A Moment on the Lips - By Kate Hardy Page 0,56

wall. I could see the fear in his eyes, smell the sweat pouring off him. My hand was against his throat. I could’ve crushed his windpipe.’

‘But you didn’t.’ She didn’t need to ask. She was absolutely sure that Dante wouldn’t do that.

‘I managed to keep control. Just. But it was so thin, like gossamer—one wrong word from him, and I would’ve snapped. I would’ve killed him.’

‘No, you wouldn’t, because that’s not who you are. And he’d hurt Rachele. You’re her brother. Of course you weren’t going to ignore what he did and let him get away with it.’

‘But violence isn’t the way to fix a problem. I was wrong, Caz. I told him if he laid another finger on her, I’d break every bone in his body—twice. And I meant every single word.’ A muscle clenched in his jaw. ‘I twisted his wrist hard enough to almost break it. To make sure he knew I meant it.’

‘You were protecting your sister, Dante.’

‘With the wrong sort of protection. I should’ve called the police, supported Rachele while she made a statement, made sure that he …’ He shook his head. ‘I dunno. Got psychiatric help, to sort him out and make sure he didn’t do that to anyone ever again. But I didn’t. I did things my father’s way, with fear and threats and I actually hurt him.’ He blew out a breath. ‘And that’s why I … why this has to end. I can’t trust myself. And I don’t want to hurt you.’

‘You’re hurting me by ending this,’ she pointed out.

‘That’s nothing compared to what I might do to you. Supposing the restaurant chain fails? Supposing I end up like my father, taking out my frustrations on you—or, if we have babies, on our children? I can’t take that risk. I just can’t. Don’t ask me to try.’

‘The restaurant won’t fail. You’d never let it. And even if the worst happened, something you couldn’t fix—I know you’d never take out your frustrations on me and hurt me. And don’t start on about that bruise, either. That was completely accidental and it could’ve happened to anyone.’

His eyes were filled with pain. ‘That’s what my mother thought when she married my father. That’s what Rachele thought when she started seeing Niccolo. That the men they loved would never hurt them. And they were both wrong.’

‘But you’re not your father, Dante. You’re not.’

‘I’m his son. I have his blood. Bad blood, maybe. So I just can’t take that risk,’ he said again. ‘We have to end this thing between us. Keep things strictly business from now on. I’m sorry.’

And he walked out of Carenza’s flat while she stood there, unable to move or think or act.

Dante was so wrong about this, it was untrue. But she didn’t have the faintest idea how to convince him of the truth. All she could do was let him walk away. And hope that she’d be able to work out a compromise that would suit them both.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JUST to underline his point, Dante distanced himself slightly over the next few days. But then Carenza—who’d thrown herself into work, in the hope that her subconscious would come up with a fix for the situation between her and Dante and she could find a way of proving to him that he wasn’t his father—was digging through the boxes of invoices when she discovered something she really wasn’t happy about. Two phone calls to check certain details made her even less happy.

She really couldn’t discuss this with her grandfather, and Emilio Mancuso was the last person she wanted to know about what she’d just found out until she’d decided what to do. The only person she could really talk to about this was Dante.

It wasn’t one of their mentoring days. But, right now, she really needed his help.

She picked up the phone and dialled his number.

‘Mariella Ricci.’

Oh, no. His phone was through to his secretary—so the chances were, he wasn’t in. ‘Hi, Mariella. It’s Carenza. Can I speak to Dante, please?’

‘Sorry, cara. He’s in meetings all day. Is it something urgent?’

‘It’s OK. It can wait.’

‘You don’t sound so sure.’ Mariella’s voice was gentle.

‘No, it’s fine. Just some things that don’t add up and I wanted his advice.’ On how she was going to deal with this. What to do for the best.

‘Do you have anything you can email over to him?’

‘I could scan in the papers and email them over.’ Putting her suspicions down on paper might help crystallise her thoughts