Giada had every intention of buying that corner building, and then razing it to make room for a parking garage that would serve the new medical clinic building BU was putting up. Though the company’s development portfolio was deep and varied, parking was by far its best legitimate earner: cheap to build, easy to maintain, and a steady income stream. Also an excellent laundry for their less legitimate income.
The only time her brother gave a shit about the family’s real estate concerns was when he wanted a property for himself. Usually that meant some kind of club or other playground for grown men, or a place to set up a comare. The Carlton Street property offered him none of his usual attractions, and his current side piece was already nicely set up, which meant it was something specific about the location, or the building as it stood, that had his interest. She’d have to put some thought to the question before she confronted him.
“We wait and let Grenner twist a bit. The don won’t be a problem for you.” She looked around the table. “What else?”
All the members of her staff shook their heads.
Giada checked her Rolex, brushing her diamond tennis bracelets clear of its face. She had to get moving. “Okay, then let’s get to it. I’ll be away for the rest of the day, but call me if you need me.”
~oOo~
In her office, with a penthouse vista of Boston Harbor at her back, Giada took a few minutes at her desk to finish up some details and not appear to be in the rush she was. As she signed out of her email, Caitlyn, her assistant, slipped into the room with a stack of legal documents.
“We got the contracts in from the Cambridge buy. Do you want to take a sec to deal with them before you head to the spa?”
Giada closed her laptop and considered the files. She always put work first. To say no, and seemingly set aside these important contracts for an afternoon at the spa, would raise Caitlyn’s eyebrows, certainly.
But she had to go. Assuming traffic was in her favor, she had an hour’s drive, and at least half an hour before she was able to get on the road. If she left right now.
She smiled at her assistant. “You know what? I’m in the mood to let people swing today. Lock those up, and I’ll read them first thing in the morning. Today, for once, I’m going to see to myself first.”
Caitlyn beamed brightly. “Finally! Yes! You go, have your afternoon. Nobody deserves it more than you, and these will still be here in the morning. Do you want to forward your calls to me, too? Really have the afternoon off?”
“Let’s not go quite that far,” Giada chuckled. “Just in case Rome burns today.”
“Okay. But I’m blocking your book for tomorrow morning. Only emergencies. So you can take your times with these then.”
“You take good care of me, Cait.”
“Just returning the favor, ma’am.”
~oOo~
Giada actually took fairly good care of herself, she thought. A naturally early riser, she set aside ninety minutes, from five-thirty to seven a.m., four mornings a week for working out; she had her hair and nails done regularly; and she got a full-body massage at least once a month. But a so-called ‘spa day,’ hours spent in a full-course menu of indulgence? Only on birthdays. It was her brother’s standard gift for all the women in his life.
On her latest birthday, her forty-fifth, Giada had been in Italy. So, if anyone was paying attention, she still had a birthday gift certificate to burn, and that was what she had planned for the rest of the day.
Of course someone was paying attention. No one was more paranoid than her brother, and for all his arrogance and idiocy, he had the keen, and keenly skewed, perception of the truly paranoid. On some level, Tommy was wholly aware that Giada did all the work of the family and undid all his mistakes. He was wholly aware that everyone in the family, everyone in their world, understood who was really in charge, and that only his possession of a penis kept him in power. He knew it all very well, but he’d sublimated the truth to his self-concept, believed himself to be truly powerful and his sister merely envious and grasping. The end result was paranoia, but for exactly the wrong reasons.
Of course he had her watched. In fact, he would occasionally ‘hint’ as much, letting her know that he knew things about her life she hadn’t shared with him herself.
Hence today’s elaborate ruse. Because Tommy was right to be paranoid.
Giada meant to take him down.
As soon as she was sure she had the backing to succeed.
She pulled her Maserati GranTurismo into the underground garage of this shopping center—a Sacco property—and parked. As she climbed out and closed the driver’s door, she looked around the garage. Lifelong habit had made her perception sharp, and she noted all the key elements of the scene without pausing too long at anything in particular: the large white van backed in and taking up two spaces between support pylons, the three people walking between the elevators and the parking areas—two away from the elevators and one toward them, the blacked-out Ford Taurus near the entrance, also backed in, beside a ten-year-old silver Camry.
That Taurus had come in after her, but no one had left the vehicle. Bingo.
Hooking her red ostrich Birkin bag on her arm, giving the Taurus no obvious attention, Giada went to the elevators.
~oOo~
Inside the Daylily Spa, Giada’s stylist, Leanna, greeted her right away and led her back. Leanna was one of only two people in her life who knew what was really happening today, and she only knew this small part. Giada had been as careful as possible to ensure no one in the family, or anywhere in Boston, could put all the pieces together and understand her plan until she was ready for it to be understood.
She had to trust that what was happening in Rhode Island was similarly circumspect—but she had every reason to trust that.
Safely inside the spa, Leanna handed Giada a red duffel bag and a set of keys. Smiling at the color choice—a sweet detail to think of—Giada thanked the stylist and tucked a small fold of hundred-dollar bills in her hand. “I’ll be back by the time you close, and when I am, if everything goes right, there will be another of those.”
Leanna smiled and bowed a small thanks. “But will you not need hair and nails done also?”
That was the one snag to this plan: she’d be leaving a spa without a new mani-pedi or fresh blowout. She had no choice but to leave that to the likelihood that none of the men she was surrounded with would tell the difference.
It was one of the very few benefits of living in a man’s world: they didn’t notice womanly things unless those things were specifically sexual or subservient.
“I’ll find some time soon, before the hair situation is too dire. Thank you for this, Leanna.”
“You are an angel, Miss Giada. I am happy to be able to help you, finally.”
With a quick squeeze of Leanna’s arm, Giada ducked into the bathroom and locked the door.
She set the duffel on the counter and opened it. Inside was a new outfit: plain black leggings, unassuming light blue sneakers with a rolled pair of white cotton ankle socks tucked in the left one, a Harvard sweatshirt, and, rolled snugly at the bottom, a navy blue down vest. She owned nothing like anything in this duffel. Not even her workout clothes were so plain.