Chapter 32
ISLA
I sat numbly on the hotel bed with Pippa smiling up at me from her bouncy chair. My sweet baby girl was oblivious to what her father was up to, and I preferred it that way. I didn’t even want to know Ciro was with another woman.
Was I really all that surprised and shocked? Nope.
But was I disappointed and hurt? Yes.
Disgusted I slept with him so quickly? One hundred percent, completely disgusted.
I hated myself for being so freaking gullible for falling back under Ciro’s spell in less than two days.
No loving and respectable man would ever make a woman feel insignificant and disposable. It wasn’t like this was my first rodeo.
But I felt it deep in my heart; he was self-sabotaging out of fear.
His mother had been killed by his father’s enemies.
The same happened to his brothers’ and sister’s mothers.
Knowing as much should have made me end things on the spot with Ciro.
Heeded his warning that I would be in danger if I was with him.
But I loved him with every cell in my body and stayed until he’d finally pushed me away for the last time.
How could I allow him to waltz back into my life like he hadn’t shattered me? Because I desperately wanted to believe he regretted letting me go and wanted a second chance.
Why else would he find me after all this time? Why did he touch me and look at me like I meant something to him? We had sex. And that kiss good-bye…
Well, the whys didn’t matter. The kiss, the intimacy, and the look of undying love had all been fake. Perhaps this was the painful dose of reality I needed to get my head screwed on straight.
You deserve better.
Not only me, but Pippa too.
“Welp, lovebug. Our days of living like princesses are over. It’s time we go back to our humble abode.” A tear slipped down my cheek as she kicked her feet excitedly. “Yup, let’s go home.”
Of course, Paolo might try to force me to stay or insist he guard us at the apartment. I honestly didn’t care if he stood outside my door so long as he let me leave this five-star hotel.
Get everything in order before telling him you’re leaving.
Good idea!
It didn’t take long to pack our clothes and the few toys I’d brought for Pippa.
I debated whether or not to tell Alba I was checking out.
She was enjoying her mini-vacation, courtesy of Ciro.
After everything she’d done to help me the past year, paying for her stay was the least he could do, like a gift of thanks for taking care of Pippa.
Alba should enjoy herself for a couple of more days. I’d call her after I put Pippa to bed. Now to tell Paolo I was leaving… I inhaled a deep breath and opened the door to the suite.
He whirled around with a surprised expression.
“Sorry. Did I startle you?”
“No. Do you need something?” he asked and slipped his cell phone into his pocket, appearing slightly off.
“Yes, a ride home.” I smiled down at Pippa in her car seat to avoid his severe gaze, for a brief moment, to steady my resolve. You’re doing the right thing. I looked up at him. “We’re ready.”
“Excuse me?” His hands went on his hips. No question he was intimidating but I wouldn’t back down.
“You heard me. We’re going home.” I slipped past him, asserting myself, and briskly walked down the hallway. I wasn’t stupid in thinking he’d allow me to leave by myself, so I had to take control of the situation. “Grab my things.”
“Isla, you can’t leave.” His voice boomed and echoed off the walls, yet he stayed put instead of chasing after me like an Italian barbarian.
He was taller and broader than the Remotti brothers.
I sometimes wondered where his formidable size came from.
Certainly not his father if he was a Remotti.
I supposed it could be from his mother’s side.
Whatever. I didn’t have time to think about Paulo Remotti, nor did I want to.
“But I am,” I replied over my shoulder without making eye contact.
“Ciro will be furious.”
“So?” I popped up my shoulders and stopped at the elevator. “I’m a grown woman, so unless you’re keeping us here against our will, I’m going home.”
“But you agreed to stay until Ciro returned. Has something happened?” he asked. Clearly, he hadn’t spoken to his boss.
“Yeah. I changed my mind.” I sighed when the gold-plated doors opened and pushed the hold button. “Are you coming or should I send for my things?”
He mumbled going back to collect my bags, probably cursing me in Italian, but I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t know many words in Italian. It was such a beautiful language. Perhaps someday I’d take an online course so I could teach Pippa.
On the way home, Paolo kept peering at me in the rearview mirror like he wanted to say something. Considering he wasn’t much of a talker; I figured he was trying to form his thoughts to speak coherently. The kind thing to do would be to open the dialogue to help get him started…
“Just say what’s on your mind, Paolo.” I caressed Pippa’s cheek. She’d nodded off minutes after we’d left the hotel.
“Did Ciro do something?”
“Yes.” Why else would I be leaving if he hadn’t done anything?
“I’m positive those pictures are fake. Just talk to him.”
I raised a curious brow. What pictures?
I took my phone out of my purse. I didn’t have a social media account, so I searched Ciro Remotti and beautiful woman, my usual go-to phrase to find out the latest on my ex.
There it was, a picture of Ciro kissing a redhead, and not just any redhead, the one I’d caught him with the day I went to tell him I was pregnant. The woman he’d said was on drugs.
“Isla? What are you doing?” Paolo asked.
“Oh, just looking at the pictures of Ciro kissing a redhead. I hadn’t known about them until you said something.”
He groaned and hit the steering wheel with his large hand.
“They’re dated today. Looks like they were out at his favorite restaurant.”
“They’re fake, Isla. I swear to you, they’re fake.” Paolo wiped this brow, obviously nervous.
“It’s commendable how much you trust and respect Ciro. Always protecting him with your life. But what you don’t know is I called him a while ago and he was with another woman. I’m willing to bet it was this woman.” I raised my phone for him to see in the rearview mirror.
“How do you know it wasn’t Rosa?”
“Does his sister call him, ‘Ciro, baby?’”
Paolo gritted his teeth and hit the steering wheel again. Clearly this was news to him.
“I know how frustrated you must be with Ciro. I am too.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned forward as he parked the car. “I’m not going to give you any trouble, but please don’t boss me around. Let me do what needs to be done for my child and me. Ciro doesn’t get a say.”
“But he’s the baby’s father.”
“That doesn’t give him the right to control me.” I opened my door and removed Pippa’s car seat from the base, careful not to startle her awake.
“I need to call him.” Paolo got out of the car and came around to my side.
“Please don’t tell him we came home.”
“I won’t lie to him.” He went to the trunk and gathered our things. “I’m supposed to report everything to him.”
“Fine.” I’d scream in frustration if I wasn’t worried about someone calling the cops and I didn’t want to get him into trouble with Ciro.
I carried Pippa into our incredibly dark and dismal apartment. How could two days with Ciro and only one night in a luxurious hotel room rekindle my taste for the finer things in life so quickly?
This tiny place was my home. It was far from the splendor Ciro was accustomed to, but I’d worked hard to make it comfortable and attractive, utilizing my design skills. I had been the queen of DIY since I had little money to spare.
Pippa and I had many happy memories here. And a few sad ones.
A ball of emotion lodged in my throat, but I pushed through the mix of joy, anger, and sadness.
While I got Pippa ready for bed, I remembered the moments I’d had with Ciro. In one short visit, he’d tainted my home with his presence. I hated it… Hated him.
I teared up as I kissed Pippa’s head and gently laid her in the crib. “Sweet dreams, lovebug.” It was well past her bedtime and she’d fall asleep quickly.
I gently closed the door, leaving it open just a crack, and dragged myself to the sofa.
Another woman. The same one I saw last year.
It had taken him no time at all to go from me to someone else. No, not just anyone else, but the redhead. He’d probably been lying to me the whole time.
Damn him.
No, fuck him.
Fuck Ciro and his charm, his sexy smile, those mesmerizing-brown eyes, and his hypnotic voice.
You deserve better, Isla. We’ve been here before. You deserve better.
Ciro couldn’t be trusted. His words were meaningless. Lies rolled off his delicious lips so melodiously that the listener, me, became transfixed. But I knew Ciro, he’d do anything to get whatever he desired, even hurt the mother of his child.
My eyes are wide open now.
I needed to accept the hard truth. We were never meant to be together. My wildest fantasies would never be real. We might have had a baby together, but we would never be a family.
Now that he knew about Pippa, I’d have to endure seeing him with her for the rest of my life. But it wouldn’t be the worst punishment I’d have to brave.
If he married another woman, it would destroy me, especially if it was the redhead. I wouldn’t be able to stand seeing them together or seeing her with my daughter.
“Oh God! What if he wants shared custody and the redhead plays mother to my baby?” I choked out a sob as I curled into a ball on the couch. “No, no… He can’t take my baby… He can’t take my Pippa…”
Before I lost my mind, I dialed Alba. She always helped me when I felt dejected.
She answered on the second ring. “Oh my gosh, I saw the pictures.”
“Great. And here I hoped you had no clue about the turmoil I was in.”
“I’m so sorry he did this to you. Hearing the other woman must’ve been devastating. He’s such a jerk.”
I twisted my lips and looked at the front door. “How do you know I heard the woman?”
“Oh. Um…”
“I can’t believe Paolo called you.” What in the hell was going on? Ciro’s cousin hardly ever said a word.
“No, but he texted me about taking you home and the fake pictures on social media. And that you heard the woman.”
“Wow, color me surprised. When did you give him your number?” I shouldn’t care one way or the other.
Alba was my closest friend, and I had sensed something between her and Paolo when they were near each other.
Of course, nothing would ever come of it with Paolo living in Canada and wholly devoted to being Ciro’s right hand man and bodyguard.
“When I arrived at the hotel, he asked me for it. In case there was an emergency, that’s it. Are you angry?” Alba asked.
“Angry that he told you my business? Heck, yeah! You’re supposed to hear about my life imploding, all over again, from me. Not from a Mafia henchman!”
“Aww. It wasn’t like that. It was only four texts.”
“Four is too many. I can’t believe he even knows how to text.”
Alba giggled all girlie and sweet. She totally had it bad for Paolo, which made my heart ache for her.
“Is something more going on with you and Paolo?” I had to ask because I was tired of being left in the dark all the time.
“What? No. I mean, he’s hot and built like he could stop a runaway train, but he’s just exceptional eye candy.”
Exceptional eye candy, aye? I didn’t believe her.
Nevertheless, it would be pointless to encourage her about Paolo. She would only get her heart broken by a Remotti Mafia man like me, and I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy.
“Do you have an idea who the woman is that you heard?” she asked to divert the spotlight off her and Paolo.
“My guess is the redhead in the picture he’s kissing.” My stomach roiled as I thought of their lips touching.
“Damn him.”
“My thoughts exactly.” I reclined on the couch and stared up at the ceiling.
“What will you do now?”
“What I was doing before he dropped back into my life uninvited: be a devoted mother. I just don’t get it. Why come back if he’s screwing the woman I saw him with by the pool last year? Why, Alba? Why stir up my emotions like that?”
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “It’s cruel and selfish if you ask me. But Paolo says it’s all a mistake.”
“Don’t be foolish. Paolo would defend and protect Ciro until his last breath.” I rolled my eyes, frustrated at her naivety.
“You’re probably right. Do you want me to come over? I’ll bring your favorite ice cream, and we can watch a movie.”
I smiled weakly. “No, enjoy the next couple of days living it up in the lap of luxury. Get all the spa treatments. Order room service. Hell, shop until your heart’s content in the downstairs boutique and bill it all to your room.”
“Oh, I couldn’t.”
“Why not? I haven’t paid you a single penny for babysitting Pippa. Ciro paying the bill is the least he can do. He probably wouldn’t pay attention to the amount.” Billionaires like Ciro never bothered with amounts under fifty grand, or perhaps, it was only him.
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked, sounding sad for me.
“Are you kidding? I’m totally fine. Ciro Remotti won’t break me again. In fact, I’m proud of myself for bouncing back so quickly.”
“I mean, you did sleep with him, and I know you don’t have casual sex.” Why did she go there?
“Maybe I should have a one-night stand to harden me.” After the other night with Ciro, my body had woken from the dead. I wanted more intimacy. I needed a cock and multiple orgasms.
“Don’t even go there, babe.”
“Why not?” I sat up not appreciating how she was trying to talk me down from the ledge. “It’s so easy for him to screw women left and right. Or in this case, the same redhead. Does she even know what a lying, cheating man he is?”
“I doubt she cares.”
“You’re probably right. I hate this, Alba.” Thankfully, she couldn’t see me wiping traitorous tears off my face. She’d be here in a flash if she knew I was hurting more than I let on.
But I was doing a million times better than the first time Ciro broke my heart. A heart could only be fractured once and mine hadn’t been put back together. I counted it as a small win.
“I know, babe. I hate it for you, but I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Yeah, that was right. I was doing just dandy, and I’d be even better if I never saw Ciro Remotti again.
Of course, luck would not be on my side. He had a vested interest in my life now: Penelope Giovanna. Our daughter bonded us together for life.