Arianna nervously walked towards Alex. She wasn’t surprised to see him there even though she’d taken a risk coming here. The last time she was here, she was very much in love, with her whole life stretched ahead of her.

Alex looked at her, stumped. She made her way and awkwardly mumbled a greeting. Alex walked towards her and pulled her into a hug. Arianna tried to ignore her heart, which thumped loudly when he hugged her.

“Oh my god! Arianna, it’s been so long. To find you, here, on this day. What a sweet accident!” he exclaimed. She smiled nervously, not knowing what to say.

Alex furrowed his brows. “Wait, there’s a word for this sort of coincidence. What is it called, what is it called?” he repeated.

“Serendipity,” Arianna replied before she could stop herself.

“Serendipity. That’s the word I was looking for. Arianna, you and I, here on this day. Serendipity.” He shook his head.

Alex hadn’t changed much, she thought. But then she looked at him closely and saw his body for the first time. He had filled out, and he looked great. His messy hair fell loosely on his forehead and she suddenly had the urge to flick some away.

“Wait, are you checking me out?” Arianna broke out of her reverie. Alex had a cocky smile on his face.

“No! I’m not checking you out. You...you’re checking me out.” She frowned, turning red. Alex’s cocky smile was replaced by a soft one. He came close, put his hand out, and then stopped as if he didn’t want to touch her.

“I can’t believe it,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’re here today. I can’t believe I’m here today. It’s been so long.” He sat under one of the trees.

Arianna sat beside him and looked away into the distance. She was already prepared with what she wanted to say. But when she looked at Alex, he smiled at her and every thought she had flew from her mind. His broad smile had always warmed her heart before, and even now, it completely distracted her.

She didn’t know how to broach the topic she really wanted to talk to him about. They were seeing each other after so long, it almost felt surreal. There were butterflies in her stomach when he smiled and she tried to breathe in and focus.

“Do you want to go somewhere and talk maybe?” Alex asked, noticing Arianna’s discomfiture.

Arianna instantly focused and smiled at him. He found the change a little surprising.

“Sure, let’s go to the Bistro in town. We’ll catch up,” she said, grabbing her bag and dusting her pants.

They made their way to the Sweet & Savoury Bistro on Main Street. Arianna ordered a grilled chicken salad and Alex ordered a burger. Orders done, they sat in silence waiting for the other one to speak.

Finally, Alex broke the silence and said, “How have you been, Arianna? What are you doing these days?” Arianna should have expected these questions, but she felt impatience. She wanted to get what she wanted to say out of the way. Those tingles in her spine told her this was a bad idea. She wanted to drop everything and run back to the comfort of her home. She waited for him to answer.

“I’ve been great, Alex. It’s going great. I work in Cupertino, in Symantec. It’s all been great. What about you? I hear you’re a lawyer,” she said, hoping she would be able to do what she set out to do.

Alex stiffened when she mentioned what he did. There was no way word would travel here about him being suspended, would it? His heartbeat thumped and he keenly observed Arianna.

Arianna nervously bit her lip. Something was bothering Alex, but she didn’t want to think about that. If she didn’t talk to him now, she would abandon that. Already, her heart thumped whenever he smiled. She cleared her throat. Alex raised his brows.

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you, Alex. I need your help,” she said, searching for any resistance. Alex’s mood changed and he immediately went into lawyer mode.

“What happened? Are you in trouble?” he asked. It was just the way he said word trouble which bristled her. She wasn’t the type to get in ‘trouble’. Taking a deep breath, she continued.

“Our estate is slated to be sold in two weeks. Sophie, you remember my sister, Sophie? She called and told me to come here urgently. Said it was an emergency. I found out that my father has been paying money to someone called Franco to repay a gambling debt. And now, it turns out, the estate is being sold to him.” She blurted everything out.

Alex stared at her in shock. The Belmonte estate was going to be sold? Arianna continued.

“I don’t know, something about this didn’t sit well with me. Papa isn’t the type to have gambled, and I just don’t know who this Franco guy is and why we’re paying him any money. I wanted a lawyer…” She pointed to Alex.

“...to look at what we had so far and then tell me what to do next. The agreement doesn’t seem like something Papa would sign just like that. It’s a big mystery,” she said, handing him the folder with the sale and the loan agreements.

While he glanced at the agreements, she continued.

“Sophie and I figured this had been going on for a while, and it was hidden in some way because she didn’t know of any monthly payouts that were suspicious. So we pulled up the list of regular payments in the system and found a few vendors who we need to inspect. One of them was very weird, but we couldn’t find any document to prove where the money was being sent and for what.”

Alex read through the agreements. The loan agreement seemed spurious. It didn’t mention any repayment schedule, just that the payments had to keep coming in to save the property from being sold. The sale agreement was just as vague and ambiguous. Alex had seen many people fall down rabbit holes like this and not like what came out on the other side. He just had to caution her.

“Arianna, are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“Yes.” There was no uncertainty in her voice. She looked down.

“I’ve….It’s my family home. I just can’t give up on it. I can’t give up on Sophie; she’s worked so hard to build everything after Papa retired. It’s just…” Her face looked tortured.

“I can’t imagine someone holding Papa under their thumb, so much so that he agrees to sell out. It’s not like him. I know the man, he’s a good man. He’s a good man.” Her voice stuck in her throat.

Alex nodded curtly. He hadn’t met Arianna’s family many times, but the Belmonte’s enjoyed a stellar reputation in town. They were boutique vintners, and their winery was always open for visitors looking for tours. He hadn’t heard much about the winery and the financial condition, but whatever he was seeing, he didn’t like it. Arianna was right when she said this arrangement didn’t seem right. He took a deep breath in. When he asked about the rabbit hole, he also asked himself that question. Did he want to fall down the rabbit hole with Arianna again? Did he want to take that chance? He looked at her. She was looking down at the floor all forlorn and lost. He would help her out, he decided. He would fight for their winery.

“I’ll help you,” he said. Arianna looked up and beamed. His heart skipped a beat. He was surprised at how he was reacting.

He took a bite of his burger and read through the agreement. He’d never seen a loan agreement without payment terms or the amount that was to be repaid. Similarly, the sale agreement didn’t have any consideration mentioned. He wanted to read through every clause to find the loopholes. He put the agreements back in the folder.

“Is there anything else you want me to look into?” he asked.

“Well, there’s a list of vendors we’ve been making recurring payments to and we’re not really sure of the nature of the payments. Some seemed off so I made a list, in case we want to reach out to them,” she said, handing him a list with a few names and numbers on it.

Alex took the list and scanned it. There were five vendors with monthly payouts mentioned on the right. Two had monthly payouts of $3,000 and three had monthly payouts of around $500. It was a lot of money that went out in fixed installments every month, and for the winery to not know who these vendors were, it was a big risk.

Something in the back of his mind clicked when he read the name Ezee Securities, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He hadn’t mentioned the fact that he was suspended; he didn’t want to be the town’s gossip for months. But he could definitely send these vendors a letter asking about agreements and look up their details.

He gestured to the waiter and put some bills on the table.

“Wait, I want to pay for mine,” Arianna said, hunting for her purse in her bag.

“It’s on me this time. Treat me once I’ve found something out for you,” he said. She reluctantly agreed.

They looked at each other, waiting for the other person to make a move. A shiver went down his spine. This was not going to end well for him, he thought. She took a step forward and hugged him lightly.

“Thank you for this, Alex. I really appreciate it,” she said.

Alex gulped. His heart was beating so loudly, he was scared she could hear it. He broke their embrace and smiled at her.

“No worries, Arianna. I’ll be in touch,” he said, taking the folder and making his way out of the door.

He composed himself as he sat in his rental. His arms felt her absence already. He regretted not hugging her for longer.

He looked at the folder with the agreements. It was going to be a very interesting summer.