led him on.

“Do you like working for him? The one time I filled in for you, I was scared the entire time of doing something wrong.”

“He’s not that bad. He seems gruff, but he’s not really. And if you do your job to the best of your ability…well, that’s all he asks.”

“I’m just glad that he’s not my boss,” Marta said. She stared at a man standing on the corner, looking about. “Ah, I think that’s my date.”

“Which one?”

“The one in the cranberry-colored T-shirt. Um…he looks different than his online profile photo.”

“Don’t they all?” Angelina asked. “I tried online dating for a while, but never found a man who matched what he said in his profile.”

“That’s true enough, but then I don’t exactly match my profile, either.”

“You lied about yourself?” Angelina asked.

“Just fudged a few details. Like I found that being an American drew the wrong sort of men, so I dropped my nationality off the page and I said I was twentysomething instead of thirty.”

“Oh, why? Do you want to start a relationship with lies between you?” Angelina asked.

“Not really, but I think everyone lies about something.”

Angelina wanted to argue, but found she couldn’t. Thanks to her own actions she’d become one of the people she used to loathe. “I guess you’re right.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” Marta said. “The world we live in is one based on half-truths.” Her mobile rang and she glanced at the caller ID. “That’s my date. He must not recognize me. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

“
Ciao,
Marta.”

Her friend left and Angelina felt a sense of…melancholy. She was sad that she’d let Renaldo change her. But then she’d always known he would. From the day their parents had died in a car crash when she was eighteen, she’d known her life would change.

Renaldo had been sixteen, an age at which some men, men like Dominic would have been mature enough to handle responsibility, but Renni wasn’t cut from the same cloth as Dominic Moretti.

Heck, not many were, she thought. She swallowed the last of her wine. She had to stop thinking of Dominic as some sort of romantic leading man. He wasn’t. No matter that he’d asked her out for a drink tonight. No matter that he’d almost kissed her.

He wasn’t for her. He’d never been the man for her. Even if she hadn’t sold his secrets to save her brother, Dominic was never going to be her man. He was out of her league.

She got to her feet deciding it was time to head home. She wondered what tomorrow would bring. Would the police be waiting at the office and arrest her?

Marta caught her eye as she walked past the open-air patio and waved at her. Angelina waved back, trying to pretend she was like the others in the Piazza. But deep inside she knew she would never be like everyone else again.

Looking about his empty house, he realized there was something missing from his workaholic life. He could never settle down to love one woman, would never leave himself open to that kind of betrayal again. But he could see himself in a long-term affair.

The doorbell rang and Dom went to answer it. He greeted his friend, then groaned as he glanced at the car parked in front of his house. “A Porsche?”

“I like the car. It’s the first one I bought with my own money,” he responded.

“Still, they are a major competitor of mine. Show some respect.”

“Ah, Dom, you know that I have two Moretti Motors cars in my garage at home.”

“You couldn’t drive one here?”

“Nope. It’ll drive Tony nuts to see that Porsche outside,” Ian said with a quick grin.

Dom thought of what his brother’s reaction would be and smiled at his friend. “Yes, it will. So, what do you have for me?” he asked as they seated themselves in the living room.

“I think I should wait for your brothers to get here.”

“Marco can’t make it.”

“Racing business?” Ian asked.

“No, his new wife.”

“I thought you guys were cursed. No marriages for any of you.”

“Marco’s wife, Virginia, is the granddaughter of the woman who cursed
Nono.
She thinks her marriage to Marco broke the curse.”

“Could it be that simple?” Ian asked.

Dominic had no idea; he shrugged. “They seem happy.”

“I guess that’s all that matters when it comes to relationships.”

“Happiness?” Dominic asked.

“That’s been my experience,” Ian said. “If a woman is happy, then everything is good.”

Dominic had no such experience; his affairs were usually brief. He’d always believed if a relationship was structured like a business deal he’d have a better chance at making it work.

“Dom, you’ve got a big piece of trash in front of your house,” Antonio said as he came through the door.

“Most people don’t consider a Porsche trash, Tony.”

“I can’t speak to others’ ignorance,” Antonio said.

Ian laughed and stood to shake his hand. “Good to see you.”

“You as well. So, did you find our leak?” Antonio asked.

“I did. I think it’s going to shock you both.”

Dom had seen it all in his time as CEO of Moretti Motors. They’d encountered corporate spying before and had implemented internal security measures but it looked as though their prior loss-prevention techniques had failed. “Nothing would shock me.”

Ian looked straight at Dom. “Not even the fact that the leak is your secretary, Angelina De Luca?”

“What? Are you sure?” Dom asked. He crossed to the bar on one wall, poured two fingers of whiskey into a highball glass and swallowed in one long draw. Filled with rage, he wanted to smash something. He couldn’t believe that he’d entertained the thought of starting an affair with her while she had been betraying him. He’d relied on her….

“Positive. She’s been feeding information to ESP Motors. I saw the last drop myself.”

“How the hell is that possible?” Dom asked.

Antonio spoke up. “She’s had free rein of our corporate offices. She knows everything.”

“I know that,” Dom said.

“What do you want to do next?” Ian asked. “I have enough evidence to go to the police and press charges. We can have her arrested.”

“Do you have enough to prove ESP was behind it? Did you catch them in the act?”

ESP was the company founded by Nigel Eastburn, Lorenzo Moretti’s biggest rival on and off the racetrack. Both men had started their own car companies after retiring. The launch of the Vallerio model had pushed Lorenzo ahead of Nigel. In the 1980s, when Moretti Motors had started to fail, ESP Motors—named after Nigel and his two partners, Geoffrey Saxby and Emmitt Pearson—had moved ahead. That was why Moretti Motors wanted their new Vallerio Roadster to be a success—to take back the pride that they’d lost when ESP had become the name synonymous with roadsters.

“I’m sure I can get irrefutable proof that ESP is behind the espionage if you give me another week or so. I need to make sure the person contacting Angelina isn’t working independently,” Ian said.

“Who is it?” Dominic asked.

“Barty Eastburn.”

“Nigel’s grandson? That is big. Well, I’d rather take him down than just Angelina.” Dominic hoped he appeared nonchalant, that the rage he felt toward his secretary was well hidden.

“Angelina can’t get off without punishment,” Antonio said.

“She won’t,” Dom said. The fierceness of his tone seemed to startle Antonio.

“Don’t do anything rash, Dom,” his brother said.

“
I
will handle it. Ian, please let me know as soon as you are ready to spring the trap on Barty.”

“Do you think Angelina will help us with it?” Ian asked.

“Yes, she will.”

“How can you be certain?” Ian asked.

“Because I’m not going to give her a choice.”