Page 17 of Roses are Royal

“See you next time,” the new guy adds before turning and striding down the hallway toward the elevator.

Okay, he is definitely on the list now. I rewind the interaction to watch it more closely to see if I can find something to identify him when my blood goes cold in an instant and then boils in the next. I pause the video on the image of the delivery driver turning away from the door just before walking toward the elevators, and there it is, all the information I need: a tattoo. And not just any tattoo. A snake coiled around a rose on his neck. The same tattoo as the men who trashed her motel room. Turns out, there is more going on here than I originally thought. Looks like it's going to be another long night. I can’t take a chance on something happening to Rose when I’m not watching, so I pour myself another mug of coffee and settle in for the night in front of my monitors.

22

LUCA

Having Rose and Dante out of his house is both a blessing and a curse. Rose and I didn’t leave things on the best of terms, and not hearing from her last night or this morning is messing with my concentration. But I need to stay focused and take advantage of this opportunity while Dante is away.

As my small team starts on the finishing touches and changes noted by Ro during our walkthrough, I take my time to deliberately walk the interior and exterior of the property, cataloging every detail as I go. I typically do this at the end of jobs before I sign off on my work because I am meticulous about details, which has helped me garner praise and recognition in the design and architectural community. My attention to detail has led to my success in both of my occupations.

While Dante does have a much more sophisticated and robust level of security than most clients, I don’t find anything out of the ordinary on the exterior other than several security cameras. The real mystery is the basement that I know exists but haven’t been able to locate. The entrance to the basement originally drawn on the official blueprint documents is now just a blank wall. I run my hands along the entire wall, including the baseboards, to see if I can find a seam that might indicate a hidden door, but I find nothing. Dante must have changed the entrance location somehow, which definitely complicates things.

At this point, I’m going to have to resort to something I was hoping to avoid. I don’t want to invade Ro’s privacy while she is working here, but I need to find the basement and how I can get in. It’s really for her protection, which is the lie I tell myself as I place nearly invisible cameras throughout the main level. The cameras I have placed blend into the ornate trim woodwork and should be undetectable to the untrained eye, and I will remove them as soon as Dante leads me to the door to the basement. Ro will never have to know, and if necessary, I can keep an eye on her in the meantime.

23

DANTE

Watching Rose pack up her suitcase, I struggle to tear my eyes away from the screen. I desperately want to make sure she gets in her car safely to head back upstate, but I also know I need to get on the road ahead of her. She will head directly to my house, and I need to be there when she arrives. I don’t want her to know I wasn’t at my house and start asking questions. The lies are already piling up, and I’d prefer not to add to them. Luca thinks I was handling some business upstate, so even if he mentions something to Rose about me not being around yesterday, it shouldn’t raise suspicions. I begrudgingly pack up my things and pull up the cameras on my phone so I can continue to monitor Rose while I’m driving. Once she leaves her apartment, I’ll be able to switch to the surveillance cameras inside her vehicle and track her on GPS as well.

24

ROSE

While it was nice to be in my own space for a night and enjoy some comfort food, I’m oddly excited to get back to Dante. Not Dante but his house, or the project at least. My thoughts are all over the place. Do I…miss Dante? Wow, get a grip, Ro. I barely know the guy. I’m merely intrigued by the secretive nature of the man and how he makes me feel safe, which is something I haven’t felt in a long time. Or maybe it’s because I’m satisfied with the amount of work and orders I was able to complete while only in the city for a short time, and I am eager to start getting everything in place and see my vision come to life.

It will be the first time in my career I didn’t have to get approval on my designs from the partners, who ultimately tamed all my creativity and turned my unique style into the cookie-cutter, sterile, modern bullshit that rich snobs seem to be obsessed with. Dante seems legitimately interested in my ideas and has let me have free rein on the details as long as it fits his overall vision, which ironically matches my vision almost seamlessly.

Packing my suitcase, I decide to bring more clothes than I had originally planned. I want to stay up near the house for the remainder of the project instead of managing it from the city like I had previously wanted to do. I make the rules now after all, and I want Lusso Designs to be known for its attention to detail and hands-on approach for my clients. Well, not hands on my clients, but I wouldn’t be opposed to putting my hands on a particular client. Okay, mind out of the gutter starting now.

Luckily, the drive back up to Dante’s place was uneventful. After being properly caffeinated and having my favorite playlist to entertain me, I’m pulling up in front of his house in no time. I hope Dante is ready to go over everything I completed yesterday. I should’ve texted him when I left, but I was too keyed up and probably would’ve said something inappropriate, as I am prone to do when speaking with him. He should be happy to see me since I know he’s a stickler for the timelines on this project. Luckily, we’re already ahead of schedule.

My plan is to quickly touch base with Dante, check the work Luca’s team completed yesterday while I was gone, then find a place to stay for the first night so I have time to secure longer-term accommodations. Maybe Shirley knows of a good hotel in the area that will be safer than the last place I stayed. I’ll have to swing into the diner after Dante’s anyway for dinner, so I can chat with her then.

Stepping out of my car in front of Dante’s house with a shirtless man doing work in the front yard is giving me déjà vu. But this man isn’t the brooding homeowner I encountered on my first day. No, this is the other man haunting my thoughts, Luca. I was hoping I could just email him or something after I checked everything, but here he is, in the flesh, literally.

“Good morning,” I say in my most professional tone. While I’d rather ignore him and just walk past, I have to remind myself we are business colleagues at this moment, and I don’t want to show my discomfort.

“Rose,” Luca responds with a head nod. Well, that was very curt. I’m supposed to be the one with an attitude, not him. Whatever. Two can play that game.

“I’ll be checking over the list of projects I left for you and your team to complete. I trust that everything has been corrected to meet the standards of the client?” There, that’ll show him who’s in charge.

“Of course, Rose. I’m just doing some finishing touches outside, and then we can do a walkthrough to ensure everything is to the client’s standards.” I can practically hear the air quotes he’s putting around “the client’s” as if he knows I was nitpicking little things to get under his skin. His work has been some of the most impressive I’ve seen in my career, and that is a high compliment coming from me, especially with the multimillion-dollar penthouses I’ve designed. But I couldn’t let Luca get a big head, so I had to find something for him to fix.

“Excellent. I’m going to touch base with Dante, and then we can do our walkthrough.”

“I didn’t realize Dante was back already.”

“What do you mean? Back from where?” Just as the question leaves my mouth, Dante pulls up in a blacked-out Mercedes G-wagon. Before Luca can respond, Dante steps out holding two cups of what I’m hoping is coffee, and my question and all other thoughts are forgotten when caffeine is this close. Did I already drink a coffee this morning on the drive up? Yes. Does that mean I don’t need any more coffee? Absolutely not. I’m not a monster.

“Rose, good morning.” Dante draws out every syllable in his melodic accent I still can’t place, but it almost seems like he’s trying to disguise it, which is crazy because add in any accent to that face and body and baaa-by, consider my panties dropped. Wait, what did he say? Respond, Ro!

“Is that coffee or are you just happy to see me?” Good god, woman, what does that even mean? And of course, Luca is bearing witness to my utter mindlessness whenever I’m around this man.

“Both actually,” Dante responds with a smile that feels like we’re sharing a private joke. As if he is used to my weird responses and finds them endearing. Or maybe I’m just hoping that’s what his smile means.

“Thank you so much. I didn’t have time to stop for coffee on my drive up.” A little white lie, but I don’t want him to witness my caffeine addiction this early in our relationship. Well, business relationship. And technically it’s not even a lie. I didn’t have time to stop for coffee. I just drank the one I made at home.