Chapter 147: Time’s Up

Giovanni waited in the airport lounge for his flight out of Italy with one last purchase tucked safely inside his carry-on.

He hoped Alexander would like it.

It wasn’t particularly expensive, especially by Giovanni’s standards, but that wasn’t really the point.

Since it was the weekend, Giovanni went straight to the workshop after landing.

"Welcome home."

Alexander gave him a quick hug, and Giovanni barely waited for him to pull away before holding out the small package.

"I brought you something."

Alexander looked at it. "Another book?"

"No."

"That’s disappointing. You were developing a theme."

"Open it."

Alexander did.

Inside was a small notebook bound in dark Italian leather, with hand-marbled paper decorating the inside covers.

Alexander ran his thumb along the edge. "This is handmade."

"Apparently."

Alexander looked up at him.

Giovanni had absolutely not spent twenty minutes choosing between four different ones.

"It’s just a notebook."

A small smile appeared on Alexander’s face. "Thank you."

Giovanni was about to answer when he noticed someone hovering nearby with a notebook of his own.

The young man seemed uncertain whether he was supposed to interrupt.

"Giovanni, this is Roberto Martinez, my new Operations Assistant."

Bob immediately wiped his palm against his pants before offering his hand. Giovanni accepted it.

"Call me Bob, sir."

"And this is Giovanni Mercer," Alexander continued. "My fiancé."

Bob nodded as though filing away another piece of information about his new employer. "Nice to meet you, sir."

Giovanni, on the other hand, couldn’t quite stop the satisfaction of hearing Alexander introduce him that way without the slightest hesitation.

"Come on," Alexander said. "There’s coffee in my office. Tell me about your trip."

An hour later, Alexander decided to take the rest of the day off.

Before leaving, he reminded Bob to inspect the work areas, make sure everything was properly shut down, and secure the building before locking up.

Bob readily agreed.

Elias had already placed Giovanni’s luggage in the trunk and was holding the rear door open when they came outside.

Their car had barely disappeared down the road when a motorbike pulled up to the workshop.

The rider claimed he had an old piece of furniture he was considering having restored, and Bob was more than happy to explain the process.

Unfortunately, the prospective customer seemed considerably more interested in the workshop itself.

He asked about turnaround times and where different pieces were worked on. His attention wandered around the building whenever Bob spoke, lingering on entrances and work areas as though the answers mattered less than seeing the place for himself.

Bob didn’t think much of it.

He was new, eager to be helpful, and the man had given him a perfectly reasonable reason to be there.

Before leaving, the rider asked whether he could have a glass of water.

"Sure. Give me a second."

The moment Bob disappeared, the man pulled out his phone.

A few quick photographs.

The surrounding work area.

The interior.

Then the phone disappeared again before Bob returned with the water.

"Thanks."

The rider drank, handed back the glass, and left without ever bringing in the furniture he supposedly wanted restored.

Bob watched the motorbike disappear, then looked down at the glass in his hand.

Maybe he was overthinking it.

Nevertheless, Alex answered the phone by the third ring.

"Bob?"

"Sir, one more thing. We had a walk-in asking about restoration earlier."

"Okay."

"He was asking a lot of questions about our hours, how many people work here, and the work areas." Bob hesitated. "Maybe it’s nothing, but some of his questions felt a little unusual. He seemed more interested in the workshop than the furniture he supposedly wanted restored."

Alexander was quiet for a moment.

"Did anything happen?"

"No, sir. He asked some questions, had a glass of water, and left."

"Did he give you his name?"

Bob winced.

"No."

That was probably something an Operations Assistant should’ve asked.

"Sorry, sir. I should’ve gotten it. But I did see his face when he took off his helmet. He had blond hair, although it was pretty disheveled."

Alex went quiet.

"No name. Blond. Helmet."

There were only so many blond men Alexander knew, and unfortunately, one of them was someone he’d much rather forget.

Still, that wasn’t nearly enough to start making assumptions.

"Anything else you remember about him?"

Bob thought for a moment. "Well, he smelled pretty awful. Like he hadn’t taken a bath in quite some time."

"All right."

Bob appreciated that Alexander didn’t make him feel worse about failing to get the man’s name. He looked around the workshop again.

"There is something else. I think we should consider installing CCTV cameras. At least around the entrances and some of the work areas. We have customers’ property here too, so it might be useful even if today’s visitor turns out to be nothing."

"Good idea. Put together some options and email them to me right away."

After Alexander ended the call, Giovanni gave him an inquisitive look.

Alexander gave in and told him about Bob’s rather frantic call.

By the time Bob finished securing the workshop, he’d taken several pictures showing that everything had been properly shut down and all the doors were locked. Maybe the strange visitor had already made him a little paranoid, but he figured being overly careful was better than spending the rest of the weekend wondering whether he’d forgotten something.

Otherwise, the afternoon had been uneventful.

He gave the locked door one last check before heading home, though the strange visitor still lingered somewhere in the back of his mind.

***

Andrew was already heading back to his rented place.

When he pulled into the property, Calvin Brooks was waiting outside.

His neighbor took one look at him, then checked the time.

"You’re late."

Andrew removed his helmet. "By an hour."

"Exactly."

He handed Brooks forty dollars.

Brooks counted it before looking up. "Ten more."

Andrew stared at him. "For what?"

"Late fee."

"You increased it again?"

"You keep returning my motorbike late."

What had started as an occasional favor between neighbors had somehow turned into Brooks running his own tiny rental business, with Andrew as his only customer.

And apparently, a terrible one.

"Fifty dollars to borrow your motorbike?" Andrew asked.

"Return it on time."

"Not a chance. I’m a regular customer."

"Asshole."

Andrew didn’t bother looking back.

By the time he reached his rented room, his attention was already on something considerably more important.

He sat on the edge of the bed and went through the photographs he’d taken.

The workshop wasn’t particularly large. Only a handful of employees worked there, and the new assistant had been eager enough to answer his questions. Better yet, Andrew hadn’t noticed any security cameras.

He enlarged one of the photographs.

Now he knew enough.

Alexander Vance’s precious little business seemed to be doing well. Apparently, being publicly abandoned by Dominic hadn’t kept him down for long. He’d simply picked himself up and started over.

Even Giovanni Mercer had been at the workshop earlier.

Andrew didn’t know why. Maybe it was business. Alexander and Giovanni had worked together before, so nothing about that seemed strange.

Still, they’d left together.

Meanwhile, Dominic wanted nothing to do with Andrew.

How convenient.

Andrew tossed the phone onto the bed and walked toward the closet.

Several boxes were stacked inside exactly where he’d left them.

He wasn’t interested in hurting Alexander. He wanted to hit him where it would cost.

The workshop represented money, time, and everything Alexander had built after Dominic. If Andrew couldn’t stop him from moving on, he could at least make that fresh start considerably more expensive.

He checked the boxes before closing the closet.

One more delivery.

That was all he needed.

Andrew smiled.

"I hope Vance has good insurance."