A Legacy of Secrets

‘It matters,’ Santo said, and in that he wasn’t going to go into detail, wasn’t about to tell her that the Corretti empire was crumbling around them. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t trust her—he could not bear to admit it to himself.

‘Right now, I need to concentrate on this movie, but first...’ He pulled her into his arms and took her glasses off again, and kissed her very nicely, strangely tenderly. It made her want to cry, because she understood perfectly now her predecessors’ tears and rantings. It wasn’t just the sex—Santo Corretti was the whole package. How cold and lonely would the world be after him.

And then, when his phone started begging for the producer to please arrive on set, there was no choice but to get moving.

They arrived at the docklands. It was rough and worn down, but Santo told her that with some money thrown at it, it would one day again be so beautiful. ‘The town is dying,’ Santo said, ‘but if the tourists found it, if the people came back...’ There were locals all gathered to watch the activity. ‘See...’ Santo said. ‘That café has not been open for years, but now, today, it is. That is the sort of thing this film could do, and maybe it would have the people associate the Corretti name with what it can do in the future, not ways of old....’ Then he stopped talking about family. ‘Will you do one thing for me?’ Santo asked before he got to work. ‘Will you check out Luigi before you accept the job?’

‘I’ve already accepted it.’

To his credit, Santo said nothing, not that he had much chance to. He was in a lot of demand and Ella took a seat and started working. Or trying to work, more often than not she found herself peering over her computer, frowning at a couple of Rafaele’s suggestions, because they weren’t interpretations Ella would have considered.

Still, Rafaele was the expert, Ella told herself, determined to put pride aside and to learn from him.

‘Are you okay?’ Ella blinked in surprise a little while later to the sight of Santo handing her a coffee.

‘Better,’ Ella said.

‘Because if you being here is a bit much, I don’t need you.’ He winced. ‘That came out so wrong—what I meant...’

‘I know what you meant.’ Ella smiled, touched that he seemed to realise that last night had been about so much more than their exchange of words. ‘How’s it going?’

Santo grimaced. ‘Vince just lost his temper. I don’t know. It’s early days, I guess.’

She sipped on her coffee, but after a moment or so she decided to take him up on his offer. ‘If you’re sure you don’t need me I might go and get some work done in the hotel.’

‘Sure,’ Santo said. ‘I’ll call if I need anything.’

It was safer to be alone right now—she simply daren’t get closer to him. He’d been open, far more open about his family than Ella had expected him to be and, as nice as it had been to talk, on reflection it disarmed her. Sex she could handle—it was the rest that terrified her so. Holding that thought once back in her room Ella contacted the agency that had first sent her to Santo. She spent most of the day going through résumés as well as confirming the docking times for the ship which was going to be a huge part of the film set. Ella did a few phone and online interviews, until she had narrowed it down to two. Then she checked her own emails, frowning a little at the response from Luigi, who was, he said, delighted to give her this opportunity and that he was looking forward to seeing her when she came to Rome, that they must have dinner as soon as she got there.

Of course Luigi would want to take her out to dinner and go over things before filming started. It was dinner, Ella told herself as she headed down to the restaurant to have dinner herself with Santo.

‘Better?’ Santo checked, standing briefly as she walked over.

‘Much.’

And then there was no more personal talk, because there was actually an awful lot of work to discuss, especially now that they had started shooting. They worked their way through most of it, even the rather more delicate stuff.

‘Her name is Marianna Tonito.’ Ella brought him up to speed on her potential replacements. ‘She’s worked for two movie producers and one film star, so she has loads of experience. I spoke to the agency and then I spoke to her. She seems very...’ Ella struggled for the right word—knowledgeable, competent, confident, all applied, and thanks to the magic of Skype, Ella knew that Marianna was also terribly, terribly sexy. ‘Suitable’ was the word Ella settled for, though she knew that she was handing inevitable heartbreak over as she passed Santo the résumé, but Marianna was in fact the perfect person for this role.

‘When can she start?’

‘Immediately.’

Santo frowned. ‘How can she be so good if she is so available?’

‘I checked all that.’ Ella had thought exactly the same. ‘She’s still working, much the same as me—actually training up her replacement now, at her boss’s wife’s request.’

Ella saw the slight raise of one eyebrow. ‘Are there any other candidates?’

Ella handed him the second résumé. Santo tried, he really did, to keep his expression bland—so much so that Ella had to suppress a smile. ‘He seems to have a lot of experience.’

‘He does,’ Santo said carefully. ‘And perhaps things would be a little less complicated.’ He glanced over to Ella, as if to check her thoughts, but she refused to give them. ‘How soon can he start?’

‘Paulo has already given his notice. He’s in Singapore now with his current boss, but should be back in Italy in the next couple of days, though he wants to take two weeks off before he starts a new job.’

‘Fly them both over for an interview.’ He could feel this huge sulk unfurling. He did not want her gone. It was all so unnecessary to Santo, and certainly he did not want her working for Luigi. ‘You haven’t given your notice in writing.’

She went into her huge handbag and took it out. ‘I meant to give it to you last night.’

He didn’t take it.

‘File it.’

‘Fine.’

‘In the shredder.’

‘I’ll email you a copy before I do,’ Ella said. ‘Anything else?’

‘I need to change the ship date.’

Ella blinked. Surely he wasn’t talking about the ship date. It had taken her forever to organise—ships sailing into the sunrise generally did!

‘I need you to make it for two days later.’

‘Santo...’ Ella drew a long breath. It was just the sort of request she’d come to expect from him, just the usual impossible ask that with one look he expected her to fix. ‘There are three hundred extras booked.’

‘You think that I don’t know that?’ Santo responded. ‘But the fact is we lost a day’s filming yesterday and things haven’t exactly gone well today.’ She sat quiet for a moment as he voiced it. No, things hadn’t gone well. All the hope and excitement that had greeted them this morning had slowly dispersed throughout the morning, and from the whispers Ella was hearing, after she had left things had gone from bad to worse. ‘I think I might have made a mistake.’

He didn’t actually say it, but Ella knew that he was talking about Taylor. She hadn’t exactly shone today, but Ella could see it wasn’t her acting that was the problem. Though it would sound like sour grapes if Ella suggested that it was the director who was the issue.

‘Things might improve tomorrow,’ Ella attempted. ‘It was never going to be perfect the first day of filming.’

‘I know. But for now just sort out the ship and the extras. We’re going to need more time.’

‘I’ll see what I can to...’ Her voice trailed off as his phone bleeped the text. She watched relief flood his face.

‘Alessandro?’

‘Thank God,’ Santo said, reading the text. Ella found herself wishing he’d tell her what his brother had said. She wanted more into his life and was having terrible trouble dealing with that. ‘So we’re done?’

Ella nodded.

‘Did you want another drink?’ he offered.

‘No, thanks.’

‘Did you want to talk?’

‘We’re up at five tomorrow.’

‘Fine.’ He was curt—it had been a hell of a day and not a particularly good last night and Santo would love to happily screw his way out of it, but he wasn’t going to beg.

He didn’t understand her.

But he’d tried to.

‘You’d really rather be alone than be with me.’

Yes, Ella thought, because it was safer to be alone tonight. In his bed she’d be telling him she loved him or something ridiculous, which wouldn’t cause a remote problem for Santo, Ella knew. He was more than used to hearing that.

It just caused a huge problem for Ella. She simply didn’t want to love anyone, didn’t want her heart out there in harm’s way, and she was already scrambling to take it back.

‘’Night, Santo,’ she said, because it was far safer too.

‘’Night, Ella.’