Edge of Deception

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

"So, were you going to come here anyway?" He purred from beside her.

"You set me up." She murmured. "I cannot believe I am about to walk around in La Scala wearing a summer dress and sneakers. Sneakers!"

He grinned at her, all innocent and boyish, his dimples flashing. Tanya stared at him a little too long. He keeps smiling at me like that, she thought. So very different than his boss persona. So very different than the CEO, that they could two different people.

She liked it. Liked it very much.

They walked in, Tanya staring open mouthed at the high ceiling and the surroundings. But instead of taking the main entrance, they took a side door which led them inside a white room.

Tanya frowned at Ilario. "Why are we here?"

"To attend an art show." He supplied, his gaze searching through the small crowd of people milling around.

To be honest, she was a little disheartened, she had totally expected to be walking in the legendary stage. This white room was not what she was expecting. Way to disappoint a girl.

"Oh." Was all she could remark. Really, Rio, really? An art show in freaking La Scala.

"Why am I wearing sneakers?" She asked a little snarkily.

"Coz you have to walk quite a bit."

"You mean, here?"

"Actually, yes." He answered abstractedly, "Oh, there you are." He called out to someone. The crowd parted and she arrived.

Apollonia Visconti.

Resplendent in a shimmering gold gown with a classic red lipstick, she was the epitome of the classic Italian beauty. A welcoming smile on her face, she approached them.

In response, Tanya's smile evaporated like water from a rain fed river during summer. She told herself that she hadn't done anything to feel guilty of, but it didn't work.

"Bella mia." Ilario left her side to embrace his fiancée. He gestured around him, "This looks fantastic."

That was the first time Tanya realised that there were huge canvases hanging on the walls all around her. Before she could take them in though, Apollonia advanced to embrace her. Her floral perfume hit Tanya's nostrils as she did the customary air kiss.

"Ciao, Apollonia." She offered a somewhat stilted greeting. "I didn't know it was your art show."

The older woman smiled a benevolent smile, "Art show? Is that what Rio told you?"

"This isn't?" Tanya asked, trying to see what the canvases held.

"Well, in a way, you can call it that. Art show indeed. Andiamo."

As Tanya followed Apollonia, all she could wonder about was why on earth would Ilario bring her here. Weirdly, along with it came a strange sort of relief. That if Ilario was comfortable to bring her to his fiancée's art show, she wasn't doing anything wrong.

Apollonia led them to the very end of the room. Huge canvases adorned the walls, a lot of people milling around them. She went to stand in front of the first one.

"There." She gestured towards the red and gold creation in front of them, "What do you think of it, Tanya?"

Tanya looked at the canvas a little bemusedly. She had been to art shows before, but this didn't look anything like the ones she had attended. These were...

"These are fabrics! But these are..." She examined them, "quite old. Dresses. Is this a vintage dress exhibition?" She asked turning towards Apollonia.

"Try looking at the foot of the canvas." She suggested.