Chapter 8 #2
“You’re right,” Allegra said, beaming up at Luca, as though she got into barbed conflicts with handsome Italian men every day. “We’re very different. I think that’s why it works.”
She heard Paolo smother a chortle.
“Excuse us,” Luca said. “There are so many people here tonight anxious to meet Allegra. We should do the rounds.”
“We’ll have a dance later, Allegra. I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Over my dead body,” Luca muttered sotto voce as he guided Ally through the crowd. Her eyes shifted to his quickly.
“You weren’t exaggerating about him,” she murmured. Luca had described his younger brother as someone who existed to wreak havoc in Luca’s life; she could see that for herself now. “He seems to hate you.”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“I told you about my parents.”
“But that’s not your fault.”
“He was raised to believe it was. To believe that I was the embodiment of everything that went wrong for him, and his mother.”
She made a sound of indignation. “That’s outrageous.”
“His mother was a social climber. All she cared about was the prestige of her marriage to a Di Santis. The affair with my mother was mortifying for her.”
“Understandably, but that’s still not your fault.”
He grunted his agreement and then paused to introduce her to an elderly Italian couple, who turned out to be friends of Valentino’s.
And so the evening went on, a crush of meeting people, including his cousin Dante who was far friendlier—at least on the surface—than Paolo.
And yet none of his family, and few of his friends, really filled her with warmth.
She was left with the impression, at the end of the night, that despite all this, Luca was a loner.
Perhaps the connection with his grandfather was the closest thing to ‘real’ she’d seen him enjoy, and even that had been marked by challenge and mistrust.
By the end of the evening, Ally was left to wonder why on earth Valentino had gone to so much trouble?
With Luca in a long discussion with someone from the company, Ally made the most of the chance to slip away.
“I’m just going to look at the stars,” she explained, when he held her hand tightly. “I won’t be long.”
He hesitated, scanning her face, as if silently imploring her to stay.
Acting as though he wanted her with him, more than anything.
He really was a skilled performer; she could almost have believed he felt something for her.
After a beat though, he nodded towards a clearing across the garden.
“There is a terrace that way. It’s private.
I’ll meet you there soon.” And then, to emphasise their relationship in front of anyone who might be watching, he leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead.
The kind of kiss that—innocent though it might have been—had the power to explode her whole body.
She turned and almost stumbled as she left the party far behind.
When she heard the noise behind her, she expected it would be Luca, and so she turned, smiling, looking forward to seeing a friendly face. Only it was Paolo who had come to her, Paolo whose face greeted her, eyes hard and assessing, body somehow bigger seeming when it was just the two of them.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
She turned her back on him, trying to quell the strange sense of panic rising inside of her. It had been over a week since the loan sharks had threatened her. She was safe now, safe with Luca. Only, something about Paolo made her feel unsafe. Exposed and vulnerable.
“It’s a party.”
“Different to the kinds of parties you’re used to, I would imagine.”
It was the second comment he’d made about her being from a different world. Well, so what? Why would she deny it?
“I’m not really much of a party girl.”
“No, you’re not.”
The silence crackled between them.
“Is that a problem?” Ally asked, eventually.
“You’ll find my brother loses interest pretty fast.”
She swallowed past the bitterness in her throat. “That really isn’t any of your business.”
“But it is, and I think you know that. He’s using you to get our grandfather to do his bidding. He’s using you, Allegra. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
Even though he was right—this was just a ruse—his words and their calm delivery cut her to the quick.
“I know how important this marriage is to Valentino,” she said, a little uneasily.
“But one thing has nothing to do with the other. Luca and I would have married regardless.” She was glad to be able to throw that at him, and even more so because it was the truth.
As far as she could remember, their original Vegas marriage had not had anything to do with Valentino’s ultimatum.
“I believe you are speaking the truth, as you know it,” he said, coming to stand beside her, almost sounding sorry for her. She glanced up at him, frowning.
“You think Luca only married me because of the company?”
“I know it.”
Her heart stammered. He was bluffing. There was no way Paolo could know the terms of their agreement.
“You’re mistaken,” she bluffed right back.
“You need to understand: I have had a lifetime of watching him work. That man will stop at nothing. He will take what he wants, conquer anyone in his path. You’re going to be collateral damage, like so many others before you.”
Her heart stammered. Their marriage was fake.
She knew that. Her feelings weren’t in play.
But having spent the last few hours at Luca’s side, being held close to him, touched by him, smiled at by him, the line between reality and fiction felt weirdly blurry.
She shook her head, needing to refute his statement, even when her throat felt heavy with emotion
“You’re the one who just pointed out: I’m different.”
“Yes, but that’s not a good thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re like a sweet little lamb, being led to slaughter. I don’t need a background check on you to know that.”
She gasped. “You did a background check on me?”
His laugh was soft, and somehow, not unkind, even when his words were like acid, making her feel exposed all over again.
“Of course I did. Dante as well. You have married into the Di Santis family. Did you think that came without due diligence?”
“Luca married me,” she refuted angrily. “It has nothing to do with the rest of you.”
“But you’re wrong,” he said again. “This marriage is Luca’s way of taking something from Dante and me, of taking our birthright.
All our lives, we have fought for the right to control the company, and our grandfather has enjoyed seeing who rose to the top.
Do you know who always won? Every damned time? ”
She held her breath, even when she knew the answer.
“Your husband,” he said viciously. “Because where Dante and I are governed by some kind of decency, some belief in doing what is right, your husband will stand on anyone he needs to in order to get ahead. You are going to be destroyed by him, Allegra. And it brings me no pleasure to say that.”
She shook her head, wanting to deny it, but the words simply wouldn’t come.
“Like I said, you’re a lamb. Too kind, too trusting, and way too good for him.” Paolo sighed heavily. “I wish I could convince you to leave him. That man will chew you up and spit you out, and he will not feel a single shred of guilt in doing so. I’m very sorry he managed to talk you into this.”
Paolo stared at her, to see his words hit their mark, and then left, the trees rustling and whispering as he passed by. Ally shivered, despite the warmth of the night, a sadness wrapping around her that she didn’t want to feel.