CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The next day Theo paid his client a visit. Giorgio was seated in his lounger out on the back patio of his White Plains estate, surrounded by his massive infinity pool and tennis courts and golf course and the serenity of the tall maple trees and oak trees and colorful Rose-of-Sharon shrubbery that edged his property. It was late afternoon, but he was still in his bathrobe.

Theo stood inside the house and watched his longtime client stare straight ahead as if he was looking at everything, and nothing at all. It had been seven months since that day in that hotel room, and considering what transpired it was understandable to Theo when he fell into that malaise and sense of hopelessness. But what was surprising was that he hadn't snapped out of it. At all.

But Theo was an employee, not a friend. He was there strictly on business. He walked out of the doors that led onto the patio, walked over to the boss, and sat down on the edge of the lounger beside him.

"Good afternoon."

Giorgio barely grunted a hello.

Theo exhaled. He felt sorry for the man. But what could he do about it?

"Your recommendation?" Giorgio asked him.

"My recommendation is that we settle both lawsuits privately, backed by NDAs, and that you seriously consider firing Claudio Bash."

Giorgio looked at his lead attorney. "Fire him? Why? Because two money-hungry models claim he harassed them by telling dirty jokes in their presence? And you want me to fire him over that? That's not happening."

"One of them said he assaulted her."

"Ten years ago, she claims. Yet she never went to the Police? And didn't she claim that same thing about another creative director she once worked with and got a boatload of money to feed her drug addiction back then? She ran out of money. Now she's selling a new claim against my creative director. I'm not buying it."

"I'm not either," said Theo. "But this is the Me Too era, and the publicity alone could kill you. You have to settle."

"With the other one, yes. But not with that dope fiend. Take her ass to court."

"It would be against my legal advice."

"Noted," said Giorgio.

And Theo, knowing he did not have the sway to convince his employer otherwise, closed his notebook. "I'll start negotiations low. We're probably end up in the half-mil range. And I'll notify Bridgette's attorney that you are not going to settle. And that, in fact, Claudio is going to countersue her for defamation. Hopefully, that'll be enough for her to drop the case."

Giorgio nodded."Good."

"I'll get right on it," Theo said, rising to his feet. Then he hesitated. "You okay, sir?"

Giorgio didn't respond.

"Some of us are worried about you."

Giorgio gave him a harsh look. "Worry about yourself." Then his look softened. "Rhonda will see you out."

Theo wanted to cuss him out. He was at the top of the legal profession, the best attorney in the country, but Giorgio treated him as if he was just another lackey who did his bidding. That was why he could never be honest with the guy. That was why he didn't hesitate and left the patio.

Rhonda, who was waiting for him on the other side of the French doors, escorted him to the front door.

"Does he go out at all, Rhonda? Or is he couped up in this house all day?"

"And every day," Rhonda said. "He hasn't left home since it happened."

"How is he running his empire?"

"From here. That's why I'm here, and why Frank's here."

"So you don't go into the office either?"

"No."

"You're around that bastard twenty-four-seven? He is such an asshole. I don't know how you and Frank put up with him."

Rhonda said nothing. Ever since the hotel incident, she had been working out of Giorgio's home office, alongside her husband, who was Giorgio's longtime bodyguard. She would never share with Theo how tough it could be to work for a man like Giorgio and his moodiness. She was loyal to her boss.

But as Theo walked up to the front door, he remembered that Giorgio had told him to keep him posted. "Oh! I forgot to tell him."

"Tell him what?"

"Miss Ellis was released yesterday."

Rhonda was confused. "Miss Ellis?"

"Miss Vivian Ellis. The lady Gio asked me to represent in that theft-ring case. Frank phoned and told me Gio wanted me to represent her and her younger brother. They both were released this week after seven months in jail when the judge refused to grant them bail. I forgot to mention it to him."

"He wouldn't have remembered her anyway."

Theo grinned. "That's the funny part about it. She said they had a brief history, but she wouldn't tell me in what capacity. But she said the last time they met, they almost came to blows. But yet he helped her, not just with her legal issues, but with her company too. That doesn't even sound like Gio. But go figure."

But Rhonda was stuck on something else he said. " She's the one that was arrested?"

Theo was surprised by her reaction. "You know her?"

"No, but I was there when she stood up to Jonni. She impressed me."

"She impresses me too, considering she's a nobody. Wonder why he's so generous to her? I've never known him to do anything for anybody, except for maybe you and Frank."

"He doesn't do a thing for us either," Rhonda said, although her mind was thinking miles ahead of that conversation. She opened the door for Theo. "Have a nice day."

"You'll let him know about her release, won't you Rhonda?"

Rhonda said nothing more. Theo often found her as strange as Gio. That was probably why she and her husband remained in his employ for so long: birds of a feather. "Have a good one," he said, and gladly left.

But when she closed the door, her husband Frank, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, walked over to her. He could see that she was in deep contemplation. "What are you cooking up now?"

"Did you know the girl Jonni hired Theo to represent was the same girl that stood up to him in his office?"

Frank was surprised to hear it. "They're the same person?"

"Yes! I've never seen anybody stand up to the boss the way she did. Men with far more going for them than she'd ever have never had the balls to even try. And I heard from Claude that he hired her cleaning service even after their spat. And now to know he hired Theo to represent her too?" She looked at her husband. "He respects her. And apparently didn't' believe she was the thief they were making her out to be."

"What's your point, Rhonda?"

She stared at her husband. "Maybe she could be the one that can handle him. Maybe she could be the one for him."

"Don't even think it woman."

"She's very tough. And smart. I saw that the moment I saw her hurry by me. She was enraged with Jonni, and hurt too, but I saw that she was her own woman. She could stand up to him."

"You match-mate our friends all the time. And I have no issue with that. You've made some great matches."

"Thank you," said Rhonda.

"But some convict and Jonni?" He shook his head. "No way."

"What else is there, Frank? The man is dying a slow death. And it didn't start with what happened in that hotel room either. It started with that crazy-ass ex-wife of his and what she did to him. He's lost his will to live."

"If he ever had one," Frank said. Then he exhaled. "Okay. What can we do?"

"Theo said she just got released. Which means she's going to need employment."

She opened the door to see if Theo's car was still on the driveway. And just as she suspected, he was sitting in his car, taking notes while talking on his phone. "I'm going to hire her," she said as she began to go outside.

But Frank pulled her back. "Hire her? To do what?"

"He said she had to give up her cleaning service when she got arrested. I'm going to hire her to do what she do: to clean." Then Rhonda hurried out of the door, calling for Theo to wait a minute.

Frank shook his head. He was used to his wife and her matchmaking. But to try to match-mate for the boss? That was crazy to him. But he knew she was right. Their boss had been in a mood for months on end and with no end in sight. Something had to change. And if that woman could do it, then so be it.

But Frank was seriously doubtful as he watched his wife talk with Theo. He didn't see how a woman could be the answer to their problem because no other woman had been able to crack that hard-hearted shell ever before.

But although Frank didn't see it, he saw how his wife, who knew what made Giorgio tick and also what ticked him off, was behaving as if she could see it as clear as she could see the day. And it was a clear day.