“Money was an issue.”
Her smile was gracious. She would be gracious and serene. “Being middle class is not a crime, nor does it reflect badly on my family. Wealth doesn’t make one superior.”
“It does give one advantages...physically, socially, psychologically.”
“But not morally.” She held her smile, hiding her fury. She’d met many arrogant, condescending men at AeroDynamics but they’d never shamed her for having less. “Morally you are not superior in any way. In fact, I’d say morally you are inferior because you’ve refused so far to do what is right. You’re more concerned about protecting your corporation than your nephew—”
“We were discussing wealth and its advantages, and you’ve turned it into an attack.”
“Not attacking, just stating my position.”
“That you are morally superior because you’re of the working class?”
“If I’m morally superior it’s because I didn’t turn my back on my nephew like you!” She drew a shallow breath, stomach churning. “I knew your brother. He was my client and he’d be devastated that you’ve rejected his son—”
“I haven’t rejected my nephew, and you could not have known my brother well if you thought he was pleased in any way about your sister’s pregnancy. Her pregnancy devastated him. It hastened his death, so before you lecture me about moral superiority, why don’t you look at your own family?”
Her lips opened and closed but she couldn’t make a sound.
Giovanni rose. “Your sister is a classic gold digger. She wanted a rich man and she found one in Antonio. She didn’t care that he was ill and dying. She didn’t care that she was making excessive demands. All she wanted was her way, and she got it. So save your speeches, Rachel. I know just who you and your sister are. Master manipulators, but I won’t be played. Good day. Addio.”
He walked out, leaving the door open behind him.
* * *
Giovanni climbed the staircase two steps at a time, anger rolling through him, anger and outrage that a stranger would try to tell him who his brother was and what his brother wanted.
Growing up, Antonio had been Giovanni’s best friend. They’d had a younger sister but she’d died at six, which had only brought Antonio and Gio closer together. Antonio and Gio were so close that Gio, an introvert, didn’t feel the need to have a lot of other friends.
They ended up attending the same boarding school in England, and then the same university. Antonio loved business and finance while Giovanni preferred engineering and construction, which made them a good pair, and they both looked forward to working together at the Marcello corporate office, which is what Gio did right after graduating from university. But Antonio went on to graduate school, earning an MBA from Harvard. Giovanni had been the one to convince their father that it was a smart investment, sending Antonio to America for the prestigious program, as he’d be able to bring his knowledge back to Marcello corporate office afterward.
It didn’t work out that way, though. While at Harvard, Antonio was introduced to a big financial firm on Wall Street and they were impressed with his mind and his linguistic ability—Antonio, like Giovanni, spoke five languages fluently. The firm courted him, wanting him to work for them in their Manhattan office. Antonio accepted the offer as it was extremely lucrative and involved a great deal of travel and perks that he wouldn’t get working for the family business.
Giovanni was shocked by his younger brother’s decision. It’d felt like a betrayal. Marcello Enterprises was in trouble. Their father had made years of bad decisions, and Giovanni, the practical, pragmatic engineer, needed his brother to help save the company. Without Antonio they could lose everything. But Antonio wasn’t eager to work for a company that was floundering—even if it was his family’s.
Gio met Adelisa right after Antonio accepted the position in Manhattan, and he’d shared with her his disappointment, and his frustration. She’d been a good listener. Too good a listener, actually, as she would later share company secrets with others, undermining everything Gio had worked so hard to accomplish.
Of course, not all women were like Adelisa. But when you were one of the wealthiest men in Italy, it was hard to trust any woman’s motives.
FOR A LONG moment after Giovanni walked out, Rachel sat frozen on the couch, thoughts blank, heart on fire, Gio’s sharp words ringing in her head preventing her from thinking or feeling anything other than pain and shame.
Gio was right, and wrong. But more right than wrong. Juliet had wanted a wealthy boyfriend. She’d wanted to marry a very rich man and it had been her goal since she was in junior high school.
Juliet felt she deserved better than everyone else. She wasn’t ordinary like Rachel. She was beautiful. She’d been a pretty baby and had grown into a little girl who turned heads. Juliet knew it, too, and from the time she was small she dazzled everyone she met.
It started with their parents, and then Juliet turned her charm onto her teachers, and she went through life wrapping everyone around her little finger.
It seemed to Rachel that she was the only one Juliet couldn’t manipulate, and over the years it created tension between them and friction in the family. Juliet would have a tantrum when Rachel refused to capitulate to her demands, and then Mother would intercede, and inevitably she took Juliet’s side. Mother had been firmly on Juliet’s side last spring when Juliet began dating Antonio and needed loans to buy new clothes and pay for expensive hair and skin appointments.
Rachel had refused to give her sister money for a new wardrobe, telling Juliet to do what everyone else did and look for employment so she could buy new clothes with money she’d earned. “She’d have more self-respect,” Rachel told their mother when Juliet had the expected meltdown. “It’s not right to give Juliet everything she wants.”
“Why are you so hard on her?” Mother answered. “She’s not cut out for business the way you are.”
“That’s not true. She’s smart, Mom. She’s just really lazy.”
“You’re so grumpy all the time, Rachel. Where’s your sense of humor?”
“I have a sense of humor, but it’s hard to feel like laughing when Juliet can’t hold down a job. She lives off loans from you and me.”
“It’s been months since we’ve floated her any money. She’s getting better at managing her funds.”
“Because her bills are getting paid for by one boyfriend or another.”
“At least she has a boyfriend.”
“Wanting a boyfriend isn’t exactly aspirational!”
“Oh, yes, that’s right, Rach. You’re far too intelligent to fall in love.”
“No, Mom. I’m not too intelligent to fall in love. But I’m too intelligent to turn a man into a meal ticket.” She paused but her mother was silent now and Rachel pressed on. “I should think you’d be uncomfortable with Juliet always trying to cash in from her looks. She doesn’t think she should have to work because she’s beautiful but good looks can only take one so far—”
“You’re jealous.”
“Mom, I’m too old for this. I might have been jealous when I was fourteen and she was twelve and Juliet stole my first boyfriend, but I’m twenty-eight and I have great friends, a job I love and a life I enjoy.”
“Then