Eventually, more people come, and then the police show up. Someone lifts me from the floor and cradles my face against his chest. At first, I think it’s Alistair, but the scent isn’t his. Max is the one holding me. He steers me out of Dad’s office and back to my room. Then he forces something strong down my throat, making me gag. I cough as the potent liquid turns my veins into fire.
“Chibi, please talk to me.”
“I-I was just outside his office when it happened. If I had come home a few minutes earlier, he’d still be alive.”
“No, you can’t think like that.”
I stare at my cousin through blurred vision. “How can I not say that, Max? It’s the truth.”
A knock on the door interrupts what Max was about to say.
“Who is it?” he asks.
“The police would like to take Chiara’s statement,” Uncle Joe says.
Max turns to me. “Are you okay to do this now?”
I nod, and Max lets my uncle and the officer come in. He doesn’t leave my side, and for that I’m grateful. The officer is kind, and I try to answer his questions to the best of my ability without losing my mind. I think after the initial reaction, I became numb.
The interview doesn’t last long, maybe ten minutes, tops. Max walks out of the room with them to get me some tea, and Mom comes in a second later. Her usually perfect hair is disheveled, and without makeup on, she looks much older. Her eyes are red, but even in this tragic moment, she still finds time to stare at me with loathing.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Are you happy now?”
I don’t speak for a couple of seconds. “Happy that my father, the only parent who ever loved me, is dead? How dare you ask me that?”
“What did you say to him earlier? I bet you made him feel so guilty that he decided to put a bullet through his head.”
“You’re mad.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “No, I’m not mad. It doesn’t surprise me, considering you’re the devil’s spawn.”
“If you’re referring to yourself, then you’re right,” I seethe.
“Me? You think I’m the devil? I’m talking about your father.”
I stand up with my hands balled into fists at my sides. “How dare you speak ill of him? He’s not even cold yet.”
A deranged glint takes over my mother’s eyes. “Oh, you stupid girl. Your father is very much alive, rotting in jail where he belongs. You wanted to know why I hate you so much? So here it is. Antonio Pesaro, the bastard who spawned your beloved cousin, is your real father.”
Sudden vertigo hits me. I drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes when my legs can no longer hold my weight.
“No, you’re lying.”
“I wish I was. That scum raped me the night I met your father. When I found out I was pregnant, I let Giovanni believe the baby was his. He proposed on the same day. I knew he wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t for my pregnancy. That’s why I kept you, but there hasn’t been a day since that seeing your face doesn’t remind me of the worst day of my life.”
Tears stream freely down my face. “So that’s your revenge? To tell me Dad wasn’t my real father on the evening he dies?”
“Yes,” she stares at me coldly.
Suddenly, I snap. I get up and push my mother against the wall. “I never asked to be born. All I ever wanted was for you to love me!”
Ofelia Moretti stares at me with dead eyes, as if I’m nothing but an insect. Ugly sobs rack my body. I can’t stay under the same roof as her for another second. I run out of the room, veering toward the front door. I grab the first set of car keys I see on the foyer table and disappear down the stairs. Once out on the street, I press on the fob like a maniac until I hear the sound of a car beeping.
I have Max’s car keys. Jumping inside the vehicle, I bring the engine to life and peel away from the curb with a loud screech with no destination in mind. I just have to get the hell out of this city.
ALISTAIR
I’m in Enzo’s office, listening with rapt attention as he gives me the latest report about Nadine. She’s finally agreed to give me the divorce and accepted the settlement. She’s not getting a penny from the vineyard. I’ve already signed the divorce papers, and now we’ll just have to wait for her to do the same.
“Also, I spoke with Tessa about Chiara’s expulsion,” Enzo continues. “She convinced the other parents on the board that expelling her is an extreme and unnecessary measure.”
The pressure in my chest eases as relief washes over me. “Thank God. Chiara would have been devastated if she couldn’t return to DuBose.”
I glance at my phone when I feel it vibrate in my hand. It’s Max’s number. I’m worried in an instant. He wouldn’t be calling me if it wasn’t an emergency.
“What happened to Chiara? Is she okay?” I ask without preamble.
“Cazzo, no. Her father committed suicide a few hours ago, and now she’s gone missing.”
I jump out of my chair, body tense like a coiled spring ready to launch. “What do you mean?”
“She had a fight with her mother and bailed. Took my car. I don’t know where she went.”
“Goddamn it, Max. Find her!”
“I’m trying my best, okay? I know you have shit to take care of in America, but Chiara needs you, man. She needs you.” Max’s voice gets choked at the end.
“I’ll be on the next flight out. Please keep me posted, Max.”
“Will do.”
I’m about to leave when Enzo stops me. “What happened?”
I run my hand through my hair, feeling useless. “I have to get to Italy.”
“Take the company’s private jet so you don’t have to wait for the next commercial flight out.”
I stare at my friend with unblinking eyes. Then I hug him, almost crying like a baby all over his five-thousand-dollar suit.
“Jesus fucking Christ. Enough with this bullshit already.” He pulls back. “Go get your passport. The plane will be ready for you at the airport.”
“Thanks, man.”
47
Chiara
I shouldn’t be surprised that my grief-stricken brain led me to the place where I had one of the best days of my life: Villa Moretti. Despite always associating the house with misery thanks to my cousins’ antics, the place is now imprinted with memories of Alistair.
I get out of the car and take a deep breath, inhaling the lemony scent that hangs in the fresh air before veering toward the front door. The key is inside a keypad lockbox we all have the code for.
The heavy door creaks as I push it open, the sound echoing in the empty foyer. Without stopping, I go straight to the back, where the valley below is already bathed in morning sunlight. I don’t open the sliding doors but rest my forehead against the glass and let the grief I had been holding at bay take over my body once more. With a loud sob, I cry in earnest, feeling my father’s loss deep in my bones. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t my biological father. I push the knowledge to a dark corner in my mind. There will be enough time to deal with that later.
I don’t know how long I cry, but my face is soaked and my nose is stuffy by the time the tears have dried out. An unbearable weight presses against my hollowed chest, caving it in. Suddenly, the house feels suffocating. I have to get out.
Outside, I spare one glance at Max’s sports car and decide against it. I need to feel the wind on my face.
The Vespa it is.
When I hop onto it, I remember the feel of Alistair’s body behind me, how his arms wrapped around my waist and his warm breath tickled my skin. God, I miss him so much. I wish I had brought my phone so I could call him and hear his voice. Another tear rolls down my cheek, but I hastily wipe it off.
Revving up the engine, I take off down the path leading back to the winding road, going to the spot where I found Alistair stranded. It’s only ten minutes from the villa. I don’t know what I’m going to do once I get there, but somehow, I know that�
��s where I have to be.
ALISTAIR
Max picks me up at the airport, looking as bedraggled as I feel. The first thing out of my mouth is to ask if he found Chiara.
“Yes. She took my car, and I finally remembered it has a GPS tracking system. She drove all the way to our family’s villa.”
“She’s in Tuscany? I wish I had known. I would have flown straight there.”
“It’s only three hours by car. Here, I got you a rental.”
“You’re not coming?”
Max shakes his head. “No. I’m needed here. My mother is…. Well, I’d better stick around.”
“I’m sorry about your uncle.”
Chiara’s cousin looks out in the distance. “Yeah, me too. Chiara was the one who found him. She—Dio santo—she was standing right outside his office when she heard the gunshot.”
“Jesus.” I rub my face, worry squeezing my heart in a merciless vise.
“Come on. I’ll take you to the car. The sooner you get to her, the better.”
Max got me a sports car. Maybe it’s his hint that I should put the pedal to the metal.
It takes me a while to get out of the city, but once I hit the highway, I ignore the speed limit, praying I won’t be stopped by the Italian police. I make the trip in two hours instead of three.
I’m about ten minutes from Villa Moretti when I spot a lonely Vespa parked on the side of the road. Pain twists my gut, and I can’t draw air in. I recognize the spot. It’s where I got my flat tire. I park the rental behind the Vespa and jump out. I’m about to call Chiara’s name when I see her lying against a tree, unmoving.
No. No. No.
“Chiara,” I say as I kneel next to her and shake her shoulder lightly. When she blinks her eyes open, a wave of relief washes over me.
She turns her face to mine, her gaze confused. “Alistair? Is it really you?”
I lift her up, bringing her to my lap and cradling her like a baby. “Yes, my love. I’m here.”
She curls her hands in my shirt, burying her face against my chest. Her entire body is shaking as she cries. I kiss the top of her head, holding her tighter.
“He’s gone. I couldn’t save him,” she says between hiccups.
“I’m so sorry, Chiara.”
“If I had gotten home a minute earlier, he’d still be alive.”
“No, you can’t think like that. What happened is not your fault.”
She cries harder, and I can’t do anything besides let her. It kills me though. I wish I could take away her pain and guilt.
A few minutes pass before she speaks again.
“Then my mother came in and destroyed me.”
Fuck that woman. I don’t know what I’ll do when I come face-to-face with her again. I can’t understand how she can torture her own daughter like that.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
I carry Chiara back to the car. I’ll deal with the Vespa later. When I place her in the seat, she doesn’t look at me, just stares at the road ahead, listless. Not knowing where else to go, I drive back to the villa. It’s a silent and heavy ten-minute ride. She’s no longer crying, but her expression is one of desolation. I don’t know what her mother told her, but it must have been something awful.
As soon as I park in front of the house, Chiara gets out of the car. She only takes a couple of steps in the direction of the front door before freezing.
I touch her lower back and pinch her chin to turn her face to mine. “Goldi, please tell me what I can do.”
“Kiss me, Alistair. Just kiss me.”
I capture her face between my hands and bring our lips together. I taste the saltiness of tears on her lips, and there’s nothing I want more than to make her forget, if only for a moment, the sadness that’s crushing her heart.
Her arms go around my neck as our kiss turns into a clash of tongues and teeth. I lift her up by the waist, and she immediately wraps her legs around my hips. The skirt of her dress hikes up, and I move my hands so her sweet ass fills my palms. It wasn’t my intention to sex Chiara up, but if that’s what she needs, I won’t object.
I stride into the house, and between kisses, I ask her where to go. She points at the hallway on the right, and I immediately guess where she wants me to take her: to the room where she caught me half naked.
Placing her down on the soft mattress, I make quick work of removing my clothes. Chiara just leans on her elbows and watches me with heavy-lidded eyes. Standing completely naked in front of her and sporting the mother of all boners, I wait for her signal. She licks her lips, then slowly pulls her dress off, revealing simple black lingerie. My mouth waters, and I lose the little restraint I had left. Like a starved wild animal, I pounce, fusing my lips with hers again as I cover her body with mine. She parts her legs for me, and I pump my hips, rubbing my erection against her already soaked panties.
“Alistair, I need you inside me right now.”
Letting go of her mouth, I lean back so I can roll her panties down her legs. I would love a taste of her sweet pussy, but that can wait. I can’t resist playing a little with her tits though. I open the front clasp and cover one hard nipple with my mouth before she can protest. While I’m busy sucking and kissing one, I tease the other with my hand.
Chiara’s fingers are in my hair, pulling at the short strands. She doesn’t let me play with her breasts for too long before she urges me to fuck her already.
“As you wish, Goldi.”
I’m inside her with a hard thrust, sheathing myself in her tight heat with ease. Chiara hooks her legs behind my ass, and I ram into her harder and harder with each push. I’m ready to explode, but I hold my release off for as long as I can. My balls are tight as a tendril of pleasure curls around my spine.
Chiara’s long nails scratch my back when her body finally shatters under mine. I lose the fight, grunting as I fill her with my release. Even after the tremors are gone, I keep pumping because she feels too damn good.
She unhooks her legs from behind me, making me stop. I lean back so I can stare at the most beautiful woman on the planet. Her sad eyes stare back at me, and in that moment, I make a vow to spend the rest of my life making sure I don’t see that glint in her gaze again.
48
Chiara
I stretch out on the comfy bed, and Alistair’s arm around my belly holds me tighter. I experience two seconds of bliss before the reality of what happened yesterday barrels down on me, annihilating my bubble of happiness. My chest becomes tight, and the urge to cry renews. But I fight the tears because crying won’t change the fact that my father is dead.
“Good morning, my love,” Alistair whispers in my ear.
I focus on him, on his voice, on his warmth as I fight the sadness that wants to drag me down. He came to Italy even though his life is also falling apart. He dropped everything for me, and that means more than a thousand love declarations. I don’t know how he found me, but he did, and I’ll never be able to thank him enough.
“Good morning,” I reply.
My stomach grumbles, and I remember I didn’t eat anything yesterday. After Alistair distracted me with his lovemaking, I fell asleep in his arms.
“Is there any food in this house?” he asks.
“Probably not.”
“Are you up for a trip into town?” He nudges my neck with his nose while pressing his erection against my butt.
I arch my back, twisting my neck so I can kiss him.
It’s sweet and unhurried. He runs his hand down my belly until he finds my aching spot. With deft fingers, he parts my folds, then begins to play with my bundle of nerves. He has me panting in seconds, and I rejoice in the fact that he’s not being an insensitive jerk for me wanting sex. Yesterday, I made it obvious that’s what I need, a distraction from the overwhelming sadness that’s swirling in my chest.
Letting go of my lips, he places sweet kisses on my neck while he inserts a finger inside me. He doesn’t rub his erection against me; in fact, he�
��s lying completely still besides his hand and mouth. He inserts another finger at the same time he applies pressure on my clit with his thumb. The pleasure builds faster than lightning, making my head spin. I close my eyes, curling my fingers around the tangled sheets before I cry out. Alistair increases his pace, milking my orgasm to the max, and it takes me a couple minutes to get back down to earth.
He kisses my shoulder before I turn to him. Caressing my cheek with his fingers, he stares at me like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. My shattered heart begins to beat faster as it tries to reconcile the feeling of elation with grief.
“Thanks for coming,” I say.
“Goldi, I would go to hell to find you. To be honest, I’ve never been more scared in my life.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I saw you asleep by that tree on the side of the road, I thought the worst had happened.”
I frown. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I don’t even remember falling asleep. I guess exhaustion just took over.”
“Please promise me you’ll never do something like that again.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “I couldn’t bear to stay in my parents’ house after what happened. After what my mother told me.”
“Let’s not talk about her.”
I open my eyes again. “No, I want to. I have to get this off my chest.” I pause, needing to take a deep breath first. “Max is my brother.”
Alistair stares at me speechless for a couple of seconds before he furrows his eyebrows. “How?”
“It’s awful. His father raped my mother, and I’m the result. Dad never knew the truth, but that explains why she hates me so much.”
Alistair pulls me against his chest. “I’m so sorry, Chiara. Where is he now? The scumbag, I mean?”
“In jail for beating Max within an inch of his life.”
“Jesus.”
“I’m fucked up, Alistair. Are you sure you want me around?”
Blurry: A Student Teacher, Age Gap Romance Page 24
