“Please tell me that this is not what you’re going to wear on your head…”           Phoebe Stone raised her hand to the white scarf with little red hearts she was wearing on her head to cover the long, curly, red hair. Then she gave her co-worker a hurt look and pressed the button of the service elevator.   “Roxie, I’m here to clean the offices. Not to be part of a fashion show. I’m not particularly fond of this scarf, but the other one that I usually use is still in my dirty laundry basket. I needed something to cover my head and I found this. End of the story.”            The older woman looked at her with a squint. An ‘Mhm’ came out from Roxie’s lips and, after sighing deeply, Phoebe decided to come clean. “Okay… The reason is… Well, there is this guy that’s working as a high-rise window cleaner… We bumped into each other a few times while w

“Are you absolutely mad?” Phoebe mumbled shakily.“Do you live alone or with your family?” he questioned without listening to her words.          Transfixed by her own bewilderment, Phoebe heard herself muttered her answer.“Alone, but…”          A winged ebony brow rose at that news, icy eyes briefly welding to her beautiful face.“You are surprising, Phoebe Stone. Where do you keep your passport at home?”“The first drawer of my desk, but why…?”          Lorenzo De Angelis punched out a number on his smartphone.“I don't see any alternative to a trip to Italy,” he informed her in a sardonic aside. “I could keep you without a phone, but I am not that heartless. And I can hardly ask my household staff

          He scanned Phoebe’s pale face. Seeing the rage in his eyes froze the blood in her veins. She tried to talk, to say something, anything, but no word would come out.“You told me that I could trust you,” Lorenzo said slowly, but angrily. “Well… I’m glad I didn’t. The instant I allowed you out of my sight, you rushed to the phone to pass on the information you overheard. You betrayed me!”          Lorenzo was enraged, she could feel that, but he condemned her using a tone she never heard from him since this whole thing started. He was genuinely disappointed in her behavior. She was trembling with apprehension, but, strangely enough, Phoebe felt also saddened by his unexpected reaction.“Mr. De Angelis…” she began, ready to show him that she wasn’t a bad person or a traitor.“I tried to give you a chance, I really did, but you have made your choice. ‘Così sia.

          His father! What could be worse? Of course, he hadn't wanted to have her there over the next couple of days. So why on earth had Lorenzo insisted that she had to accompany him?          Ok, Lorenzo De Angelis lived in a gilded world of immense wealth and privilege. He was a member of incredibly high-powered circles. She wished she understood how that information could be as hugely important as he seemed to think it was. He thought she was a spy, so maybe it was a matter of exponential importance for Lorenzo. He was talking about business the night before his father’s funeral.          Those extremely confidential business plans he was so fired up about, this pretending to be interested in one company while really being interested in another… all this was so important for him that he had to drag her away across t

          The blonde Mia planted a cool kiss on his cheek and then addressed him in Italian only. She ignored Phoebe. But Phoebe was grateful to be ignored because she was embarrassed by Lorenzo's stubborn determination to keep her by his side.          Still talking to Mia, whom Phoebe now assumed to be a close relative, Lorenzo walked them both into a vast reception room. Other people began to arrive. Mia took up position like a seasoned hostess. Lorenzo's grip on Phoebe's fingers had mercifully loosened, and she tried to pull away, hoping to retire to a dark corner.          But not only did Lorenzo retain his hold on her. He also swept her forward and introduced her, although nobody got the chance to engage her in any actual conversation. Many curious eyes lingered on her, but Lorenzo kept both of them on the move. He exchanged a wo