by Lily Zante
The doors flew open and Edmondo and Elsa tumbled out. “You’re back!” Her mother reached out and hugged her daughter, kissing her on the cheek.
“Mom?” Ava’s hands rested lightly on her mother’s shoulders. It had only been a few days since she had last seen her, but her mother had an effervescence about her that made Ava do a double-take.
“You’re glowing. How was your trip?” her mother asked.
“Riccione was beautiful.” Ava nodded her head, acknowledging Edmondo as she answered.
“Ah, yes. She is right. The eastern Riviera has a bit of everything, the sea and countryside,” said Edmondo.
“Where are you going today?” Ava asked her mother. She was going to add, but didn’t, that they could spend some time together this afternoon. Her mother was evidently too busy.
Edmondo answered for Elsa. “I thought I would show your mother the Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore today.”
“I guess that’s where we’re going.” Elsa turned to Edmondo with a smile.
“And maybe lunch somewhere around the Piazza delle Erbe. I think you would like that, too, Elsa. Or we can go to that other restaurant you like so much. It’s up to you.”
“Edmondo knows all the restaurant owners,” her mother said. “We always get the nicest tables with some lovely views.”
The way they talked to each another made Ava look twice. Her mother emanated happiness. They seemed so at ease together that Ava felt like a gooseberry standing in their way. It was a sight she would never have imagined she would be seeing.
Elsa had never been with anyone else since they had lost their father so suddenly. It had never occurred to Ava that she would ever see her mother with another man. Now to find her responding to the charms of Edmondo Cazale made her feel a little uncomfortable.
She felt the sudden need to talk to her mother, to have her to herself for the day. But her mother had other plans.
“The driver has arrived. Shall we go?” Edmondo glanced out toward the car park and nodded his head at the young man who stood discreetly by his car. Ava glanced over her shoulder. They had hired a car to take them around for the day.
“Where’s Rona?” Ava blurted out, wanting to talk about something different. She felt a mixture of guilt and shame for feeling bad when she should have felt happy for her mom. She couldn’t understand why she felt the way she did. She hadn’t seen her mother look so light and cheery in years. It was as if she had suddenly lost ten years in age overnight. So why did she feel so unsure about it all?
“Rona’s at home with Tori. The baby kept her up most of the night so she’s having a lie-in.”
Ava squeezed her mother’s thin hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll catch up when you get back.” She summoned up the courage to give her mother and Edmondo a comforting smile.
Ava stared at the car as it crept out of the hotel driveway. She cut a solitary figure alone on the steps of the hotel.
Knowing that Nico was inside cheered her up instantly. She could not wait to look into those deep brown eyes or to feel his soft lips against hers. Perhaps she could convince him to come back to the pensione early.
With the day’s mission decided, she headed into the hotel, knowing that the tall, dark and gorgeous businessman would be working hard behind his desk. She knocked quickly and entered, not waiting for his permission.
But the scene she interrupted slashed her to the core, as though a knife had sliced right through her body. She stumbled back in shock, squeezing her eyes shut, shutting the image out. It was as if she had been punched in the face, seeing Nico, with his body up against a woman’s, his hands around her wrists. The smug look of pleasure on the woman’s face clawed at Ava’s eyes.
By the time Nico turned his head to see her, she’d stepped back out and closed the door. His angry expression told her everything. She’d caught him red-handed and there was no way he could talk himself out of this one.
Her already uneasy stomach churned and a rancid taste shot up her throat. She knew she was going to throw up. Spinning on her heels, she rushed to the rest room just outside the dining area and heaved violently into the toilet.
This was no photo, no lies printed on paper, no story that could be easily explained away. She had seen it with her own eyes. This was the truth of it all.
The man could not be trusted and he would never change.
How blind and stupid had she been to even think there could ever be anything between them?
Ava wiped away traces of vomit and pulled down the toilet cover. She sat down and almost at once, the floodgates opened.
Sobs exploded from deep in her body. She clutched her hand to her chest, but it was too late. The damage had already been done.
Chapter 29
When she was sure she no longer looked like a complete train wreck, even though her heart had been bulldozed to the ground, and when she had nothing left in her stomach to throw up, Ava forced herself to leave the safety of the rest room.
She never wanted to see Nico again; she couldn’t stomach any more lies.
She had half expected him to run after her, to put forth his version of events. When he hadn’t, she knew this was proof enough of his guilt.
She had to get away from here. She had to go home.
Peeking her head out, she saw that the lobby was clear. Even Gina was nowhere to be seen. Bile threatened to rise in her throat again, bringing up the feelings of betrayal. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Her desire to leave was overwhelming. Exhaling slowly, she tiptoed across the lobby, desperate to get distance between her and this hotel. And that man. She flung open the glass doors and almost tumbled down the stairs in her haste.
“Haven’t seen you in a while, Ava.” For the first time in a long time, Ava was relieved to hear that voice. Connor stood on the steps, leaning back against the handrail. She immediately came to a standstill.
“You don’t look so good. What’s wrong?” He seemed genuine in his concern for her and she needed to throw him off the trail. He could never know what had just happened.
She took a step back and leaned against the opposite handrail, attempting a semblance of normality that she did not feel. Inside, she was a shaking, quivering wreck of nerves. “Who, me?” She feigned a laugh, “I’m fine.” If recent months had taught her anything, it was to play it cool in her worst moments.
Connor did not seem too convinced. “Are you sure?” he persisted.
“Yes, of course!” She forced herself to laugh. “I think I ate something that didn’t agree with me.” She smiled at him, or tried to. What she needed was to get away and be by herself, but she also knew that if she did, she would only replay that scene over and over in her head and torture herself all day long. That wouldn’t help either.
She looked around, expecting to find Silvia sashaying past any minute, but there was no sign of her.
“Where’s your girlfriend?” Surprise flittered across her face as she appraised his casual attire—a loose button up with a pair of jeans. It was so far removed from the always suited Connor, the man with no time for anything or anyone but his court cases.
Gone was that on-edge and rushed look that he’d worn during the last months they had been together. Now his features were softer, less hard-edged; it reminded her of what had originally attracted her to him.
For this moment, concentrating on Connor seemed to help her avoid thinking about her mistake. Nico.
“She’s not my girlfriend. And I don’t know or care where she is.”
“Really?” The news startled Ava. “Even so, Verona agrees with you.” Ava felt uncomfortable at the way he was staring at her; it was so intense, it made her feel jittery. If he stared too long, he would know something was up.
“I had an amazing girlfriend once, she became my fiancée, but I really fucked up.” His eyes drifted over to her hand, as she brought it to rest by her side. A light flip in her belly was the first indication that something was wrong. Was Connor professing something for her
, again?
Please, not now. She did not need any more drama in her life. “Please stop, Connor,” she begged. She had no intimate feelings for Connor, but she needed his friendship right at this very moment. She couldn’t be alone.
Not able to articulate what she wanted to say, because she did not know how to respond to him, she sought an easy way out. “Do you have anything planned today?”
“Nothing. I’m free. It’s my last day here, actually. I’m glad I bumped into you. I’ve not seen you around lately.” His words had a harsh edge to them.
She ignored his implied question. She didn’t want to talk about where she had been these past few days. The queasiness in her stomach reappeared and she wondered if she could carry through with the idea that had suddenly come to her.
As she stood across the steps from Connor, she thought how crazy it was that they had both ended up here, now, in this very moment. They were almost a world apart from the people they had been less than a year ago. But if they gotten as far as the wedding, this is where they would have been, on honeymoon, as a couple.
She suddenly saw Connor as the man she had first met, not the Connor he had become. She had changed, too. Perhaps she was not wholly blameless in all of the things that had gone wrong in their relationship. Things which she had shamelessly stuck together, like a patchwork blanket, put together from different bits and pieces but in the end looked so higgledy piggledy, that it didn’t work.
She realized that she missed that Connor, the man she had met and loved before his work pressures got in the way. Before he had turned out to be someone completely different: the wrong man for her.
Was she always destined to find Mr. Right and end up with Mr. Wrong?
She knew what she needed to do. It was just a matter of doing it. And love and romance and all that crazy shit had no part in it.
“You remember that time at Cancun?” He shook her back to the present.
The minute he said it, she remembered and they both laughed at the same time. This was what she needed. Anything to take her mind off Nico.
Connor started, “Remember the Sorgensons?” They were a couple who had stayed at the same resort and had argued the whole time. They bickered over breakfast, scolded over lunch, and had full-blown screaming matches by evening. Yet while lying on the sun loungers, they both rolled their whale-sized frames and quietly read. Their only point of contention seemed to be around meal times.
Ava and Connor both laughed long and hard at the remembrance of that time.
When the hotel doors suddenly flung open, she stopped laughing. The woman who had been with Nico bounced out with Nico close on her heels. His face was already dark and somber, but his features darkened even more at the sight of her and Connor. Ava turned away before their eyes met, grateful that Connor was beside her and knowing that Nico would not say anything to her in his presence.
“Yeah, that was a great holiday.” Connor stopped laughing, pausing to remember that time. He hadn’t even looked up to see who was coming out of the hotel.
“Yes, it was.” Ava agreed and forced herself to stare directly at Connor’s face. She heard Nico’s voice address the woman sharply. “I hope I made myself very clear.”
His tone surprised Ava, but she knew he would try anything to explain away his actions. She was not going to fall for any of it any more.
As the woman rushed down the steps and past her, Ava speculated on the woman’s dress sense, thinking how inappropriately she was dressed, in a tight pair of trousers, a tight top with a wide open neck and the tops of her breasts spilling over.
So that was how Nico liked his women.
Even after the woman had gone, Nico hesitated at the top of the stairs. Ava knew he was waiting for her to look at him. But she didn’t move her head in his direction at all.
A few seconds later, he disappeared through the doors, leaving Connor staring at her with a bucket load of questions.
Chapter 30
Nico thundered into his office and slammed the door so hard the hinges shook.
Gina peered over her shoulder and shook her head. She had never seen him this angry before. Never.
Most definitely never over a woman. She snuck out from behind the reception desk and skirted over to the hotel doors, taking a discrete peek out.
She saw Ava and Connor talking and laughing. Gina sighed and nodded her head. No wonder.
She returned to her desk, all the while mulling over the transformation that she had become a witness to. Nico was changing before her very eyes. Never before had she seen him at such a loss when it came to dealing with a woman.
But then again, she had never seen him so besotted by a woman, either. He was completely in love with Ava. This was new territory and he was fighting to find his ground in it.
She got on with her task of checking the day’s bookings when the door behind her opened quietly.
Nico walked up to her, his face guarded, but she could see right through his mask. She saw the way he had practically thrown the other woman out and wondered how much of his anger was as a result of her.
He pretended to be busy and flicked through the hotel guest book. But Gina knew better and could sense he wanted to talk. She moved her attention away from her computer screen and faced him.
“Your father seems to be enjoying himself, showing Mrs. Ramirez around Verona.” He avoided looking at her, choosing instead to focus on the scribbles of writing in the guest book.
“It’s very kind of him, don’t you think?”
Nico scowled. “Yes.”
Gina waited patiently for him to elaborate, but he pretended to be preoccupied. She would have to nudge him into a confession.
“How was your trip to Riccione?”
Nico folded his arms, his body stiff, his facial expression tight. “Fine.”
“Fine?” she asked, putting down her pen and surveying him with interest. She changed the subject. “What did she want?”
“Her ex-fiancé, by the looks of things.”
Gina tilted her head back slightly. “I meant the woman who was in your office earlier.”
Nico flexed his fingers, and stretched his frame taller. “She was a meddling, nosey journalist. I’m fed up with the lot of them.” He banged his balled up fist against the table, making Gina jump.
She was onto something here. “What did she want?”
“I thought she wanted to do a piece on the hotel. At least that’s what she told me when she asked to meet me. She said she had read some great reviews online and she wanted to know what we were doing so well. She wanted to know our ‘secret’.”
Gina huffed. “She looked like trouble, turning up dressed like that.”
“But she started asking about my past, my girlfriends, the parties, the drinking, the drugs…”
Gina dipped her chin down and looked at him, disapproval etched all over her face.
“Soft drugs,” he said, as if that made up for his vices. “The debauchery, the excess—”
Gina put her hand up to halt him. “I get the picture.”
“She threatened to blackmail me. She knew about my trip to Riccione with Ava. She implied blackmail, said she had photos of us together and threatened to print them if I didn’t give her an exclusive, a final story about my past. She said she would write about the ‘new’ me and leave out Ava’s photos, if I gave her a good story.”
“Crazy bitch.”
“I wish I hadn’t agreed to see her. She showed me photos of us in Ravenna, taken as recently as yesterday. I can’t believe these people are still following me around. Ava hates the whole publicity angle. She has problems dealing with my past as it is. The last thing I’d want is photos of her printed all over the place. I know she would hate that. She would hate me. She wants her privacy. She can just about deal with seeing me in the press. I know my past exploits are what make her the unhappiest, I know.” Nico’s voice trailed off at the end.
He was changing. She could see that he was. So wha
t was the problem now, between the two of them?
Nico carried on. “She got up to leave and threw the photos at me. I couldn’t bear to have any more of these parasites blackmail me. Threatening me with Ava’s privacy? No way. I…” His face reddened as he relived the moment he had grabbed her wrists.
“What did you do, Nico?” asked Gina, glad he was talking to her as a friend now. He needed her help.
“I pushed her against the wall, I was so angry—”
Gina rolled her eyes, dreading to think what followed next.
“Then I grabbed her wrists and warned her to never, ever think of blackmailing me again. I told her to get the hell out. And that I would seek out an injunction against the lot of them.”
“Did you hurt her?”
“No. I swear! It wasn’t my intention. I was mad. I pushed her, but not hard. I grabbed her wrists, but not hard. I don’t know. Maybe I did.” He shook his head, rubbing his eyebrows furiously.
“Then Ava walked in and saw us—I think it was only a second. I don’t know. I turned and then she was gone. I think maybe she got the wrong idea. I mean, she knows I wouldn’t do anything like that. I don’t know. I don’t know what she thought.”
Gina exhaled loudly. “Oh, Nico. Didn’t you explain?”
“No. If I’d gone running after Ava, the journalist would have had her story. She’d have printed more lies. She already had pictures of us together. Can you imagine the lies she would have made up if she’d seen me running after her? I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. And then by the time I kicked her out, Ava was busy with Connor. It didn’t seem the right time.”
“Didn’t seem the right time?” Gina sucked in her breath, “Nico, you need to tell her what went on. Why are you telling me? You should be telling her.” Gina fanned her fingers out against her breastbone. This man was so well experienced with women, and yet so dumb and stupid at the same time. She shook her head, looking at him as he stood with his head downturned.
“Nico, I think this woman means the world to you. You need to save this.” She stepped toward him. For the first time, he seemed so fragile.
