Chapter 3
Valeria had wanted her own luxury line for years.
I knew she loved fragrance.
I did not know she understood formulation.
That was my first mistake.
I treated her interest like elegance.
Taste.
Not ambition.
She attended evaluations.
Asked Helena questions.
Remembered every ingredient.
Sometimes suggested changes.
I praised her instincts.
Then still called the atelier mine.
Not ours.
Not hers.
Mine.
That mattered.
She told me she wanted to build something separate.
I remembered the conversation.
Barely.
Six months earlier.
Late dinner.
She said:
“What if I launched something under my own name?”
I answered:
“After the wedding, you can do whatever you like.”
Generous.
Dismissive.
Both.
She heard permission delayed until marriage.
I heard support.
Neither of us clarified.
Then Luca Valenti appeared.
He controlled three boutique hotels and private clubs.
Enough retail space to launch a fragrance without begging department stores.
He offered financing.
Distribution.
Independence.
And eventually himself.
“When did you start sleeping with him?”
Valeria stared at me.
“Dominic—”
“When?”
“Eight weeks ago.”
The theft began before the affair.
Important.
At first Luca was business.
Then confidant.
Then lover.
I looked at Lucian.
“You knew all eight weeks?”
He nodded.
Wonderful.
“And you still sat at my table.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s my sister.”
That answer should have angered me more.
Instead it disappointed me.
Family loyalty used as exemption from judgment.
Old disease.
I turned back to Valeria.
“If you wanted a house, why steal Orison?”
She bristled.
“I wasn’t going to copy it.”
Helena laughed from across the room.
Not kindly.
“You stole the master concentrate.”
Valeria looked ashamed.
She claimed she wanted only the accord structure.
The balance.
How much root.
How much resin.
How Caradonna kept the drydown warm without becoming sweet.
She and Luca planned to develop something different.
A reference.
Not a duplicate.
I stared.
“Then why not ask Helena to teach you?”
Valeria looked at me.
“Because Helena works for you.”
There.
Again.
Every path through my world ended at my approval.
That did not excuse theft.
It explained why she chose a path with no permission.
Then Helena opened the diluted vial again.
Smelled it.
Her expression changed.
“This wasn’t diluted here.”
I looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“The alcohol base.”
Not ours.
Valenti stock.
Meaning Luca had already handled the formula.
May you like
He had not waited for Valeria’s future house.
He had started using it now.
