The Moretti Seduction (4 page)

As long as a Moretti roams this earth, he shall have happiness in either business or love but never both. Do not disdain the power of my small body. Moretti, you may be strong, but that will no longer help you. I am strong in my will and I demand retribution for the pain you have caused me.

Virginia might have broken the curse for Marco by combining Festa and Moretti blood, but Antonio wasn’t too sure.

Dom replied, “Maybe as far as Marco is concerned they have, but I have the feeling you and I aren’t out of the woods yet.”

“You better be careful, old man. I would never be so weak as to fall for any woman.”

“That’s what Marco thought.”

“Our baby brother was distracted by the races. I am not about to be.”

“Remember that, Tony. We are on the cusp of taking Moretti Motors to heights that it has never seen before,” Dom said.

Antonio knew that better than anyone. He and his brothers had been born to a legacy of both pride and powerful determination but also to the curses that Lorenzo Moretti had left behind. This mess with the Vallerio family was only one of them. If Dom was right and Marco managed to appease the curse put on them by Cassia Festa, Lorenzo’s spurned lover, then thank the stars. The fact that no generation of Moretti men had ever been lucky in business and in love wasn’t going to be easily forgotten by either himself or Dom.

“Do I have your permission to act without checking in?” Antonio asked.

“Why?”

“I might need to act quickly to get Nathalie to agree.”

“Nathalie?”

“Ms. Vallerio.”

“Yes, you can act without checking in with the board. I will back you. But make sure that you get the results we need, Tony.”

“Have I failed you yet?”

“No. No, you haven’t.”

He rang off with his brother and entered his house. The town house was opulently decorated and quiet at this time of night. He had never noticed the silence of the place before, but tonight with Dom’s words echoing in his head and after the evening he’d spent with Nathalie, he wondered if he, like
Nono,
was doomed to spend his life alone.

He wanted her to succeed because it had been his aunt who had been so badly used by Lorenzo, and his father who had been duped by his onetime friend.

She took a sip of her cappuccino and leaned back in the cushioned wrought-iron chair. Her family wasn’t used to failing. After their disastrous business deal with Lorenzo Moretti, the Vallerios had made it their mission to never walk away from any deal the loser.

And Nathalie followed a proud tradition of being the one to make sure that her family won.

There was a knock on her hotel door and she glanced at her watch to check the time. It was too early to be anyone from Moretti’s office coming to check on her.

She walked across the room with a feeling of dread. The timing was exactly right for someone to arrive if they’d taken the early flight from Paris.

She checked the peephole and groaned out loud.

“Papa, what are you doing here?” she asked as she opened the door.

Emile Vallerio crossed the threshold and kissed her on both cheeks. “We wanted to make sure that everything was okay here in Milan.”

“We?”

Like magic, her sister appeared in the doorway. “I decided to come with Papa to see if I could help out in any way,” Genevieve said.

Nathalie’s older sister was renowned for her beauty and charm. Nathalie had never really minded being the smart sister, but if her father had brought Genevieve he must think…“Why?”

“Let’s discuss this over coffee. I see you aren’t ready for your meeting.”

“Papa, I’ve been handling these things for a long time. I don’t need you and Genevieve here. I can handle it. Go back to Paris.”

“We will. After we are sure you know what you are doing,” Emile said.

“I love you both very much, but I don’t need you to tell me how to do my job.”

“I know,” Genevieve said. “But the Morettis can be tricky.”

“I’m not untried. I can handle Antonio,” she said, wondering if the words were true. Could she handle him? Last night had tested her and she suspected each day they spent together in the boardroom was going to make resisting him more difficult.

“Antonio?” Genevieve questioned.

“How is he in person? I’ve heard that he’s a shark,” Emile said.

“He’s a lot like me. I think we’ll get some of the things we want, but we’re not going to be able to rake them over the coals as you might have wanted.”

“At the end of the day, I just want a fair deal for our family. Lorenzo manipulated my aunt out of her share of the Moretti fortune. We don’t want that for this generation. She was promised a share of Moretti Motors and in order to get Lorenzo to sign the annulment so she could marry again he made her give up her rights to those shares.”

“I agree, Papa. I’ve told Antonio that we aren’t going to take just any deal. There’s nothing in this for us unless they sweeten their offer.”

She glanced down at her watch. “I have to start getting ready.”

“Go ahead,” her father said. “We will wait here for you.”

She rolled her eyes. She knew how important this was to her family. Her great-aunt had been in a bitter marriage and had died young. They had almost no contact with her son and his family. The split of the Vallerio and Moretti families was complete.

“What are you going to wear today?” her sister asked.

“I don’t need fashion advice, Genie.”

“I know. But this man is used to very sophisticated women.”

Her sister had a point. She was used to winning in the boardroom based on her smarts and her determination. But with Antonio, maybe she could use clothing and feminine wiles to distract him.

She sighed. “What do you think I should wear?”

Genevieve laughed. “I took the liberty of bringing a dress with me that I think will look super on you.”

“Do you really think so?” Nathalie asked. In this case she deferred to the pretty sister.

“Nat, you goof, of course it will. You probably already have him dazzled. This is just going to take away his ability to look anywhere but at your cleavage.”

She shook her head. “I don’t like to use my body as a tool.”

“Why not? Nature made us this way, Nat. We’re not stronger than men but we are smarter.” Genevieve winked. “And sexier.”

“You haven’t met Antonio.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” she said. “He’s very sexy.”

“Good. Then he’ll use his looks to his benefit. You won’t be taking advantage of him by bringing sex into the boardroom.”

Her sister had a point. And Antonio had agreed that all was fair in love and war. And this most definitely was war, she thought. Last night he’d pushed the boundaries of the attraction between them. Normally Nathalie wouldn’t try to be some sort of femme fatale, but in this instance and with Genevieve’s help she had the feeling she couldn’t lose.

Her father and sister were also at the table, and Dom had joined them when he’d realized there were more Vallerios in here other than just Nathalie.

“Let’s take a break,” Antonio suggested. “We need to all stretch and get some air. I’ve asked my staff to set up some drinks in the garden.”

“I don’t think fresh air is going to resolve the issues on the table,” Emile said.

Nathalie’s father had the same sharp intelligence as his daughter but none of her charm. He was still angry with Lorenzo and because of that he was a liability at the negotiating table. He sensed Nathalie knew it, but how did one tell a family member to get lost? He knew it couldn’t be done. When family and business were mixed, there was no way to win.

“I realize that, Emile. I thought a break will give us all a chance to regroup and then get back to work.”

“Sounds good,” Dom said. “My assistant, Angelina, will lead you to the garden.”

“Where will you be?”

“In my office,” Dom said. “Antonio and I need a moment and then we’ll be right down.”

Angelina led the Vallerio family out of the boardroom and he turned to Dom. “What did you need to discuss?”

“That Emile is an ass. I don’t see the point to all of this. His only agenda seems to be to taunt us with the fact that we can’t use his father’s name.”

“I know. Give me a few minutes to think this over.”

“I already have. Screw them. We are going to use Marco’s name instead. He’s made a name for himself on Grand Prix. One that even Pierre-Henri didn’t have.”

“But he doesn’t have the cachet that Pierre-Henri does, thanks to that roadster he helped design and gave his name to. No matter that Pierre-Henri drove for our team—Team Moretti. The Vallerios think they are owed more than the compensation they were given. And because of the way
Nono
treated Anna Vallerio, I guess Emile is right to feel that way.”

Dom stood up and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked down into the courtyard garden where the Vallerio family was assembled. “I’m not going to play Emile’s game. Whatever
Nono
did to his aunt, we’re not responsible for it. This is business, not revenge.”

“I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet. I need some time alone with Nathalie. We both are seasoned at negotiating so I’m sure we can get to something workable.”

“Not if her father is in the room. And why is the sister here? She didn’t add a single thing.”

“I have no idea. Why don’t you offer to take them on a tour of the factory and show them the mock-up of the new Vallerio? That will give me a chance to talk to Nathalie privately.”

“I think I’ll have Angelina take care of that.”

“You can’t. Emile will be offended if it’s not you or I doing the tour. I think it’s important that we give him his due here. What
Nono
did to the Vallerios…well, from their perspective wasn’t right.”

“We didn’t exactly prosper from his actions either. But I understand what you’re saying. I’ll do my part. It’s just Marco’s luck that he’s not here.”

“He will be next week and then we can send him to deal with Emile and Genevieve.”

“But not Nathalie?”

“No. I’m the one who can handle her.”

“Are you sure? You seemed distracted a few times.”

He had been distracted. Yesterday he’d been struck by Nathalie’s brains and wit more than her looks. But today she’d pulled out all the stops and he couldn’t help but remember how she’d felt in his arms the night before.

“It was nothing. I can handle Nathalie,” Antonio said. “Any word on the leak?”

“No. Nothing. But the information I am using as bait is highly sensitive and I don’t think we’ll hear about it for a few days.”

“Should we bring in an outside company?”

“I thought of that. I hired Stark Services to help.”

“Good. I like Ian and he’s not afraid to go for blood. He sees corporate spying as a real international crime.”

“I agree. He’s going to get stuff we can use in court.”

“Good. Does he know about the bait?”

“Yes, it was his suggestion. He’s on his way here from London. We should see him in the offices in the next day or so.”

Ian Stark had been a college friend of Dom’s and he’d gone into his family’s business of protecting the rich and famous. Not as a bodyguard but as an intellectual properties security officer. He protected the secrets of the famous and he did a damn fine job of it.

“I’m glad Ian’s working for us.”

Dom shrugged. “I was hoping to handle it ourselves, but I’m not taking any chances on this.”

Antonio knew that. He felt the same way. There was something about going from moving in wealthy circles to being beholden on their wealthier relatives that had cemented in all his brothers the belief that success was the most important thing in life. Money might not be able to buy happiness, but it did buy security and that was a very important commodity.

“We’ve come too far to fail now,” Antonio said.

Dom looked him straight in the eye and smiled. “True enough.”

“You seem relieved to hear me say that.”

“Sometimes I feel like I forced my dreams on both you and Marco.”

Antonio shook his head. As teenaged boys, Marco, Dominic and he had made a vow to never fall in love. They had promised and sealed it with blood that they would be the generation to be lucky in business. “We took that blood oath together, remember? We all want this.”

“Yeah, until a pretty face comes along.”

“I think that little Enzo won Marco over as much as Virginia did,” Antonio said.

Dom shrugged. “If he broke that curse on our family I’ll be happy, but I’m not convinced.”

“Me either. I know that Virginia thinks the mingling of their blood broke it, but I remember that she said that they couldn’t fall in love. That seems like a mighty big oops on their behalf,” Antonio said. “Not that I’ve ever put much stock in the curse.”

“That’s because you’ve never been in love.”

“Nor tempted to be,” Antonio said. “Women are meant to be enjoyed and savored but never permanently.”

Dom’s mobile rang and he stepped into the hall to answer it. Antonio straightened his papers on the boardroom table and felt someone watching him. He glanced up to see Nathalie standing there.

“So women are like chocolates?” she asked.

“I never said that. Just that men and women seldom want things for the long haul.”

“What about your parents?”

“They are the exception to the rule. And I’m not sure that they would have survived as a couple if my papa was interested in business.”

“I’m not following,” she said.

“I’m the kind of man who is all or nothing, so a woman could never compete with my business interests.”

She nodded. “That’s good to know.”