I don’t care what I said before,” Leonardo swore into his phone from within his office at the Romano del Mare. It was late afternoon and Leonardo had agonized for the last three days before coming to a conclusion. Stella had been right. She’d always been right. The Romano del Mare deserved to shine as the masterpiece of craftsmanship that it was. It was a Sicilian treasure, and it deserved to be preserved as such. Seeing the beach that his family had protected for generations through her eyes finally made him take in the old monastery for what it was instead of what he thought it should be. “I’ve decided to go with the Preservation Society’s design plans.” He would of course add a few modifications, but they would be minor.

The cost of going with the Preservation Society’s plans would ultimately mean the loss of a couple of million euro as various restoration projects through the building and property were carefully dismantled and redone in a manner that maintained the integrity of the original building rather than cover it up. Only the massive, center courtyard would be spared any changes. And Leonardo would insist that the very modern pool near the cliffs be allowed to remain intact. As a resort, they needed to be able to provide an experience that people wanted to have again, or at the very least recommend to other travelers. They would still offer their customers a luxury experience, but it would not be centered around the modern, ultra clean, minimalistic and chic design that had been planned. Each suite of rooms would not be given its own theme with unique flooring, furniture and lighting features. Instead, each suite would retain its original look, or very close to it. Lavish beds with mattresses pricing in at 10,000 euro apiece with the finest linens money could buy would compensate for the cold, harsh stonework that housed the bed. A personal butler for every suite would be an amenity that few places could offer. And as for the food, it would be the best in the region.

It could be done. The integrity of the Romano del Mare’s original design could be saved while still providing a coveted experience to those who would travel halfway around the globe to stay there.

“You can’t do this,” said Marcello, Leonardo’s head of branding.

“I can’t?”

Marcello must have heard the warning note in Leonardo’s tone, and he quickly amended what he was saying. “I mean… Leonardo, you shouldn’t do this. I’ve seen the Preservation Society’s design and it’s nice, but it’s not us. It is not Romano Hotels. People see one of your hotels and they know what to expect, just like a Hilton or a Marriott. Customers go to the Romano Hotel more than once because they want consistency. The Romano del Mar needs to fit the brand of the rest of your hotel chain. If it doesn’t, you could end up with a lot of unhappy customers that smear your brand name on the internet. If your competitors then jump on the band wagon, there’s no telling how much business you could lose worldwide.”

Leonardo sat back in his chair, feeling as though he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. From what Marcello was saying, not only would Leonardo be poised to lose millions from doing yet another redesign of the Romano del Mare, but he would be at risk of losing tens of millions worldwide. He couldn’t do that. Not even the Romano del Mare was worth that kind of risk.

Silence filled Leonardo’s office until he heard Marcello clear his throat. There was more that the man wanted to say but he was nervous to do so. Leonardo had worked with him for almost ten years. He knew his ways.

“Se,” Leonardo said, giving Marcello clearance to say what he had to say no matter how uncomfortable it was for Leonardo to hear it.

“I’ve heard a rumor.” Marcello’s voice was strained, and when he didn’t go on, warning bells went off in Leonardo’s head.

Leaning forward in his chair, Leonardo asked, “What is it?”

“Gallant Industries, they’ve started getting nervous that you’re going to break the contract with them and they’ve put together a smear campaign. They’ve got a backer. I don’t know who, but it’s a corporation with deep pockets. They want to hurt you, capo.”

Leonardo hissed out a breath. “Se, Grazij,” Leonardo said, thanking him. They ended the call a few minutes later, and Leonardo once more sat heavily back in his chair as he considered his situation. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. He was trapped into a situation of being damned if he went one way and damned if he went the other way.

Closing his eyes and steepling his fingers, he worked through the problem backwards and forwards. He mentally explored the various avenues, considering what it would take to overcome the obstacles in each direction. And, he considered the cost…

He could find no way around it. He would have to honor his contract with Gallant Industries, although he would never work with them again. Their underhanded handling of the prospect of losing his business would cost them dearly. He would see to it. Just as they had planned to smear his family’s name within the hotel industry and the world at large, he would make sure to burn every bridge they had with regards to procuring new clients within the hotel industries. If he had broken the contract with them, he would have gladly paid them compensation for the loss of time and man hours in addition to a penalty fee. But, now he would move forward with his business with them and then would severe all ties to them with regard to any Romano business from here to perpetuity.

As for Stella, he would have to test her words about wanting to separate the affection that was growing between them from the business of whose design vision for the Romano del Mare would be honored. He had a ball of pressure in his chest that refused to go away when he thought about going against Stella’s wishes. Her mind and spirit were everything that he hoped for in life, and he had wanted to pour her love for what the Romano del Mare could be into a resort that would be destined to gain world recognition as the place to go for a premiere holiday experience.

His thoughts then turned to the Preservation Society and the battles that his lawyers had been waging against their rules. There was no turning back from it. He would need to call on every lawyer on retainer within the Romano empire and hire any specialist necessary to overcome their objections so that he could move forward with their original renovation and design plans. There was no other way. As costly as that path would be, it was the best decision. He would not allow the Romano del Mare—a single resort in an army of Romano hotels—to jeopardize all that his family and he personally had toiled to create.

* * *

Leonardo lightly rapped his knuckles against the door of the garden level apartment that the Preservation Society had rented for Stella. When she opened the door, her eyes went wide with surprise and her lips graced him with the prettiest smile the world had ever known.

She was wearing loose fitting yoga pants that looked as though they belonged on a genie. They had a wide band that hugged her middle but the fabric of the legs flared and draped with an easy flowing nature that was mesmerizing to Leonardo’s eyes, but he was not so distracted that he didn’t notice the tiny little spaghetti string top that she wore that clung to every wonderful inch of her.

“Do you have something for me?” Stella asked.

“Huh?” Leonardo said as his attention refocused.

“Your hand is behind your back.”

Leonardo gave her what he knew must be a sheepish grin as he presented her with a bundle of yellow-throated white plumeria flowers that smelled of jasmine and honeysuckle. He had forgotten he had them. He’d been so wrapped up in the sight of her.

Leaning in, he gave her a kiss and she took him by the hand and led him to a sofa inside. There, she plopped down with one slender leg tucked under her and pulled him down to sit beside her.

“You’d said you were going to have to work late. I didn’t think I’d get to see you for a couple more days.” Leaning forward, her nimble fingers worked to loosen his tie. “I’ve been on the phone all afternoon with the Preservation Society.” She said it as if it had been the most unpleasant experience that one could have, but then she smiled coyly up at him and her eyes twinkled. “I told them that I wasn’t sure… but that I thought that maybe, hopefully, possibly…”

“Stella…”

“…that you were considering implementing…”

“Stella…”

“…their design plans.”

“Stella.” Leonardo’s hand covered hers where she was still playing with his tie. She glanced into his eyes, and it was as if the reverie in her ended within that very moment of life.

She pulled away by sitting up straight but Leonardo managed to keep her hand in his. “You’re not going to go with the Preservation Society’s plans at all… are you?”

Leonardo shook his head, but he did not let his gaze waver from her face. He needed to see her thoughts as they flickered through her eyes.

“Cara, I can’t. There are too many forces at work against it. The cost of going with the Preservation Society’s plans would be in the tens of millions after everything was considered. I can’t do it, Stella. The Romano del Mare, she’s just a building. A beautiful building, se, but just a building. She’s not worth jeopardizing my family name, wealth and reputation for.”

Stella nodded her head, but Leonardo could see that her mind was stumbling to keep up with the shift in events.

“Leonardo, please… if you would just reconsider. My boss, he’s hell bent on making an example out of your monastery. Please, Leo, reconsider. Maybe the design plans can be merged. Maybe you can preserve sections of the monastery in its original state.”

Leonardo shook his head no, but he softened the rejection by lifting her hand to his mouth to kiss it. But it wasn’t enough.

Stella got up from the sofa and paced the small room from one end to the other, mumbling to herself in broken thoughts that didn’t make much sense to Leonardo.

“Stella, come. Sit.” He patted the spot next to him. “It will be okay. I still have you, and you still have me.”

Stella stopped in her tracks, turned to him, and said, “I need you to go. Right now. You have to go.”

Leonardo’s head snapped back as if he’d been struck, for in fact he had. Stella’s words could not have hurt him more if she had delivered them with a baseball bat. “Stella…”

“Go!” Her arm shot up to point the way to the door. “There are more people in the world than you, you know. There are other things to consider besides your family, your money, and your reputation.”

Leonardo stood, and as he did he left his sentiment behind as a wall of hard, cold rock erected itself around his heart. He didn’t reach for her, didn’t speak to her. He simply walked out through her door and closed it behind him. The veil between her feelings for him and her desire to see the Romano del Mare transformed into a design that fit her vision was thinner than he had ever thought. He meant nothing to her beyond getting her own way.

Leonardo drove the winding roads of Sicily for hours that night until the light of dawn made the sky glow softly, contrasting with the earth below that was still heavily blanketed in shadow. By the time the sun had crested the world’s edge to light the land itself, Leonardo was back at his office and sitting behind his desk. An hour after that, papers were delivered by courier. Cease and desist papers. Thumbing through them, he saw Stella’s signature on more than one of the appended documents.

Per sanctions already readied to be put into effect by their hand delivery, all restoration of the Romano del Mare was to stop immediately. Furthermore, the ancient monastery was being reclassified as a historic monument. It would never open its doors as a resort again. There was no way to recoup the millions that had been sunk into its repair, and the management of the resort would be turned over to Sicily’s local preservation society though the property itself would continue to be owned by the Romano family.

All the air in Leonardo’s office left. He called the restoration foreman to his office and gave the news. He then called his brothers and did the same. Then Leonardo stood up, put on his suit jacket and left. But he didn’t stop at the edge of the Romano del Mare property. He didn’t even stop at the edge of the neighboring town. In fact, he didn’t even stop at the edge of the continent. He kept going.

He turned his back on all of the deceit that had weaseled its way into his heart, and he didn’t look back.