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Well, then.
Ana had to hand it to Tony. He had covered almost none of the figures they’d prepared, but he’d somehow managed to distract Russo from discussing the partnership any further–and instead, deflected his attention to another business.
Knowing Russo, though, she highly doubted he would stay distracted for long. He was probably just humoring the idea for now, since bars and strip clubs were doing well recently. Nothing compared to the gold profits, but enough to tempt him.
Holding onto the pile of folders, Ana stood to the side as the two men surveyed Russo’s car, discussing its features in great detail. She checked her watch again. Luke would be arriving in less than an hour, and there was a lot of prep work pending for that meeting.
When the small talk seemed to dwindle, she plastered on a smile as the two men shook hands before Russo turned to her.
“Give my regards to the Don,” he said without an ounce of sincerity.
Her smile stiffened.
An unsettling gleam entered his eyes. “You know, I remember Gio as a teenager," he mused. "So moody and quiet. And now, he is giving me advice.” His derisive laugh set her on edge, sending an uncomfortable trickle down her spine. “Gio and Celia always got on well, though,” he said. “I almost thought they both would–well, never mind that. It’s all old history now.”
Russo gave her a knowing look. Taunting.
The expression on her face felt like ice. Even Antonio seemed leery of the other man now, his earlier charm absent as he stepped back until he was at Ana’s side.
Russo observed their united stance, his humor dissipating.
“Safe travels,” she wished curtly.
The only response was the loud slam of his car door.
Antonio whistled low as his car tore out of the Mancini grounds, the guards closing the gates behind him. “Hopefully he doesn’t come sniffing around here again. What was that about Gio and Celia? They friends or something?”
Or something.
“Russo used to meet with Gio’s dad to discuss investments. So they must have introduced Gio and Celia in one of those meetings.”
“Hm.” Antonio nodded distractedly as he watched the gates and the sprawling greenery beyond.
“Come on,” she urged. “Emma must be waiting for us.”
Emma stared blankly when Antonio happily recapped the conversation minutes later, detailing every exchange.
Blonde hair in a severe bun, glasses on the tip of her nose, she regarded him ominously. “So you’re telling me you used none of the financials we prepared?”
Antonio seemed to finally register her deadly expression because he fell silent, his cheery smile vanishing.
“Well, they were nice reports.” He glanced between the two of them. Ana kept her head down, valiantly pretending to review her notes as he dug his grave deeper. “Really pretty diagrams–the charts and all.”
The look on Emma’s face was cold enough to freeze fire.
“It all worked out in the end,” Ana interjected before the blonde could implode, giving her a calming look. “Russo shouldn’t approach us again for a while. Maybe never if he got the hint. But we should move on to the next meeting,” she said, glancing at the time. “Luke will be here in thirty minutes.”
“He mainly wants our expenses and payroll, right?” Emma huffed and opened up her laptop, clicking through the files. Ana confirmed, leaning in to review what her aide had pulled up.
“Wait,” Antonio stiffened suddenly. “Was I supposed to prepare my own reports for this?” He searched around for his imaginary laptop.
Emma locked eyes with Ana, her lips thin.
“Uh, that’s okay.” Ana winced. “We’ve been prepping your reports, or Emma has mostly. So we can share those with Luke.”
Tony slumped, relieved. She cleared her throat and hurried on before the blonde could comment, feeling the heat of her stare at her side.
“Gio said Luke will focus more on our recordkeeping than our actual numbers. I think they want to get all the businesses on a better system.”
