Page 35 of Enduring Caine
Giovanni’s smile spread. He knew he’d won. “I am.”
This was not what I wanted. But what choice did I have if there was even a shred of truth about the danger to Samantha’s life? “Alright, we’ll stay until Friday under those rules, but I need to call Mario and let him know.”
Giovanni gestured for Cristian to hand over his cell phone. I accepted it and made to step away for privacy, but my uncle shook his head and inclined it to where I’d been standing.
I stood still a moment, the throbbing in my arm a reminder that I was not in control here. For all of Giovanni’s claims that he was changing business models, some things remained the same.
Among those things, I still couldn’t stand up to them.
I dialed Mario’s number.
He picked up immediately, his voice cautious. “Ciao.”
“It’s me,” I said.
“How’s your family?” he asked.
Watching me, I thought into Mario’s brain. “We’re going to be here longer than expected. How’s the team progressing?”
He was silent a moment, hopefully catching the seriousness in my tone. “Océane and Bianca get back this afternoon, Thomas was shadowing another team instead of—”
“I need you to start on the garden wall conservation,” I snapped. “We don’t have the time and funding for everyone to be slacking off like that.”
Mario huffed, but Giovanni’s smile grew a fraction more genuine.
“You need to take over for the week, Mario.”
“So, you’re having a fun time?” he said, sarcasm dripping off his words. This was whyhewas my favorite cousin, and not Cristian, nor any of the others. He understood I couldn’t speak plainly and that I was miserable here.
“Just see that they’re focused. Tell Bianca to write up the changes she proposed, since that will go in the publication. And have Océane check her bacterial cultures. We need to scale that up.”
“Of course, boss.” Mario liked to tell me he was actually the boss, since he was the project manager and filed all of our reports to the Pompeii Archaeological Park’s Board of Directors. Everyone else treated me like the boss, since it was my dissertation forming the basis of our work, and I was instructing. This concession was in case I was on speaker, no doubt.
“I’ll see you Friday.”
“Or Saturday,” said Giovanni.
I added, like an obedient dog, “Or Saturday.”
Giovanni clapped me on my good shoulder after I hung up, a genuine smile spreading across his face. “My nephew, the man in charge. It must make your father so proud.”
“It does.” Proud was an understatement. If he had his way, Papa would be traveling to every conference and symposium, bragging about it. But it was a different type of pride than what Gio meant. It was not pride that I was in charge. “He’s proud of the difference my team is making and that we’re advancing the science of conservation.”
“Whatever that means,” muttered Leonardo.
Giovanni glowered at him. “This is what I want my new conservation studio to do. Push the boundaries. Learn and teach.”
All of this was too much. Could the conservation studio, the floor plans, his intention to have it up and running in two years—could it be real? Giovanni had used the Ferraro name in the past to gain credence with his buyers and suppliers. This new enterprise could simply be him doubling down on that. A legal front for his activities.
I had to talk to Samantha about this. Had to find some private place for us. We’d sort out a plan together.
Chapter 16
Samantha
Ihadtotalkto Antonio. Had to tell him about Vincenzo and the TPC.
If it was even true.