“Page eleven,” he said shortly. She opened the paper and saw the picture of them leaving the art gallery the previous night. Aldo was kissing her. She looked up at him. “So, we’ve gone public.”
“That’s not the problem. Read the article.”
Elli looked down and began to read. “What the fuck?” The article, far from just outing them as a couple, ripped into Elli’s journalistic integrity over dating a subject of an interview and called into question whether it had been a legitimate article or a puff piece designed to sell her ‘boyfriend’s’ business to the masses. There was no identification of the writer in the piece.
“Ms. Moretti seems preoccupied with Mr. Constanza’s physical attributes far more than whether his philanthropy is genuine or masks a man whose ruthless business acumen means he leaves few survivors in his wake. But what strikes me most is this—since when has Il Mondo Italia been what amounts to a gossip magazine pandering to the elite? Since Ms. Moretti needed to get her rocks off, it seems. It is a sad downturn in the quality of a previously exemplary investigative magazine. Ms. Moretti, you should be ashamed.”
Elli’s hurt, and anger rose to the surface and she threw the paper on the table. “Fuck.” She tried to keep the tears from welling in her eyes. She’d had bad reviews before. Of course she had—it was part of being a writer, but this was one step away from calling her a whore. She slumped into a chair and covered her face. Aldo stroked her arm.
“None of that is true. You know that, right?”
She nodded, but it didn’t make her feel better. Being called a whore in public wasn’t the way she wanted to start her New Year, but she knew that responding would only make it worse. Her cell phone rang and she saw it was Viv calling.
“I may be about to be fired,” she said to Aldo, who shook his head. Elli answered the call. “Hey, Viv, guess you saw the article.”
“Yes, I did.” Vivienne sounded mad, “And when I get my hands on the writer of it, he’ll wish he’d never been born.”
“I’m sorry, Viv. I really am.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Elli. This article is completely unjustified, and what’s more, false in every way. I can’t believe the editor let it get through.”
Elli sighed, somewhat relieved. “Look, I’m coming in to work. We can talk about it in greater depth and consider how we might respond.”
“Are you sure? What about what the doctor said?” Vivienne asked.
“That was days ago. I’m fine. See you soon.”
Elli put her phone back on the table. “Well, I guess the vacation is over.”
Aldo leaned over and stroked her cheek. “Don’t worry about this joker. Look, I’ll walk you to work, but then I have to go away for a few days for work. Will you be okay?”
Elli was surprised. “You’re going away?”
“Yes. Is it a problem?”
“You haven’t mentioned it before is all. Where are you going?”
“New York. I’m sorry. I thought I had.”
She shook her head. “But then again, there’s no reason you should have to run anything past me, so don’t worry about it.”
“You sure, Bella? You look a little annoyed.”
She shook her head, but the truth was, she was a little scared. This business trip seemed to come out of nowhere and she wondered if Aldo thought a little distance between them would be a good thing after the article.
Aldo was watching her, and as she got up, he pulled her onto his lap. “Whatever it is you’re thinking right now isn’t what’s happening. It’s just a short trip, and if I didn’t know you had work, I would have invited you to come with me. “
Elli leaned into him, already missing him. “I know. I’m sorry.”
At work, after Aldo had kissed her goodbye and promised to heat her bed with his phone call later that night, Elli went to see Vivienne, who hugged her, then asked her to shut the door behind her and sit down. “I called the editor of this rag.” She waved the offending newspaper in the air, still mad. “The article wasn’t from one of his own people, rather an anonymous submission. He thought it made good points—which, by the way, it doesn’t—and put it in. Elli, did you piss this guy off at all?”
Elli thought back, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. But then that paper has never liked magazines like ours—we’re too ‘elite’ or ‘left wing.'”
Vivienne still looked unhappy. “Smearing one of my employees is not something I’m willing to let go, Els.”
“Fair enough, but if we engage with them, it’s like saying their opinion is worth something. I hate to say it, but let’s just leave it alone. I’ll just have to make sure that my future articles are …”
“As good as they always have been,” Vivienne said, a little forcefully. “Do not let this asshole make you feel as though you’re not talented. You were born to do this, Elli, and you know it.”
“Thanks.” Elli got up. “I’m going to distract myself with some work. I’m fine,” she emphasized, before Vivienne could check up on her yet again. “Sitting around at home won’t do me any good.”
As promised, she immersed herself in her work. It felt good to be back in her office, calling some of the shots in her life. She did some general research on some pending pieces, then called Maceo Bartoli and set up a meeting with him to discuss working together. “I’d love it if we worked on something that was both investigative and beautiful to look at,” Elli told Maceo. “If we could do something actually in your own gallery—I’ve heard it’s a beautiful space.”
Maceo laughed a deep, sexy chuckle. “You should come have lunch with Ori and me sometime and have a good look around. Then you’ll see it’s chaotic and frenzied, but. yes, I adore it. We’ve managed to build it up over the last few years so that we have a family atmosphere. You would enjoy it.”
Elli smiled down the phone. “I would love that.” They set a date for the following week, and Elli said goodbye, feeling a lot happier. She also got a message from her colleagues, supporting her after reading the article. A couple of journalists from local T.V. reached out to her, but she politely turned down their requests for interviews. “I’m not the story,” she told them, wishing she could go back to the relative obscurity she had known a few weeks ago.
It was three o’clock before she looked up from her work, and then it was only because she heard a commotion out in the reception area.
Suddenly, a girl with bright blue hair burst into her office. “Konnichiwa!”
Elli gaped at the girl. “Tandy? Oh my god!” She got up and the two women embraced, hugging each other tightly. Tandy, a part-Japanese, part-American woman in her early twenties had been Elli’s best friend for a few years, ever since the younger woman started as an intern at the magazine. Tandy Li had only one ambition—to travel to every country in the world—and over the last two years, she had been doing exactly that, working her way (sometimes illegally) through the Americas and Canada, down to the Caribbean, and then to Europe.
Elli made some coffee and they sat in her office. Tandy told her she was in Italy for just a week. “I’ve finally got enough money to go to India,” she said. “But I couldn’t do Europe without coming back to say hi to my bestie. How're things? Viv said you’re getting some decent sex at last.”
Elli nearly choked on her coffee, but then laughed. “Nothing is sacred, is it?”
Tandy grinned. “Nope. You look good, Els, I have to say.”
Elli smiled. “Well, I’m excited you’re here, Tandy. Where are you staying?”
Tandy looked a little guilty, and Elli laughed, having expected her to ask her to stay with her—it was an old habit. “You can stay as long as you want, Tee. You know that.”
“The boyfriend won’t mind?”
She hadn’t really thought of Aldo that way before. Elli turned the label around in her mind for a moment, feeling oddly uncomfortable with it, before dismissing the feeling as yet another residue from the damn concussion. “The boyfriend is in N
ew York for the next few days, so you’re all set, as long as you don’t mind sharing a bed with me.”
“Have I ever?” Tandy rolled her eyes. “We’re going to have so much fun. Listen, I have to go meet another friend, so can I come by your place around nine tonight?”
“Of course. I’ll even go grocery shopping.”
“Don’t buy anything healthy.”
Elli chuckled. “Oh, I won’t.”
Elli lugged the grocery bags up the stairs to her apartment. Dumping her bags on the table and taking off her coat, she walked over to the small table beside the door to set her keys down—if she didn’t, they’d be lost immediately. As she leaned down, she spotted a plain brown manila envelope just poking out from beneath the door. Frowning, Elli picked it up and turned it over. There was no name on it, nor was it addressed to anybody. Walking back into the kitchen, she set coffee brewing, then opened the envelope and shook out the contents.
A photograph slid out, face down, and when she flipped it over, she felt a cold fist in the stomach. It was a picture of her from about twenty minutes ago. She was emerging from a bakery several blocks away, looking sideways down the street, so she’d missed whoever it was who had the lens pointed her way.
What the fuck? She studied the envelope and photo minutely, but could not see any trace of a clue to who might have sent it. It was such an invasion of privacy—and so creepy. She remembered how she’d felt at the art gallery on New Year’s Eve and that same prickling feeling chilled her skin. If this is you, Indio Navaro, stop it. I’ve moved on.
Maybe he had seen the picture of her and Aldo kissing. Don’t kid yourself, girl. Why would he care?
Elli shook herself and stuffed the photograph and the envelope in the trash can. She unpacked the groceries and was wondering if she should cook something for a late supper with Tandy when her cell phone rang. Not looking at the Caller ID—she automatically assumed who it was, based on Aldo’s earlier promise—she answered with a playful, “It’s not quite bedtime yet. Missing me so soon?”
The caller whispered down the phone.
“You look beautiful tonight, Elli.”
Her flesh crawled again and anger flashed through her. “Who is this? What the fuck do you want?”
A low chuckle, and she tried to pick out anything she could recognize in the voice.
“You, of course, Elli. Always you. It’s always been you.”
Elli gritted her teeth. “Well, asshole, you don’t get to have me, do you? Who are you?”
“You know me, Elli Bella.”
The shock was icy cold. “Indio?” her voice, a whisper, broke as she said his name.
He chuckled. “Who knows? All that is certain is one thing, beautiful Elli.”
“What’s that?”
“That soon you’ll be bleeding out, whore.”
And the line went dead. Elli dropped her phone and sank to the floor, trembling violently, unable to stop the panic attack, and that’s where Tandy found her an hour later.
Tandy insisted on Elli reporting the call and the photograph to the police, but the terse officer taking her statement evidently thought she was a hysterical female, and soon Elli stomped out, followed by a furious Tandy.
“Motherfucker,” she raved as she wrapped her arm around Elli’s shoulders. Tandy had the height from her American father, almost six feet of her to Elli’s five-five, and Elli was weirdly glad of it as they walked home through the dark streets. It was bitingly cold. Elli looked at Tandy a little sheepishly. “This isn’t the homecoming I wanted you to have, Tandy. Maybe I’m making too much of this.”
“A death threat? No way, Elli. This is scary stuff.” Tandy sighed, shaking her head. “You know what’s weird, though?”
“What?”
Tandy glanced at her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I always was waiting for something like this to happen to you.”
Elli was shocked. “Why?”
“Because look at you, Elli. You’re so beautiful, so friendly, and yet when anyone gets close, they’re banging up a brick wall. Someone was always going to get nasty, and I think this is it.”
Elli was silent. “So it’s my fault?”
“Hell, no.” Tandy was vehement. “It’s the fault of a civilization that leads men to believe they’re entitled to any woman they want, and that murder is an option open to them if they don’t get what they want.”
“But I have let someone in,” Elli insisted. “I hope you get to meet Aldo …he’s just the sweetest, sexiest guy. And he and I are growing closer every day …in every way.” Elli flushed, and Tandy grinned.
“Then he’s probably not the one playing these games.”
“Of course it’s not Aldo,” Elli said in surprise. “He would never do anything to hurt me.”
“Of course, of course.” Tandy waved her hand. “I was being facetious. Elli, I know you won’t want to go down this path, but … do you think it might be Indio?”
Tandy knew everything about Indio and Elli’s love for the man. Elli sighed.
“I would hate to think so. Besides, Indio knows that if he came back …”
“You would dump Aldo in a second if Indio showed up.”
Elli was stung. “I wouldn’t.”
“Hey, I’m not judging—but are you being honest with yourself?”
Elli could feel the tears coming again, and she looked away from her friend. It was a moot thought anyway—Indio was never coming back—so what did it matter if Tandy just might be right? “Please don’t make this harder than it is,” she said in a soft voice. Tandy hugged her.
“Sorry. Now, let’s forget this nonsense and go eat our body weight in front of the television.”
Tandy did a great job of distracting Elli for the evening, but when Tandy fell asleep on the couch just after midnight, Elli put a pillow underneath her head and blanket over her and went to her bedroom, realizing she’d never gotten the promised call from Aldo.
She grabbed her laptop and opened Skype, hoping he would be online. She had been debating with herself all night whether to tell him about the threats, but when she saw his smile as he logged on and greeted her, she demurred.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
“Hi, Aldo. How’s the Big Apple?”
“Lonely without you. I only got in a little while ago. Did you talk to Viv about the article?”
God, the article …she hadn’t thought about that at all since the threats. “It’s all good. We’re not going to respond to it.”
Aldo looked a little surprised. “Wow.”
“What?”
“Well, you were so fired up and now it seems like you’ve let it go.”
Elli nodded, not quite meeting his eye. “Yeah, well.”
“You okay?”
“Absolutely. Actually,” she said, seeing Tandy stumble into the bedroom, bleary-eyed, and using it to change the subject, “I do have to tell you that I’m sharing my bed with someone else tonight.” She grinned as Aldo’s eyebrows shot up and Elli moved the laptop around to where Tandy was crawling into bed. “Say hello to Aldo. Aldo, this is Tandy, a good friend of mine. She’s crashing here for a few nights on her way to India.”
Aldo chuckled and said hello to Tandy, who greeted him, then promptly went back to sleep. Elli grinned at Aldo. “She showed up at the office today. No warning.”
“Serendipitous,” Aldo nodded, “I like you’re not alone.”
Elli gave a half-smile. “I’m a big girl now, Aldo. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Sorry,” he smiled ruefully, “I’m overprotective, I know. Scuzi.”
“You’re forgiven.”
They chatted for a little longer, until Elli felt herself wilting and said goodbye. Aldo blew her a kiss, clearly seeing that their evening rendezvous was a no-go tonight.
“I love you, Elli. Sleep tight.”
“Goodnight, Aldo. I miss you.”
After she’d shut her laptop, she lay back. She felt guilty about not telling Aldo
she loved him when it had been her mind lately that she might be falling for him. Certainly she was very, very fond of the man, and she loved the sex—exciting and a little dangerous. Aldo being a billionaire didn’t faze her—she had never been the gold-digging type. It was his money, not hers.
Elli closed her eyes and was asleep in minutes. She wasn’t sure how long she slept before he nightmares came back, bloody and violent, and she woke, crying. Tandy inevitably was woken by Elli’s panic attack and sat beside her friend as she gradually calmed down.
“It’s still Indio, isn’t it?” Tandy eventually said.
Elli sighed. “Less so. I think …I think I just need closure, you know? I have no idea where he is—even Googling him brings up his company, but nothing, and I mean nothing, about him personally. It’s as if he’s wiped himself off the face of the earth. Even gossip sites have nothing on him, and seeing he was married to that model, I’m surprised.”
Tandy sighed. “Look, I wasn’t going to tell you this …but I saw him. Now, because I never met him, I could have been wrong, but I don’t think so. You can’t replicate his kind of beauty. In Seattle. He was having dinner with a couple. This was about six months ago. He looked tired, worn down, and they were having a pretty intense conversation by the looks of things, as if he were upset and they were trying to help him.”
Elli’s heart was thumping with a sad heaviness. “He looked tired?”
Tandy nodded. “I didn’t feel as if I could go over, so I thought it would be best if I didn’t tell you. But he is out in the world, safe, if not happy. Does that help?”
Elli considered. “I don’t know.” She hesitated. “I keep thinking I see him, just a brief glimpse and then he’s gone. Sometimes I think I’m going crazy. If it hadn’t been for Aldo, I might have.”
Tandy smiled. “You like Aldo, don’t you?”
Elli smiled. “He says he loves me, but I haven’t been able to say it back yet.”
“Where is he at the moment?”
“Four Seasons in New York. He’ll be back on Friday.”
“Huh.” Tandy was frowning.
“What?”
Dark Masquerade: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 6
