to exact up close and personal retribution on those who’d had a hand in his abandonment.
But the elitist snobs hadn’t opened up to him, not even with the bait of vital financial relief. Getting close to this family could be through the only way they allowed.
Through blood. Through a member.
After a thorough analysis of the extended family, he’d zeroed in on one member. Liliana Accardi.
Liliana was the daughter of Alberto Accardi, his mother’s third cousin. Her American mother had escaped Italy and the poisonous Accardi family when Liliana was only one and run back to the States. But after her mother’s death last year, the only child, family-less Liliana had started to reestablish relations with her father. The man who hadn’t bothered to see his daughter after he’d granted her mother a lucrative divorce was now eager to welcome her into his life. Surprisingly, the rest of the Accardis seemed as enthusiastic to invite her into the family. That had added to her potential use to Antonio.
Being a fellow doctor was another thing that had made her his best choice. And the fact that she’d graduated at the top of her class, but had ended up in a minor nonprofit lab battling impossible odds. Her quixotic tendencies had only made him consider her an even easier target. Everything else about her from looks to personal history had made her the most surefire as well as most tolerable vehicle for his needs.
He’d decided to approach her in a professional setting, bait her, snare her, then through her, enter the family, exact punishment from within, then walk away when they’d all paid, each to the exact measure he’d decide they deserved.
As for Liliana, she’d been wronged, too, if on an infinitely smaller scale. Though he’d despised her for seeking the family who’d driven her mother away and made Liliana grow up alone, to court their favor and inclusion, he’d intended to be lenient with her. If she provided him with a smooth ride to his life’s most anticipated surgery, that of excising the petrified heart of the family who’d thrown him away like so much garbage.
He’d had no doubt she’d fall at his feet like all subordinates, like all women. The plan was simple. He’d make a proposal she’d grab at. After all, it would make a much more convincing entry into her family if she was delirious at her phenomenal luck. Then when he broke it off, if she’d benefited him—and if she didn’t turn out to be another soulless Accardi or a greedy female—he’d compensate her handsomely.
Then he’d entered that meeting room, delivered his opening speech, and though he’d had the expected deference and delight from everyone else, he’d gotten none of the usual fluttering anticipation and adulation from her. Instead, she’d left him in no doubt of her reaction to his takeover, nor of her opinion of him.
From then on, everything had gone off the rails.
After his first surprise at her impassioned attack on his methods, history and person, he’d tried to overpower her, herd her back to his scripted pathway. Just as he’d thought he’d put her in the place where he needed her to stay, she’d retaliated with a more incontrovertible accusation.
Everything in him had surged to engage her full-on. But that would have been fodder for gossip and would have put him in a defensive position—something he’d never let himself be in. That had been when he’d realized he’d miscalculated.
The woman he’d thought would fall into his palm like a ripe plum had turned out to be a prickly pear.
A change of strategy had been in order.
But for the first time in memory, he couldn’t come up with a course of action but to dismiss her. So he’d let her final words hang there in the conference room without a rebuttal from him. That confrontation had ended with the score of Liliana Accardi one, him nothing.
He had decided to resume her conquest the next day, after he’d upgraded his plan. But he’d itched with impatience, all his senses trained on her, the only one of the staff to avoid him. He’d pretended he hadn’t noticed her as she’d kept her distance on her way out, when in truth he’d noticed nothing but her.
At one point, when she’d been closest to him, his resolve to ignore her had almost broken down. But he’d managed to let her walk out without doing something stupid.
Then he’d noticed the folder.
He’d realized adjusting his plan might be for nothing. This contrary woman might not be giving him another day. She’d forced him to pursue her there and then.
He’d still been certain that once he had her one-on-one, he’d bring her back in line. But the more he’d tried, the more she’d forced him to improvise, and the more he had, the further away from his desired results he’d gotten.
Not only hadn’t he managed to overwhelm her, she’d taken him by surprise again and again. He’d found himself reacting without the least premeditation, something he never did. Then he’d found himself guffawing like a fool. He hadn’t meant to laugh, but her unfiltered responses had been so unexpected and droll, she’d been the one to overpower his control and intent.
Not that his unprecedented spontaneity had earned him any leniency. Her disapproval and resistance had only increased until she’d swung the wrecking ball of her “I quit” right into him.
And she’d meant it. He’d been certain she had.
Just as he’d thought he was down to coercion, she’d done that most ridiculous thing, offering him the money she had on her. After his initial perplexity, it had been like a light had burst inside him, illuminating the tunnel of dwindling options she’d squeezed him in. How to end this impasse on a high note. His solution, not to mention its effect on her when he’d declared it, had brightened his mood in a way he hadn’t felt in...ever.
Suddenly, the grin stretching his lips since he’d left her in that parking lot froze.
He might have decided to change the dynamics of dealing with her, but if he’d learned anything about Liliana Accardi so far, it was that she cared nothing about his power or wealth or what she could gain from them. To her, he was nothing but the invader who’d stormed into and defiled what she considered her home.
His parting shot might have been the worst thing he could have said. That defiant creature could now be working herself into a lather, more determined than ever not to return to the lab.
When the limo stopped, his mood was blacker than it had ever been, even during his worst days in The Organization.
Seething in uncharacteristic exasperation, he heaved out of the car and strode inside his mansion, thunderclouds roiling through his veins.
Damn that Liliana Accardi.
He’d picked her as the easy-to-tame lab rat, and she’d turned out to be an impossible-to-curb hellcat.
He had no time for a struggle with her. She wasn’t even his target, just a means to an end. But instead of a solution, she’d turned out to be an insoluble problem.
If she insisted on defying him, he’d let her quit. But he’d make sure she’d find no other job in the country. Hell, on earth. She’d either work for him or she could go flip burgers. He’d put her in her place, doing exactly what he thought her good for. Then he’d search for a more amenable member of the Accardis as his bridge into that accursed family.
It was only an hour
