A Moment on the Lips(63)

Her face was ashen as she registered all the possibilities of how Mancuso could damage Tonielli’s.

‘Sit down. I’ll sort it,’ he said softly. He called the locksmith while making coffee, and added several spoons of sugar to her mug.

She took a sip and pulled a face. ‘Dante, I’m sorry, but this is horrible. It’s too sweet.’

‘Drink it,’ he said, ‘because you’ve just had a shock and sugar’s good for shock.’

‘In England, they normally do hot sweet tea.’

‘Trust me, my coffee’s better than my tea,’ he said lightly—and was relieved to see her smile.

The locksmith arrived relatively quickly; Dante waited with her while the locks were changed, then drove her on the bike behind the locksmith to each shop in turn, ending up at the one under her flat.

‘I think you need to tell your grandmother what’s been going on—just in case Mancuso breaks his word and tells your grandfather a pack of lies,’ he said.

‘It’ll devastate her. It’s …’ She sighed. ‘It’s almost as if he tried to worm himself into my father’s place, acted like a son and looked after them. And it should’ve been me doing that, not him.’

‘You’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t blame yourself.’

‘But if I’d been here …’

‘He said he helped when your father was killed. You were six. How could you have possibly taken over from your grandfather back then?’

She sighed. ‘I guess you’re right.’

‘Of course I’m right.’

‘It makes me sick to think about it. He thought he deserved a share of the business—and when Nonno didn’t give it to him, he helped himself.’

‘And your grandfather trusted him with the books, so there was no check on him,’ Dante said.

‘I don’t understand why the accountant didn’t pick it up.’

Dante shrugged. ‘My guess is either he skimped the job, or he was in on it as well.’

‘But that—that’s terrible.’

‘Change your accountant,’ Dante advised. ‘I can give you the name of mine.’ He looked at her. ‘Actually, I don’t trust Mancuso. I’d rather you didn’t stay at your flat tonight.’

‘You think he’d—’ her eyes widened ‘—do something to hurt me?’

‘Probably not,’ Dante said, ‘because it would be all too obvious that he was behind it. He has a motive, because you’ve exposed his fraudulent activities.’

‘But you think he might try something?’

‘I don’t know, Caz. Let’s not take the risk. I have copies of the files; I’ll download the recording I took of the conversation so we both have copies of that, too.’

She blinked. ‘You recorded it?’

‘On my phone, from just as I walked in. It’s another layer of proof. Tonight, I think you should stay with your grandparents.’

She shook her head. ‘If I do that, they’ll worry.’

Dante knew what he should do: offer to let her stay at his. But having her stay with him would be way too dangerous for his peace of mind. He sighed. ‘OK. Here’s the deal. I’ll stay at my mother’s and you can stay at my flat.’

She looked at him. ‘I can’t expect you to put yourself out that much for me.’

He could see the question in her face: and why won’t you stay with me? ‘Caz. I’m trying to be honourable. There’s no way you can stay with me without us ending up in bed together. And that’s not fair to either of us.’

She said nothing, but bit her lip.

Ah, hell. ‘Caz, I don’t want to hurt you. Right now, I admit, I want to wrap my arms round you and tell you that I’ll always protect you. Except …’ His voice sounded as broken as he felt. ‘I can’t protect you against me.’

She sighed. ‘This is your blind spot, Dante. How am I going to make you see that none of it’s true—that you’re denying both of us what we really want?’ She looked him straight in the eye. ‘You’re not your father. If you were, you would’ve piled in just now and beaten Mancuso into a pulp. But you didn’t. You protected me—and you did it all with words. The right way.’

He looked at her. ‘The right way,’ he echoed.