Honeymoon For One (10 page)

“Luxuriant have made me an offer. One that sounded
too good to be true. And besides, I’d finished my meetings in Rome. I got back
early this morning. Where have you been?”

 “I had some things to take care of Papa. If
I had known you were coming today, I would have picked you up myself.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m here now.” The older man
clasped his wrinkled hands together once more and nodded towards the empty
chair in front of him, beckoning Nico to sit down.

“What’s this about the Luxuriant offer? You told
me I had two years to prove myself. I know you don’t think I’m capable of
running your hotels, Papa, but you’re a man of your word. You always have been.
Why the sudden interest in Luxuriant?” 

“As I told you son, they have a good offer.”

Nico’s eyes flashed angrily. “Good enough for you
to go back on your word to me. You told me I had two years. I’ve only had one
so far and you admit that I’ve made good progress.”

The older man said nothing for a while, then “I
see you’re already looking at changing all of our suppliers? People that we
have used and trusted for so many years.”

How was he going to get himself out of that one?
Nico fought to keep his mouth shut. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know
what to say and he certainly didn’t want to lie.

“Father, running a hotel business isn’t so much
about efficiency, figures and profits and losses. It’s more about the personal
touch and relationships now more than ever.”

“Here we go again,” said the older man. He had
heard this before and couldn’t relate to what Nico was talking about. Had the
world changed that much in forty years? Surely hotels were still places for
people to enjoy themselves away from their current home? People wanted clean
and comfortable beds, clean rooms, a nice enough décor, good food and a
pleasing garden or other places of beauty nearby. This was what he believed and
it had served him well. He should know, he had built up eight thriving hotels
in the last forty years, after all. Though during the last decade, his share of
the hotel business was slowly decreasing. He was getting squeezed out by the
bigger chains who offered cheap deals and holiday packages and his hotel could
no longer compete effectively.

But Nico had enjoyed the trappings of his father’s
hard earned riches for so long and now seemed to think that he could turn it
all around. His son seemed to think that the hotel business was more than just
a commodity. He believed that people wanted an experience, over and above the
clean beds, nice food, nice rooms and good services. His son believed that the
personal touch, little things such as giving the customer their own favorite
blend of coffee, as opposed to having one type of coffee served throughout the
hotel, was something small that the customer remembered, appreciated and came
back for again and again. Even better, happy customers told their friends and
family about the wonderful hotel they had stayed at, and so, accordingly to
Nico, recommendations helped to spread the word better than any expensive
advertisement could..  

As if this was something that would give them
repeat business
. Edmondo Cazale
scoffed at the idea. He wasn’t fully convinced. But he needed more from his
son. He didn’t want to sell out. But he wasn’t going to give his business to
his son on a plate either. His son would need to prove himself first. And
lately he didn’t feel that Nico was taking his responsibility too well. Edmondo
needed more evidence that his son could be responsible.

There were other things too. Rumors that
persisted, and Edmondo had taken a back seat, patiently waiting for Nico to
take charge. All these things flitted about in Edmondo Cazale’s head as he
heard his son remonstrate with him and his decision to consider the Luxuriant
Group’s offer.

“You can’t sell out Papa. You can’t.” Nico was
resolute.

“I’m not selling out son. I want to retire and
spend my twilight years tending to my garden, enjoying a glass of wine and a
good book, seeing the sun set. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of your
mother. But she is gone and I don’t have the will to carry on being this busy
much longer.”

“But I can do this.”

“You can do this. But do you want to?” he asked
softly.

“Yes!” Nico resented that his father always asked
the same question over and over again. Why could he not get it into his head
that he was more than capable of running the business? He wanted to show the
world that he was more than a playboy.  He wished he could have shown it
when his dear mother had been alive.

His
father sat impassively. In a final bid Nico sat forward, spreading his arms out
on the table.

“Tell me something, Papa. If you compare the
visitor figures to last year, do you not see an increase, even if very small,
is there not an increase nevertheless?”

Reluctantly, Edmondo Cazale nodded. The visitor
uptake had been decreasing for the past seven years but it had started to
slowly pick up again in the last two quarters.

It
had all been down to Nico. The older Cazale cleared his throat. “There is
another option,” he said reluctantly. But Nico could tell by his father’s body
language that he was not keen on it.  

“Vicenzo Azzarone is keen on doing a deal that
will benefit both of us.”

Nico’s
face blackened and he stood up and started to pace the room, trying to calm
himself down. Mention of the Azzarone name turned Nico’s mood black. “Why would
you even consider him?  I want no part of anything to do with the Azzarones.”

“You used to be good friends years ago.”

“Yes, Papa, when we were five years old.”

“Her father sees you as a possible heir to both
his and our fortunes.”

“Never! Apart from the fact that I have no
feelings whatsoever for his daughter, he didn’t make his empire the hard way
like you did Papa. His business is built on shifting sands. Any time soon, the
puppet masters pulling his strings can change it all. You’re nothing like that
Papa. It amazes me that you think we could lump our businesses together. Don’t
tarnish the Cazale name needlessly.”

The older man relaxed a little. Perhaps Nico was
growing a head for the business and doing business the proper way, just as he
had done, working from the ground up. Unlike the Azzarone empire, most of which
had been founded on dishonesty and by building new hotels by knocking down
people’s homes. Silvia’s father, Vicenzo Azzarone had driven hundreds, if not
thousands of families out of their homes decades ago. It was the type of
business that Edmondo Cazale wanted to distance himself from.

“Say it Papa, what is it?”

“There are rumors. There have always been-” he
drifted off, unable to finish the sentence.

Nico
stood up, unable to contain his mounting anger. “Did Vicenzo Azzarone put you
up to this? Because he’ll wish he hadn’t when I’m done with him. ” Nico
clenched both of his hands together and leant over the table, looking his father
straight in the eyes. He inhaled sharply, trying to still his voice.

“Don’t worry about Silvia Papa,”  he said quietly.

“It’s not Silvia I’m worried about. Alessa is the
one who gets caught up in everything.”

“I’m taking care of it Papa. You have to trust
me.” The old man nodded and chose his words carefully.

“Alright Nico. Alright. I gave you two years.
You’re halfway through. I’ll honor my end of it.”

Still bent over the table and watching his father
carefully, Nico replied, “You know I can do this Papa. Deep down inside you
know I can. You’ve seen the figures and you know they are changing because of
the small things I have done. I’ll prove to you that you don’t need to sell
out. You don’t need to see the Luxuriant Group. You don’t need anyone.” His
eyes blazed into his father’s and his father stared back calmly.

“Then show me Nico. But I
will
have the
meeting with the Luxuriant Group.”

Nico
pushed off on his clenched fists, raising his body to his full height. He
crossed his arms.

“So be it Father. You see them and let me carry on
with my own plan.”

The
older man nodded in agreement. There was nothing else to say. He watched Nico
leave, slamming the door behind him.

He would meet with the Luxuriant Group, if only to
keep his options open.

Just after breakfast, Ava was ready and waiting
for Nico in the hotel dining room. She was trying very hard not to make it look
blatantly obvious that she was looking forward to seeing him again.

As she fidgeted with her bag, and then her cell
and then her diary, two things came to mind.  One was that she was already
halfway through her stay in Verona; the time had flown so fast that it seemed
like only yesterday that she had arrived here angry and tired. The second thing
she realised was that despite making plans to visit Milan, Pisa and Florence, she hadn’t visited any of these places at all.

In fact, she hadn’t even left Verona.

“Ready?” asked Nico appearing out of her thoughts
and standing in front of her. As he stood before her in a pale gray suit, a
white shirt and a dark blue tie with silver embossed squares, she caught her
breath and hoped she had made no sound. He looked stunning. And he literally
took her breath away.

She managed to hold eye contact with him for a few
seconds and looked away sharply before she gave away any of the thoughts that
had suddenly taken over her mind. She managed a hint of a smile and immediately
pulled her sunglasses down to shield her eyes. Even though they were still
inside the hotel, she felt the need to hide her eyes and most especially her
feelings for him, from him.

Was this the same sullen man she had met at the
airport a few days ago?

He still wore a suit, as he did the other day, but
something was different about him and she couldn’t place a finger on what it
was. It was as if she was seeing him with a new pair of eyes.

“Are you ready Ava?  I have to see some
suppliers for a few things at eleven. Shall we get going?” The keys to his car
jangled in his hands.

Ava followed him out of the dining room and they
passed Gina who was busy on the phone. Ava waved to her as they walked past.
Did she work all day and night long? Gina was always behind the desk no matter
what time it was. There were a few hotel staff, discreet, friendly and
unobtrusive but even for a small hotel of this size, with about twenty rooms,
she had usually only ever seen Gina here.

Nico strode over to the passenger side and held
the door open for Ava.

“You don’t have to do that,” said Ava as slipped
past him and into the cool black interior.

“But we do,” replied Nico giving her one of his
seldom seen but relaxed smiles before taking off his jacket and getting in at
the driver’s side. He folded his jacket and placed it down on the seat next to
him, not before Ava had seen a glimpse of the Armani label.

 “You look different today,” she said
finally, after having wondered for a few minutes what to say.

“You think so?” said Nico, gazing back at her
reflection in the mirror. “There’s nothing different about me,” he said lightly,
as a quiet hush filled the air and Ava felt as though the dynamics had changed.
Nico didn’t seem to be the hotel driver any more, not someone that she could
speak to as she had done the first time they had met.

Thinking about it now, she had this vague and
intangible feeling that things just didn’t fit. His watch. His suit, his
manner, his style, his meetings. None of it fit anymore. Now, the thought that
he might be lying to her disturbed her. This was what had been rankling her thoughts
lately.  

He interrupted her thoughts, “I think you are far
more relaxed now that you have spent a few days in our city. I think the air
has done you good. No?” He smiled at her amicably in the rearview mirror,
unaware of the disturbing thoughts going through Ava’s mind.

“I guess,” she replied listlessly.

“And your stay will be over soon?” he asked, eager
to keep the conversation going.

She thought she detected a touch of wistulness in
his tone, although she might have imagined it.

After a drive that took just under an hour, they
were out in the middle of the countryside. It was a rural area with acres of
green all around and then, appearing like a strip of gravel amidst the greenery
was the industrial center known as Montova; long rows of factories and
warehouses, with smaller shops and retail units here and there. The grayness of
Montova grew larger the closer they got until eventually they drove through the
large entrance gates and Nico parked up.

“This is Montova?” asked Ava, getting out of the
car and looking all around her.

“Yes,” replied Nico enthusiastically.

“And you expect me to find new products here?” she
asked dubiously.

Instead of replying, Nico raised his eyebrows and
nodded his head.  “Come,” he said, beckoning her with his hand as she
caught sight of the huge watch on his wrist again. It was hard to miss, because
it was so ridiculously big.