Page 2 of Forever: The Companion

It took the man a second.

Then, two.

“I guess, I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“You do—I just gave you two.”

Take it or leave it, buddy, she thought.

Lucia understood the man’s plight, but he’d gone about this entirely wrong. Had he genuinely been concerned about his vision coming to life as much as possible, then he could have asked her if there was something more they could do to the gallery for the upcoming showing. Instead, he’d marched into her office, looking like he’d just rolled out of bed and smelling like he’d spent the night in a bar, with demands as though she were going to fold just because he’d said so.

Hard pass.

Lucia had better things to do.

And money to make.

She loved art.

No doubt about it.

Her respect for art and this business went beyond the pale—she lived for it. Thing was, the only way she could continue to do that was if she made enough money to make it possible. The same thing went for the artists making the art.

They needed money.

Simple as that.

The phone on her desk rang just as Mason looked like he might open his mouth and say something else. If this were another day, one where she had more patience and had spent the night in bed with Renzo, she might have given him the chance to talk. Instead, she waved her hand at the door behind with him with a sharp, “Anything else, take it to my assistant, okay?”

He huffed.

She smiled again.

Once she was alone in her office, she picked up the ringing phone. “Lucia here.”

“Dolcezza.”

That time, her smile was real.

Entirely true.

“Daddy,” she greeted, turning her chair away from the desk a bit to stare out the window of her office, where she could enjoy the sight of a bright sky overhead. “What are you up to this afternoon?”

“Coming to see if you might like to clear some time off that very busy schedule of yours, actually.”

“Excuse me?”

“You never take a break. I am in the city to do some last-minute business before your mother and I take our trip to Bali … and I know Renzo is coming home from Vegas this week sometime, isn’t he?”

Yes.

God, she couldn’t wait.

She didn’t have a clue what job Renzo had been on, but it’d taken him away for almost three weeks. It was unusual for him to be allowed to take his phone and call her when he was on a job, so instead, she was stuck waiting for that call which said he was back in the country. Finally, she’d gotten that today.

He’d be home soon.

“He is, yes,” she replied.