Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) by Christina OW

Roman
remains. It was wonderful to watch, and Allan noticed the host kept on puffing
his chest out with pride.
    Owning a restaurant like this, with very few people
appreciating the surroundings, who wouldn’t feel proud with a guest like Riana?
    Riana had seemed disappointed for just a moment when
Allan said no to staying for one more day. He knew she’d wanted to paint the wisteria
and the remains, but   there was no way
she was going to do it all in one day. She got back her giddy school girl joy
when he promised to bring her back at the end of their trip. The host had been
pleased with that, too.
    They were escorted back to their table where the host,
who served them personally, listed their specialties of excellent grilled meat
served with a wide range of sauces using olive oil from the Sabine hills and a
selection of cheese, salami, vegetables and seafood in their pasta dishes. By
the time he was done, he had them both salivating.
    Allan had been surprised by the attention and the
free, very expensive red wine that accompanied their meals until the host
addressed him as ‘Mr. Sinclair’. He’d reserved a table under Riana’s name.
    Allan was well known in Rome. Partly because of the
famous Italian women he’d dated and also because of his business ventures. The
worst thing that could happen was if his acquisition of Casa Italiano became public knowledge.
    He had to speak to his lawyer about that.
    They were well into dessert after talking and laughing
about their two wonderful days in Rome when she asked him a question none of
his dates had ever cared enough to.
    “What exactly is it you do for work?”
    Yup. She’d asked him what he did, and not how much he raked at the end of the
month. He was impressed.
    “I buy manufacturing companies that are bankrupt or
leading toward that, break them down into independent, functioning pieces, and
sell them to other companies who need them.”
    Riana was silent, her eyes spaced out in thought.
    Surely I
didn’t say anything worth deep thought? Allan was about to question her IQ when she blinked a few times and turned her
eyes back to him.
    “So you don’t acquire businesses then tear them down
and throw the pieces to the hyenas for a quick buck?”
    Admitting he was shocked at that moment would have
been an understatement. “Excuse me?”
    She shrugged her bare shoulder. “Those were Loraine’s
words. So what happens to the people who worked there, once their employment
has been fed to the hyenas?”
    Allan noticed that her voice had grown as hard as her
stare. Almost like she resented what he did, like he was some kind of villain
terrorizing helpless people. He didn’t like it and almost found himself
apologizing for it, except he had nothing to feel guilty about.
    He stiffened his back and sat up straight, instigating
the same reaction from her. “It’s nothing personal, just business.”
    “ Huh !” She
sputtered a few times. “It is personal for those parents who can’t provide for
the families because you’ve taken apart their place of work like it was nothing
but a game of legos and monopoly!”
    Allan clenched his fist to quell the anger building
inside him. They’d already drawn enough attention from the nearby tables with
her loud exclamation. If she went on with this crusade, she was going to make a
public spectacle of them.
      “You don’t know
what you are talking about!” he hissed.
    She leaned back, arms crossed under her breast,
propping them up and exposing more flesh and his body tightened in response.
    Allan hissed and looked away from her. “Riana, this
discussion is over.”
    “I don’t work for you, Allan Sinclair, so don’t think
you can just dismiss me.” She leaned forward and pressed her hands on the
table. Allan let out a heavy sigh of relief then turned back to look at her.
“Did you ever stop and think about all those families you are making suffer,
because of your ambition and lust for money?”
    Allan jerked back like