Chapter 2 - An Engagement Neither of Them Remembered
Twenty minutes later, Anna was sitting beside Matteo at the longest breakfast table she had ever seen, pretending she had not received a threat disguised as congratulations.
Sunlight flooded the upper lounge of the Aurelia. Fresh flowers stood between silver coffee pots and plates of fruit, pastries, eggs, and things Anna was too anxious to identify.
Around the table, the De Luca women looked delighted.
Anna wanted to disappear beneath the linen tablecloth.
Teresa lifted her coffee.
“I still cannot believe you kept this from me.”
Matteo buttered toast.
“You survive disappointment remarkably well.”
His mother narrowed her eyes.
“I raised you. I survived many disappointments.”
Sofia laughed.
Anna almost did too.
That was the strangest part.
The De Luca family was nothing like the intimidating dynasty Anna had expected when she accepted the contract.
De Luca Maritime had existed for three generations. Their name appeared on terminals, shipping companies, resorts, charitable foundations, and magazine covers.
Matteo was the public face of the family now.
Controlled.
Private.
Nearly impossible to read.
His relatives were the opposite.
They interrupted one another, argued affectionately, passed food across the table, and treated personal boundaries as suggestions.
It would have been charming if Anna hadn’t been trapped inside a fake engagement engineered by an unknown person.
Nonna Elena leaned toward her.
“How did he ask?”
Anna nearly choked on her coffee.
Matteo answered before she could.
“Quietly.”
“That sounds like Matteo,” Aunt Francesca said.
“No flowers?” Sofia demanded.
“I dislike flowers,” Matteo said.
“You own three vineyards.”
“Those are grapes.”
Anna pressed her lips together.
Sofia looked at her.
“Was he romantic?”
Six women turned toward Anna.
Matteo did not.
He drank his coffee with infuriating composure.
Anna smiled tightly.
“It was… unexpected.”
Matteo’s shoulder moved slightly.
He was laughing without making a sound.
Anna kicked him under the table.
He didn’t react.
Nonna Elena sighed happily.
“That is how the important things happen.”
The remark stayed with Anna.
Because the situation was absurd.
Yet there was something about sitting beside Matteo while his family celebrated that made her chest ache in a way she refused to examine.
She had spent years building a life where she depended on no one.
At twenty-six, Anna had already survived the collapse of her parents’ small business, paid her way through college, and built a reputation as one of the most effective crisis strategists in Boston.
She understood companies.
She understood headlines.
She understood disaster.
Families were harder.
Matteo leaned closer.
“Smile.”
She kept her expression pleasant.
“I am smiling.”
“You look like you’re planning my funeral.”
“I’m deciding between burial and cremation.”
“That is not very bridal.”
She turned toward him sweetly.
“Keep talking.”
His mouth twitched.
Across the table, Sofia watched them.
“Oh, they’re definitely engaged.”
Anna almost groaned.
Then Matteo’s phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression didn’t change, but Anna had learned that with Matteo the absence of expression was usually the strongest reaction.
He placed his napkin down.
“Excuse us.”
Teresa frowned.
“You just arrived.”
“Business.”
“It is Sunday.”
“Unfortunately, business knows.”
Matteo stood and looked at Anna.
She followed immediately.
They walked through the yacht’s polished corridor toward his office.
The second the door closed behind them, Anna stopped pretending.
“What now?”
Matteo handed her the phone.
The photograph had been sent to three celebrity-news websites.
None had published it yet.
Attached to the anonymous submission was a caption.
Secret De Luca engagement aboard family yacht. Mystery woman wearing the famous De Luca heirloom.
Anna read it twice.
“Mystery woman?”
“You sound offended.”
“I have a name.”
“That is what concerns you?”
“No. What concerns me is that someone photographed me asleep and is apparently shopping the picture around.”
Matteo opened his laptop.
“My legal team has contacted all three publications.”
“Can they stop it?”
“For a while.”
Anna crossed her arms.
“You realize if this appears publicly, my clients will think I’m sleeping with someone I’m paid to advise.”
Matteo looked up.
“You are not.”
“Headlines rarely wait for nuance.”
“I’ll issue a statement.”
“That could make it worse.”
“Then you issue one.”
“That will definitely make it worse.”
For a moment they stared at each other.
Then Anna exhaled.
“This is what I do for a living, and somehow I suddenly hate everything about public relations.”
“Welcome to my childhood.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
Matteo turned the laptop.
A security report appeared.
“Camera system.”
Anna leaned closer.
“The hallway camera outside this suite shut down at three twelve this morning.”
“For how long?”
“Eleven minutes.”
Anna’s smile vanished.
“When did we fall asleep?”
“Approximately two forty.”
“How do you know?”
“I sent my final email at two thirty-eight.”
“And when did your family arrive?”
“Six fifty-seven.”
Anna studied the report.
“So sometime after three twelve, somebody had eleven minutes without cameras.”
“Yes.”
“Long enough to open your office.”
“Yes.”
“Take the ring.”
“Yes.”
“Put it on me.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Anna looked toward the bedroom.
Her skin prickled.
“Matteo, someone came close enough to touch my neck while I was sleeping.”
He stood.
“I know.”
There was something in his voice that made her look up.
Cold anger.
Not loud.
Not threatening.
But unmistakable.
Matteo moved toward the window.
“I had the yacht checked before departure. Everyone aboard was cleared.”
“How many people?”
“Family and staff, thirty-two.”
“Thirty-two is a lot of suspects.”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Why?”
“My grandmother is seventy-nine and was asleep three decks below.”
Anna nodded.
“Fair.”
“My mother cannot remember the password to her own streaming account.”
“Also fair.”
“And Sofia would have taken forty photographs instead of one.”
Anna laughed before she could stop herself.
Matteo looked back at her.
The tension loosened for half a second.
Then someone knocked.
Matteo opened the door.
A tall man in his fifties stood outside wearing a navy suit.
“Mr. De Luca.”
“Caleb.”
Anna recognized him.
Caleb Shaw had been Matteo’s chief of staff for nearly nine years. Quiet, efficient, always present and rarely memorable.
Which, Anna had once thought, was probably intentional.
Caleb nodded toward her.
“Ms. Carter.”
“Good morning.”
His eyes briefly moved to her neck.
The ring was no longer there.
Something flickered across his face.
So quickly Anna almost missed it.
Matteo did not.
“What is it?” Matteo asked.
Caleb stepped inside.
“I heard congratulations are in order.”
Anna felt Matteo become very still beside her.
“Apparently.”
Caleb smiled.
“I’m happy for both of you.”
“Thank you,” Anna said.
Caleb handed Matteo a tablet.
“The foundation documents are ready. You were supposed to approve them before noon.”
Matteo glanced at the screen.
“Later.”
“There’s also the Portwell proposal.”
Anna looked at Caleb.
Matteo had mentioned Portwell Capital repeatedly during their work together.
The investment group wanted to buy a major stake in De Luca Maritime’s European division.
Anna had advised against announcing anything until several unanswered questions about the proposal were resolved.
Caleb had strongly disagreed.
“The board expects your answer tomorrow,” Caleb said.
“They can continue expecting.”
“Matteo, they increased the offer.”
“No.”
“You haven’t seen it.”
“I don’t need to.”
Caleb paused.
Then his expression softened.
“Today probably isn’t the day to discuss business anyway.”
His eyes moved between Matteo and Anna.
“Enjoy your engagement.”
He left.
The door closed.
Anna turned.
“You saw that.”
“Yes.”
“He looked at my neck.”
“So did everyone at breakfast.”
“No. He checked my neck.”
Matteo said nothing.
Anna moved toward the desk.
“Caleb knows the code to your safe.”
“Yes.”
“And he manages yacht operations.”
“Yes.”
“Meaning he could access the camera system.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“Because accusing someone who has worked for me for nine years without evidence would be stupid.”
Anna studied him.
“You trust him.”
“I trust evidence more.”
His phone rang.
Matteo answered.
“De Luca.”
He listened.
Anna watched his expression become hard.
“When?”
Another pause.
“No. Don’t respond yet.”
He ended the call.
“The photo?”
“Published.”
Anna felt her stomach sink.
Matteo turned his laptop.
The headline appeared across a major entertainment site.
SECRET YACHT ROMANCE: MATTEO DE LUCA ENGAGED TO MYSTERY CONSULTANT
The photograph showed Anna sleeping beside him.
Her face was recognizable.
The chain and ring were visible.
Anna whispered, “Oh God.”
Within seconds her own phone began vibrating.
Messages.
Emails.
News alerts.
A call from her business partner.
Another from her sister.
Another from a reporter.
Anna sat slowly.
“My career.”
Matteo crouched beside her chair.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“I will fix this.”
“You can’t control the internet.”
“No.”
His gaze held hers.
“But I can control what I do next.”
“What does that mean?”
Matteo stood and reached for his jacket.
“We leave the yacht.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever arranged this wanted pressure.”
Anna followed him into the corridor.
“And?”
“I’d like to see what they do when we refuse to panic.”
They returned to the breakfast room.
Every phone at the table was ringing.
Sofia held hers up.
“We’re trending.”
Anna closed her eyes.
Nonna Elena seemed delighted.
Matteo walked to the head of the table.
His family quieted.
“We have a situation.”
Teresa frowned.
“What situation?”
“The photograph was taken without our knowledge.”
Silence replaced celebration.
Anna saw concern spread across their faces.
Matteo continued.
“For now, nobody speaks to the press. Nobody posts anything. Nobody confirms or denies anything.”
Sofia slowly lowered her phone.
“Is the engagement real?”
Anna looked at Matteo.
This was the moment.
He could end it.
Instead, Matteo looked directly at Anna.
Not at his family.
At her.
“Not in the way everyone believes.”
Anna felt something strange twist inside her chest.
Nonna Elena understood first.
Someone had manipulated them.
Her expression sharpened.
“Who touched my ring?”
Matteo almost smiled.
“That is what we’re going to find out.”
An hour later, the Aurelia approached Manhattan.
Anna stood alone on the upper deck, staring at the skyline.
Her phone contained seventy-three unread messages.
Behind her, a door opened.
Matteo joined her.
“You should be inside.”
“I needed air.”
He stood beside her.
For a while neither spoke.
Then Anna said, “When this is over, I’m billing you double.”
“Triple.”
She looked at him.
“That was too easy.”
“You were going to demand triple eventually.”
“Probably.”
He smiled faintly.
Anna looked back at the city.
“What if they wanted us to think Caleb did it?”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“That occurred to me.”
“Who else knows the safe?”
“My security director.”
“Name?”
“Daniel Mercer.”
“And you.”
Anna paused.
Matteo glanced toward her.
“What?”
She hesitated.
“There’s another possibility.”
“What?”
“Somebody didn’t need the code.”
Matteo frowned.
Anna remembered something from the night before.
Something so small she had dismissed it.
“When I came to your office yesterday afternoon, the safe was already open.”
Matteo turned fully toward her.
“What time?”
“About four.”
“Who was here?”
“You weren’t.”
“Then who?”
Anna closed her eyes, searching the memory.
She had entered carrying press folders.
A person had been standing near the desk.
Someone who smiled and said Matteo would return soon.
Anna opened her eyes.
“Your sister.”
Matteo stared.
“Sofia?”
“No.”
Anna shook her head.
“Your cousin Alessia.”
Matteo’s face went still.
Anna remembered something else.
May you like
Alessia had been holding a small velvet box.
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