The Revenge Collection 2018. Кейт Хьюит
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ever.’
Gabriele stared out of the window as she spoke. It was a long time before he answered.
‘It helped that my staff believed in me,’ he said quietly. ‘They carried the business during my incarceration. We were all determined to fight back and so were the majority of my financial backers. They believed in my innocence.’
He spread out his hands and nodded at the Mantegna building in the distance. ‘The expansion sent out a message of intent to the world. The launch of the Alfredo will be the pinnacle; proof positive that our cars are the best in the world and that nothing will be allowed to destroy us.’
Elena stared at him with her heart in her mouth.
How did someone inspire such blind loyalty? She had no illusions about her own staff—their loyalty was to their pay cheques. All it had taken was a couple of unfounded whispers from Gabriele for a handful of her father’s banks to call in their overdrafts.
Yet Gabriele’s staff and backers had fought for him.
He set the car in motion again and soon they were walking into the foyer of the headquarters of Mantegna Cars.
The interior of the main building was as futuristic as the exterior, all glass walls and electric-blue furnishings.
Gabriele insisted on giving her a tour of the entire facility, introducing her to scores of people as they made their way through it all. Nothing was off-limits. All of Mantegna Cars’ intellectual secrets were opened up to her in a display of trust she found astounding and also incredibly touching.
Since their jog together, they had found a relative harmony, but, with their wedding celebration party only a day away, her nerves were a tangled mess knowing her father and brothers would be attending.
This was the perfect way for her to forget what the next day would bring.
As Ricci Components made parts for cars, everything was familiar to Elena, and yet refreshingly different, as if she’d been beamed to the twenty-third century. There was little hierarchy either that she could discern, everyone treating each other with mutual respect. There was less of a gender divide than she’d expected too. In the main manufacturing plant there were a handful of women working who clearly weren’t there for decoration or to make tea. It was a nice culture shock to have, especially as Ricci Components tended only to employ women for clerical roles.
She had come to accept that even her own job was clerical. Everything Ricci Components made was manufactured in Asia or South America. The closest she came to the manufacturing process was through imports.
‘Your deputy Chief Engineer is a woman,’ she commented with a shake of her head when they were walking back to the main building.
‘Yes,’ was Gabriele’s reply, as if the matter were so inconsequential it didn’t need discussing.
She wondered if the deputy Chief Engineer had had to fight misogyny to get where she was, both within her family and the world at large. Or had she a family that was supportive to all her dreams?
Back in the main building, Gabriele took her up to the media suite, where a group of executives was waiting for them, trays of food and coffee laid out.
A wall-length flat-screen television played a montage of the new Alfredo supercar driving through the Tuscan hills.
‘It’s stunning,’ Elena marvelled as the screen changed to show the Alfredo powering up the German Autobahn.
‘I’m pleased you like it,’ he said with a grin.
‘Is this the advert you’ll be using?’ she asked.
‘This is only for the press launch. We don’t need to advertise.’ Gabriele took a bite of a mini cheesecake, noting the sparkle in Elena’s eyes. She really was in her element here. ‘We advertise heavily for our more family-oriented cars but our supercars are niche—only five hundred Alfredos will be manufactured and they’re sold out already.’
‘So why do any press for it?’
‘This car is a tribute to my father. I want the world to see it. I want to remind the world of his innocence.’ The dimming of her eyes made him feel like a heel. Wanting the light to come back into them, he added, ‘The launch also gives publicity for the Mantegna name, and prestige for our buyers. They like belonging to an exclusive club that everyone knows about but can’t join.’
Gratitude flashed in her eyes. ‘I’m tempted to ask you to produce one more just for me.’
He laughed. ‘A wedding present?’
‘A divorce present,’ she retorted drily.
He hooked an arm around her and kissed her temple. He liked that she didn’t automatically freeze when he touched her now. He liked it a lot. ‘I’ll see what can be done.’
It was amazing, he reflected, that a month ago the thought of a Ricci—any Ricci—driving the car named after his father would have been a dagger through his heart.
‘At the very least I can offer you a test drive,’ he said. ‘I’ll arrange for Monty, our resident test driver, to take you out on the track next week.’
Her eyes widened with enthusiasm. ‘That would be fantastic. Incredible.’
‘Am I right in thinking Mrs Mantegna is a petrol head?’
‘A what?’
‘It’s what they call car enthusiasts in the UK,’ he laughed.
‘I suppose I am.’ She sounded surprised at her agreement.
‘Many women are, you know. They don’t have to pretend to be just to be accepted as one of the boys.’
‘If that’s the case, why don’t you manufacture a supercar for women?’
‘We do.’ He grinned. ‘You like the Alfredo, don’t you? When you consider women have as much purchasing power as men, it’s ludicrous not to cater for their tastes too. For the past decade we’ve made sure all our cars, from every range, have gadgets that appeal to women as well as those that traditionally appeal to men.’
She gave an approving, if puzzled, smile and he thought of her obvious surprise about his deputy Chief Engineer being a woman.
He looked more carefully at her. Today she was dressed in her usual uniform of slim-fitting dark trousers matched with a mauve blouse, her hair loose around her shoulders. She seemed to enjoy her new wardrobe but was still unsure about wearing make-up or doing anything with her hair other than a knot or ponytail.
For Elena, being a woman was something she had fought her entire life. A new wardrobe and one make-up lesson could not overturn a lifetime of learned behaviour, no matter how much she secretly wished it could. He’d seen her watch Internet videos on make-up tips and hairstyles, her face screwed in concentration, but she never attempted them herself. He was certain she did want to embrace her femininity but something held her back.
There were times he’d be watching her and he’d feel such a heavy compression in his chest that his lungs would shrink and he would struggle to breathe.
It should be of no consequence to him whatever was going on in her head but it was there all the same. He wanted to scoop her thoughts out and throw away the ones that hurt her; the ones that told her she wasn’t good enough as she was.
There were times he could almost understand why Ignazio had gone to such lengths to protect her. There was something about Elena that made a man discover his inner Neanderthal. She was such a strange mixture of vulnerability and fieriness; so capable and determined yet so fragile too.
He smiled ruefully. One thing Ignazio had failed to learn but had taken Gabriele all of five minutes in her company to discover was that Elena didn’t need protection. She was more than capable of taking care of herself.
All she needed and all she wanted was respect.
Anna