by Marian Tee
Her husband suddenly turned to her, catching Vivian staring at him.
Fudge!
“Is there a problem, cara?” Luca asked pleasantly.
Her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn’t think of anything to say except the one thing she was forbidden to ask. Do you still love me?
“I…um…”
“You haven’t forgotten, have you, Vivi?” Eula looked suddenly fearful, and although Vivian was thankful to have a distraction, she was concerned about the expression on the little girl’s face.
“Are you talking about the PTC this afternoon?” she asked gently.
Eula nodded. “You will come, won’t you?”
“Of course I will---”
Eula interrupted her, adding, “Mummy said she’ll be coming, too.”
“Oh.” Vivian forced herself to smile. “Will she?”
“She called Eula yesterday at school.” Luca’s voice remained pleasant and frustratingly unreadable. “As I didn’t see any problem with this, I hadn’t voiced any objections.” He paused. “Unless you have a problem with it?”
In the corner of her eye, she watched Eula suddenly hold her breath.
Oh.
Vivian swallowed hard. I mustn’t get in the way of Eula and Maria. They were mother and child, tied to each other by blood. Looking at the little girl, she said gently, “I will do my very best to be there.”
Eula paled. “You mean…you’re not sure?”
“I might be busy---”
“I’d love to know with what, cara. Mario’s informed me that you’ve already filed a leave of absence with the university.”
Vivian’s eyes widened at the realization that her husband already knew she had stopped attending her classes. “Have you been keeping tabs on me through my bodyguards?”
“I don’t have to.” Luca’s tone was casual. “A glance at gossip websites is all I need to know what you’re up to.”
At his words, Vivian realized she had another reason not to attend Eula’s PTC, and she lowered her fork back to the table, having lost her appetite completely. The university had handed out suspensions to most of the students caught at the party, and in retaliation those same students had been granting interviews to everyone who cared to ask.
They all said the same thing, too, painting themselves as victims of a miserable billionaire’s wife who was jealous of their youth and beauty. It was the most ludicrous argument, but the media had shockingly lapped it all up and Vivian was now the millennial generation’s favorite practice target for online bashing.
When Eula left the table to go back upstairs to her room, Vivian cleared her throat, saying, “About the PTC---”
“Shall I say it for you?” Luca’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You don’t intend to come at all.”
“I only want what’s best for Eula,” she defended herself. “You read the news, too. You’ve seen how much they hate me. What if they show up---”
“Then they’ll be arrested for causing a disturbance in public,” Luca said flatly. “It’s not your fault they went against the law, cara.”
“I know that.” And she did, but neither did it prevent her from feeling just a little guilty. “If I weren’t there, no one would have a need to call the police and no one would have to find out---”
“It was still their choice to take the risk of getting caught,” Luca said curtly. “If they cared so much about not having their academic records blemished before graduating then they should have thought about it before getting drunk and high---”
She cut him off, mumbling, “And what about those who believe in Donald’s side of the story?” She looked away, not wanting to see his expression as she forced herself to speak out. “They think I came on to him because I was drunk and b-bored and that I wanted someone---”
“Younger and more exciting?” Luca finished silkily. When she only nodded, he asked, “Do you want him because he’s younger and more exciting?”
Horrified, she turned to look back at him, gasping, “No!” She shook her head vehemently. “You know how I’ve always thought about him, and he’s the least exciting person I’ve ever met---”
“Then I see no reason why we must bother about him at all,” Luca dismissed. “What is essential is how much Eula wants you to be there---”
“But if Maria’s there---”
“Basta.”
Vivian jumped in her seat at the billionaire’s suddenly savage tone and the way he sharply came to his feet.
Their eyes clashed, his light blue gaze seething with fury and frustration, and her green eyes filled with unconscious plea.
The billionaire breathed hard, willing himself to calm down. His wife looked terrified, and he didn’t like that. But there were a whole host of other things he didn’t like either, and although he had tried to give Vivian as much time as she needed to realize that she was wrong---
They had come to the end of the line.
Vivian stiffened when her husband crouched in front of her.
“L-Luca?”
The billionaire reached for her hands, covering them with his.
He looked up at her, and her heart ached painfully at how beautiful he was.
“I’m sorry,” she said brokenly.
Luca inhaled deeply. “Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”
His wife slowly shook her head. “But I made you angry, didn’t I?”
“Yes.” She flinched, but he still didn’t allow himself to lie. “You did. And that you don’t even know why I’m furious makes me even angrier.” Her eyes widened, and she started to speak, but he shook his head. “There is something I must say, cara.”
The finality in his voice terrified her.
“Luca?” When he only looked at her, Vivian’s terror grew and she realized that this was it. “Luca, please---”
“Do you see me and Eula as your family, Vivi?”
“Yes,” she cried out passionately. “Luca, yes---”
“And yet…you keep pushing us towards Maria. You keep holding yourself back from us. You keep hiding things to yourself and you keep acting based on what other people think while seemingly not caring about what Eula and I feel.”
Vivian was pale. She had never, never thought of looking at it from that perspective and now that she did---
Desperation struck her, and she whispered, “Luca, I---”
“You probably think you were being nice all this time, but the truth is…it only makes you seem like you do not care to fight for Eula and me.”
Luca released her hands.
No.
“If you are so bent on giving us away then I shall make it easy for you.”
And slowly, the billionaire slid to his feet.
No.
This couldn’t be happening.
This couldn’t be the end.
This couldn’t be.
“We’ll choose Maria then.”
A soundless cry broke out of her parted lips.
The billionaire’s jaw clenched. “That is what you were thinking we would eventually do, did you not, cara? Then so be it. We will choose her. We choose her.”
And he started walking away.
“Luca,” she whispered.
But the billionaire didn’t look back.
The door closed behind him, and she was alone.
She might always be alone, and the thought left her numb in shock.
For several minutes, Vivian remained frozen in her seat, unable to grasp the reality of having her husband walk out on her.
She had imagined this happening a painfully countless number of times ever since Maria had walked back into their lives. She had imagined how agonizing the pain would be of losing Luca and Eula and yet none of it compared to reality.
A sob escaped her, the rawness scratching her throat, the sound echoing in the empty room.
Luca was right.
All this time she had been too caught up at with what other people were going to think or say abo
ut her that she had forgotten to care for those who mattered most to her.
Luca.
Eula.
Her family.
All this time she had allowed herself to drown in self-pity, not realizing that her family was suffering because of her.
All this time she had allowed people like Maria to create a gap between her and her family, a gap that wasn’t there in the first place and should never have existed---
Until she had allowed her own insecurities to get in the way.
Vivian scrambled to her feet.
It wasn’t too late, she told herself feverishly as she hurried up the stairs.
It couldn’t be too late.
Luca loved her, and because he did he had to forgive her for being stupid from time to time. He had to.
Because he loved her, and he and Eula were…family.
Chapter Nine
It was a warm sunny afternoon when parents started to arrive at the prestigious school that Eula’s kindergarten class was a part of. It was a parade of one expensive car after another rolling up the driveway, but the Italian billionaire was still the one to turn all heads when he finally stepped out of his limousine with his little girl in tow.
The other fathers straightened self-consciously with a mixture of envy and disbelief at the dashing appearance Luca Valencia made. He was only a few years younger than most of them were, and yet he looked completely different from the rest of them. While most of the fathers sported thinning hair and beer bellies, every inch of the Italian billionaire was of prime, physical perfection.
In the end, the only way the other fathers were able to console themselves was with a reminder that Luca Valencia’s life was far from perfect. If the Internet rumors were to be true, his wife was nothing but a social-climbing party girl who liked to play with younger boys.
The thought had the other fathers sniggering among themselves, and none of them made an effort to befriend the billionaire. Unfortunately, doing so gave them little pleasure since it didn’t appear like Luca Valencia cared or even noticed that he was being deliberately snubbed.
With the parent-teacher conference still an hour away from officially starting, cocktails and canapés were served at the school’s expansive lawns. White picnic tables had also been rented for the school’s esteemed guests, their surfaces covered by silk tablecloths overlaid with red-and-white checkered table runners.
Luca was alone at his table, surrounded by his bodyguards, when Eula came running back to him with an expectant look, arms wrapped tightly around her favorite doll. “Is Vivi coming?”
He smiled down at her while wiping the smudges of dirt on her face. “Not yet.”
“Are you really, really, really, really sure she’s coming?”
“Absolutely.” And he was, because despite appearances being on the contrary and no doubt even with his wife thinking he had left her – the Italian billionaire was banking on the fact that he and Eula meant the world to Vivian.
They were her life, just as she was theirs.
So she would come, as soon as she realized the truth.
An air of heavy perfume reached him, and Luca didn’t need to look up to know that it was his ex-wife. When he saw his daughter’s face fall, the billionaire thought, This one has also come to the end of its line. He had only humored Maria’s sudden interest in their daughter to see if something would come out of it. For Eula’s sake, he had hoped that Maria had indeed turned over a new leaf. But if all his ex-wife could do was make his little girl unhappy---
Since courtesy demanded it of him, Luca stood up, murmuring politely, “It is good that you made it on time, Maria.”
“Naturalmente,” his wife returned throatily. She turned to their daughter, bestowing upon the little girl a loving look. “I am eager to know how my lovely Eula is doing at school.” Turning her back on the billionaire to face Eula, she asked with a smile, “Did you miss me, darling?” While her voice was affectionate, her eyes held a steely glint of warning for the little girl.
Eula’s grip on her doll tightened. “I missed you.”
Maria glanced at Luca over her shoulder, saying sadly, “I have spent too much time away from our baby.”
“You are welcome to visit her anytime.” Luca managed to keep his tone level despite seeing the distress that his daughter was working hard to hide. After helping Maria to one of the chairs, Luca said gently to Eula, “Go along and play with your friends, principesa. I will keep your mother company.”
The way Eula’s eyes brightened with relief told him he had done the right thing. “Si, Papa. Grazie.” And then she was running away without looking back at Maria.
“How time flies, no?” Maria remarked with a sigh. “I was thinking I’d like to have Eula with me back in Tuscany next Saturday,” she murmured. “When we are alone, she tells me how much she misses me and that she badly wants a mother like the other children.”
“Is that so?” As the billionaire spoke, he glanced absently behind Maria, where the school’s back entrance was located, and his eyes widened. Everyone else’s reaction was the same, and the fathers who had earlier sported disparaging thoughts about the billionaire’s wife couldn’t believe their eyes.
Walking into the lawn was Vivian, looking casually elegant in jeans and a loose peach silk blouse that fell to her knees. Her face was beautifully made up with just the right touch of makeup, dark eye shadow to make her eyes smoky and the palest hint of blush on her cheeks.
She didn’t look like a social-climbing party girl at all, the other men thought uneasily. They looked at their wives, and it was obvious the women thought the same thing, too. Then they glanced furtively at the Italian billionaire, who despite sharing a table with his equally infamous ex-wife, only had eyes for the other woman heading his way.
The way Luca Valencia was looking at his second wife, and the way she was looking at him---
It became rather shamefully clear to all the parents and faculty members that the marriage between the two was a love match.
Luca didn’t allow himself to even smile as he stared at his wife. He would bet his entire fortune his wife had gone to a salon and had a makeover, thinking she needed to look stand out next to his exotic Italian ex-wife. And so she had succeeded, and his lips compressed to a thinner line at the thought.
She stood out perfectly, with her tri-colored hair.
Vivian came to a stop just a foot away from his table, and it was testament to just how thick-skinned Maria was that she didn’t even seem to sense Vivian’s presence. The way she tossed her hair about while gushing over her so-called bonding with Eula told the billionaire that while she did notice more people staring at them, Maria’s vanity had convinced her that she was the reason for it.
He looked back at his Vivi, and she stared back at him, everything he wanted to see and hear written in her eyes.
This, he thought, staring at the way her hair started out with the shade of carrots from the roots, turned midnight blue in the middle while the last few inches were the shade of neon green.
This was the Vivian he had fallen in love with.
An adorably imperfect girl…who only had eyes for him.
Ants in her pants, ants in her pants, Vivian thought dazedly as she stared at her husband. She should stop acting like she had them, but she just couldn’t. Everyone was staring at her and although most of the parents seemed able to tolerate her presence, there were still a few who openly sneered and snubbed her. It made Vivian want to crawl under a rock, but she valiantly fought against the urge to hide herself.
She was done being a pushover, done letting public opinion dictate her life.
She loved Luca and Eula.
She loved her family.
And she was willing to fight for them.
Armed with these intentions, Vivian was about to take a step forward when she heard Luca’s ex-wife announce dramatically, “I have a confession to make.”
Vivian froze. Confession? She suddenly remembered Maria’s
email and the hairs at the back of her neck stood. Was Maria about to ask Luca to take her back? And if Maria did, would he---
Her eyes flew back to her husband, but the Italian billionaire was no longer gazing at Vivian. Instead, his smoldering blue eyes rested on his ex-wife, and Vivian had an appalling urge to run forward yelling and beating her chest like a caveman about to defend her property.
No!
Even as Vivian remembered the videos and photos that Maria had sent her---
The way a younger Luca and Maria had smiled into each other’s eyes as they had their wedding dance---
The torrid kiss he had given his first bride---
She didn’t care.
She loved Luca now, and---
Vivian saw the billionaire’s ex-wife reach for Luca’s hand, and she gasped.
Maria heard the gasp coming from behind her but pretended not to notice even as satisfaction filled her. Thinking that she had shocked another parent with her forwardness, Maria kept her hand on her ex-husband’s in hopes of giving people enough time to take lots and lots of photos.
She wanted Vivian slapped with evidence of Luca’s interest in her. The American nobody Luca married was so ludicrously easy to read, and one look at her told Maria that Vivian was the type to suffer in silence, a mouse that would run away crying at the first sign of her husband’s betrayal. She was exactly the type of woman that was easy to get rid of, and Maria was all for that.
When Luca started to retrieve his hand, Maria’s grip tightened, and Luca raised a brow at her.
“I still haven’t made my confession,” Maria reminded him.
“And you need to hold my hand because---”
“This might come as a shock,” she uttered in a low voice, “but Eula told me she’s been suffering verbal abuse from your wife.” Maria waited for an explosion that didn’t come, and frustration ate at her. Why wasn’t he reacting the way he was supposed to?
Luca had always been deadly serious when it came to Eula, and it had even been one of the constant reasons behind their frequent quarrels. The billionaire had wanted her to care more for their daughter while she believed he cared too much.
