Unmasking Juliet Read Online Free PDF Page A

store stands today, but at the time it was known as Bellanotte Chocolates.”
    Bellanotte. Beautiful night. It had a nice ring to it. “What happened?”
    “That Arabella woman was a selfish snake. That’s what happened.” Uncle Joe wrinkled his nose.
    “A selfish snake? In what way, exactly?”
    “The shop was doing well. Very well. Like any smart businessperson, your grandmother saw an opportunity to expand it. She had visions of seeing Bellanotte Chocolates on grocery store shelves, right alongside names like Hershey and Mars.”
    Leo could take a wild guess who had ended up winning that argument. “That’s where our chocolates are today, so I’m assuming Grandma got her way.”
    “You might say that. She grew weary of trying to convince that Arabella snake to see reason, so she went ahead and made a deal with an industrialist who could really put the chocolates on the map. Then she handed over the Bellanotte recipe.”
    “Without her partner’s consent?” Hell, it was like a bad soap opera.
    “She was doing them both a favor. As a Mezzanotte, you should know that. Really, Leo. Why must you vex me so?”
    Sugar opened one eye and growled.
    Leo gave her a scratch behind the ears, and she fell back into a dead sleep. “Whether it was in the best interest of the business or not, they were partners. Surely you could see how that might cause some hard feelings.”
    “Hard feelings?” Uncle Joe released a loud snort. “Your grandmother would have made that woman a millionaire. But before they saw a dime Sofia Arabella packed up her candy molds and opened up shop right across the street. Less than twenty feet away! The nerve. Then she proceeded to tell everyone in Napa what a sellout your grandmother was. She even claimed to put some weird voodoo hex on our entire family. It became a full-scale chocolate war.” Uncle Joe’s voice trailed off, and his expression grew pensive.
    So, that was the big mystery. Five minutes with Uncle Joe, and Leo knew more about his own family than his father had ever bothered to share with him. But that was nothing new. He could count on one hand the number of civil conversations they’d had before hd left the country. And after he’d moved to Europe there’d been no more conversations.
    Until the night he called to tell Leo that his mother had died. Lymphoma. He’d never even known she was sick. Thanks, Dad.
    Try as he might, Leo still couldn’t drum up an ounce of hatred for the Arabellas. He actually couldn’t care less about them. “Chocolate war? Really? Don’t you think it’s time for someone to fall on a caramel grenade and let bygones be bygones? All of this happened years ago.”
    “I could say the same about your feelings for your father,” Uncle Joe said softly.
    Leo cleared his throat. “Point taken.”
    He hadn’t given a thought to forgiving his father. The man was dead and buried, as were Leo’s feelings. So long as he was far away, he could forget about everything to do with home. Family. Mezzanotte Chocolates. Being surrounded by all of that now was one of the more unpleasant aspects of being back.
    His uncle stood and attached a Phantom-of-the-Opera style mask to his face. “Enough talking. We’re late. Let’s head to the ballroom. You’ve got a great number of people to meet.”
    For someone who’d done his best to convince his nephew that he was on his last legs, Uncle Joe was remarkably strong-willed.
    “In a minute. I need to clear my head. It was a long flight. Do you mind?” What time was it in Paris? Four in the morning.
    “I suppose not. But don’t keep everyone waiting. You’re a big star. The toast of the town.” Uncle Joe lingered at the foot of the stairs, his mouth turned down in a frown. His hand rose to the front of his tuxedo shirt, and he pulled at his collar. “I’m getting indigestion. It must be all this talk of those filthy swine, the Arabellas.”
    Then he spit on the tile floor of the terrace, as if the very name