it, and in that perfect moment, there was no knowledge of pain or unhappiness anywhere in the world. They were together in their own private version of heaven.
CHAPTER 18
FIONA
Tuscany, 2017
It wasn’t easy to keep a secret that made your heart want to burst out of your chest. Ninety million euros. Cash in hand. A done deal without an audit. I could board a plane back to Florida in a week, and this secret of mine—and my mother’s—would be swept under the rug forever.
But how would I explain the money to Dad? And what would I do with it? Split it with Connor and Sloane? How would I divide it?
Walking briskly across the parking lot toward the gift shop, I looked down at my feet and listened to the sound of my sneakers crunching over the clean white gravel. The movement grounded me and reminded me that none of this was set in stone. Connor still wanted to fight the new will, so I would be wise not to let any dreams of financial freedom get too out of hand.
I entered the gift shop and found a dark-haired woman on a stepladder, filling a top shelf with bottles of wine. She wore navy trousers and a red golf shirt with the Maurizio Wines logo on the breast pocket.
“Buongiorno,” she said, climbing down. “You must be Ms. Bell?”
“Yes. I’m here to meet Vincent Guardini. But please call me Fiona.”
She approached and held out her hand. “I’m Mia, the gift shop manager. It’s nice to meet you.” We shook hands. “Vin’s already here. He’s in the office. Vin! Fiona’s here!”
He walked into the shop through an open door at the back and smiled warmly at me. “What a beautiful morning for a walk in the vineyards, sì?” He kissed me on both cheeks. “You’ve met Mia?”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful. Let’s get started, then. First, let me show you the office. Come, come.” He beckoned for me to follow him through the back into a large room with half a dozen cubicles and large windows that let in plenty of light. “Everyone, this is Fiona Bell, Anton’s daughter from America. Our new owner.”
People stood up from their desks, and Vincent introduced me to each person individually. Then he took me into a separate office to meet the sales-and-marketing manager.
Afterward, we walked outside to the parking lot, where Vincent led me to his car—a cute little blue Fiat with a dent in the side.
“Are we going somewhere?” I asked.
“Many hectares to see,” he explained. “Quicker to drive.”
I slowed my pace. “Vincent . . . I wonder if you wouldn’t mind taking me to the wine cellars first. Remember that key I showed you last night?”
“Sì.”
“I have it in my purse, and the suspense is killing me.”
He stopped and regarded me with understanding. “We can’t have that. We will go. The cellars are this way.”
He led me up the gravel road past the chapel to the little hamlet of medieval buildings. We climbed a set of stone steps to a terrace that took us to a large door with a keypad lock.
As soon as we entered the building, we descended a steep set of stairs to a large underground room with high cathedral ceilings of stone. I was struck by the fragrance of wine, oak, and a cool, earthy dampness. Vincent led me past long rows of giant oak barrels on their sides, and he explained that the wine would age there for two years before it would be bottled and aged further in many modern, state-of-the-art cellars all over Tuscany.
“This place is like a labyrinth,” I mentioned as he led me through more rooms lined with wine racks full of dusty bottles and down dimly lit, narrow corridors. At last we came to an ancient-looking door with iron fittings, set into a stone arch.
“This is it,” Vincent said. “The dead end where no one ever comes. Do you have the key?”
I dug into my purse, pulled it out, and gave it to him.
“Let’s give it a try.” He inserted it into the keyhole and turned it. The mechanism clicked, and Vincent pushed the heavy door open on creaking hinges. “It works. After you.”
I sucked in a breath of anticipation as I stepped across the threshold into a small, dark wine cellar with low ceilings. Vincent pulled the chain on a hanging light bulb, but it was burned out. We had to rely on the dim light reaching in from the corridor and the glow from our cell phones.