Page 10 of Palazzo
“When do you want to come?” Max asked him.
“How about this weekend? I have to take care of business here first,” and pay his debt as soon as the Johnsons paid the deposit.
“You can stay at my apartment if you want,” Max offered.
“Sounds perfect,” Luca said. He had a brilliant plan and couldn’t wait to tell Max. If it worked, he would even be able to give Cosima back the money and she wouldn’t have to sell the palazzo. He didn’t see why it wouldn’t work. In his mind he was doing her a favor in the long run. He didn’t want to tell Max on the phone what his plan was. He was waiting to tell him in person. As soon as he hung up, Luca knew he had the answer to their money problems. He was sure that it was providence that he and Max Bayard had met.
Chapter 5
Cosima deposited the Johnsons’ check into Luca’s account as soon as it arrived. They had sent it immediately, and Cosima felt sick when she saw it. It was the first step toward the saddest thing she’d ever done since burying her parents. But she had no other choice, with her brother’s life on the line. It broke her heart to sell the palazzo, but she had no other way to cover his debt quickly. They had no spare money in the business. Everything they made they poured back into it, except what they needed to live on. She calculated it very tightly. They needed all the money they had to pay for the high quality materials, operating costs, publicity, advertising, payroll, their expenses in both locations. The profits from the business supported Cosima, Allegra, and their brother. He was the greatest money drain of all. And the rest they put back into the business. She couldn’t understand how he could gamble for such a large amount, knowing full well he didn’t have the money to pay for it if he lost. He always thought he would win, but more often he lost, not knowing when toget out of the game, and not setting any limits for himself. He had no income other than his allowance since he didn’t work. He was shameless about relying on his sister to cover his gambling debts. This time he had gone too far. The fallout from his recklessness was just too great, and the stress for her. Cosima swore she’d never pay another debt for him again, and meant it.
—
Luca flew to Paris on Friday night, and arrived in Paris at ninep.m. He went straight to Max’s apartment in the 7th. His father had bought the apartment for him when he was twenty-five. It only had one bedroom, but there was a pullout couch he had invited Luca to sleep on.
They went out for a late dinner at a neighborhood bistro and shared a bottle of wine. Then Max took Luca to the gambling club he’d mentioned on the Champs-Élysées. They only stayed for an hour, since luck wasn’t with them that night, and Max couldn’t afford another heavy loss. Nor could Luca, but his slate was clean now, since Cosima had given him the money from the Johnsons’ deposit to pay his debt, and he had taken care of it before he left Rome and made the deposit at his bank.
They were back at Max’s apartment at onea.m.He poured them both a drink, although they’d been drinking steadily all evening, and they were both feeling jovial and in good spirits. After their night at the casino in Venice, they felt like they were old friends.
“So what’s your brilliant idea?” Max asked, slurring his words a little, but his head felt clear, or he thought so at least. Luca took a long sip of the brandy Max had poured him and smiled.
“It’s incredibly simple. I thought of it when my sister had a fit about covering my debt. She says she’ll have to sell the palazzo. She won’t even have to do that if we do this right. You said your father would do anything to buy into our business.” Luca looked serious when he said it.
“And you said your sister would die first.” Max remembered it distinctly.
“That’s true. Except she doesn’t own the business. We all do. We each own one third of the business. I found an old copy of my father’s will in my desk, and I read it the other day. There is nothing in it that says I can’t sell my shares to whomever I want. I could sell them to you if I want.” His eyes gleamed and he sounded victorious as he said it.
“I don’t have the money,” Max was quick to tell him.
“No, but your father does. I could sell him my third of the business, and he’d be a partner with my sisters. And there’s nothing Cosima can do to stop it.” Max grinned as he heard it. He liked the idea of being a hero in his father’s eyes when he offered him the opportunity to make his dreams come true and own a major share in Saverio. It would be like owning a share in Hermès, an opportunity which was never offered to outsiders.
“Wow, my father would go nuts and leap at the chance. He’d pay you damn near anything for it. You don’t need your sisters’ permission?” Max was surprised at that, with a family as protective of their ownership as they were, and as closed about it.
“Nothing in the will says so. It says I can sell my shares to one or both of my sisters if I want to. But it doesn’t say a word forbidding me to sell to someone else, and I don’t have to give my sisters rightof first refusal. There is no reference at all to selling my shares outside the family. I can sell to anyone I want.”
“What will your sister say? I don’t think she’ll be too happy about it.”
“She’ll be happy to have a lot of fresh money to help pay operating costs. She’s always crying poor about the business and whining about how expensive everything is. She’d be happy not to have to sell the palazzo, and she can give back the deposit that just paid my bill at the casino. It solves all the problems. She’ll thank me for it one day.” They finished their brandies toasting Luca’s brilliant idea, and Max couldn’t wait to tell his father. He was sure Olivier would want to buy in immediately, and Luca was always hungry for money. He wouldn’t have to ask Cosima for a dime for a long time if Max’s father paid him a handsome sum for his share of the business, and Max said his father was rolling in money. Their business was very profitable, probably much more so than Saverio. They’d have to have Saverio appraised to establish the market value of Luca’s shares, but that didn’t seem like a big deal to either of them.
Max and Luca fell asleep on the couch with another brandy, and woke up hungover the next morning, still excited by Luca’s brilliant idea. They both agreed that Max’s father would be over the moon at the prospect of becoming a part owner of Saverio, and Luca was thrilled at the prospect of an influx of money. He was tired of being broke and at Cosima’s mercy for extra money. And at thirty-three, he didn’t want to live on an allowance. He wanted to live like a rich man, just as he felt he deserved.
They went to the casino at Enghien that night, after nursing their hangovers all day. Luca won two thousand euros, and Max lost asmall amount again. He was being very cautious. They went home early, and Luca flew back to Rome on Sunday morning.
Max was going to announce the good news to his father on Monday morning and could hardly wait. He was well aware that his father disapproved of many of his activities, and this was going to buy him Olivier’s approval and gratitude forever.
Olivier had just sat down at his desk, when Max walked into his office with a broad grin on Monday morning.
“You look like you’ve had a good weekend,” Olivier said to him. “Not gambling again, I hope.”
“Of course not,” Max said primly. “I have some very good news for you.” Olivier looked at him, wary of what might come next. Their view of what constituted good news was rarely the same. “What would you say if I told you that I could present you with a one-third ownership in Saverio?”
“I’d say you’ve been drinking heavily at breakfast. I met Cosima Saverio last weekend in Venice. She runs it and is one of the principals. She is never going to sell. I have no doubt of that now. The family is deeply attached to the business. Who have you been talking to?” Someone was obviously leading Max astray, possibly for an up-front commission. Olivier wondered who it was.
“I met someone very interesting last weekend in Venice too, while you were at that party. He can make your dream happen.”
“I strongly doubt that. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Olivier was definite about it, and Max was annoyed by how skeptical he was. He wasn’t the least bit enthused and dismissed the possibility out of hand as pure nonsense.
“He’s one of the owners, Dad,” Max insisted. “He owns a third of the business, and he’d be willing to sell you his shares.”
