13. Elio
Elio was back on the beach, walking again. If he wasn’t in his office, he was out here pacing back and forth, his footsteps erased by the waves by the time he made the return lap.
He’d always loved solitude, but this… this was starting to feel like something unhealthy, and that took a lot for him to admit. To admit that he felt like he was behind bars, that he was trapped, that watching Gianna and Isabella leave each evening and make their way back to the mainland made him jealous and anxious and restless… He’d tried to ignore the feelings for as long as possible for the sake of his sanity, but it was no longer possible.
And as for Noel Preston and his campaign to tear down Elio… it was only getting worse, according to what Marc had told him. It wasn’t just a lawsuit at this point; it was a full-blown smear campaign that had been launched against him. After some digging, Marc had learned that nearly everyone who had been at the Oro launch party had been contacted by Preston personally and asked if they had any grievances against Elio. Were they worried that they might have choked themselves or gotten food poisoning? Did they think Elio’s wine was really up to FDA standards? Food production was a safety issue at the end of the day; could Elio Morelli be trusted? What corners could he be cutting that no one knew about if something like this could happen to poor, innocent Noel Preston?
It might be lies. It might be slander. It might all be vapid. But at the end of the day, all of these actions could be enough to plant seeds in people’s heads… and if anyone else got the idea to throw a lawsuit at Elio while he was down and out, then it would be the perfect opportunity for that to start snowballing into a very bad situation.
Any news from his legal team only seemed to be bad news. Elio dreaded seeing the familiar number or email address pop up on a screen, knowing that he would only be in a worse mood after hearing what needed to be said. Unfortunately, it all boiled down to the same strategy that they’d had from the start; better to be stuck on Malbia, where there was at least a little freedom, than stuck in an apartment in New York.
So here he was. Walking on the beach because it was the only scrap of solace that he was able to find these days.
Elio heard the faint hum of a boat engine and looked up to see a small vessel speeding across the water towards the island. That was odd. Gianna and Isabella were already here, and Elio wasn’t expecting anyone. Unless Isabella had ordered some ingredients to be delivered…
The thought fizzled out before he could get to the end of it now that the boat was close enough for him to get a glimpse of who might be on their way to Malbia. Elio’s eyesight was good, but right now he was questioning it, because he was certain that the passenger in the boat had wild blond hair. Well, now he was just delusional. Like, really… This was bad. Other blond people existed in the world. If he was getting a glimpse of someone with a similar feature from quite a distance, mind you, and immediately wishing it was Kayla Harvey, then maybe he needed to start seeking help.
Was this a symptom of cabin fever, hallucinating people that you barely knew but had grown strangely obsessive over? Was it a symptom of something else? You could get an appointment with a therapist over the internet these days. Maybe it was something that he should start considering if he was going to keep seeing Kayla in random places where she couldn’t possibly be.
To prove to himself that he was being ridiculous, he made his way back up the beach to the dock to greet the boat right as it pulled up. But then Elio nearly fell off the dock straight into the water. It was Kayla. It really actually was. Just a few dozen yards away, he could see her clear as day, and she was looking at him too, lifting a hand in a small wave with a smile. Immediately, he was smiling too, wider and more sincerely than he had in months, and he no longer cared if he was crazy for being so excited to see Kayla here. He just wanted to live in this feeling as long as he could.
Maybe it was childish of him, but Elio expected her to jump off the boat the second it drifted to a stop, leaping out because she was too impatient for it to slow down to a reasonable speed, walking up to him to make up for lost time, not a second wasted. He hadn’t known her long, but she’d been the one to debate swimming through a storm to the mainland… Seeing her stay seated in the boat, only her head visible, made Elio slow his steps. He was being ridiculous. What was he expecting? For her to come running and jump into his arms?
Pull yourself together. It’s not like you’re alone, either.
In fact, the helmsman was the one to get out first, reaching out a hand for Kayla to take. It looked like a struggle for her to stand up, even though the water had been smooth as glass all day, the boat perfectly still in the water. Elio’s thoughts, still rattled and tumbling all over the place, got even more erratic with possibilities. Had she been hurt? Did she fall on the mainland and sprain an ankle? Break a leg even?
He snapped himself out of his fugue state, mentally cursing himself for acting like a dumbstruck little boy at a school dance, and strode forward to lend extra help to Kayla, who still seemed to be struggling to get out of the boat. Then he froze, both his body and his raging mind coming to a complete standstill as he saw why she was so unbalanced. She was pregnant. Very pregnant. At least six months pregnant.
While he stood there dumbstruck, the boat’s owner busy with making sure the boat was properly docked, Kayla looked at him with a worried crease between her brows, her hand hovering over her belly as if protecting it.
“Hi,” she said, sounding so incredibly meek that it took Elio by surprise. Where was the fearless powerhouse of a woman who had snuck onto his private island to serve him papers?
“Hi,” he said, still feeling a little numb.
Kayla took a deep breath and looked like she was trying her best to look cool, calm, and collected, failing miserably.
“I tried to call,” she said. “But you were kind of hard to get ahold of.”
Then time restarted, puzzle pieces started falling into place, and Elio did his best to keep the raging panic from reaching his face. Kayla’s eyes, those eyes he’d been thinking about nonstop for months now, scanned every inch of him, waiting for a reaction. She looked terrified.
Elio held out a hand.
“Come inside,” he said.
At that, Kayla seemed to let out a breath, a bit of her anxiety escaping along with it and took his hand. Elio led her up the dock with firm steps, his hand never releasing hers. Whatever conversation was about to happen, and he was pretty certain he knew what it was about, it could happen inside with Kayla sitting down.