Chapter 16
Alessia met Adrian Cole because Miriam refused to cancel dinner.
That was the official explanation.
The less flattering version was that Miriam had invited eight people to her apartment and told Alessia only after the food arrived.
“You ambushed me.”
“I fed you.”
“Those are not mutually exclusive.”
Miriam ignored her.
Adrian sat at the opposite end of the table.
Thirty-two.
Owner of three independent restaurants and a small catering company.
No Carbone investment.
No foundation grant.
No family connection Alessia could identify.
That immediately made her suspicious.
Not of him.
Of the evening.
She looked at Miriam.
Her mother understood.
“I did not arrange this.”
“You arranged everyone being here.”
“That is called dinner.”
Adrian heard enough to smile.
Alessia noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That looked like something.”
“I was wondering whether your mother interrogates everyone or only you.”
Miriam answered first.
“Mostly her.”
Dinner continued.
Adrian did not ask Alessia about Garrett.
That surprised her.
Most strangers tried not to ask.
The effort became its own kind of question.
Adrian simply asked whether Carbone Hospitality still planned to renovate its lakefront property.
Alessia answered carefully.
“Why?”
“I like the building.”
“You want the contract?”
“No.”
“Then why ask?”
Adrian looked confused.
“Conversation?”
Miriam covered a smile with her napkin.
Alessia disliked both of them.
After dessert, the other guests left.
Adrian remained because Miriam had given him two containers of food he apparently had not requested.
At the door he looked at Alessia.
“Coffee sometime?”
The question was ordinary.
That made it harder.
Alessia felt herself immediately begin measuring.
Who introduced him.
What he wanted.
Whether his restaurants had debt.
Whether his investors had Carbone ties.
Whether asking yes created leverage she could not see yet.
“No.”
Adrian nodded.
“Okay.”
That was all.
No persuasion.
No joke about changing her mind.
No attempt to ask Miriam instead.
He left.
Alessia stared at the closed door.
Miriam carried plates toward the kitchen.
“You look offended.”
“He gave up quickly.”
“You said no.”
“I know.”
“Then what exactly should he have done?”
Alessia had no answer she liked.
Three days later, Miriam called.
“He asked for your number.”
Alessia became still.
“You told him no?”
“I told him I don’t distribute my daughter like foundation mailing lists.”
“Good.”
“He said good.”
That irritated her too.
Miriam sighed.
“You are exhausting.”
“I’m careful.”
“No.”
Miriam looked at her.
“You are trying to discover the trick before anyone has performed one.”
Alessia became quiet.
That was harder to dismiss.
Garrett had built eighteen months of deception inside ordinary marital trust.
After him, suspicion felt intelligent.
Necessary.
Safe.
But safety had become strange.
A man respecting no looked suspicious because Garrett had rarely respected anything he could push around.
Alessia called Adrian herself.
He answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“This is Alessia.”
Silence.
Then:
“Carbone?”
“How many Alessias do you know?”
“One.”
“Then why ask?”
“I wanted to make sure Miriam wasn’t testing me.”
Despite herself, Alessia smiled.
“Coffee.”
“When?”
“Thursday.”
“Seven?”
“No.”
He waited.
“Six thirty.”
“Okay.”
Alessia hung up.
No investigation.
No commitment.
No promise that trust had returned.
May you like
Just coffee.
For now, that was enough.
