Chapter 13 : Red Hot Restoration

*Sophie’s POV*

The men were all standing in the yard gossiping and waiting on Luca and me. It always made me laugh when older women were referred to as clucking hens. Men were just as bad, why didn't they catch flack for that?

I heard one of them say, "Did anyone call Mr. Rossi? He's gonna be pissed when he finds out his restorer took a free fall down into an unmarked basement."

"Nobody will say a word to Mr. Rossi," I loudly spoke. "I'm fine. Everything is fine. We'll continue on as usual, and he'll be none the wiser. No sense getting his blood pressure up."

Their heads snapped to attention as they turned toward my voice. "Now, we have a few men who'll be here within the hour to make sure the basement isn't going to hinder the rest of the project. Luca is going to oversee you all here, and I'm going to go work on a few art pieces in our downtime. Please," I pointedly looked at each man, "Don't give Luca a hard time. He is to be respected and his word is to be honored."

Everyone l