A Legacy of Secrets(42)

‘Santo Corretti...’

It felt as if she were being rapidly brought out of an anaesthetic, the antidote to surrender shooting through her veins, as a stunning woman walked towards them and the safe, warm feeling she had, so briefly, sampled was suddenly threatened. The bubble of bliss burst, and his arm, around her, squeezed suddenly tense shoulders.

‘I am Marianna...’ She smiled warmly to Santo, but it turned black when she greeted Ella. ‘Your replacement.’

‘Now is not a good time.’ Santo was extremely curt. ‘I do not do impromptu interviews. You can arrange a time with Ella for tomorrow.’

‘No...’ Ella just wanted it over and done with. She could hardly blame Marianna for jumping on a plane to convince the boss personally—hadn’t Ella done exactly the same? ‘You two go ahead, I need to...’ She didn’t even try to come up with an excuse. ‘Tomorrow you are busy with filming. It might be better if we can sort this all out tonight.’

Ella ignored Santo as he tried to call her back. Instead she pulled back the gate to the lift and headed to her room, horribly unsettled at the turn of events, but possibly glad for them.

She had been so close to telling everything, to opening up and pouring out her heart.

But for what?

She was leaving, moving to Rome in a few short weeks—what hope was there for them anyway? Santo couldn’t even manage longevity in a normal relationship, a long-distance one was surely an impossible ask.

Ella needed to think. She had sworn to never cry over him, to not give this playboy her heart, and she had just come dangerously close to doing so. She opened the door to her room and there was a huge bunch of flowers waiting there. They brought a very watery smile to her lips. Santo had been on and off the phone for a lot of the afternoon, and though she was touched at his thoughtfulness, as she opened the attached card, Ella braced herself for more of his endearments, reminded herself that Santo was a stunning flirter, yet she found herself frowning as she read the card.





You will be amazing.



See why I had to sleep with you before I told you?



Santo xxx



P.S. You’re fired.





She didn’t understand his cryptic message, but knew this evening she had been played, that, all day, sex had been on his agenda, that it had been an absolute certainty for Santo that the day would end in his bed.

And, had it not been for Marianna, it would have.

She poured herself some limoncello from the bottle Teresa had given her, tried to tell herself that she must calm down, tried to work out what his message meant. Not liking where her thoughts were leading, that once in bed he’d take away the problem of her working for him, no doubt, right now, he was giving Marianna the job.

How bloody convenient for him.

‘Ella...’ She had known that he would come to her room, that Santo would have to offer a rapid explanation for his message, and she was very tight-lipped as she opened the door. ‘You got the flowers....’ There was an attempt at a joke, when Ella really wasn’t in the mood for one. ‘Now do you see why I need a PA? Even flowers I manage to screw up.’

‘So you were going to fire me, after you slept with me.’

‘No, no, you have it all wrong.’

‘I was a dead certainty, was I?’

‘Yes.’ He made no apology about it. ‘I was certain that tonight I was going to make love to you.’

‘So, how was Marianna?’

‘She was everything that you said she was. Ella, please, will you just listen?’

‘You don’t want me to hang around and train her up?’

‘Ella...’

She didn’t let him get a word in.

‘Because it shouldn’t take long—I’ve streamlined the process....’

‘Really!’ Santo’s raised an eyebrow. He actually rather liked her angry. ‘How so?’

‘Well, you’re a full-time job, but not a very complicated one. She watched his tongue roll in his cheek. ‘I’ll just hand her the Santo Bag.’

‘The Santo Bag?’

‘It contains all the essentials.’

And she took the huge bag she’d been carrying around and adding to for four months now, and tipped the contents onto his bed.

‘New white shirt, grey tie, black tie...’ She glanced over and there was a very unrepentant smile curving on his lips. ‘You do seem to attend an inordinate amount of funerals.’