Page 131 of Valentino

“What?” I stammer.

Click….

She’s hung up.

What?

I stare at the wall for a while as I try to make sense of this. Am I supposed to know or am I not supposed to know? Do I just come out and ask him, would he even tell me if I did?

What do I do?

Maybe I should act like I don’t know a thing and casually mention it to see if he tells me. How come Francesca gets told everything while I’m kept in the dark?

They’re married.

I walk back down the hallway to the office; Val is still sitting behind the oversized desk. “Can I get you anything?” I ask from the doorway.

“No thanks.” He’s looking at something on the computer monitor. “Did you order dinner, babe?”

“Not yet.” I watch him for a moment, still wearing his perfectly fitted charcoal suit, his hair is a messed-up perfection and even though he’s completely preoccupied he somehow looks like he’s just stepped off a modeling shoot. It’s unfair, how is anyone this genetically blessed? “What do you feel like?” I ask.

“Not really hungry, to be honest,” he murmurs while deep in thought. “Just get whatever you want, I’m happy with whatever.”

“Okay, well.” I hesitate as I watch him. “Did you see that terrible thing that happened on the yacht today in Sicily?”

His eyes rise to meet mine. “What do you know about it?”

“Just what I saw on the news.” I shrug.

“Anything else?” His eyes hold mine.

Shit.

“No, how would I know anything else?” I play the part. “Why do you know anything about it?”

With our eyes locked he sits back in his chair and flicks his pen between his fingers as if thinking.

“What?” I shrug, damn it, why did I say anything?

“If you know something, Anna, I would like you to tell me.”

“Fine,” I snap, I’m a terrible liar. “Francesca told me it was a Ferrara yacht.”

“What else did she tell you?”

“That Carlo is responsible.” I shrug, lost for words. “Is it true?”

“Why do you seem surprised?”

I widen my eyes. “Aren’t you?”

“No.”

“Fourteen people get murdered and a captain of a yacht gets decapitated, and you are not surprised,” I gasp.

“Oh, I was surprised by that, but I’m not surprised by who’s responsible.”

I stare at him as my brain misfires, I know what everyone thinks, and the things he’s accused of, but it just doesn’t reconcile with the man that I knew. “Is he really that bad?”