CHAPTER SIX
I sank into a chair by the brunch tray, grabbed a pastry, and nibbled on it. However, Mama answered faster than expected. “Hello? That you, Lina?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” I garbled.
“Are you eating on the phone?” she asked with distaste.
I couldn’t help but smile. Mama’s ears missed nothing.
Suddenly, I was a kid again, sneaking in after school with shoes on, only to hear her voice shout, “Take them off, Lina.” I’d kick them aside, and we’d watch her favorite soapy drama before homework, with me groaning and her utterly absorbed.
Funny how easy it was to forget the good times.
“Uhm, yeah, I am. Sorry, I’m starving. I just woke up. Rocco’s here in Florence.”
“Yeah, I know. Hold on for a second, sorry.” Her voice was muffled, but she spoke loud enough for me to hear, “Just those boxes. Yes, thank you. Okay. Be right there.”
“Boxes? Where’re you going?”
“I’m moving.”
“Wait, what? You’re moving? Right now?” I set my pastry aside, my appetite forgotten.
“Yes, I am. Why should I stay here after Glenn announced our separation?”
I gulped. “He did what?”
“Yep. He’s a coward. No, he’s worse: a politician,” she mocked loudly.
Mama didn’t use to make fun of Glenn’s job. She was so proud of his status as attorney general. But she did say he was cheating, and so was she.
“Is it because of your fling?”
“Gavin? No. That was nothing. Glenn didn’t care about that. And he couldn’t throw stones anyway with all the women he’s had over the years.”
I frowned. “Then why now?”
“Because it’s an election year.”
“A divorce scandal would be a much bigger disaster for reelection.”
“Not if Eric told him that he would reveal what he made me do.” Her voice lowered to a whisper.
Judge Colby would look like a scumbag, but everyone would know she was prostituted.
Shockingly, Glenn didn’t try to use her as a victim to earn some political points.
Probably because Mama told him she wouldn’t.
I pushed my hand back through my hair and held my hot neck tight. If there was anything I regretted most, it was not knowing about it beforehand. “I’m sorry, Mama. Did Judge Colby—”
“Your father,” she cut in.
“He’s never been a father to me.”
“I know, but he is still your father, even if he’s a piece of shit, and now everyone is talking about that video with you on the street with him. It’s everywhere. All those media personalities are insulting you online. Some of them I used to follow, but not anymore.”
“What are they saying about me?” I bit my lip.
“That you were theatrical.”
I tensed. “Theatrical?”
“People love to poke fun. Shoot. I always put my foot in my mouth. You’re already embarrassed, and I didn’t mean to make it worse. They don’t matter anyway. Rocco’s come out strong for you. His statement that he supports both of us was really nice.”
“Oh, I didn’t know he did that,” I said and glanced at the door.
“Yeah, and you know it’s him helping me move.
“Yeah, I assumed so.” I offered to help her leave, but only a man could get her to do it. My usual resentment of her rose, but in the end, she left, and that was what mattered. “So, which property are you moving to?”
“I took his penthouse on the Upper West Side,” she gushed with excitement.
“Really? Wow, Manhattan. That’s huge.” I tried to imagine my mother living alone in a big city, but I couldn’t. “This is all a bit fast, Mama. I mean, what right does Glenn have kicking you out?”
“He offered to let me stay with him if I could get the Marinis to send funds to his campaign. Not a chance, and he’s trying to avoid saying my name in public.”
I let out a sharp snort. “What a spineless wimp. But why am I always the last to know when you make these moves?”
“Because it just happened. You like to ponder things. When opportunity knocks, I take it.”
Grandmother always warned me about Mama’s impulsive streak and her fear of being alone. Was she chasing after that new guy, Gavin? “You’re going to live there alone?”
“Yeah, but I’ll have security, and it’s a great location. I can handle it, Lina. His lawyer is coming back to pick me up. He’s good-looking. I wonder if he’s single.” She let out a dry laugh.
I rubbed the space between my brows. “No. He’s too young for you.”
She snorted. “You’re just like my mother. Too uptight.”
Pride filled my chest. My grandmother had grown on me.
After learning all that she endured with Luca, she rose above her pain and gave my mom, Jacob, and me a chance.
Instead of just marrying me off, she educated me.
Yes, she was strict, but when I faced a future with Percy, who treated me as beneath him, she intervened and helped bring Rocco back into my life.
I only wished to be as strong as her. “I’ll take that as a compliment. So, you’re really moving to Manhattan?”
“Yes, Manhattan. Me, Lina. Moving to Manhattan,” she sang out.
Mama always talked about her time as a teen in New York City before she married my father.
Jacob and I would listen to every story as if it were the first time we had ever heard it, no matter how many times she repeated it, because it was the only time we saw her happy.
“Well, I guess that’s good?”
“Yeah. I need to disappear. You wouldn’t believe the trashy messages I get now. Glenn’s friends offered me millions to become their call girl. They think of me that way now.”
“Assholes,” I hissed.
“Yeah. I know your father spread the rumor.”
I clenched my jaw. “Screw them. You were trafficked—”
“Trafficked? What’s that?”
“Sold and abused against your will for money, Mama.”
“Yeah, but who’s going to want a woman who’s used that way? Gavin doesn’t.”
My heart ached, and I frowned. “Who cares what Gavin thinks? He was only a fling, right?”
“It was getting more serious, but I bet it’s over now.” Her voice lost steam.
“If Gavin can’t support you, he’s not worth it.”
“Would Rocco support you if you were used that way? No. If you were, my parents would never have tried to arrange a marriage for you.” While I loved my grandparents, Mama was right.
They had a purity obsession. But then she said, “That’s the reason we sent you out of the room that first night.
They wanted to know what he did…” She went quiet, and I was back in the room with Mama on her knees, begging her parents to take me in.
I had always thought my grandparents were debating whether to let me stay at the house.
It hadn’t occurred to me that they were discussing whether my father had tried something more than hitting me.
“Are they talking to you?”
“Yes, they released a statement with the Marinis about privacy and family matters, but they’re not going to do damage control this time. They’re going to stand with us.” Her voice broke.
Her parents finally stood with her. Not trying to cover up what happened or force her to hide away was something she’d always hoped for. Despite everything, I felt grateful. “Good. I’m happy to hear that.”
“Yeah. And that’s why I wanted to talk to you and let you know what your father has been up to. There’s a discussion about him having to step down as a judge, and he hired nasty lawyers who sent threats. He even showed up here.”
“What? He did?”
“Yep. Eric demanded I lie and make you give me money. He even showed me a few photos and videos of stuff from that time.” She sniffled.
“That’s illegal,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, well, once it’s out there, it’s out there. That’s what I told the lawyer. Eric even offered to drop the money and walk away if I just told the press that you’re mentally disturbed.”
My pulse sped up and sweat broke out across my body. I had to ask the inevitable question. Did Mama give in to his demands? Would she lie to protect him? Something I’d watched her do time and time again. “What did you tell him?”
“I…I told him no. I told him there’s no way I can protect him now. He’ll have to stand alone. Honestly, there’s nothing he can do anymore. I can’t stop the public from digging up my past, and I’m not the woman that I was years ago. I don’t love him.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, and my hand pressed to my racing heart. I’d waited years to hear her admit the truth about them. It was the wall between us, and now she was finally tearing it down. Still, I had to ask, “Are you scared? Because you can come here—”
“I’m fine, Lina. Honestly. I have my lawyers and security guys, and I even have a publicist who’s putting out good stories about me. I get to live where I always wanted to live, and I was even offered a getaway in Malibu, California. I could get a tan.”
I felt a sense of relief that instead of focusing on the bad, she was already searching for silver linings. Maybe now she’d finally get the life she’d always dreamed of and believe she deserved it. “You could.”
“But I’m not leaving New York. Jacob’s here. I want…to be his friend. Do you think he’ll be a friend to me? I know I wasn’t a good mother, but I still have hope. But after what I did…” She let out a sob.
“Mama, Jacob forgives you. Okay? He loves us all.”
“I love him. Always did. I just feel guilty. I mean, how do I start over?”
“Just go see him and try not to cry. Jacob wants to live in the present. He doesn’t want to live in the past.” It was what Jacob always told me every time I visited him.
“Yeah, well. I’ll try.”
“That’s all he ever wanted, Mama.”
“Yeah. Anyway, we’ll survive. You will, too. You keep yourself safe and listen to Rocco.”
I grinned despite it all. “You sure changed your tune on him.”
“That man loves you. He’s really stepped up in ways I never believed would happen. So, yeah, he’s actually a good guy.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I touched my smile. “He never rests.”
“He will when you have a baby. Why aren’t you pregnant?”
I groaned. “Gotta go.”
“I knew that would get you off the phone.” She laughed down the line, and my heart expanded.
“I have to go, too. Think I can go shopping? Or see a show? God, I haven’t been to Broadway in years.
I’ll ask my driver and security, maybe. But honestly, Lina, are you okay? I feel like I should be there for you.”
My throat went tight, and my words stuck. It was the most selfless thing she’d said in years, and it mended something inside me. Still, I knew she needed this time for herself. “Yes, I am. You go ahead. Enjoy yourself.”
“Do you think Gavin will still see me? Or maybe I shouldn’t hold myself true to one man? Play the dating field now that I’m going to be a divorcée?”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, Mom. I’ll call you later. Okay?”
“Yeah. Talk to you later. Take care. I love you, Lina.” This time, she lingered on the line, waiting. We didn’t hang up in a rush like before. Mama had let me down so often, but now she was finally standing tall.
“I love you, too,” I told her.
And I meant it. If there was one thing I’d learned over the last few years, my mother was not someone I could depend on.
She was flighty, unpredictable, and self-absorbed, but I just couldn’t find it in me to cut her off.
She had suffered at the hands of several men over the years, and I could understand now how much that had damaged her emotionally.
She could also recognize her failings, which I was thankful for, and she did love me and Jacob.
That was something.