Book 2: What Happens Here - Chicago (What Happens Here Series)

Chapter 35 - Valentina

Valentina had just finished her last meeting of the day and was returning to her suite at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, in Paris. After leaving Las Vegas several days prior, she'd flown to Paris for a few scheduled meetings, and some much-needed downtime. While in Paris, she'd reconnected with a former lover, Alexandre, a head Chef at a very prestigious ristorante, and had spent the past couple of days eating privately created gourmet meals, as well as having several of those meals eaten off of her body as well.

One thing that Valentina could always count on when it came to Alexandre, was his creativity. He was a master craftsman both in the kitchen as well as in the bedroom. However, like with all of her dalliances, Valentina usually became bored after a few days, and unfortunately for Alexandre, their time together had come to an end. Well, at least it had on this trip, but on her next visit, Valentina had no doubts that they would pick up where they'd left off, which had always been the norm for them.

As she exited the building where her last and final meeting had been held, Valentina felt her cell vibrate in her purse. Seeing her driver standing next to the E-Class Mercedes sedan parked out front by the curb, that had been hired for her use while in Paris, Valentina headed in that direction. Noticing her approach, the handsome young driver quickly moved to open the back passenger door for her, before saying, "Bonjour Madame." Giving the driver a slight nod, Valentina slid into the back seat. Once the driver closed her door, she pulled her vibrating phone from her purse, and after checking the caller, she swiped to answer the call.

"Pronto!"

After a brief pause, the deep, gruff voice of Roger Martin, the man that she'd hired to keep her abreast of all things related to Ethan, said, "Miss Moretti, this is Roger Martin..." She rolled her eyes at the statement, because after all of this time, she knew his number by heart, but even with that knowledge, he still repeated the same statement at the start of each of their calls. Not really feeling in the mood to explain to him, yet again that she knew who he was, Valentina simply pushed her frustration aside as she said, "Si. Do you have new information for me?"

The additional pause on the other end of the line hadn't gone unnoticed by Valentina, but after a clearing of his throat, Roger said, "Yes ma'am, I do. It appears that Miss Ellis is currently in Chicago with Mr. Daniels." The rage that filled Valentina was immense, and she quickly closed her eyes, and attempted to calm herself down by using the techniques she'd learned during her childhood therapy sessions, but they appeared not to be working in that instance.

Releasing a slow breath, Valentina clenched and unclenched her fists, as she said, "Scusami?" Apparently, Roger Martin had learned quite a few Italian words and phrases over the years, because he said, "Yes ma'am, Miss Ellis is currently in Chicago with Mr. Daniels." There was another slight pause on the line before he said, "We just learned this information a few days ago, and have been monitoring the situation closely." When Valentina was finally able to rein in her anger, she said, "When did she arrive in Chicago? And where are they now?"

There was a quiet rustling sound on the line before Roger said, "Sunday morning, when Mr. Daniels checked out of the hotel in Vegas, he headed to the airport alone. Approximately 45 mins or so later, Miss Ellis checked out of the hotel as well and headed to the airport. We'd assumed she was heading to the airport to potentially catch an earlier flight back to North Carolina, but it appears that Miss Ellis did not board a Charlotte flight, but she boarded the same Chicago flight as Mr. Daniels instead."

Valentina sat quietly fuming as she listened to Roger recount Jasmine's movements since she'd last seen her in Ethan's suite last weekend, and the rage that she'd managed to control, slowly began to boil inside of her again. "The two have since taken a trip to Glencoe, Illinois where Mr. Daniels' parents reside, as well as to his landscaping business, E&D Landscaping." Through clenched teeth, Valentina asked, "Where. Are. They. Now?"

More rustling sounds, and Roger said, "They are currently having breakfast at his residence, and are planning to head to E&D Landscaping afterwards. I will follow them to E&D and will advise of any additional developments should they occur, Miss Moretti." Through her barely contained anger, Valentina said, "Si. Grazie Roger. Keep me updated the minute anything new develops." After his response of "Yes ma'am", Valentina ended the call.

Releasing a frustrated breath, Valentina went through a series of breathing techniques, as well as a series of "counting from one to ten", which only helped to partially diffuse the rage that she was barely able to control.

"Fottuta stronza!" Jasmine Ellis had to go! Since Jasmine Ellis had somehow convinced Ethan that she was some damn magical unicorn, he'd appeared to have been blinded to who and what she actually was. Which was a low budget, bottom feeding, ratto di grondaia, or gutter rat. But since Jasmine clearly had some kind of invisible hold over Ethan, Valentina decided that she needed to intervene before things got even more out of hand. And it was apparent that things were heading into that direction already if his declarations of "love" were to be believed. Formulating a plan in her head, Valentina decided that more severe measures were needed to get rid of Jasmine, and with that thought in mind, she smiled to herself as an idea clicked into place.

Scrolling through her contacts on her phone, Valentina smiled as she stared down at the number that she was looking for. "Perfetta."