Page 108 of The Italian Obsession

“Nothing much.” I roll my lips to hide my smile.

“I’ve missed nothing?”

I pretend to type.

He lets out an exaggerated sigh. “Why must you torture me, my darling?”

“Torture?” I smile as I type. “How so?”

“Have you seen Mr. Ferrara?”

I turn my attention to him for the first time since he’s been in my office. “What do you know about Mr. Ferrara? How do you know him?”

“Rico and I have been friends for years. I knew his father.”

“And how exactly did it come about me coming to Milan?”

“Rico called me.”

“And said what?”

“He asked me if you had applied for a job there two years earlier. I said I would check it out. I found when I searched your name that you actually had a current job application in place. I called him back, and he asked me if I could arrange for you to be in Milan.”

“But why wouldn’t he call me himself? Why would he need the excuse of Valentino?”

He cringes. “I know, I thought that, too. How exactly did you two meet?”

“Our eyes met across a crowded room. He came over and translated the menu for me, and then he joined me for dinner.”

Giorgio smiles as he listens.

“We ended up spending the weekend together before I left for Sorrento. I’d arranged to meet my girlfriend Natalie there. Enrico and I agreed to meet up again two weeks later.”

“Natalie is your friend who is moving here?”

“She’s here already. She arrived on Friday.”

“Wow.” He swings on his chair, clearly happy for me.

“But get this: the day I left for Sorrento happened to be the same day his father and grandfather were killed.”

His face falls.

“I didn’t hear from him for the entire time I was away, and then when I got back to Rome, someone had planted drugs in my bags.”

Giorgio’s mouth falls open. “Was it him?

“I hope not,” I scoff. “But I didn’t know any of this when I was arrested at the airport.”

Giorgio’s eyes widen. “You were arrested?”

“Yes, and I saw Rico at the police station, but he left me.”

“What do you mean… he left you?”

“He organized for a lawyer to get me off the charges, and he called the embassy, but he never came back and saw me again. I was put on a plane home by his lawyer, not him.”

He presses his fingers against his lips. “Extraordinary.”