by Joyce Jordan
“You set me up,” Moira said laughing when they were being driven back to the castle after dinner. “Those two women almost killed me with their eyes.”
Antonio laughed and apologized. “Sorry about that, but I was afraid if I told you I needed you as a human shield you wouldn’t have agreed to come with me.”
“Who are they anyway,” she asked him.
“Those two are Piranhas,” he said and shivered. “Their mothers have been throwing them at me, and their challenge is to marry a rich man. They have been after every available rich bachelor and sadly to say, I am one of the few left.”
“So you wanted them to think you and me were an item, huh?”
“Anything to throw off the scent.”
“It’s the least I can do. Although, I’m not so sure you couldn’t have evaded their teeth on your own.”
“Maybe, but there is nothing better than showing off a naturally beautiful girl. Keeps the piranha’s away,” he said with a laugh. “You, Moira are naturally beautiful. No man wants to have a wife who uses a cake of make up,” he told her.
Over the next several days, Antonio took Moira to different places almost every day by day. By night they were either at a dinner party or he would show her the night life in Rome. Sometimes they would have dinner at an exclusive restaurant, take a short walk around and go home. Other days, he would take her to a club and she would meet with some of his friends. The following weekend he took her to Venice and she utterly fell in love with the city. She pictured Conrad and herself back in the city, sightseeing in the water taxis. It was a bittersweet trip and Antonio was a really good travel guide. He seemed to know every little corner. After a while she had gotten used to having security follow them wherever they went to. Since that fateful night she and Sam had met Antonio he had taken security measures to a whole new level. Never going anywhere without them.
When they got back to Rome, it took a lot of effort to convince Antonio that he had taken enough time out of his busy schedule to baby sit her, so he needed to get back to work. Finally he agreed with the promise that he would still have the opportunity to take her out at night. reluctantly she agreed knowing that at least he would be able to run his empire during the day.
Moira spent the days reading in the family library. She had never been that much of a history fan, but she found some interesting books on Europe and hoped that one day she would get the opportunity to travel. Greece certainly seemed like it could be one of her first stops, given the chance.
A few days later, she told Antonio she was thinking of going back. It had now been a full four weeks away from home, with no communication since that day she had arrived in Italy. She was missing her life, not that Rome wasn’t a nice city. But her family was back in Miami, her work too. He told her the plane would be ready whatever day she chose. Knowing she had a lot of explanations to go through when she got home, she planned her arrival for the weekend. She was planning on getting back to work the following Monday. She had called Stu that Monday when she failed to get to work, and he had assured her it would be okay and she could take as much time as she needed. But now she needed to ge back to reality.
A few days before her departure date Antonio convinced her to attend the premieres of two short films that were being shown back to back. She agreed, but it was on the condition that she didn’t get to be photographed. Antonio agreed and they agreed that she would be whisked inside while he did the obligatory pictures, then he would join her inside. Moira was excited. She pictured the way Hollywood people dressed when it was time for Oscars, Golden Globes and all those other events. She had seen a few red carpet events on TV and knew she needed to dress fashionably. Sadly her dress wouldn’t get to be showcased, but she still wanted to look great. Besides she could have Flora take a few pictures for memories sake.
Antonio offered to send someone with dresses to choose from and she declined as she still had a closet full of gorgeous dresses she would never wear. She had originally asked him if they could return some of the dresses, but he had refused and told her he had bought them for her, so they were hers to keep. So they had agreed that she could keep them in Rome and wear them whenever she came for a visit. He hoped she would come more frequently so he could see his godchild.
That afternoon Moira started to get ready soon after lunch. She got the whole pampering works, the facial, the waxing, the full body massage, the hair and had her make up done professionally too. By the end of it all, Moira couldn’t even recognize herself. She looked beautiful, something she had never called herself before. She knew people thought she was beautiful, and told her so from time to time, but she always thought she was okay. Like everybody else, there were certain things she hated about her body. But now wasn’t the time to think negative thoughts. She was ready an hour before Antonio came to pick her up. So she took the time to have Flora take a few pictures in the garden. She would have the disposable cameras she had purchased during her trip be developed when she arrived back home.
The next morning, Moira woke up late. Last night had been an event worth remembering. She had had so much fun with Antonio at the premiere event. One of the director’s had been a friend of his, so after the event they had gone to his party. Today they were going to the second event. She was having her hair and make up done again later. She already knew which dress she was wearing today. It would knock some people’s socks off.
π
“Boss,” Mitch said coming into Conrad’ office. “We found her.”
“Moira?” he asked with disbelief. “Is she okay?”
“Yes and yes. She is in Italy,” he told him.
“Italy? Never mind where she is, but how did you find her. And while you are talking, let’s go. I need to be up in the air as soon as possible,” he said getting out of his chair. “Janet. Tell John Stewart to take over my meetings. I’m not sure when I will be back. Get the pilot ready to leave in two hours. Mitch found Moira,” he told his assistant as Mitch followed him. “Mitch, I need to let Sam know then we need to leave. Get whoever is coming ready, but we leave in a couple of hours.”
“They are ready boss,” he replied. Once they were in the car, Mitch switched on the iPad he had been holding and showed Conrad. “At first I didn’t recognize her, but after several minutes of staring at her, I knew that was Moira.”
Conrad stared at the online picture of a local Rome newspaper. She was gorgeous. Breathtaking. He had eyes only for her until Mitch pointed him to the man beside her.
“She seems to be with that gentleman beside her. His name is Antonio De Marco.”
“Fuck, I know who he is. How and where did she meet him? That’s what I want to know,” he said angrily.
“We are trying to look into that, but maybe her brother can shed some light if he is aware of their relationship. But at this point, we can’t really tell what kind of a relationship the two have,” Mitch finished lamely.
“If he has put one hand on her body, he is a dead man,” Conrad threatened. “Are there any more pictures?” he asked.
“No we searched. It looks like this is the first one since she left. It doesn’t look like she was aware the picture was being taken though. So this is our only link to her whereabouts. I had Jim run a search and we have De Marco’s address, some castle a little out of town. Heavily guarded,” he told Conrad.
“If Moira told him about me, we won’t have any problems in getting through. He has probably been gloating all these weeks knowing he has something of mine. That Italian pompous ass,” he said with a snarl.
By the time they arrived at The Miami, Lucas and Sam were waiting in Lucas’ office. Sam swore when he saw Moira with Antonio.
“You know him?” Conrad asked with a deadly voice.
“Yes. And he is the only one I thought would have Moira, but when I asked him, he told me she wasn’t with him. And I would have sworn that he would never have lied to me before,” he said with hurt in his eyes. “I need to look him in the eye before I beat the s
hit out of him.”
“Get in line. The plane leaves in an hour and a half,” Conrad told him.
“You two go and get her, and if you need anything from here while you are there, you only have to call,” Lucas told them and shook their hands. “Bring her back. But don’t force her. I don’t think I can leave another month with the two of you if she runs away again,” he said with a chuckle.
Conrad went home to pick up his passport and packed a small bag. If he ended up staying longer, he would just have to buy clothes while he was there. His driver drove them to pick up Sam who had also gone to his place to get his passport and pack a small bag too. By the time they got to the airport, his security team was already there. Not long after, they got the clearance to take off.
By the time they landed at London Heathrow, two more pictures of Moira and Antonio had popped up. She was clearly having the time of her life. Not a care in the world. Her smile to Antonio was so full of affection, it tore at Conrad’s heart.
“Mitch, I never did ask. How did you find her? Her name isn’t mentioned in any of the articles,” Conrad turned in his seat and faced Mitch.
“Actually it was Shawn who found her. He is a movie buff, leaning towards mostly European small independent type of films and documentaries. He apparently has an alert set that allows him to get notified when new films come up and this one seemed to hit his inbox.”
“He clearly needs a bonus. Please tell him good work,” he said and went back to looking at the pictures. He checked to see if there were any sightings of De Marco during the time Moira was in Rome, but he couldn’t find any. If De Marco liked Moira that much, he wondered why he had waited so long, unless they were previous lovers who had reconnected? Whatever, he wasn’t going to allow the fool to have her, and neither was he allowing him to raise his Little Bo Peep. This was so fucked up.
The plane took off from London, and they now had slightly over two hours before they reached Rome. As soon as they landed they found two cars waiting for them and they made their way directly to their destination. There would be enough time to check into their hotel later. It was getting towards the noon hour. He hoped to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with Moira and then fly back the next day.
They got to the castle gates only to find them barred. There was no way in, not without an engraved invitation. Besides the asshole was at work. They quickly did a u-turn and went to the De Marco head offices in central Rome. This time they passed by their hotel, checked in and changed. There was no way he was going to have De Marco have an advantage over him. Showing up less then impeccably dressed in a business environment? Big or small, Conrad meant to have all the advantages on his side. And once Moira was in his arms, he would squash the bug under his shoe like he was meant to be.
This time they didn’t get any problems in getting inside the building. If Conrad didn’t know better, he would have thought it was a red carpet event. They were royally escorted to the top floor where De Marco’s office was. They were shown inside by his assistant. She seemed to have been unruffled by the large group of Americans, who seemed to want to hurt her employer. She smiled at them and when they all declined refreshments she left them to enter.
Not knowing what lay inside, the whole group of six men entered the room. They looked around only to find Antonio alone in his office, smiling like a cat who ate all the cream.
“De Marco. I swear to God, if you touched her, I will break you limb by limb,” he threatened walking angrily to his desk.
“King, we meet again. Sam, hi. Good to see you again,” he offered a handshake to Sam.
“I’m not sure I want to shake a man’s hand who lied to my face about my sister,” he said and ignored his hand.
Antonio sighed. “I knew this would happen. And technically I didn’t lie to you. At the time we talked, she wasn’t in Italy yet. Why don’t we take a seat and I’ll explain,” he told them.
Mitch and his men said they would wait outside, while Conrad and Sam took seats on the sofa’s Antonio indicated.
They both looked at him with hostile faces. “Look, I’m not the enemy here. I may look like it, but I did you both a favor by keeping her with me. If I had denied her, who knows where she would have ended up. She was a mess when she first got here. And I believe you both had a part to play,” he said and was rewarded with two guilty faces.
“You could have at least told me she was here. We have been going nuts looking for her. She hasn’t called since that one time. Her phone has never been switched on since she left,” Sam barked.
“I couldn’t tell you. I had promised her. But she knew that had you called after she had arrived, I would have had to tell you the truth. We both knew it and she was glad when you never called back. Your not calling again, was a blessing in disguise. She would have simply run away again.” Antonio looked at Sam and they exchanged a look. “And we both know, she had the means to do that,” he added as if verbalizing the look.
“What the fuck are you talking about? You two knowing something I don’t?” Conrad asked.
“Yes. Why don’t we start by when and how I first met Sam and Moira. Sam can’t tell you because he signed a non disclosure agreement. And since it’s a long story, I’ll have my assistant bring us lunch,” Antonio said and stood going to his desk. “We have a great kitchen in the building.”
He called his assistant and asked her to bring three orders of the chef’s special and make sure the gentlemen outside his office were fed too.
He came back to take his seat. “Ah! So the beginning. Almost three years ago, Moira had just turned twenty one, and both Sam and Moira had just lost their fathers the previous year.” He looked at Conrad. “I’m sure you know they both died in a fire?” he raised his eyebrow in question.
“Yes, she told me.”
“It had been a while since I had been back to the states. I had taken over the company business a couple years prior and hadn’t had much time to travel. Family feud over the business. Anyway, it had taken me that long to put things in order to keep the business from collapsing due to some irrational family member.” Antonio stood up and took three tumblers and poured a little brandy in each. He handed each man a glass, then swallowed his in one gulp. “Fast forward, I finally get the chance to do a little business outside of Europe, and so I tied it with a vacation. I am in Miami and I decide I need to get out and live a little. I hired a nice sports car, hoping to catch some ladies too,” he laughed at the memory.
Sam smiled at the memory too. “I remember that car. A pity it was wasted,” he said.
“Yeah,” he said and shook his head. “Anyway, so I am out at night driving to some place I heard throws great parties. I stop at the lights and Sam and Moira stop beside me. They are looking at my car giving appreciative glances. I smile back and when the light turns green, I take off. Except that I crash into a truck that was lying in wait. The whole driver’s side was smashed in and the door wouldn’t open. That fact is what saved me from the family member I was talking about. A greedy and foolish cousin of mine who was trying to take over the reigns of the business.”
They moved over to the adjoining conference room where the food had been laid out. Each man took his seat and Antonio continued his story.
“I passed out, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and there is this gorgeous angel leaning over me. She smiles at me and I think ‘Oh God, I hav died and gone to heaven’, and I pass out again. The next time I wake up, my family is there and Sam and Moira are hovering around talking to the police. That’s when everything comes back and I remember them from the traffic light stop. I’ll have Sam tell you want happened when I crashed.”
Sam took up the story. The memories of that night were still as clear as if it had just happened. “Antonio crushes and in a second I realize it was a set up. And I’m busy wondering why someone went to that trouble on such a nice guy, except I don’t know him from Jack. But instinct kicks in and I tell Moira to call the cops. Tw
o guys are getting out of the truck and coming towards the car. They try his door and it won’t open. Same with the passenger for a short while, then suddenly it opens and they try to drag Antonio out of the car. Fortunately for him, one of his feet was stuck, and it seemed they needed to take him alive, so they started fighting with the driver’s door again. By now I am close to them and I’m not sure how to approach them because I see they are armed and I don’t have anything besides a wrench I had taken from the trunk in case I needed to break glass or something.”
“Please tell me Moira followed instructions for once in her life,” Conrad said.
“Suddenly there is the wail of sirens, faintly at first and then they are getting louder and louder. That was Moira. She had taken my phone to call the 911 and was activating an app on her phone that sounded like police sirens.”
“Are you kidding me? There’s an app for that?” Conrad asked.
Sam nodded. “Those days Moira was into all these weird apps and sometimes would download stuff on my phone and I would have to go back and delete them. Believe me, after that, I didn’t,” he explained to Conrad. “Anyway, the guys panicked and then they took off. For a while they were screaming at each other, didn’t seem to know which direction to take because no one could see in which direction the lights were coming from. They finally take off, and by now I am already at Antonio’s car were I assess that not only is the door stuck but his foot as well. The only thing that helped me calm down was that there was no smell of gas. A few minutes later, help arrives and Moira insists on going with him. I follow in my car and by the time I get there, Moira has accepted Antonio’s personal belongings. She goes through the wallet and finds a strip of condoms and smirks at me as if to say, me and Antonio were of the same mind. A man’s life is hanging in the balance and she is tells me, “Oh, at least he intended in having safe sex.”