Chapter 14
ALLY COULDN’T STOP SHAKING. She’d been so foolish to think she was free of those men. So foolish to think that paying back some of the money and promising the rest within a year would free her from them. From his obsession, in particular.
She held her hands firmly in her lap, to hide the telltale reaction, but she knew Luca saw it. He stood, watching everything, his eyes roaming from her to the police officers, as they laid out the claim.
It was indeed the loan shark, only he’d manipulated the circumstances to make it seem as though she’d actually stolen the money he’d loaned her.
She’d taken the loan documents, such as they were, to the meeting with him in Vegas, and in her haste to leave, she’d abandoned the documents, too.
She’d been so terrified, and not thinking clearly, so she had no way, now, to prove that the money had been offered willingly.
Her teeth began to chatter.
“Gentlemen,” Luca said, voice quiet but tone like steel. “Would you give us a moment?”
The younger of the police officers stood immediately.
“Have a coffee on the terrace,” Luca suggested, moving to the door and calling for the attention of someone—one of the many housekeepers who kept this place running, she supposed.
Ally felt as though she might pass out. The fear of those men in Vegas was back, washing over her, and yet the fact Luca was here was somehow her anchor, her port in this storm. Her safe space.
Alone in his office, he closed the door and stood almost with his back to it, arms crossed, looking at her for a long beat.
“Would you like to tell me what happened?”
She bit into her lower lip, wishing she could understand what he was thinking. There was no emotion in his voice, he’d slipped into a businesslike version of himself that somehow made her feel off balance. Tears stung at the back of her throat.
He cursed softly and moved towards her, just a few paces, then stopped, as though he needed some physical distance between them. It felt like a rejection. It hurt.
“Listen to me, cara.” The term of affection was like a warm breeze in the middle of winter. “I do not know what happened, but I know you have not done what you’ve been accused of.” A tear slid down her cheek. “You are safe here, with me. So start at the beginning, and we will work out what to do.”
It was everything she needed to hear. He was with her. Protecting her, just as he had been all along, albeit unknowingly.
And so the whole story tumbled out of her, starting with the procedure that had a chance of saving her father’s life, that was so very expensive, and her inability to secure a loan through normal means.
“I trusted the man who set it up. I knew him through school.” She shook her head, angry with herself for how stupid she’d been. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Of course you weren’t. You had the weight of the world on your shoulders, you were caring for your father, working two jobs. You were desperate.”
“Yes,” she sobbed. “But I should have known: when something appears too good to be true, it usually is.”
He was quiet, waiting for her to continue.
“At first, it seemed like a normal loan, but then I started getting demands for more money, people arriving at my house to ask for payment in person. It was… terrifying.”
He made a deep sound, urging her to continue.
But this was hard to admit to him. Even though it was not her fault, she felt embarrassed.
Ashamed. “One of them took a liking to me.” She shivered as she remembered his cruel eyes.
“It turns out, it was his operation. He asked me to come to Vegas, to discuss the payment plan. I was so desperate to get them off my back, I thought it was a great idea.” Her laugh was hollow, feeble.
“I thought they would be reasonable, and agree to the terms I’d proposed.
I’d worked out how I could free myself of the debt over four years.
I had a spreadsheet, for God’s sake,” she groaned.
“It sounds as though you were being fair. No fraud. Go on.”
She bit into her lip.
“When I got to the meeting, he explained that there had never been a term agreed, in the original loan agreement. He said the fine print allowed them to recall the debt at any time, and that he was doing so now.” Luca’s eyes narrowed, but Ally barely noticed.
She was back in that room, the words clanging in her brain.
“He said that if I became, you know, if I were to be with him, for a period of time, he’d wipe the debt clean.
Otherwise, I’d be pursued, and probably end up in jail. ”
Luca’s curse was muffled, as though he’d tried to catch it.
“That was the night we met,” she said, not able to look in his direction. “I still have no idea how we ended up married, but this marriage saved me. That money you gave me—,”
“This is why you needed such a specific amount,” he interrupted her, talking more to himself, though. He stalked across the room, staring out at the view for a moment, back ramrod straight. She couldn’t think.
“You must think I’m so stupid, to have gotten into this position.”
He whirled around. “Stupid? Allegra, please, don’t.
” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “What am I, if not completely deficient intellectually? You asked for eighty-five thousand dollars and I didn’t want to know why?
I always knew there was something I didn’t fully comprehend, but I didn’t push. I didn’t ask.”
She closed her eyes on a wave of sadness, and worry. “The thing is, I do still owe them money. Technically, everything the police officer said is true. I left the country when he told me not to. I only paid back half of the amount when they demanded it all in full.”
“You should have told me this then.” His tone was sharp. A hint of betrayal hardened the words.
She flinched and he swore again, coming to crouch beside her. “I would have helped you, Allegra. Marriage or not, I would have helped you.”
“I know. You would have given me all the money, but I needed this to be a genuine payment, not a hand out. Not another bad decision.”
“I would have helped you by getting him out of your life, not by making the payment.”
Her eyes flared. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. These are bad people, Luca,” her voice was a whisper. “The last thing I want is to put you in danger.”
He laughed, though, a sound of dark anger. “You think I have not met and dealt with bad people in my life? I would have fixed this for you.”
She closed her eyes and her heart stammered.
“I will fix this. You do not need to worry.”
And he swept from the room, leaving her sitting there, staring at the wall, her heart in her throat, and a sense that maybe he was right. Maybe he could fix this, after all.
All his life, he had believed he broke things.
He had broken his father’s marriage, with his very existence, his brother’s heart, his best friend.
He broke things. And somewhere along the way, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Knowing what he was meant he was free to keep being that.
He acquired companies ruthlessly, destroying businesses and lives along the way. He broke things.
But now, he was fixing something, something important, something vital, and the sense that this was all he wanted to do, for the rest of his life, sat inside of him like a gloriously glowing sunrise, all golden beams and warmth.
Oh, there was anger, too. Anger at the man who’d tried to extort Allegra into his bed. Who’d seen a beautiful young woman and sought to possess her, using money as a lever.
First, he dispensed with the police. It was easy enough.
A simple explanation that his lawyer would be in touch had them scurrying out of the door.
Next, a few phone calls: to his investigator, his lawyer, and then a twenty minute wait before information started to pour in.
Within the hour, he had a clear picture of the situation.
He thought about wiring the rest of the money across, but that was unlikely to put an end to the matter.
Bastards like this were bullies, and clearly they thought they held enough leverage over Allegra to bend her to their will.
When she left the safety of this marriage, Luca needed to know she would not be harmed.
And so instead, he became a bully himself, making the call to the man who had threatened his wife, and threatening right back.
Only these were no idle threats. He was forewarning the man of what was to come.
Could he have let the police simply arrive and arrest him? Of course. But Luca wanted to hear his voice. To hear the fear in it, to know that the other man understood: this was retribution. His world would crumble because he had dared wrong Allegra.
It took ninety minutes before Luca was satisfied that the matter was fully resolved, and he went in search of his wife, to discuss it.
When he opened the door to his office, she was pacing from one side to the other.
“I’ve thought it through,” she said, stopping and turning to face him. “I don’t have the loan documents but I think the man who connected us, who I know from high school, would probably provide a statement explaining the nature of the deal. I think I can mount a defence, Luca. I can fight this.”
His heart went from sunrise to full blown sun. She had been shell-shocked before, totally knocked over by the unexpected arrival of her past. But now, she had had time to think, to consider, and she was coming out swinging.
“It’s dealt with.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
“That he should have known better than to threaten you.”
She lifted her eyes heavenwards. “I was not Mrs Luca Di Santis when he threatened me.”
“You would have fought him. I know you would have.”
“I would sure as hell never have accepted that ‘deal’,” she spat, and the sun almost went supernova.
“I hate to ask it of you, but I think if I were to pay him the full amount, and then start building a case—,”
Luca moved to her then, putting his hands on her hips. “I’ve dealt with it.”