Page 45 of When She Loves
CHAPTER16
RAFAELE
Just as Ipull up to my uncle’s house for a meeting with him and one of my capos, my phone rings with a call from my accountant. “Don Messero, your wife is… Well, how do I say it… You see, she’s—”
“Get to the point, Carmine,” I drawl.
“She’s spending a lot of money, sir.”
I frown at the phone. “I don’t pay you to monitor my wife’s spending.”
“Of course, sir. I was just doing your books when I saw the transactions go through in real time. I thought it was my duty to call you. We’re talking about a large sum.”
“How much?”
I can hear him swallow on the other end of the line. “She’s already spent nearly half a million dollars, sir.”
I sit up straight in my seat and eye the clock on the dash. It’s two p.m. How the fuck…
“Where?”
“Dior, Hermès, Chanel— Oh, another transaction just came in. She’s at Bottega Venetta now. That one is forty-eight thousand.”
Incredible. Sandro texted me when they left the house at half past ten. My wife managed to spend over half a million dollars in about three hours?
“As your accountant, I’m advising you lock down the card. If I have your permission to call the bank—”
“No.”
“No?”
“No, you don’t have my permission. Her ability to deploy capital so efficiently is impressive, isn’t it?” Cleo’s clearly not going to waste a second of our marriage moping about her situation. Not a day has passed, and she’s already on the attack.
Carmine makes a surprised sound. “Sir? I’m not sure I understand.”
“Leave the card alone. Whatever my wife wants, my wife gets,” I tell him and hang up the phone.
During the meeting, I pull up my banking app and track Cleo’s shopping spree in real time. She doesn’t let up until about five p.m., when I get another text from Sandro telling me that they’re on their way home. I wrap up the meeting, say a quick goodbye to my aunt, and get on the road.
When I walk inside the house, Sabina accosts me with questions about some contractors.
“Where’s Cleo?” I interrupt.
Sabina frowns. “I’m not sure. I think I saw Tiny bringing some bags into the living room after they returned.”
That’s where I find her. My wife is perched on a sofa by the window, a magazine in her lap, and a sea of shopping bags stretched out on the floor before her.
Sabina is still talking to me and not paying attention to where she’s going. She nearly trips over one of the bags. “Oh my—”
I grab her elbow to steady her. “Careful.”
The house manager gasps as she takes in the scene before her.
Cleo yawns, sits up, and reaches for the small red box on the coffee table. “Welcome home. I’ve hadsucha long day.”
The room is so full with her things, I can’t even see the carpet underneath. She must have been waiting for me to come back so that she could see my reaction. I keep my expression carefully neutral as she hops over the bags and stops in front of me.
“Guess what?” she asks.
