Chapter 49
I look at the phone on my desk, replaying the entire conversation I had with Amber.
I’ve always considered myself untouchable; right now, though, I think if I tried to stand, I wouldn’t make it.
I don’t deal with pain the way normal people do. I’m a man of action. If something gets in my way, I don’t go around it, I destroy it.
And at the moment, I have a clear target: the Mancini family.
I grab the phone again and call my main lawyer.
“Call in the Mancini debt,” I say.
I always think two steps ahead, so as soon as their bankruptcy was confirmed, my investment company took over Capria’s father’s debts. They, who owed the whole world, ended up owing only me.
They’d lost every privilege yet still managed to live as upper middle class.
That ends today.
Last year, her mother had a heart attack and died, leaving only her father—a fraud who stole from his companies’ shareholders for years—and that miserable woman.
“Everything, Mr. Andresano?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no way he can pay you back.”
“Not my problem. Maybe it’s time Miss Mancini starts looking for a job.”
I don’t know yet what I’ll do with Capria.
The only certainty I have, the one that’s made me give the order to end what little is left of the life she knew, is that the death of my child won’t go unanswered.
Two weeks later
“I’m not telling you this to make you suffer, Mamma.”
“I’m not just crying over the grandson I never met, son. My heart is bleeding for both of you. For the cruelty that came between you, that tore you apart. For the life that was ultimately destroyed by that woman’s reckless actions.”
I do my best to remain impassive while listening to her.
I haven’t slept the past few nights, replaying my story with Elodie over and over.
How something that began wrong turned out so right.
How I went crazy for her and wanted her with me forever.
I think of the child I’ll never know, and I want to hate her for not even letting me share her grief, but I can’t.
Over the past year, I’ve swung between love and rage so many times that right now, I can’t say for certain which side the pendulum leans toward.
About two months ago, I finally decided to turn the page. I tried everything I could to find her and only hit closed doors.
She didn’t just isolate. She hid.
When Amber called me, it had been seven weeks since I’d stopped all searches for Elodie. I had decided to forget her once and for all.
Even now, despite the grief over losing our baby, I don’t know if I want her back.
As I listen to my mother, I recall Amber saying her sister now lives in Dallas.
In the end, Elodie returned to her roots. The state where the compound was.
I followed every bit of news about the cult in the press, and about the girls rescued from there. Their nightmare was laid bare and discussed for over a month by every media outlet. Everything Elodie and Amber remembered was nothing compared to what those girls endured.
I was shocked at the elders’ identities. One of them had even supported my hunger relief project in Africa.
Rich, influential men.
Patrons of social causes.
Wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Monsters disguised as respectable citizens.
Except for one, they’ve all disappeared. Including Elodie’s father. I’m certain that was LeBlanc’s work, and it’s only that certainty, that he’s obsessively in love with Elodie’s sister, that has kept me from going insane during this year of separation.
We still haven’t found Angelo’s bastard son, and I continue to keep my sisters on a tight leash. Now Chiara, Carina’s daughter and my half-sister, is under protection, too.
If I discovered him, I believe the reverse is true.
If he has half a brain, he’ll realize that all the male direct descendants of his family have died in recent years.
Three in total, his father included. And though, in that case, it wasn’t my doing, the bastard might connect Angelo’s death to the others.
Doesn’t matter. He’s already dead, too. He just doesn’t know it yet.
“What are you planning to do? You need to talk to her.”
“Yes, and I will. But I’m tired of this cat-and-mouse game. Next time we meet, I won’t let her walk away before we talk.”
“Gianni, don’t let yourself be ruled by hurt, by anger, or both. Elodie was wrong, yes, in refusing all contact, not even listening to you, but don’t forget her loss.”
“And mine?”
“It’s different, son. The fetus was inside her. We feel responsible for the babies we’re carrying. It’s like an instinct to protect them.”
“I don’t intend to fight,” I say, and only now am I certain of it.
“Then why do you want to see her? You could resolve it all with a phone call.”
“I can’t answer that right now. My pride wants to despise her, but most of me just needs to see for myself that she’s okay.”
“Oh, Gianni, I wish I could erase everything that went wrong between you two, but more than anyone, I know life isn’t a fairytale.”
“I have to go,” I say.
“Bring her to see me. . .”
“I don’t—”
“Shhhh. . . Not now, but someday, bring her to us. Elodie is strong, but even warriors need rest. We’re an imperfect family, but still a family. If Elodie is yours, she’s ours, too.”
I told my mother everything about Elodie’s past, especially that she and her sister grew up alone and only had each other to survive.
“She doesn’t believe she’s mine, Mamma, or she wouldn’t have run from me.”
“And you? Do you believe she’s yours?”
“I need to go. Take care of yourself.”
I walk out toward my car, but before I can open the door, my phone rings.
“I did what you asked. She’s being watched.”
“Keep the protection.”
“You know LeBlanc has men guarding her, too, right? Why worry, then? I thought you said you were over her.”
“Just keep her safe, Abaddon.”
“Are you going to the States?”
“Yes, but I don’t know when yet. I’m handling some things here.”
I hang up, thinking about the deal I closed this morning. The fastest acquisition in private aviation history, no doubt.
My lawyers went crazy, advising me not to offer so much.
I didn’t listen. Money has never been and will never be a problem for me. I don’t have enough lifetime to spend all I own.
I can’t undo what Capria did to Elodie, to us, but at least I can fulfill one of her dreams. If she wants to work for an airline, I’ll make sure it happens.
A picture hits my phone before I can even start the car, and when I open it, it’s a photo of a modest building, followed by Abaddon’s message:
A: I suppose you already know this is where she lives. Security’s a joke. As a test, one of my men walked in with a resident. The guy didn’t even ask who he was, just held the door and let him in.
I clench my jaw in anger.
If I know her, she’s paying for the place with her own salary, because if she accepted Beau’s help, she’d certainly be living somewhere better.
I tap the screen to make the call I need to.
“Amber?”
“Giancarlo?”
“Call me Gianni.”
“Thank you. Did something happen?”
“Yes. I’m going to need your help.”
“Of course! How?”
I tell her about the airline.
“Why did you do that? That was drastic.”
“It’s just money, Amber. I can’t bring back our child or heal your sister’s heart, but I can at least give her the joy of reaching a goal.”
“Was that the only reason?”
“I won’t answer that. Just do what I asked. It’s the only way she won’t suspect. If a job offer pops up out of nowhere, she won’t believe it.”
Ten days later
I look around the dinner table where, for the first time, all my brothers are gathered.
Everyone. Even Carina’s children.
I try to focus on the conversation, but the truth is, my mind is miles away. In fact, in the future. The day after tomorrow, to be exact.
Elodie was hired by my newly acquired airline without even needing an interview, just a week after submitting her résumé.
In the real world, that would never happen, especially because I arranged for her to be assigned to international flights, which shouldn’t be possible for a rookie.
“What’s wrong with you?” Tommaso asks. “You’re distracted.”
I haven’t told them about my plan to go after Elodie, and I also asked our mother to keep quiet about the baby. I’m not ready to discuss that with my family.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I dodge.
“You seem worried about something.”
“I’m thinking about the airline I just bought,” I say, offering a half-truth.
“Yes, I heard about the acquisition. Why the hell did you buy an airline?”
“It was a good investment.”
“He’s right,” Ricco says. “I almost closed on one myself last month. Which one did you buy?”
When I say the name, my half-brother frowns.
“An American airline?”
I nod.
Tommaso leans closer and speaks low, so only I hear. “Does this have anything to do with that Romani girl who came to Italy? What was her name—Eloisa?”
“You know damn well her name is Elodie,” I answer. My brother never liked her, probably because she vanished without hearing my side of things. “And the only thing I’ll say is. . .maybe.”
The greatest irony is that after talking to Amber, I found out LeBlanc and Tommaso know each other.
When I told my brother Beau was Elodie’s brother-in-law, without knowing I had already met her, he offered to find her through his friend. I, of course, said no.
Even if I hadn’t known where she was, I wouldn’t have accepted his offer to go to Beau.
I’ve had enough of outside interference in our relationship.
Whatever we have to resolve, it’ll be between the two of us.
I stand next to the pilot in the cockpit and hear him welcome the passengers.
I haven’t gone to my seat since boarding, because some crazy thought that she might escape made me wait until the plane took off.
Normally, she works economy class, since she was just hired. But today, I had her reassigned to first class. On this flight, no other first-class seats were sold, leaving her entirely at my disposal.
I thank the pilot and head for my seat.
I pass her in the galley, and she doesn’t even notice me; she’s facing away, talking to another flight attendant.
But it doesn’t take two minutes before she comes my way.
My pulse races, excitement running hot in my blood no matter how much I don’t want to feel it.
When she lifts her head and sees me, her full lips part in shock.
Gorgeous as hell.
The woman I can’t forget.
Elodie.
Finally, I have my Romniya right where I want her—within reach.
I told myself I was ready to see her again. I convinced myself those golden eyes and that perfect face no longer had power over my body or mind.
I was wrong.
I prepared myself for sass and pride.
For defiance and restlessness.
I never prepared for the sadness I now see on her face.
Elodie is a fragile shadow of the woman I fell in love with. Yet, just like the first time we met, I know one thing for certain.
She’s the only one for me.
She will always be the only one for me.