Chapter 17

**A L E X**
It is a little strange to see Grace Millers follow right after me, leaving the conversation behind with a similar look of disinterest on her face. She struggles to make the gap between the boat and the dock, but not more than her dress, that seems ready to give up against the Naples wind. She grabs onto the railing, pulling her step back when multitasking between keeping her dress in place and getting off proves impossible. She looks at me, her eyes fall to my hand, mine do the same to her, my fingers flex, understanding what she is asking. But she wouldn’t really ask, no. That would go strikingly against her hollow ego. She wants me to want to take her hand for her. Unfortunately, I don’t do much charity.

I give her one final empty look before turning and heading out of the dock.

We get into our Limo and make our way to Via dei Mille, the high-end shopping district. The street is lined with luxury boutiques, their windows displaying the latest in haute couture. As we step into the first boutique, an overwhelming display of high-end fashion and everything overpriced waives a red flag in my face telling me to stay outside and let the excited ones do the honours. I stay in the lobby with Lizzy, she talks me through a few other business details, some more daunting than the other.

“What do you want to do about him?” she asks about the international artist who has been whitening our black money for ages in the African market until he decided he had a bigger appetite. Worse, he decided to tell us through the means of blackmail.

I swipe through the images that prove his art fake and him a fraud. “Give this to the government, then make it look like he tried to flee and got into an accident.” Lizzy gives one nod and starts talking about something else. My attention is diverted, first to Sophie who is smiling like she’s found Pandora’s box and then to Grace Millers who is standing as far away from her as she possibly could without making it look like they aren’t together. “What’s Carlisle doing?” I can see what he is doing, he is whispering something in Grace Millers’s ear.

“Helping Sophie shop, I hope.” She replies without looking up.

I get even more annoyed when he places his hand at the small of her back and nudges her forward till she has very reluctantly joined Sophie in scurrying through the collection the staff is trying to sell to them.
“Get him out.” I shoot a clipped order. This time, instead of obeying in a split second, Lizzy looks up at me.

I raise an eyebrow in question. “I wouldn’t suggest that,” she says softly. “Sophie likes his company.”

I narrow my eyes in confusion till I look back at them and watch my sister giggle at the dress he points at for Grace Millers before snatching it and disappearing into the changing rooms with it. My eyes go wide in surprise as well as annoyance as the realisatioon sets in.
“It’s okay though, she is safe.” Lizzy adds unsolicited.

I look back across the glass wall that separates the lobby from the lounge where he is sitting, only inches away from Grace Millers, a smile dancing on his lips as he watches her go through the leftover options. He makes a joke and waits for her as she scoffs a laugh out without looking at him. “I’m not so sure,” I whisper to myself.

It takes a few more trials for Sophie to decide to get them all and as she takes my card to pay, once again I’m reminded that luxury fashion is just legalised mafia.

They step out and start heading to a different store now. Sophie is high in her spirits, her friend next to her is the stark opposite. And Carl between them is beginning to get on my nerves.

The next store is another trip of Sophie buying everything that fits her, Grace Millers sitting in the sidelines and flirting with my Capo while Sophie tries to get her to pick something before giving up and making her promise to buy something at the next store.

By the time they are moving to the fourth boutique, I am hating myself for suggesting the idea at all. Grace Miller’s backless dress wasn’t that bad last night–as long as she wore it inside her room..which is technically my room. I shake my head to stop myself from going down the wrong lane. Lizzy goes and sits in the car to work comfortably, I decide to enjoy the fresh air and trail behind the girls and their chaperone, my mood souring further as Carl becomes more and more encouraging of Grace Millers, joining my sister to get her to buy something.

I watch as she smiles curtly, as if she is too humble for any of this, too self-proud to wear a thing she cannot pay for, when only I can see through her. How desperate she is to get it all on her skin. And she will, once she has had enough of their begging.

She likes to feel she had no choice but to. Her fake self-righteousness disgusts me. She looks at me just when that thought settles in, and this time I decide to walk into the store with them. She likes to perform, I’ll give her a better audience.