Page 142 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

‘Believe me,’ Dante corrected with a grim smile. ‘I do know.’

‘What can I do? Please, just...’

‘Okay,’ Dante said, and then sat for a moment in silence, considering not an ex-lover, but the loss of his brother. ‘Even if hurts, you have to try to let the other go with dignity and grace.’

‘What if I can’t?’

‘Then it ends in court.’

Before his client left his office, Dante offered his hand, as well as one last word of advice. ‘Donotcontact your wife.’

Alone, Dante made his call.

‘Hello?’ Sev said.

‘You asked me to call?’

‘Yes, hold on.’

Sev got rid of whoever was with him and switched to video call. Dante stared, unsmiling, into his phone at a slightly older version of himself.

There were differences. Sev’s eyes were grey, whereas Dante’s were a deep brown, and Dante had a scar through his left eyebrow. And, though their hair was the same thick glossy black, Sev wore his a little longer. Both were tall and broad, and had similar features—strong jaws and straight roman noses. They were clearly cut from the same cloth.

Once Sev had been the more solemn of the two, although now they almost shared that podium...

‘How’s Dubai?’ Dante asked, hating the polite small talk, but attempting to take the dignified route he had suggested to his client.

‘Hot,’ Sev said, perhaps hating the forced conversation too. ‘How are things in Milan?’

‘Cold.’

‘Just a couple of things to discuss,’ Sev said. ‘Helene mentioned that you haven’t RSVP’d regarding the ball. I can’t attend this year.’

‘Well, I shan’t be going,’ Dante responded.

He attended many events representing their grandfather’s winery, but the spring ball in Lucca was one he avoided.

‘It’s important to Gio. We’re the main sponsors.’

‘We?’ Dante provoked. ‘I’m not an owner, and neither are you.’

‘Dante...’ Sev said, in a wry use of his name. Technically their grandfather was the owner, but the brothers dealt with the management of it, and both knew it would eventually pass to them. Hopefully not too soon. ‘Have you been able to visit the winery lately?’

Dante stared back at his brother. He loathed going back to Lucca—especially to the winery. He could still see the wreckage in the hills every time he visited.

‘No,’ he said finally, and, even though they were not talking, he knew it was in moments like this that he wanted conversation. To ask his brother if he shared the same visions, if the nightmare of that day was all he could see whenever he returned home. ‘I find it—’

‘Inconvenient?’ Sev snapped. ‘We all know you’re busy, Dante. So, whenwillyou be back?’

‘I don’t know,’ Dante said, knowing that Sev was now getting to the real reason for this rare call. ‘In a couple of weeks, maybe. Why?’

‘I called Gio yesterday...unexpectedly.’

Neither brother called him Nonno—and not just because it didn’t work well in business matters. Dante, back when he’d had a heart, had been the cheekier of the two and had started to call him by his name. He had been unable to understand why he got told off when he did.

‘But heisGio...’ he’d said, and hugged hisnonnoso fiercely and called him by his name with such love that it had stuck.

‘He seemed a bit vague,’ said Sev.