Page 57 of Empire of Seduction
Clyde eyed the money and nodded. “I’ll tell you what I know.”
Maggie
The kitchen hummed with activity. I had to hand it to Massimo. He had everything under control, giving orders to keep the flow moving in anticipation of dinner service. I was no longer worried about whether tonight’s event would be a success, which was a huge relief.
At the bar, I helped Adam get ready for the cocktail hour that preceded dinner. Celeste was here too, putting signs about the specialty cocktails on all the high tops. Mikey arrived with a stack of extra napkins and handed them to Adam. “We’re going to pull it off, right? Who the fuck would’ve believed it?”
“Good job, everyone,” I said, high-fiving my brother. “Especially you and Celeste. You’ve both produced a miracle.”
“And don’t forget that sexy Italian chef in there,” Celeste added. “He’s the reason we didn’t have to cancel.”
“Sexy?” I wrinkled my nose in distaste. “Not you too, Celeste.”
“He has a girlfriend.” Celeste cradled the pack of napkins. “Why are all the good ones taken?”
“Hey!” my brother said, pointing to himself. “I’m standing right here.”
Reaching over, I patted his shoulder. “The truth hurts, I know.”
Celeste laughed. “Maybe it’s because you’re my boss,” she said with a pointed lift of her sculpted brows, then walked away.
Mikey and I watched her go, then I murmured, “Does Celeste have a crush on you?”
“What? No. She’s never said a word or even hinted . . . ”
“But now you’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”
Mikey avoided my gaze by checking the time on his phone. “Knock it off. Don’t try and distract everyone from your mess by stirring up trouble with me.”
“I don’t have mess.”
“Sure, that’s why you were drunk this afternoon after your meeting with Carlo. Bruce said Vito was pissed.”
“I wasn’t drunk.” I adjusted the edges of my jacket. I hated wearing a dress and heels. “And you and Bruce need to stop gossiping.”
“Listen, I like Vito. And I’d like to stay on his good side instead of getting a pair of cement shoes and being dropped into the ocean. Got it? Stop antagonizing him.”
“He stole our winery. I’m not feeling very warm and fuzzy toward him at the moment.”
“Neither am I, but we have to make the best of it. Vito is not a guy to be fucked with. Trust me.”
The way Mikey said it . . . “Is there something you aren’t telling me? Again? Because we agreed on no more secrets.”
He winced and stared down at his feet. “Mags,” he sighed.
“Oh, my god. There is something else, isn’t there?” I couldn’t even imagine what it was now. Something to do with Vito, something Mikey knew about the mafia business. “What is it? What are you hiding from me?”
“Can we talk about this later? Please? I have too much to do at the moment to have this conversation.”
“But you will tell me, right?”
“Yes. Later.”
I was going to hold him to that. “Fine.” I moved toward our bartender, who was cutting limes. “Adam, give me something else to do before I lose my shit on my brother.”
“Start opening the wine,” Adam said. “They should start arriving any minute.”
I gave him a salute, then got to work. Soft music filled the room and Mikey dimmed the overhead lighting. Candles were quickly lit for ambiance. After the cocktail hour, guests would move into the dining room for dinner. The bride-to-be was from Albany, but her fiancé, Josh, was a guy I knew from high school. His family was middle-class, like mine, but his girlfriend was supposedly loaded. They’d spared no expense tonight and this revenue was crucial to our quarterly P&L.
