Read Online The Vendetta by Kecia Adams - Free Book Online

on her leg and looked down. She had almost forgotten the package her neighbor had signed for. Ignoring the gigantic box now taking up space beside an “antique” end table that had seen better days, she seated herself on the couch and opened the envelope.
    She spread the contents on her small coffee table. The envelope contained an article from Artforum magazine, an invitation, and a letter addressed to her. Gran . She recognized the elegant, old-fashioned handwriting immediately. She glanced at the outside of the document envelope. The return address was badly written and smudged. She could only make out the words Roma and Italia.
    She picked up the invitation first. It was ornate, and written entirely in Italian.
    Lisa translated the words as she read them out loud. “The Principessa Giovanna Maria Severino di Giorgio cordially extends this invitation to Annalisa Giovanna Schumacher for a private gallery event to be held at the Palazzo Severino.” The date for the party was about one month away.
    Lisa understood the words but had trouble processing them. She shook her head. First the delivery of an inappropriate gift from a mysterious billionaire and now an invitation from her long-estranged grandmother—could this day get any more surreal? She flipped the invitation card over but saw nothing on the back.
    Next, she picked up the article. Artforum ’s feature writer had apparently been given unprecedented access for an extensive interview with her grandmother concerning the art collection at Palazzo Severino.
    As Lisa read through it, she found herself fascinated all over again by the woman she’d shared a home with for a year during her studies. The grandmother she’d argued with and loved. And ultimately left in anger. Lisa pinched her lips together. They’d always had such absorbing discussions about art. The principessa’s gentle instruction had been the catalyst behind Lisa’s desire to open her own gallery. She perused the article, laughing at one quote in particular.
    “Good art is always about what you like and how it speaks to you. But I will admit that there is some truly atrocious, mind-numbing art out there. Drab with shoddy technique or overly sentimental subject matter. Dreadful.
    “I have developed a keen eye for what I like, and it makes me laugh to know that there have been people who actually have tried to find a pattern in it, to predict it, copy it. To bottle it. There are such people out there. Art consultants. I can see the need for someone to help navigate the way you go about purchasing art if you are not familiar with that process, but to advise someone what they should like? Well, that, to me, is like having sex by proxy. Where’s the fun in that?”
    Lisa put the article down, hesitated, and then picked up the envelope. It felt heavy and important, just right for a principessa. She broke the old-fashioned seal and pulled out two sheets of thick paper. Gran’s handwriting sprawled across the smooth pages, and the di Giorgio crest was stamped in gold at the top.
     
     
    Cara Lisa,
    Granddaughter, after five years I assume you have gotten over your snit about my interference in your relationship with that gold-digging sailor. I regret some of the things I said to you that day, but you deserved some of them as well.
    But, know this, I never intended for you to leave the palazzo. My temper, unfortunately, got the better of me. I beg you to forget the words we exchanged in the heat of anger.
    More than that, I ask you to forgive an old woman. I am so sorry about your mother, my daughter, Elisabetta. I grieve for her every day.
    I would like you to come back to Palazzo Severino. I extend you this invitation, along with the official one enclosed, so that you will come soon. My curator, Peter Van Alstrand, and I are planning a gallery showing of my finest works. I would like you to be involved in that effort. You have such a fine eye for detail.
    Please come, Little Lisa. I fear I have