4th May 1563

Annibale sits down in his other office, mostly furnished by carpenters working for him. A better location for him for Amara and he to discuss the layout.

Amara came inside, a simple dark blouse and skirt, with a crisp apron. She put a bonnet with a ribbon over her dark brown hair. She took a seat. “I suppose this is a different office, so what was the previous building?”

“Something that I did for something else. My mother did little other than gain and fund other businesses,” he said. “It’s something that I’m thinking about following.”

Amara felt his table, running her hands through it. “And this is also showing the confidence you have in your carpenters.”

Annibale gave a slight smile.

She ran her hands right through the table. “It feels good, I guess it was a good idea to come to you. I mean, I heard little about your company. But I have bought no furniture since I took over, neither did my father either too.”

“You can even specify the furniture’s decorations, and my carpenters will oblige to you,” he said. “My carpenters choose it, depending on their interest. I have a wide network and usually can help you. Most of them are independent, and so I seek them out with jobs.”

“I see, so they have more choice of accepting any work that you accept, but also, they can accept jobs of others too,” Annibale explained. “Although I am very discerning in terms of who can work with me, and if you can’t deliver, you’re gone.”

“That is interesting, I let my baristas have freedom, but I struggle a lot with that. So, what would happen once you have the order?” Amara asked.

Annibale knew her doubts. “See who takes the job, and it may depend on the usage, as much as I would specify whether it has to be identical. I have never been late, if you wish to know.”

Amara nodded, trusting his words for it. It was a short while, but they both could come to an understanding that she seemed to be assured.

It was at this moment that the door opened. Revealing a man, maybe a couple years older than Annibale, in a rough sack coat, and a necktie.

“The person coming in should be my carpenter, I’ve been waiting for him,” she said.

“I got caught up with another matter, my sincere apologies,” he said, before he took a seat next to Amara, in front of Annibale.

Amara gave a warm smile. “It’s not an issue, Signor Riva.”

He was the man Amara hired to help with the ornamentation of her shop. Someone that she trusted. He handed out his name card, suggesting that he dealt with mainly restaurants and cafes.

“So, I suppose you are Signor de Moreni, whom Amara is going to commission tables and chairs,” he said. “And most of this are from the carpenters under you?” 



“Yes.” Annibale nodded.

He took a moment to stare. He was probably in his early thirties.

“I have heard good things. He’s also an investor of mine, and who better to trust,” Amara explained why she came here. The man nodded, understanding their relationship..

Signor Riva continued to look at the quality of the table. “Actually, I think a few of my clients used him, and so far he satisfies all of them with his ability to deliver, and the carpenters he engaged.”

Annibale smiled. “I pride in being able to bring them together, and that is the reason they worked with me as opposed to say on their own.”

“That’s what I heard. They have it better by pairing with you. You have valuable connections everywhere, and that has been the primary source of you getting successful so fast in this field, and of course, shrewd management of anyone under you,” Signor Riva said.

Annibale gave a nod to his own answer, not really wanting. Signor Riva stared right at him, taking the chance to observe him.

And this was something that took years to toil in obscurity to learn.

“I see, well, I guess it is one of the few trying this alternative method out.” He sat upon the chair. “How about we show him the plans?”

Amara revealed it to him, the plans for the new layout of the shop. Using the old layout as a base, it worked as it is, and hence little need to change what worked. The change was more chairs, a little more compact. She relied on the old layout with minor alternations.

“With this layout, the number of chairs we would need is forty sets of chairs. And another addition, twenty sets of tables,” Signor Riva explained.

Annibale’s totaled the amount in his own head, finding nothing wrong with his math, he nodded, in agreement.

The tables were large, allowing them to have four chairs into two. She was increasing the space, which for her was an absolute necessity if she wanted more. These additions would allow her to serve more customers and hence earn more revenue and hence profit.

Annibale could see more of his money come back, with a rather low interest rate for such commercial operations, around five percent per annum.

“Give me a moment, so I can check my schedule,” he said. Annibale took a book from Ezio, who always carried it on hand whenever he was negotiating this. He opened the book, taking a moment to find whether he had enough people.

He closed the book, having found his answer, and returning it to Ezio. “I can take this order, Is there anything more?”

“I’ll also request a bar, to be made in my cafe,” she said. He gave a glance to her, but Amara didn’t bat an eye. Perhaps there was quite a disagreement.

He nodded, letting go and abiding by her wishes because she had the final say, for she was paying. “If we can delay it, to do it all at once.”

“I would try my best to get it done all at once. Perhaps we should come to agreement a date together,” he said. “To minimize into any disruption into the business as much as possible.”

Annibale having a stake in it meant that he would do what he could to get his money back.

“Then, we have an agreement. When you’re getting close, tell me, so I can engage the people and arrange for the renovation.”

“So, I would say that this arrangement would be agreeable to you?” Annibale asked, agreeing upon this moment.

“Yes,” they both chimed.

Annibale smiled, this was fast. “I’ll get started with finding someone to take the job.”

Signor Riva stood up, already intending to move forward too. “I’ll take my leave first, I have other business to attend.”

He closed the door, leaving them both. Even as Amara did not move, or make her intention to leave.

“There’s something that I need to say to you,” she said. “It’s something that I noticed that day, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to have you. Though, bringing in Renata was perhaps the best move.”

Annibale drank a little of water. “Say it.”

“I think you looked a little lost,” she said. “I mean, today has got to be the day that you sounded most focused of all the time.”

“You’re right, right now, I don’t know what I’m really doing with that office. A lot of money for nothing,” he said. “For this, I’m trying to step away, because I know that I can. I only need to make major decisions, and plan the direction of the company.”

But there was something that he wanted to speak to Amara about. His original goal, wanting to follow in the footsteps of his mother. Something that gave her so much stability.

“I wonder, why did you choose to follow the footsteps of your father?”

“I wanted to protect it. I love his shop, they gave me the option to sell it. But I didn’t think that it was what I wanted from the beginning, I wanted to preserve his work and legacy,” she said. It has been a long while since he thought about it.

“Was it his wish?” He asked.

“Yes, and I knew it from the start. I believe in preserving the shop, back from the first time I met you and talked to you about my shop,” she said.

The reason just why Amara took over her father’s business was the belief in his mission. He didn’t have it.

“Is there something that you realized?”

“I know why I feel so empty now, it’s because I never understood just why she did it,” he said. He knew that he would have to do it.

Amara raised her eyebrow. “Wait, you never understood why?”

“It’s complicated, I started doing business with her permission. But I never had the chance to ask her that question,” he said. And if he didn’t understand, he couldn’t do what she did.

“Or perhaps a better choice is to choose to find what you want, what works for you. It’s not a life for everyone. What if you don’t want to follow in her footsteps?”

“You’re right,” he said. “Thank you.”

Her smile widened. “I guess so, although so far, Signor Riva seems to believe you. And I trust him, since I hired him to help with Michaelangelo’s bakery and arrangement of the breads.”

Annibale stared into him with his hazel-green eyes. “Thank you, for having such faith.”

“Hesitant, I was, but I figured that Renata probably had trust in you to keep you around. And she was right,” Amara said.

And this had been something that he knew so far.

He relied on Renata being a good recommendation, if not, she may have chosen someone else.

“I have to thank you, for being willing to talk to me,” he said.

“Anything for a fellow capitalist, unlike any other job, we are one that rarely have any two that are completely alike. If we were, we’re probably out of a business by now,” she said.

It was something that he learned from them too. You had to be yourself, be unique, and sell something that few can get from anywhere else. Otherwise, there were few chances of making it big in any sense.

This was finally something that Annibale could get behind. “I agree with that view. But I need to find places to explore a little.”

“Come by, maybe you’ll find something that you’re intrigued by there. We have a wide range for the choices in terms of the sort of people there.”

“Maybe after they renovate the cafe,” he said. “Now, I need to find the right carpenter for your work. Actually, scratch it, it may be more of them.”

Amara gave a grin a clear sign to show that she trusted him in whatever judgment it was that he could come up with, closing the door before saying goodbye to him. He turned to see her go off right before them.

He moved towards meeting Ezio at this stage, to find a suitable carpenter for this job. “So, I’ll just get you the list of carpenters who would take this job. She needs around eighty sets of chairs.”

“And that is a lot, but we have longer. Since she’ll also need a person to change the wooden planks and the floors, something that I don’t dabble in.”

Ezio headed right to the side to pick up a good file. “I think this might be some of them.”

Including the list of orders that had come through and he already assigned. There were only two shops with availability today. And this was what he had sold himself as, a middleman, between a carpenter and a customer. He needed to find someone that he could use at this stage to finish this job.

There weren’t a lot of them, that much was almost certain. So he put on his coat taken from the rack, leaving the building.

Ezio would follow him, this being how he became into this business. He arranged a ride there with a carriage. “So, you finally used me more than just to ferry you back and forth.”

“Sorry, Salvatore, I just never had much use for you.”

“Even Donna Amaranta has more of a use for me than you, Signore.” He was probably annoyed at the prospect of not having anything to do.

“It’s just currently, I don’t need this nearly as much. Besides, I heard that your mother is doing better.”

“That she is,” he said. “And she sends me to tell you she is grateful and would like to pay you back.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s a gift. It’s nothing more than pennies to me. I guess just don’t rely on a stranger’s charity next time.”

“Yes, but thank you for everything.” He stopped for the moment before leaving.

“So, when are you going to leave?” He asked, knowing that it was a needed question.

“Probably not until I leave university. I’m sure I can work something out with you.” Well, Annibale expected none of them to stay for long. The last man he got stayed until he found work again, a temporary measure to prevent starvation and being chased out of their house.

“That you could, it’s a good thing that I don’t really use much in terms of a footman.” The carriage stopped. Annibale knew they’ve reached.

The shops he was approaching were quite close to each other. The carpenters owning the shops were competitors were the word for them to remember. He balanced their competition, giving when they earned it, and scolding when they deserved it.

They named the first shop Immaculate for their skillful if not detailed furniture. The other was the Grassi brothers, a pair of brothers that had plenty of carpenters with incredible production output. Although he heard just a decade ago, it was the opposite. And they were doing it in competition to outdo each other in the other.

But he liked to give people choices. And he hated the idea of taking them away, which was what he would do.

He entered Immaculate first, to see the head. A tall man, with dark brown hair and blue eyes, with a shirt always rolled up to his elbow. He knew the man as Signor Barone.

Annibale went to the counter. “I have a job for you. Could it be possible you make a bar for me?”

“Is there another job, a better job for me?” Signore Barone asked.

The carpenter knew that Annibale couldn’t abnegate his request for something different. He did Annibale a favour last year, one that he hasn’t repaid.

Annibale relented. “I have another order, for twenty sets of tables.”

The man gave a smirk. “Well, that would suit my little competition that I have to try making each of them equal to the other, instead of excellent flourishes, but something larger.”

He took a deep breath. He really didn’t want this. It was one thing for a nice competition, or for a favour, which Annibale could always give to others. But never for a job.

And then he noticed, standing at the side, was the man who was the owner of Grassi Brothers. A stocky man with light hair, tanned skin and light brown eyes. He wore a shirt, ending at his elbow.

He understood just what he meant.

“I would like a job that requires more of a flourish?” He asked.

Annibale took the moment to consider just whether he should entertain this.

“Signore, surely you remember the table I gave you?” Signor Grassi asked.

Annibale could easily remember the table with flourish and design. It was hard to say that it was not impressive, for Annibale clearly swapped it out and sold the older table.

“Yes,” he said.

“Or when you needed ten tables, to help a tenant.” Signore Barone chimed in. They had pleased him immensely.

Annibale took in a sharp breath. Somewhere he knew that he should shoot them down. But he didn’t want to strain it, and it was completely new to either of them. They had proved to him they could do it through gifts.

Annibale put his hands behind his back, having decided at last. “Fine, Signor Grassi, you get the job to make a bar. As for Signor Barone, you get the job. But if I see anything resembling a rivalry or unsatisfactory work, you’re going to pay for the carpenters hired to finish the job.”