Twist of Fate

by Witek, Barbara

  “A chance is better than a never.” Chessie’s voice held that sound of hope Kate had felt last night before Dante enforced more rules.

  “I’ve decided to let this play out. Damn him, and damn his rules. I will do what he wants for the sake of my daughter. I don’t have a choice.”

  “Then that is all he can ask for. If you two are meant to be, you will weather the storm and triumph in the end. I believe you are both strong.”

  “Thanks, Chessie, that means a lot.”

  “Now come, let’s check on the sewing department. We still have many orders to fill. We can walk over to the fabric and cutting section as well. It’s time their leader returned to the helm.”

  They linked arms and left the office. Once again, Kate’s surroundings were a blur. What if Chessie were right? But instead of Dante, what if the storm was with Sam? She couldn’t deny Sam had always had her heart, he always would. She moved with Chessie across the warehouse floor, the woman’s voice was muted nonsense as Sam’s words came back to haunt her.

  What if doing the right thing meant taking a chance? Could they be strong enough to weather this storm? Would their love triumph in the end? Kate’s head pounded from the stress. After finding out she’d kept Hope from him, Sam would never forgive her, and she couldn’t blame him. No, she had to believe their time was over before it ever started.

  Her life was here, in Philadelphia. The storm had to be with Dante and like Chessie believed, they would work through it and be fine. Dante was the safe bet; at least he had been before Carlo Santini. That was it. The storm was actually Carlo Santini. Until he no longer played a role in their lives, they would be in constant turmoil. Remove the storm, and they would triumph.

  “Katrina, you have a visitor,” Chessie said, breaking Kate’s spell. Kate focused across the room at the tall, Argentine gentlemen in a steel grey suit.

  “Rico,” she replied, taking a few step toward him. “It’s been forever.” She stretched her arms in front of her, and he grabbed both of her hands with a smile adorning his suntanned face.

  “A pleasure as always.” His kissed the back of each hand before letting them go. “I am so glad I prolonged my stay here in America. Dante did not tell me you were back.”

  “Nor did he tell me you were here,” Kate replied. She hadn’t seen Rico Ramirez in well over a year. For many years he made the trip every six months, and she’d always enjoyed his visits. Rico had a smoothness about him which put anyone at ease. Even now, with the hints of silver in his full head of jet black hair, he was as handsome as ever. Kate wondered if there were problems with his orders going to Buenos Aires. “Is everything all right?”

  “Oh yes, no worries my dear. Your clever husband and I have been working on a joint venture, and I needed to make myself accessible to finalize the details.” Rico extended an elbow, and Kate linked her arm through as they walked.

  “A joint venture? Doing what?” Kate stopped walking and shielded her eyes against the afternoon sun when Rico opened the warehouse doors.

  “If he hasn’t told you yet, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. But I will tell you this; I had a falling out with Carlo Santini. Dante knows how important my business is, and he is smart enough not to lose it. Thanks to your husband, I am able to convert many of my clients, and we will be dealing only with Dante and of course your company.”

  “So that’s where the additional sales have come from.”

  “Precisely. Together we will all become filthy rich, and Dante will be known for being more than just an international attorney.” Rico smiled and kissed her cheek.

  “Thank you, Rico, I’m so glad you stopped by, and I’m so glad we talked.”

  “It is I who should be thanking you and your husband. I shall fly you all out to my country very soon, and we will celebrate together.”

  Optimism once again returned to Kate’s heart. Dante had made a move behind Carlo’s back because of what Carlo had done to Rico. He was using his business sense as a means to an end. Maybe her words had gotten through to her husband. Maybe when she walked out and took Hope, he had taken stock of his life and realized they were more important than the power.

  Dante was trying to find a way out.

  Kate turned to find Francesca and tell her the news. Of course, they would have to act surprised when Dante told them, but it would be worth it. All Kate needed now was faith in her life and time to forget about Sam Hackett. Her mind returned to the fateful night at Jed’s when she’d first run into Sam. Before the accident, she’d vowed to forget. She’d done it before, and she could do it again. There was too much riding on a never when her world was here.

  An employee scooted past her, pushing a rack of dresses heading to the packing area. Kate noticed a line of dust trailing behind the rack. She jogged to catch up to the young Asian girl who seemed to be in a hurry.

  “Excuse me!” Kate grabbed the girls shoulder, halting her progress.

  “I’m sorry, this is late for the dock. I have to get it there, or I will lose my job.” The girl was almost in tears causing Kate to wonder what exactly was going on.

  “I need to take a look at these. Where are you coming from?”

  “Sewing room. Please, I have to go now.” The girl tried to pull away, but Kate grabbed the bar of the rack.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  The girl shook her head.

  “I am Katrina Pizzaro. These are my dresses. You will not be fired if I have anything to say about it. Now step back.”

  The girl did as she was told, still visibly upset. Kate couldn’t figure out where the powder was coming from. She sandwiched the dresses together and wiggled them until a steady stream of white powder fell from one of the dresses. The girl behind her gasped and started to cry.

  Kate moved the dress to the outside of the rack, inspecting every seam. At the bottom hemline she felt something firm. As she felt her way around, she found a spot which appeared to be hand sewn instead of completed by machine. She stuck her finger into the hole and found a small flexible tube. When she began to pull the tube out, she saw it was filled with white powder.

  “What is going on?”

  Kate poured some into her hand and sniffed. There was no odor. Her chest tightened as she looked from the girl back to the substance in her hand. She had a sinking suspicion she knew what this was, but she didn’t want to believe it. Cautiously she licked her finger and stuck it into the powder, then touched her finger to the tip of her tongue. It tasted bitter, and she immediately spit onto the concrete floor.

  “Where is this going?” Kate yelled to the girl who stood there in shock. “Answer me!”

  “Panama,” the girl responded.

  “Not anymore.” Kate snatched the dress from the hanger and returned to her office. Who would use her clothes to smuggle drugs? Her first instinct was to call the authorities, but she wanted to find out herself who was involved before many innocent people were implicated into something they knew nothing of, herself included.

  If Dante were really moving away from Carlo, then she would let him know of this. Maybe the Santini family was setting him up because they got wind of what he was doing? No wonder Dante had said they were all in danger. Maybe he knew and was keeping it a secret to protect her. There was one way to know for sure and that was to speak to him about it.

  ***

  With long hours of designing ahead, Kate knew they needed Mrs. Jones back. Kate reached out to the older woman with an apology for her abrupt decision, and the woman had cried her acceptance into the phone. As agreed, Abbey Jones had arrived early to cook Hope’s dinner, delighted to be back in their employ.

  Kate put the finishing touches on her hair, adding a pair of diamond and emerald earrings to compliment the green satin cocktail dress. Dante had stayed out the night before and had not yet returned home to prepare for dinner with Carlo and Dina Santini. Kate’s stomach had been in knots all day. She’d tried to call his cell several times, but he never answered or returned
her messages.

  “Daddy!” She heard Hope call from downstairs. Adjusting the top to her strapless dress, she slipped her feet into ivory leather platform pumps and ventured to greet him.

  “How is my princess?” Dante scooped Hope in his arms when Katrina reached the bottom step. “Look how beautiful Mommy looks tonight.” Dante kissed the tip of Hope’s nose and set her back on the floor.

  “Thank you,” Kate replied, feeling embarrassed by his compliment. “Hope, go finish your dinner with Mrs. Jones. And don’t forget to be a good girl at bedtime.”

  “I will, Mommy.” Hope disappeared into the kitchen.

  “You really do look delicious tonight.” Dante’s voice seemed husky, and he took a step closer.

  “Where have you been?” Her question was direct and snapped him out of his daze.

  “It doesn’t matter, I’m home now.”

  “Sure, thirty minutes before we have to leave for dinner. And it does matter, damn it. I tried to call. I didn’t know where you were.”

  “Did you worry about me, Trina?” He paused, and she was so full of anger she couldn’t answer. “See, you do care.” He caressed her cheek with his hand as he passed by to go upstairs.

  “Have you been drinking? Answer me, Dante, where were you?” She followed him to the base of the stairs but refused to go further as he continued to climb.

  “Sealing a deal, nothing more.”

  Dante returned fifteen minutes later, showered, freshly shaven and wearing his black on black pinstripe suit. The spicy scent of his cologne drifted through the foyer, and Kate remembered his devilishly handsome countenance as her dark man when she was living with Sam. The wound was still fresh, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t stop the memories of her time with Sam. These men were so different, and the one who held her heart was the one she could never have. With a cleansing breath, she stepped into the gilded elevator with Dante, riding it to the underground garage where he kept his SUV.

  They rode in silence for a while before Kate found the nerve to speak. If Dante sealed a deal, then who was it with? Was it the deal with Rico or someone else? He was taking great strides to separate himself from Carlo. She didn’t want it ruined by someone in her company dealing drugs.

  “Who was your deal with?” Kate turned in her seat, but Dante kept his eyes on the road.

  “No one you know. Why do you ask? You have never cared about my business dealings before.”

  “Rico stopped by the warehouse yesterday.”

  “Ah, Rico.” Dante smiled. “We are working on something special.”

  “He hinted to that fact.” Kate didn’t say more, hoping Dante would elaborate. When he remained silent, she pushed further. “He seemed very pleased to be working with you, privately.”

  “Mmm. What else did he say?” Kate could still make out the tipped up corners of Dante’s mouth.

  “Not much else, really. Something about a surprise.” Kate raised her brows in expectation, but he still kept quiet. “I don’t want to ruin our evening, but there’s something I have to tell you.”

  “About Rico?”

  “No, something that is going on at the warehouse. One of the girls was taking a rack of dresses to the dock, and one of them had what I think was cocaine sewn into the hemline. Dante, someone is using my company as a front to smuggle drugs.”

  “Are you sure?” He seemed surprise by her statement.

  “I’m pretty sure, but I don’t want to get the police involved until we find out more. I have too many employees to have someone wrongly accused.”

  “Smart idea. I will have some of my men look into it and see what they can come up with.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “You have worked too hard to have someone’s carelessness be your downfall.”

  ***

  Dante tried to keep his eye on the road ahead, but his mind kept returning to what Katrina had said. He never intended for her to find out about the cocaine shipments. Heads were going to roll once he learned who slipped up. With the increase in clientele from Rico, Dante had been forced to encourage Francesca to hire new people. Everything had been running smoothly until now. Kate said the dresses were to ship to Panama, which was Carlo’s new contacts. Great, they would be short and he would have to answer to Carlo. No worry, the fools in sewing and shipping were dispensable. It would be their life not his.

  In the meantime, he would be the rock Katrina would need to get through this. She seemed comfortable with him tonight, and that made him happy. Regardless of the cocaine she’d found, apparently her first day back to work had done much to change her focus. If they could get through dinner tonight and stay on track, Sam Hackett and his escapades would become a memory and nothing more. Dante was prepared to remove the man from their lives for good if he had to, but only as a last resort.

  “Are you ready?” He put the Hummer in park.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” Kate replied, and he rushed to open her door.

  He placed his hand at the small of her back as they entered Carlo’s expansive Italian-inspired villa on the outskirts of the city. Dante had always met Carlo at the Black Opal, never at his residence. This was an honor he planned to take full advantage of.

  Tonight would be about smoothing things over from Kate’s disappearance, and convincing the elder that Dante should be his right hand from here out. Once everything was in place, Dante would work with Rico and his people to overthrow Carlo and take over completely. Rico believed in him, and Dante hoped that with the changes he was seeing in Katrina tonight, that she would, too.

  “How nice to see you, Dante.” Dina Santini kissed his cheek and moved to do the same to Kate. “How lovely you look this evening, dear, do come in.”

  There was not a hair out of place with Dina’s platinum blond bob tucked neatly behind her ears. She wore a soft turquoise pantsuit which accented her slender, matronly figure and deep tan from her many weeks in Rio. Dina was the social one in their marriage, and Carlo happily paid her way to anywhere she wanted to go. Dante wanted more from his marriage with Kate. Soon they would be equal partners and he would include her in all decisions, although he still planned to keep the cocaine a secret.

  “You have a lovely home,” Kate said as she walked beside Dina to their spacious patio.

  “Thank you. Carlo loves the European influences so I shop abroad all the time. It gives me something to do since Carlo works so much and leaves me alone all the time.”

  “Now Dina, don’t play games. You know I accompany you when I can and give you plenty of spending money when I can’t.” Everyone laughed and Dina signaled a passing wait staff, whispering something then dismissing the woman with a flick of her wrist.

  “We will dine outside tonight if you all don’t mind. The view of the city is just gorgeous from atop the hills,” Dina said, motioning to the large iron and glass table.

  “This will be wonderful. Thank you again for having us,” Kate replied, taking a seat next to their hostess.

  So far Dante was amazed with his wife’s behavior. If she kept this up, tonight would be easier than he’d planned. After their original discussion, he thought for sure Kate would fight him every step of the way. Something must have happened to change her mind. He wasn’t sure what exactly, but he was thankful.

  Dinner consisted of small talk ranging from Dina’s trips and decorating such a massive home to their vacations and Carlo’s long hours. Dante made sure he kept the tone light and showed affection to Katrina every chance he had. Tonight they were the perfect couple. He wanted more than anything for this union to continue, but with Katrina he couldn’t be sure. This change happened almost too sudden. He’d learned from Carlo not to be so trusting, especially in the realm of love.

  “Come, let’s retire down by the garden fountain. I will have Devon bring ice wine and scotch.” Performing her hostess duties to the maximum, Dina delegated orders to the petite redhead in a maids uniform and led the way
to a lush garden with a humongous marble fountain of two dolphins jumping. They took their seats at a small bistro table, and the men lit their cigars.

  “Katrina, what is it exactly that took you away from your husband for so long?” Carlo blew a stream of smoke and leveled his eyes on Katrina. She shot Dante a discreet look for help.

  “I told you, we had an argument and she left to stay with friends and make me miserable,” Dante stated, making a move to stand by Kate until Carlo put up a hand.

  “I was asking your wife. I’d like her to explain.”

  “It’s exactly as Dante told you. He made me angry, and I walked out. I wouldn’t come home until he came crawling back with an apology.”

  “Such a pretty liar, I don’t believe you.”

  “Believe her, Carlo.” The hairs on Dante’s neck quivered a warning. So much for the night being easy. If Carlo wanted a fight, then a fight is what he would get. “She has no reason to lie to you.”

  “Then maybe it is you who is the liar?”

  “Carlo, must you?” Dina interrupted.

  “Drink your wine, Dina, this does not concern you,” he ordered his wife, and she obediently placed her blush painted lips on her glass.

  “Let me rephrase my question, Katrina.” Carlo fixed his gaze back on Kate. “What is it you and your husband were arguing about?”

  Dante watched as Kate slowly set her glass on the table, never breaking Carlo’s stare. He feared she was a bomb ready to explode, not caring which direction she went off. She knew the rules, knew what was expected tonight. Katrina stood as tall and elegant as Dina, her heels clipped across the stone patio as she made her way to stand defensively with Dante.

  “If you must know, we argued about you. I don’t approve of you and your business practices which keep my husband out all hours of the night. He knows, and now you do as well.” Dante felt her hand slip into his, and he closed around it.

  “You question my business practices when they put food and more on your table?” Carlo laughed and Dante bristled. “Apparently that is not enough for you if you must find satisfaction with another man.”