Chapter 15
HE DIDN’T NEED HER ANY LONGER. He had what he wanted. The purpose for this marriage had been achieved, and his grandfather clearly hadn’t been fooled after all. None of it mattered.
The one year he’d proposed had been arbitrary—long enough to convince the world and achieve his ends.
Now? It wasn’t necessary. She was dispensable.
She held her breath as the pieces fell into place, watching as Valentino, smiling that smile of his, walked from the room, then turning to face Luca again.
He was watching her.
“Well,” he said, after a beat, expression carefully guarded. She hated how easily he could do that—keep her at bay. “I didn’t see that coming.”
She swallowed, digging her nails into her palm, telling herself not to react in front of him. “So I guess I should congratulate you?”
He frowned. “That doesn’t seem appropriate.”
“You got what you wanted. What you’ve always wanted.”
He grunted.
“What is it?”
His eyes bore into hers. “The victory feels somewhat hollow.”
“It shouldn’t. He’s right. You showed how much the company means to you. I mean, I feel like he should have understood that sooner, and without the need for this ruse, but…at least he got there in the end.”
Ruse. It hurt physically to say the words.
“Allegra—,” but he stopped talking, his jaw flexing.
She closed her eyes, aware what was coming. What he wanted.
It was time for her to go. He just didn’t know how to say it.
“It’s okay,” she murmured. “I understand.”
“Understand what?”
Her heart felt as though it had been poisoned and was dying inside of her. “Your focus is going to change. You need to be at the company. And you don’t need me anymore.”
He shook his head once. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
“No?” She held her breath, hoping when she knew she shouldn’t.
“You’re right. I don’t need you anymore. I don’t need the pretence of our marriage.”
She tried to conceal the way his words cut her.
“But I still want you,” he growled, holding his ground and staring across at her. “I want you to stay with me. Not because of our deal, but because of this.”
The poison in her heart turned into something else. A fluttering butterfly of optimism. “Oh?”
“It doesn’t need to be the year. Just a few more weeks. Give us time to enjoy each other, to get through this infatuation phase, and move on. I’m not ready to let you go.”
The butterfly crashed with a thud through her body; poison was back, and this time, it was in her blood, spreading through her veins until she could hardly breathe.
“A few more weeks,” she said, nodding, even when his offer was anathema to her. The very idea of this being just an infatuation to him, something he was confident he could move on from. When she knew she’d given him her heart; her whole, entire heart.
“We’ll go back on the boat, just the two of us.”
She squeezed her eyes shut against what he was promising. It was so very tempting. Wasn’t she better to take the crumbs he offered, for as long as he offered them?
And what of pride, something inside of her demanded. Hadn’t she had enough of doing things for other people, giving without receiving? And if he couldn’t give what she needed, what she deserved, then how could she stay? Even when she wanted to.
“It’s not enough,” she said, moving her hands to the pockets of her jeans and pushing them inside, to save from fidgeting. “What you’re offering, it’s not enough.”
His brow furrowed, confusion evident in his handsome features. “Is it…money?”
Her heart exploded as though something had detonated in its very centre. He thought she wanted money to be with him? She shook her head quickly, hurt beyond description. “How could you even suggest that?”
He held a hand up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.”
“I could have asked you for so much more than I did,” she ground out. “I knew what you were worth. I’m not stupid, Luca. I asked for what I needed, what I absolutely needed, and not a cent more.” She tilted her chin with defiant rage. “Don’t you ever accuse me of that again.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I didn’t mean it.”
“Didn’t you?”
“No.” He cursed under his breath. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Keep you in my life.”
Her heart hammered.
“I’ve never wanted someone like I want you. I have never faced the prospect of losing a woman before I was ready.”
It was too little. “You just ask me to stay in your life.”
“Didn’t I just do that?”
“Ask me without putting a timeline on it. Ask me without making me sound like a virus you want to be cured of.”
“But you are,” he growled, pacing towards her, drawing her into his arms urgently. “You have taken me over and I need that to stop. I need this to stop. But I’m not ready.”
“You want to be though,” she whispered, voice hurting to use.
“I can’t live like this.”
She closed her eyes, hating that she understood that. Hating that she knew and loved this man well enough to know why he refused to let himself love her, or even to be infatuated with her for any length of time.
“This isn’t enough for me,” she repeated. “You can’t give me what I want. And you don’t need me anymore. I have to go.”
“Go?” He shook his head. “You don’t want that, do you?”
“No,” she whispered. “None of this is what I want.”
He closed his eyes. “I need you to stay, cara. I can’t imagine you not being here.”
“Because you’re infatuated with me.”
He dipped his head, yet again underscoring the very reason she had to leave.
“It’s not enough.”
“What do you want? What can I give you?” She pressed her hand to his chest and held it there. “Do you really not know?”
His eyes were instantly hidden from her, his emotions inscrutable.
“Don’t pretend this is just sex.”
“I’m not,” he said, but he was still not offering anything more. “I have had plenty of sex, with plenty of women. I have never felt like this.”
“And do you really not understand why?”
“You are different.”
“No, you’re different, when you’re with me. In here,” she pressed her fingers to his heart, tapping them quickly. “You care about me.”
His Adam’s apple shifted. “Stay.”
“Why won’t you admit it?”
“Do you truly want to leave?”
She shook her head once. “You don’t want to know what I want.”
“I do.”
She sucked in a breath, told herself to be brave.
To get this over with. “I want to stay with you. Not for a few weeks, not for a year, but forever. I want to stay right here, in this paradise, with you, the man that I love. And I want you to love me back, for the rest of my life. Anything less than that is why I have to leave.”
He stared at her without speaking, for a very long time. He stared at her and her breath started to burn until she realised she was holding it and let it out in one long exhalation.
She blinked quickly, tears stinging at her eyes, as he just looked at her and frowned. Finally, he dropped his hands and nodded once. “I’ll organise it for you. When you know where you want to live, I’ll make sure there’s a home available to you. You will never need to worry about money again.”
A tear slid down her cheek, but she was glad he didn’t see it, because he’d turned his back and was already stalking towards the door.
She didn’t even get a chance to tell him that she would never live in a place he owned, or take another cent from him.
Luca had disappeared, and with him, so too had Ally’s most dearly held hopes.
It was over.
Three weeks later, at his office in Rome, Luca told himself he felt good. The company was his, the direction one he could choose. And this, he thought, was the ultimate re-direct. A surprise move nobody had seen coming.
He looked across at his brother and cousin, both with expressions on their faces that showed a lack of trust, and got down to business. And tried not to think how proud Allegra would be of him, for taking this step.
“Our grandfather was wrong. He has been wrong, all his life.”
Paolo grunted.
“He sought to divide us, to make us compete, without realising that if we were to work together, nothing could stand in our way.”
Dante sat a little straighter.
“I thought the only way to succeed in life was to beat you. To win, at all costs.” He couldn’t think about Allegra, and his wedding, and the lengths he’d gone to. He couldn’t think about her expression on that last day, or her sweet voice arguing for him to follow this course of action.
“And you have,” Dante pointed out. “We’re out.”
“No, you’re not.”
Paolo leaned forward. “I’m listening.”
“The company is mine. I can choose what to do with it.”
“And?” Dante pushed.
“I think we should talk about a restructure. I will retain control, initially.” After all, he’d fought for this a long time, he was not about to be careless.
“This would be on a temporary basis. But rather than competing, what if we try to work together? We each have talents, strengths. Our grandfather’s error was believing one would be superior. ”
Dante made a noise of agreement.
“What do you say?” Luca pushed.
Paolo looked at Dante, frowning. “What’s changed?”
He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. Allegra. Allegra had changed him. She’d made him see. “I realised we could try having each other’s backs for a change, like a real family. It’s your call.”
“There is no harm in trying,” Dante said quietly.
“I’m game,” Paolo agreed.
And for the first time in their lives, the three men smiled at each other with something like genuine appreciation and friendship, and Luca knew then, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she had been right.
* * *
A week later, Valentino stormed into his office. Luca glanced up. “I’ve been expecting this.”
“Have you?”
“Sure. You’re angry that I’ve brought them on board.”
Valentino stopped walking.
“I think Dante and Paolo each bring something to this operation. We’ve decided to work together.”
Valentino’s brow furrowed. “I don’t give a shit about that, Luca.”
Luca blinked. “No?”
“I gave this to you. I trust you. If that’s your judgement, then so be it.”
“But I am saying you were wrong,” Luca said, his tone quiet but full of restrained anger.