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I should be pleased that he came to check on her, but something about his tone—or maybe his demeanor—irks me.
“No,” she answers, anguished. “Everything’s not okay. The caterer’s business manager contacted me at the pool. Despite the cancelation, they need to be paid in full tomorrow. She hasn’t been able to reach Julia, and she wanted to be sure that I understand the terms of the contract.”
“What do you mean cancelation?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she replies softly.
“What did Julia say?”
“I can’t reach her. I left a message.”
She’s not answering her phone the day before a huge event? Last I heard, there were over a thousand guests attending. Anything could go wrong. Why isn’t she available?
“When did you last talk to her?”
“The night before we left. Everything was all set. We weren’t scheduled to talk again until tomorrow morning—unless something came up.”
“Maybe she has another event?”
“I don’t think so. She was supposed to be doing some off-site work for the party. Putting together party favors and place cards—that kind of thing. She rented space in a nearby warehouse.”
I glance at Marco, who hasn’t said a single word to help get to the bottom of this—or to reassure her. He’s just standing there watching us, as though he’s waiting for someone to pass the popcorn.
“Maybe Rafael can send someone to the warehouse to see if she’s there. If it’s an old building, the cell service might be bad.”
“I’m not sure where it is. Maybe Tamar can figure it out—we paid a rental fee for the facility. She might be able to track it down that way.”
“Are you sure you didn’t cancel the caterer by mistake, sweetie?” Marco asks.
What in the ever-loving fuck? I glower at him.
Valentina blinks a few times, like she’s thinking about it, and then shakes her head. “No.”
“Of course she didn’t make a mistake,” I say brashly.
“What’s the problem?” Daniela asks, approaching.
“The caterer for the big event was canceled a couple of days ago. I can’t reach the party planner.”
“Canceled?” Daniela’s tone sets my hair on end.
We’ve been thinking it’s a misunderstanding—Daniela is thinking sabotage. She’s probably right. Misunderstandings like this don’t happen.
“What did Rafael say?” she asks, her hand on Valentina’s arm.
“I haven’t had a chance to tell him.”
“You go talk to him, and I’m going to talk to your father, who’s with Gray and Delilah. They might be able to help sort this out, if you can’t reach Julia.”
Gray is one of Antonio’s college buddies, and Delilah is his wife. Valentina’s close to both of them, especially Delilah.
“That’s a great idea,” Valentina says, nodding.
It is a great idea. Gray’s father was the US president who was assassinated more than a decade ago, and they have the connections to fix, well, almost anything.
“Even if the caterer is still willing to do the party—” Valentina stops midsentence, uneasiness clouding her features.
“You need to let Rafael know right now,” Daniela tells her daughter before heading to the elevator.
