Page 65 of Our Chaotic Love Affair

CHAPTER 23

CASH

My little bundle of chaos was apparently a very good spy.

I nodded at the driver, silently indicating we weren’t alone. “Tell me at the hotel.”

She winked in understanding. Rossi was a big name around here. I didn’t trust anyone. Information was worth money. People would not hesitate to sell it. I understood that and rarely talked about anything in front of others. I probably had trust issues, but whatever.

Back at the suite, I removed my jacket and loosened my tie, watching Cleo kick off her heels first. They went flying in different directions, one landing near the sofa, the other somewhere by the balcony door. Then she started removing her jewelry piece by piece, placing each item carefully on the coffee table.

“These earrings are gorgeous but they weigh approximately eight pounds each,” she said, rubbing her earlobe after removing the second one.

I should be focused on what Angelica told her. That was the priority. The information could save the deal. But instead, I was fixated on the way she had carried herself tonight. The way she read the room, saw what was happening, and extracted me before I could do more damage.

She had protected me.

No one protects me. I’m the fixer. The one who handles things. The one who steps in when others need backup.

I poured two fingers of scotch into crystal tumblers and walked over to where she was now sprawled across the sofa, feet up, looking like a Renaissance painting come to life. The black silk pooled around her, and she had one arm thrown dramatically over her face.

“I have never been so uncomfortable in my entire life,” she announced. “Those people? My God.”

I handed her the glass. “You seemed perfectly at ease.”

“That’s because I’m an excellent actress. I’ll expect my Oscar nomination in the mail.” She took the scotch and sipped it, then made a face. “This tastes like sweet fire.”

“It’s a thirty-year single malt.”

“No wonder it tastes expired. I’m drinking it anyway because I need something stronger than champagne after that circus.”

I sat down in the chair opposite her and loosened my cuffs. “You did well tonight.”

“I did, didn’t I?” She grinned suddenly, and it transformed her face. “I was absolutely on my game. You should have seen me in that bathroom. I went full mafia wife on her.”

I smiled before I realized it. “I’m sure you did.”

She took another sip, made another face, and gave a full body shudder.

“What did Angelica tell you? I’ve been patient long enough.”

Cleo tucked her legs up on the couch and turned to face me with the expression of someone who’d been waiting for this moment since the car. She was looking for her second Oscar nomination. “Angelica Rossi is a very unhappy woman.”

“I gathered that during dinner.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” She pulled a remaining pin from her hair and the whole thing came down. She ran her hands through it once before continuing. “Federico Rossi is apparently one of the most disliked businessmen in Rome at the moment. Unethical practices. She was vague on the specifics, but from the way she talked, it’s significant. His empire is in considerably worse shape than he’s been presenting.”

I went still. “How bad?”

“Crumbling. Her word, not mine.” She paused. “There’s more.”

“Tell me.”

“He’s going to try to pin it on the Bancroft name.” She watched my face as she said it. “The negative press the Bancrofts attract in America—he’s banking on it. He creates a scene, attaches your family to whatever fallout he’s generating, and while everyone’s looking at the Bancrofts, he slips away to a private island somewhere in the South Pacific and waits for it to blow over.”

The room was very quiet.

“She said your family has a scandal a month. Rossi is just waiting for his moment while also stirring the pot to make that moment a little more opportune for him.”