Melanie Milburne - The Italian's Mistress

by The Italian's Mistress (lit)

  ‘What fool’s paradise are you occupying, Carlo?’ he stormed. ‘How can she forgive me? How, indeed, can she forgive either of us?’

  ‘I’ve apologised.’

  Lucio rolled his eyes in frustration. ‘You think you can wipe away the past with a quick apology?’

  ‘No, but I can’t have the truth come out now. It would hurt Milana, not to mention Mama.’

  ‘All you can think about is how it’s going to affect you! You have not once considered how this has impacted on Anna. I loved her with all my being and you destroyed our relationship with your lies! How can I make it up to her now?’

  ‘Do you still love her?’

  ‘Of course I still love her! What sort of question is that? I have never stopped loving her.’

  ‘Have you told her?’

  Lucio tensed as he considered his brother’s question. ‘No ...no, I haven’t told her.’

  ‘You owe it to her to tell her what your feelings are.’

  ‘It’s too late.’ Lucio’s voice was hoarse.

  ‘How can it be too late?’ Carlo asked. ‘You have a son, Lucio. Anna is your wife—you have a bond that will last a lifetime.’

  ‘I told her she would be free as soon as we return to Melbourne.’

  ‘Tell her you’ve changed your mind. Tell her you want the marriage to continue.’

  ‘She’ll never agree to it.’

  ‘Then if you’re not prepared to fight for her you don’t deserve to have her,’ Carlo said. ‘If you had loved her prop­erly in the beginning you would have seen she was telling the truth. Instead you accepted what I said, never once lis­tening to her side.’

  ‘The photographs were—’

  ‘You saw what you wanted to see, Lucio. If you look closely at those prints you will see how out of it she really was.’

  ‘I should send your teeth through the back of your head for what you did to her,’ Lucio said, clenching his fist by his side. ‘For what you’ve done to us both.’

  ‘It would be no more than I deserve,’ Carlo said. ‘But you’d be better served to fix things with Anna. She is the mother of your son and it’s up to you to build your future. I knocked away what you had but it’s up to you now to bring it back.’

  ‘Get out of my sight, Carlo,’ he said through clenched teeth.

  ‘I’m sorry, Lucio,’ Carlo said again. ‘I wish I could turn back the clock. I didn’t know Anna was pregnant or I would never have done what I did.’

  Lucio’s face was ashen as he faced his brother. ‘I didn’t know she was pregnant and, for that matter, she didn’t ei­ther. I had made every effort to stop such a thing happen­ing...That’s why, when I found out about Sammy’s exis­tence, I leapt to the conclusion that he was yours.’

  ‘Everyone has naturally assumed Sammy is yours,’ Carlo said. ‘There is no reason for any of this to come out. Think of what it would do to Mama to find out.’

  Lucio gave him a hardened stare. ‘I have suffered the shame of abandoning the mother of my child for four years, while you have gloried in your new-found role as the re­deemed fallen angel of the Ventressi family.’

  ‘I am not proud of what I did. I wish I could make it up to you,’

  ‘You can, Carlo, by coming clean. Tell Mama and Milana what you did. Then, and only then, will I consider speaking to you again.’ He opened the drawer on his desk and handed a document to him. ‘As for your future in the Ventressi Corporation, that too is dependent on that revelation.’

  Carlo’s mouth dropped open. ‘You’re firing me?’

  The line of Lucio’s mouth was grim. ‘Don’t make me do it, Carlo, for you know I will. I hold the majority of shares since your last careless handling of the Naples develop­ment.’

  ‘But Milana is...’ Carlo’s Adam’s apple moved up and down agitatedly.

  ‘Your wife is your responsibility, but Anna is mine, something I have come to realise four years too late.’

  Carlo seemed to shrink even further in height as he stum­bled awkwardly to the door.

  ‘I will give you until this evening,’ Lucio called after him.

  ‘After that I will be taking matters into my own hands.’

  Anna came into the sitting room later that evening once Sammy was asleep to find her mother-in-law waiting for her, a grim look on her face.

  ‘Anna, I have some dreadful news.’

  Anna felt her hand reach for the corner of the nearest cabinet to steady herself ‘What is it? Is it Jenny? Has some­thing happened back in Australia?’

  Jovanna shook her head. ‘No, it’s Milana.’

  ‘Milana?’ Anna swallowed. ‘Is something wrong with...’

  ‘She’s been taken to hospital, Carlo is with her. She is haemorrhaging badly.’

  ‘Oh, God!’ Anna’s face was stricken.

  Jovanna’s eyes misted over. ‘It’s so awful. Carlo and she are so happy; I couldn’t bear for something to happen to her or the baby.’

  Anna reached for Jovanna’s hand to comfort her. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  Jovanna gave her a watery smile. ‘You are so kind, Anna. I am so glad you are back with Lucio again. He has missed you so.’

  Anna wasn’t sure how to respond so stayed silent.

  ‘I have been so worried about both of my sons over the years,’ Jovanna continued. ‘Carlo was so ... unpredictable at times.’ She gave a little reminiscent and tearful smile. ‘How that young man ever got to this age without a criminal rec­ord I have no idea, but look at him now. He is devoted to Milana and so looking forward to being a father...’ She choked back a sob.

  ‘I’m sure things will be fine,’ Anna said, hoping it were true. She couldn’t help feeling guilty. Perhaps Carlo had changed his mind and told his wife of what had happened four years ago. It was understandable Milana would be upset but surely not enough to bring on the baby this early?

  ‘I realise Lucio and you still have things to sort out,’ Jovanna said, breaking into Anna’s thoughts. ‘I have seen the way you both act around each other. If there is anything I can do?’

  Anna gave her a wan smile. ‘No, there’s nothing anyone can do.’

  ‘He loves you very much, Anna,’ Jovanna said softly. ‘He was devastated when you left. I have never seen him so ... destroyed. I think the only thing that got him through was his anger. Rather than admit to what he was feeling he chose the pathway of rage, not the most ideal way to deal with a break-up, but he refused to speak of it so we all soon learnt to keep well away from the subject. Carlo particularly found it hard; he used to be close to his brother but ...well...’ She gave a little shrug and continued. ‘Men are such strange creatures, are they not?’

  Anna gave her an ironic smile. ‘Yes, they are very strange.’

  The telephone rang at Jovanna’s elbow and she snatched it up with a hopeful glance towards Anna. The rapid con­versation was in Italian but Anna could tell by the sound of her mother-in-law’s tone that the news was good. She hung up the telephone and leapt to her feet, her eyes bright with joy.

  ‘Oh, Anna! All is well! Milana has had a baby girl by Caesarean section and they are both fine.’

  ‘I’m so very glad.’ Anna hugged the older woman warmly.

  Jovanna broke the embrace with a flutter of excitement. ‘I must go to them immediately. Carlo insists. Lucio will be back soon. Will you be all right on your own? I could call Giulia to come over if you’d—’

  ‘No, please don’t go to that trouble,’ Anna insisted. ‘I’ll be fine on my own.’

  Jovanna had been gone about half an hour when Anna heard the front door of the house open and the sound of Lucio’s voice conversing in his mother tongue with one of the staff. A few moments later the door of the sitting room opened and one of the servants came in. She nodded re­ spectfully towards Anna as she hastily removed the used tea things, her manner slightly flustered as she exited the room.

  The door opened once more and Lucio stood in its frame, an inscrutable expression on his handsome face.


  Anna felt her indrawn breath tighten her airway as he shut the door with a definitive click behind him, her nerves stretching to breaking-point as he strode towards her.

  ‘Anna.’

  ‘Y...yes?’ Her hands twisted in her lap, her palms sud­denly damp.

  His dark brown gaze held hers for what seemed a lifetime and yet it could only have been a few seconds. Anna felt each every one of them thundering in her heart as she looked up at him uncertainly.

  ‘I am wondering how to say what I need to say without you storming from the room or, worse still, storming from my life as you did four years ago,’ he said in a voice she hardly recognised.

  ‘I didn’t storm out of your life,’ she reminded him. ‘You banished me from it.’

  His mouth twisted into a grimace. ‘You are right, of course. I sent you from my life with no thought to what other explanation there could be. I chose instead to trust my brother’s account and, as a result, you have suffered un­bearably. I am so deeply ashamed of Carlo I can hardly speak of it. I had no idea he harboured such ill feelings towards me, or that he would go so far as to...’

  Anna stared at him. ‘He told you?’

  Lucio’s expression darkened with anger. ‘I had to prac­tically force it out of him but, yes, he did finally tell me what happened four years ago, and I wanted to kill him for it.’

  ‘He apologised,’ she said softly.

  He gave a rough snort. ‘He did-and he expected every­thing to carry on as normal when nothing can ever be the same.’

  She bit her lip, understanding the anger he must be feeling but so relieved he finally knew the truth.

  ‘He has robbed me of my son’s early years,’ Lucio ground out. ‘He has stolen my happiness with you and smashed it beyond repair. All these years I have fuelled my anger and rage towards you-the innocent victim.’

  ‘Lucio, I—’

  forced you into an affair and then marriage, both un­derstandably abhorrent to you, and to cap it all I then got you pregnant and, because of my unforgivable treatment of you...’ His voice broke and Anna’s mouth fell open at the glistening moisture she could see in his dark eyes.

  ‘I love you,’ she said.

  He brushed at his eyes with a rough hand and continued as if he hadn’t heard her soft admission. ‘As soon as we get back to Australia we will file for divorce. I will set up a trust fund for you and Sammy; you will not want for any­thing ever again. It’s the least I can do. I have been thinking about how to deal with the issue of telling the rest of the family the truth—’ he gave a heavy sigh ‘—and, as much as I hate to admit it, I think Carlo is probably right. Revealing the details of what happened will only cause fur­ther distress, most particularly to my mother and Milana.’

  ‘I said I love you, Lucio.’

  ‘As for me—’ his shoulders visibly slumped ‘—I have to face my future without...’ He frowned suddenly and looked down at her intently. ‘What did you say?’

  Anna smiled. ‘I’ve said it twice already; do you really need to hear it again?’

  He grasped her upper arms in a vice-like grip and brought her up closer. ‘Did you say you love me?’

  Her eyes sparkled with a challenge as she held his look.

  ‘I’m not going to say another word until I hear what you feel about me.’

  His warm brown eyes melted with emotion and his voice when he spoke was scratchy. ‘I have loved you from the first moment I saw you comforting Jenny outside that hotel four years ago. I thought my love for you had been de­stroyed but instead it grew stronger and stronger over the years. When I heard you’d had a child I wished with all my heart he might have been mine. When I first saw Sammy I felt such a knot in my gut for he looked so like me at that age it was almost painful to look at him. And when I looked at you I felt the most uncontrollable ache of desire and need. I decided I would have you on any terms.’

  ‘You were rather ruthless about those terms,’ she pointed out with a little smile.

  ‘I had already decided to pay for Sammy’s operation no matter what you decided,’ he said. ‘I just wanted to make it harder for you to say no to me.’

  ‘I have always found it hard to say no to you.’

  He smiled a heart-stopping smile. ‘I am very glad to hear that as I am going to ask you to tell me one more time what you feel for me.’

  ‘I love you.’

  He crushed her to him, his arms like steel around her slim form.

  ‘I do not deserve your love.’ His voice cracked. ‘I have done just about everything to destroy it over the last few weeks.’

  She eased herself out of his bone-crushing embrace and gazed up at him with eyes bright with happiness. ‘Then you’ll have to try extra hard to make it up to me, won’t you?T

  ‘How do you suggest I do that?’ he asked, bringing her back into the warm shield of his body.

  She nestled even closer and gave him a wicked little smile. ‘Do you really need me to spell it out for you?’

  His body leapt against hers and he gave her an answering smile. ‘You know something, cara? There are occasions when I think words are a complete waste of time. I speak several languages but right at this moment my brain does not want to search for the right words to use in any of them.’

  ‘What will you do then if words fail you?’ she asked with a glint of mischief.

  He lowered his mouth to hers and spoke just above her waiting lips. ‘I thought I might do this instead,’ he said, and covered her mouth with his.