Free Amore by Sienna Mynx Page B

There was traffic. Have Kyra and Jamie arrived yet?”
    “Um, no. But, Catalina, I must tell you—”
    “When they arrive I want them both brought to me immediately. Renaldo has rented a place for Kyra here. With the success of her shoe line the Donna wants her working between Milano and Sorrento for the rest of the year. Send flowers as a house present. No! No! Send flowers and a nice bottle of champagne. Oh! I think Jamie is staying at the Pierre Milano . Make sure he, um, she has a bottle of champagne too.”
    “ Signora Catalina, per favore … I must tell you—”
    Two men with racks of clothes came down the hall at full speed. Catalina sidestepped a near collision . “ Minchia!” Catalina shook her fist at the man to her left. “Watch where the fuck you are going! What is the damn hurry?”
    “Scusi signora, Catalina. Scusi!” The man stammered . Catalina marched off with the toss of her hair. She headed for Mirabella’s office. “I’m still not sure if the Donna wants to feature the new red bottoms Kyra designed in the show, or the platforms that Jamie recommends. We must decide that soon. I need the girls’ shoe sizes to make sure they are fitted and rehearsed . Mio Dio! Let’s not have Zenobia trip over herself in the finale! I could see it now. Marietta would blame me for it.”
    “Signora!” Mateo grabbed her arm to stop her.
    Catalina paused and looked at the men when they crashed the dress rack into a few mannequins. She groaned in her throat. “Is this place the zoo? Get it under damn control, Mateo! Or fire them! He nearly ran me over.”
    “Sí, Signora, but—”
    “Now that I’ve had time to think about it, all of this may be too much overkill.” She gestured to the decorative red scarves and extra lighting on the floor. “We don’t want to look gaudy for Mirabella.”
    “Sí!” Mateo replied.
    “I shouldn’t have listened to Marietta. We have Fabiana’s and Mirabella’s lines on the same runway. What should distinguish the two? And the platform shoes are too flashy. It’ll take away from the clothes… too much! I think I made a mistake.”
    “Signora!”
    “Yes, Mateo, I’m right here! What is it?” Catalina asked. Mateo pointed. She and her men glanced to the glass doors of Mirabella’s office. A man paced. His hands in his trouser pockets and his head bowed she didn’t recognize him immediately. He was taller than Dominic and dressed in a tailored dark suit.
    “It’s what I wanted to say to you. Signor Armando Mancini is here,” Mateo began. “He arrived just a few minutes ago. I didn’t know where to take him, so I brought him to the Donna’s office.”
    Catalina glanced back to the hired men that followed her everywhere. Both tensed at the sight of Mancini. She found it even more peculiar that Armando would show up without his entourage. Men like him and her brother had to be shadowed by guns constantly. It was a matter of safety. Armando had arrived alone.
    “It’s fine, everyone. I’ll deal with him,” said Catalina.
    The men disobeyed her and marched straight into the office. Catalina hurried after them. The last thing she needed was her brother’s men making a scene and embarrassing her in front of Armando Mancini, or worse her staff. The people working for her were out of America and France. Many only half-believed in the Mafia. All of them were tense with anticipation over who and what the Battaglias were.
    “Wait! Wait!” she said through clenched teeth. She was too late. When her brother’s men stormed inside the office, Catalina barely arrived behind them. Armando looked up with not a hint of fear in his eyes.
    One of the men demanded his reason for the visit. The other circled Armando and stopped directly behind him. It was Umberto, an enforcer with the temper of Carlo and the cunning of Dominic. Umberto parted his blazer to reveal his gun in his pants. Catalina saw the anger and heard the threat in their tones.
    “He’s here to see me!”