Chapter 2
Margaret was examined in one of the atelier’s private offices.
Nothing was broken.
Her hip would bruise badly, but the doctor saw no reason for hospitalization unless her pain worsened.
Dominic remained beside her.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Finally Margaret said, “You’re angry with me too.”
“Why would I be?”
“Because I didn’t tell you sooner.”
Dominic looked at the receipts spread across the desk.
His family had owned the perfume atelier for twelve years.
Unlike several of his less respectable interests, Maison Caradonna was legitimate, profitable, and deeply personal.
Dominic’s late wife, Elise, had helped turn it from an expensive hobby into a respected small fragrance house.
After she died two years earlier, Dominic nearly sold it.
Margaret stopped him.
Ava had been barely one.
The atelier was one of the few places where Elise’s presence still felt useful instead of painful.
Valeria entered Dominic’s life eight months after the funeral.
Margaret had disliked the speed of the relationship.
Dominic had accused her of refusing to let him move forward.
After that, Margaret stopped offering opinions unless he asked.
“I should’ve ignored you,” she said.
Dominic did not defend himself.
“What did you find?”
Margaret pointed to the envelope.
Three months earlier, atelier invoices began showing unusually high transport charges for rare perfume materials.
The company importing orris butter, jasmine absolute, and aged sandalwood was legitimate.
The security-and-transport company handling certain deliveries was not familiar to Margaret.
Knox Executive Logistics.
Lucian’s company.
“I thought you approved it.”
“I didn’t.”
“Valeria said you did.”
Dominic looked toward the closed office door.
“How much?”
“I don’t know. Enough that I started asking.”
Margaret had gone to the atelier’s bookkeeper.
The bookkeeper told her Lucian’s invoices had doubled in six months.
Margaret asked Valeria about it privately.
Valeria told her to stop interfering with launch operations.
Then Margaret received an unexpected call from a longtime atelier supplier who had seen one of the supposedly secured shipments sitting unattended at the Westchester terminal.
Margaret drove out herself.
That was where she saw Valeria.
And Luca.
“What happened?”
“I stayed in my car.”
Margaret opened her handbag again.
“I saw Lucian’s presentation case go into Luca’s limousine.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What presentation case?”
“A silver one. The kind we use for formula trials.”
Dominic felt the first real fear beneath his anger.
The fragrance launching that night had taken eighteen months to develop.
Its master formula had enormous commercial value.
“Did you see what was inside?”
“No.”
“Then we don’t assume.”
Margaret looked at him.
That sounded more like Rebecca than Dominic.
He knew it too.
Then Margaret said something that complicated everything.
“When Valeria saw me at the terminal, she didn’t look surprised.”
Dominic frowned.
“She already knew I’d been asking about Lucian’s invoices.”
May you like
The photograph might prove an affair.
The airport might prove something much more expensive.
