The Italian Billionaire's Disgraced Fiancée (6 page)

Gritting his teeth he got up and made his way to the door. It was time to face the enemy.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Wearing a just above knee-length black skirt combined with a white blouse, pink jacket and black court shoes Izzy walked through the entrance hall of the ‘Vallorini’ and towards the lift. Passing the reception desk she smiled at the brunette behind the counter.

‘Good morning.’

The girl waved back at her picking up the phone with the other hand. Her name must be either Tilly or Josephine according to Bella’s notes, but Izzy couldn’t be sure so it was better not to address her by name. Bella had sent her all the information she needed for the job, from a map of the offices to the names of the people she would be working with as well as their characters and little habits. But with two brunette receptionists working in shifts at the hotel reception she didn’t want to make a vital mistake by mixing up their names.

Although the memory of her last visit still hurt more than she wanted to admit, Izzy was glad that she had been here before. Confidently she entered the lift and pressed the button to the fifth floor. Nervously she checked her appearance in the mirrored walls of the lift, but there was nothing that would arouse the suspicion that she was not her sister. She wore simple pearl earrings like the ones Bella preferred to wear at work and had made sure her nails were polished in the French style her twin usually fancied. Like Bella she could touch-type at high speed, and she was acquainted with the usual computer programmes. Izzy had passed her business degree with top marks, so she didn’t expect Bella’s work to be particularly challenging. Long hours probably, maybe exhausting, but nothing she could not manage. The only thing making her nervous was that Enzo was in London, most likely within the walls of the hotel. All things considered, he might cross her path at any moment. That and the memory of her terrible mistake of kissing him yesterday evening had kept her awake all night. Now she could only hope he’d stay in his office without bothering to peek into Luca’s. With some luck he’d never even find out she was Luca’s PA.

When the lift doors slid open Izzy took a deep breath and stepped out into the corridor. To the right she recognised the highly polished wooden door leading to Enzo’s office and that of his personal assistant, the redhead. She frowned. The woman had seen her two years ago when she had come to see Enzo. Obviously she had not remembered her visit, or otherwise she’d probably have made a comment to Bella. Izzy was not surprised. Her hair, dress and make-up had been in such a state that morning that she showed no resemblance to the polished personal assistant she presented now.

She hastened to open another glossy wooden door right opposite the lift and entered. This, she knew from the little sketch Bella had sent her, was the ante room to Luca’s office.
Her work place. Izzy shivered. She still couldn’t believe she had been so tremendously stupid as to agree to Bella’s request.

I promise you Enzo will be in Italy, over a thousand miles away…

But of course, with her bad luck he was in England now.
In London. At the ‘Vallorini’. Probably right next door in his office and no doubt ready to pounce at her like a panther as soon as he became aware of her presence.

Stop it
, Izzy scolded herself. There was no point worrying about this now. She’d cross this bridge once she got there, and after forcing her to dance with him at the charity event and the subsequent kiss Enzo had probably seen enough of her anyway.

I hope I’ll never have the misfortune to set eyes on you again
, had been his words when he’d thrown her out of his office two years ago, she remembered with a shiver.
Get. Out. Now.

There was no reason to believe that he’d changed his mind, especially not after their unpleasant encounter yesterday night.

She put her bag under the large desk, started the computer and filled the kettle in the adjoining small kitchen. While the water was heating she returned to the office and made herself familiar with her surroundings including the small box room housing the photo copier. So this was the place where Luca had caught her sister in Nick’s arms, and the whole charade had taken a turn for the worse.

Swiftly she opened cupboards, drawers and storage units and made a mental list of what could be found where. After having finished with her own room, she repeated the process in her boss’s office before preparing herself a cup of instant coffee and settling behind the computer.

Izzy nearly burned her tongue when suddenly the door flew open and Enzo stood in the frame. If angry glances could kill she would certainly be dead by now.

‘Well, well Isabella’ Enzo drawled. ‘So
you
are the sexy employee who gives our business associates extra warm welcomes in that intimate little box room. What about offering an extra warm welcome to me, too?’

Izzy forced herself to swallow the explicit reply forming on her lips. After all he was her boss now, and she couldn’t risk Bella’s job by throwing his insults back into his face.

‘Good morning and an especially warm welcome to you, sir.’ She presented him with a sugary smile. ‘May I help you in any way?’

‘You may indeed,’ he said curtly. ‘Pack your things and carry them over into my office. From now on you’ll be working as my personal assistant while Luca is out of the country.’

Izzy looked at him at disbelief. ‘But…’

‘But nothing,’ he interrupted. ‘You’ve been employed as the PA of the managing director, and in this instance this is me.’

Bastard!
She narrowed her eyes in anger. ‘So what if I refuse to work with you?’

He shrugged his shoulders, obviously he couldn’t care less. ‘You can always hand in your notice, if you wish. But just to let you know, there will be no easy way out. I’d make you work until the very last day of your contract, and if I’d have to drag you to the office myself.’

She bet he would. ‘So eager to have me close at all times,’ she purred. ‘I feel flattered.’

‘No need to be so smug.’ He smiled, his eyes gleaming cold as diamonds. ‘I merely want to keep an eye on you, and if you hope to bedazzle me like you did my brother, forget it. That’s not going to happen. As far as I’m concerned you can go straight to hell, but
you’re still my brother’s PA so I’m willing to put up with you for the time being.’

Izzy was glad she was sitting down, shaky as she felt. How could he be so infuriatingly nasty, and still her treacherous heart cried out for him? Why could it not understand that this man was not her soul mate after all, that he was nothing but a cold-hearted monster for
whom the words love and trust meant nothing at all?

Don’t cry now.
She had to pull herself together. The last thing Izzy wanted was for him to notice the vulnerable state of her mind. Or even worse, that she still couldn’t forget about him and the tender moments they had shared. The dream of their future together. Their perfect happy ever after. Only that it had never been
his
dream, as it had turned out. He hadn’t even listened when she’d tried to explain herself and had equally refused to listen to Samuel Carson. Had Enzo loved her, had he
ever
really
loved her, they would have sorted out this mess together. A misunderstanding, that was all it had ever been, but his complete lack of trust in her had prevented that he found out the truth. His behaviour had caused her so much pain, and she had shed so many tears that she’d almost feared she could never drag herself out of this deep dark hole of agony. That she’d never get over his betrayal. But now she didn’t care any longer, if he trusted her or not. He meant nothing to her now, absolutely
nothing
, and one day her stupid heart would understand that as well.

‘You seem to forget that I’ve already bedazzled you quite successfully some time ago,’ she said, hating to have to be so crude in order to fend off his insults. ‘So relax, I don’t need to prove myself a second time where you are concerned.’

Enzo pressed his lips into a thin line. Clearly he didn’t like to be reminded of their former relationship. For a second she wondered if he’d ever told his family about their engagement. Probably not, otherwise Luca might have recognised the name when Bella applied for the job.

‘Good to know that this will be a work relationship and nothing but a work relationship,
Bella,’ he finally gritted.

‘My name is Izzy. Only your brother calls me Bella.’

‘In the bedroom, I assume,’ he hissed, pure ice in his voice. He turned to the door. ‘So be it then,
Izzy
. I expect you in my office in half an hour.’

As soon as he’d left, Izzy slumped back in her swivel chair and took a deep, calming breath. She was highly tempted to hand in her notice, but this was really Bella’s decision and anyway, Enzo wouldn’t let her go before the bitter end. He had made his point clear enough, so she would have to suffer at least a fortnight as his personal assistant, she guessed without knowing the exact details of the contract.

Her phone bleeped, a text message had come in.

Safely arrived in Las Vegas
, her sister let her know, accompanied by a photo of a stunning brunette, all big hair, cherry-red lipstick and huge sunglasses, who smiled brightly into the camera.

Bella was right, Izzy had to admit. Nobody would ever recognise this American Barbie as her ethereal blonde twin sister. Now she could only hope that Bella’s daring scheme would turn out a success, and that Luca would finally find it in him to tell her that he loved her. In the meantime, all she could do was keep as much as possible out of her new boss’s way and somehow get through the next couple of weeks.

***

When Izzy returned home after her first day at the ‘
Vallorini’, she was utterly shattered. The morning had been pleasant enough while Carla was around to help her settle in, but as soon as Enzo’s usual PA had left, things had gone from bad to worse. Enzo had asked her to prepare an extremely complex report for an important meeting the following morning without filling her in with the necessary background information, so she had spent endless hours doing the necessary research before she could even begin to put pen to paper. It had taken her ages to finish the job. When she’d finally placed the report on Enzo’s desk, even the most workaholic colleague had left hours ago.

She sighed. She couldn’t blame Enzo for being unreasonably demanding or difficult. He had to assume that she knew everything that was needed to write that report. After all she had been the managing director’s PA for some time now - only that in truth this was her first day at the office, and that it had taken her half an hour just to find the relevant files for her research in Luca’s office.

After enjoying some crispy baguette and a mozzarella and tomato salad on the terrace, she had a hot shower, dried and brushed her hair until it fell down to her waist like a cascading mass of silver and changed into her cream coloured silk pyjamas. Holding a steaming mug of hot chocolate she settled on one of the comfy white sofas in the living room and suddenly felt utterly alone. Enzo’s cold behaviour and his insulting words had left her more vulnerable than she wanted to admit to herself at the time, and thankfully she had been too busy afterwards to ponder on it. But at this very moment, with nothing else to distract her from the memories but the hot chocolate, she wished her parents were here to comfort her and take her into their arms.

Slowly she pulled out the secret drawer in her antique walnut coffee table. The two letters inside were her greatest treasure, and they always made her cry. Who would have thought that both her parents would only find the strength to tell her the truth from beyond the grave, never during their life time, just like they had never talked to each other to sort out their problems? How could two fully grown adults possibly behave in such a way, making each other – and their children – utterly miserable due to their stubbornness? No matter how much Izzy tried to understand, this would always stay a mystery. Her parents had been madly in love, but already at the first hurdle they had fallen because they hadn’t trusted each other.

Just like Enzo had not trusted her.

She carefully unfolded the first letter, the one her mother’s lawyers had sent her upon her 21
st
birthday together with the notification about the huge inheritance she was able to access from this day forward. Utterly bewildered Izzy had read her mother’s account of her relationship with Luke Jones, Izzy’s father. How they had met, she the rich hotel heiress, he the poor artist, and how they had fallen deeply in love. How her family had warned her that Luke was just after her money, and that she hadn’t believed a word of it until all her dreams came crushing down when he unexpectedly asked for a large sum of cash. At that very moment her mother’s heart had broken. Her family had been right after all, she had known. Luke had wanted her for her money. And so she had run and got engaged to Bill Hetherington, the rich and handsome owner of a chain of luxury hotels. The man her family had chosen for her. Just days after the engagement it became clear that she was pregnant with twins, Luke’s babies, but Hetherington married her anyway.

Even now, reading the letter for the thousandth time, Izzy felt tears stream down her face when she got to the part where her mother had appeared on Luke’s doorstep with their two baby girls in her arms, leaving fifteen minutes later with just one baby. It was unbelievable. They hadn’t even discussed that terrible misunderstanding that hovered above their heads. During all this heartache her parents had never spoken again and the following year, when her mother had Nick, Hetherington’s son, she died in childbirth, and it was too late.