by Ana Adams
Turning to her mother, she looked for back-up. But her mother, as always, looked torn and meek. She was no help when it came to her father’s fanciful plans. All she ever did was pray and hope for the best.
“I won’t allow you to interfere,” she repeated, more forcefully this time. “For all that is holy in this life, please, just stay out of it.”
“I need to make some calls.” He disappeared from the kitchen, muttering under his breath. Antonia huffed and rushed up to her bedroom, helplessness clawing at her.
Milan was a dead-end street. She’d never be happy here, not with her father’s interference and ridiculous revenge plots. She needed to get away; strike out on her own, far, far away. Though she’d thought Monaco had been the place, she had to look elsewhere, somewhere far away.
An idea sparked as she returned to her bedroom. Pulling open her email, she sifted through the old messages until she found exactly what she was looking for. A job offer, dated two months ago, from a design firm in New York City.
She’d declined politely at the time. Back then, her sights had been on Europe only, somewhere closer to home. But now, she wanted off the damn continent. Away from the scandals, the strife, the subterfuge.
The time was now.
She picked up her phone and dialed the firm’s number.
Chapter Twelve
Louis was ready to climb the walls with how anxious he was to fix the mess with Antonia.
Two weeks, hundreds of calls and texts, approximately zero responses. She was staunch in her decision, but he could be just as staunch in his pursuit. And he wouldn’t give up.
His approach included several different avenues of contact. Underlings had been assigned recon work, including calling her parent’s company and inquiring, scouring the internet for clues, and visiting Milan to check things out.
No sight of her. And even more worrisome was that the calls to the company—at first politely refused—now resulted in one curt response: “She no longer works here.”
Fear gnawed at him in moments when the adrenaline waned. Something had to crop up—someday, somewhere. With all the tools at his disposal, she couldn’t just disappear into the ether.
One evening—finally—one little tidbit surfaced. He jumped on it like a golden nugget. In an Italian tabloid, a headline on the cover of the newest edition: “Poker Champ Turns Business Woman.”
Holding his breath, he read the article so quickly he could barely digest the words: Antonia had taken a job with a design firm in New York City. Her poker career was temporarily on hold.
The news settled into him like an anchor at the bottom of the ocean. This…he hadn’t seen this coming in a million years. New York City? He could be there in two days. And he would make the arrangements to go. And he’d find her.
But before he did, he wanted to make a visit to her parents. Throughout his search, he’d realized that he needed to bury the hatchet. He’d swallow his pride and do whatever it took. He wanted Antonia in his life, and she came with parents, no matter how unsavory her father was.
The first step had to be reaching out to smooth the edges down.
He set an assistant to work scheduling flights to New York from Milan, and then arranged the royal jet for the hop to Milan and her parent’s company. He arrived right at ten a.m. on Tuesday morning, confident that Signor Giovanni would be there. Approaching the front door of the business with a steely veneer, he rapped firmly.
The door opened and a young man peered out. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here for Signor Giovanni.”
“Follow me.”
Louis followed the young man down a dim hallway, past tempered glass barriers dividing the fabrication room from the offices. He led him through a labyrinth of halls, until finally they arrived at one large, grand office at the end. The door was already open; Signor Giovanni sat focused on paperwork, not looking at them.
The young man excused himself and Louis entered the office, clearing his throat. Signor Giovanni snapped his head up, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Who are you?”
“Prince Louis of Monaco.”
Signor Giovanni’s eyes shrunk to slits and his neck flushed red. “Get out of my building.”
“You will listen to what I have to say.”
“You have no business here, and you had no business impregnating my daughter.”
The words clanked around, foreign and strange inside his head. He blinked hard, feeling the world whoosh away from him. He reached for the back of the chair nearby.
“What did you say?”
“She is pregnant and alone somewhere, with no one to look after her, and it is all your fault.” He rose from his seat, face fiery and stern.
“You…you said she’s pregnant?”
“Get out!”
Louis shook the clouds from his head. “Sir, I know where Antonia is.”
His face softened, but only by a fraction. “Tell me, so I can go to her.”
“I want to find her too. Especially after learning this.” His head swirled as if it was full of helium and floating up, up and away. Could it really be true? “I can find her, and I can talk sense into her. But, sir—we must come to an agreement.”
“What agreement?” He bristled, but he was listening at least.
“We work together.” He held his hands out at his sides, imploring, heart racing like a rabbit as he prayed for a positive outcome.
“Impossible.” Her father sniffed and turned, but didn’t shut him out completely. Louis stepped closer, cautious, as if treading a minefield and not the lushly carpeted office of a businessman.
“We must work together, and it can be done. When your daughter’s best interest is at the heart of this, we will find a way.” He swallowed hard. “For the sake of the baby. My child. Your grandchild.”
The words flew out of his mouth, and somewhere deep inside, excitement burbled. Thank God his assistant had already arranged the flight to New York. He was so desperate to see Antonia and make amends that he could hardly see straight. The puzzle pieces began fitting themselves together in his mind as he worked through his approach.
“There is no way forward. You must tell me where she is and then be out of her life forever.”
“I cannot agree to that.” He pinned him with a firm stare. “I am in love with your daughter.”
The old man scoffed, his belly jiggling. “Nonsense.”
“I fell in love fast and hard. I want to be with her. I have a flight to the United States booked for tomorrow, and I’m going to find her and be with her.”
Confusion crossed his face. “United States?”
“I told you—I found her.”
“Why would she go there?” He pounded the desk, muttering under his breath. “If you find her…what will you do?”
“I’ll beg for forgiveness, ask for her hand in marriage, and tell her the most joyous news yet—that her father and I have reconciled in the interest of this family’s future.”
He flushed deep red but didn’t respond, rolling a pen back and forth in his hand. After a few excruciatingly quiet moments passed by, he huffed and met his gaze.
“Assuming she accepts your apology and your offer…what are your terms of reconciliation?”
Louis stiffened slightly. He was negotiating on his daughter’s happiness…but he’d been prepared on this point. “Once she is part of the royal family, I will have no qualms ensuring that Giovanni Designs stays on board as one of Monaco’s chief linen importers.”
The change to her father’s countenance was as if he’d suddenly spotted a rainbow in the room. His whole demeanor shifted, and he rushed over to him, offering his hand.
“Well, my boy, let’s hope she says yes.”
“Even if she doesn’t…the agreement stands,” he clarified. “I’m not doing this on the condition that she agrees. I want to bury the hatchet with you. I’ll overlook the heinous lies you spread about me if you can accept that I love your daughter. Your c
ompany won’t be the principal supplier, but you will be among the ranks. It’s important for Monaco to stake its own claim in the industry.”
Her father nodded firmly. “Agreed.”
Before they unlocked hands, Louis added one more thing. “And you’ll publish a public apology about the lies you spread. It doesn’t have to be anything dramatic—just clarifying that your sources were wrong and you apologize for the unintentional slander.”
He faltered, swallowing as he mulled over the proposition. Meeting Louis’s gaze again, the older man nodded. “Agreed.”
Louis smiled tightly, both relieved and uncertain about the task before him. Mending the family fences was one thing, but what if Antonia didn’t agree? What if she turned him away, made him a stranger in his own child’s life?
Worries didn’t solve anything. Now he had to focus on getting to New York and sweeping her off her feet.
His happiness depended on it.
Chapter Thirteen
Antonia trudged up the steps of the apartment building that was her quaint, temporary home. Her new company had not only fast-tracked her employment, they’d allowed her to use the company apartment while she sought her own lodgings.
New York City was bright, bustling, sometimes dirty, sometimes obnoxious, but totally and completely everything she’d been looking for. Each morning she woke up and peered out the bedroom window, watching the people do their things on the street below, fascinated by the strange vowels and harsh accents of the native New Yorkers.
Her own English was getting a work-out. She’d considered herself fluent before arriving, but tuning her ear to this brand of American English was far more trying than she’d imagined.
Life was fantastic in the Big Apple—she felt precisely unnoticed while at the same in the middle of everything. She could see herself here for a very long time.
She only missed one tiny thing.
Rounding the corner to the next flight, she sighed as her mind returned to Lou. Thoughts of him had etched grooves in her brain, sad and painful tracks that always led her back to the same conclusion: she loved him. Though ridiculous and absurd, she had fallen for him and was carrying his child, and each day away from him felt like a small weight added to her back, a load she desperately wanted to slough off.
She needed the time away—from her parents, from Italy, from Monaco, from all of it. She’d call her parents soon enough, withstand the criticism and the judgments, and try to explain to them why she’d felt the need to flee. They might not ever understand, but it was her life, not theirs.
And as for Louis…
She hoisted her purse higher onto her shoulder and started climbing the final flight. Each night she grappled with calling him, just to hear his voice. How could he have nestled so deeply into her heart in such a short amount of time? The tiny baby growing inside her changed things, of course, but even without the pregnancy, she would feel this way. She would want him.
She pinched her eyes shut, struggling to erase the thoughts. She needed to be clearheaded. She’d figure out what to do later—something would come.
When she finally reached the landing on her floor, her gaze snagged on a tall figure leaning against the door to her apartment. Icy green eyes watched her. He straightened when she stepped forward, nervousness clouding his face.
Her breath evaporated in her throat. Frozen to her spot, she couldn’t do anything but gawk. Her purse slid off her shoulder, and she couldn’t even move to grab it.
Relief suffused her.
“Antonia.” His deep voice was like a caress.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came for you. To find you.” He paused, running a hand through his hair, looking more scared than she’d ever seen him. “I’ve missed you so much. I just needed to talk to you.”
Rooted to her spot, she stared openly at him. He was the most unlikely mirage, a heaven-sent parcel at her doorstep. “How did you even find me?”
A grin ghosted across his face. “I have my ways.”
She gulped, scooping up her purse, taking a few tentative steps toward him. “I don’t know what you want to hear from me.”
“I want anything you have to tell me.” He cleared his throat. “I just want to hear you. And I want you to hear me.”
Another piece of her resolve melted and flowed away. “Yeah, well.”
“I was wrong not to be upfront with you. But I didn’t realize how hard I would fall for you. I’m sorry for that. I’m so sorry.”
She yanked her gaze away from him. Looking into his eyes now would completely undo her.
He went on. “You had every right to be angry. I didn’t even realize what I was getting into when I approached you at the table. I had no idea…this would be the result.”
“What do you mean, this? That you’d be forced to fly to New York City to talk to me?”
“That I would fall in love with you.”
Silence filled the hallway. Tears pricking her eyes, she shifted, trying to play the casual, unaffected part as well as she could.
“I approached you with one intention, but I can’t tell you how quickly that fell away. I’ve never smeared your name. That was my goal—I’ll admit it. I wanted to get revenge on your father. I wanted to hurt him the way he hurt me. But I never went through with it because I couldn’t go through with it.”
She looked to the ceiling, willing the tears away. Stay strong.
“I just want to be with you, Antonia.” His voice grew soft, breaking a little. He stepped closer. “I’ll do whatever you want. You can stay here and work and do what you need to do. I respect that, and I respect your needs. I just…I want you in my life.”
She gnawed at the inside of her cheek before blurting out, “I’m pregnant with your child.”
His eyes misted over and a smile broke out on his face. “I know. Your father told me.”
“My father?”
He nodded, coming close enough to place a hand on her arm. “I reconciled with him. He wants your happiness.”
Fireworks burst inside her head as the news settled in. It didn’t seem possible. The man was not only gorgeous and royalty and shrewd and articulate…he was also apparently the fiercest negotiator in the world. Their reconciliation had never even entered her mind as a possibility.
“You are amazing,” she murmured, looking him up and down. “You’re practically a magician.”
“I just want this chapter to end, so the next one can begin.” He grabbed her arms, looking deep into her eyes. His eyes were still misty, voice straining as he spoke. “I will wait for you forever. I will always be there for our child, even if you don’t choose me. But please, Antonia—just think about it.”
The final words broke the barrier around her heart. A few tears escaped, and she let her purse slip off her shoulder again, wiping them away quickly. The scent of him invaded her senses, coating her in familiarity, a sense of protection that, since its absence, now felt like returning home in a way she hadn’t known possible.
Tilting her head up to look him in the eye, she laughed through her tears. “Oh, just shut up and kiss me.”
Epilogue
Ten months later…
Antonia checked and rechecked the diaper bag before she left the small antechamber in the palace. In the foyer, her mother and father conferred with Louis, who stood stiff and regal, hands clasped behind his back. They had been so warm and supportive since her and Louis’s reconciliation. They were even supportive of her decision to stay in New York for the first three months of the pregnancy, and then transfer to the Monaco-based branch of Giovanni Designs to begin training the Monacan staff in her designs. Some days, she cried just thinking about all the ways that this relationship and this child had brought her family together. She’d never imagined it possible.
At the sound of her heels clicking against the marble tiles, Louis turned, a smile lighting up his face.
“My sweet.” He pressed his lips to her forehead and then guided th
eir group down the hall toward the chapel. “Is everything set?”
“Yes, it’s all there.” She’d been fretting over the contents of the diaper bag far too much that day. But it was the most important day in her son’s life, at least so far—the day of his christening, in front of all of Monacan society. “I just hope he doesn’t cry. All the strange faces will scare him, I’m sure of it.”
Louis smiled and rubbed the back of her neck as they walked. “Everything will be fine.”
In the archway of the chapel, Louis’s mother stood gently rocking the young Prince Albert, officially second in line for the throne after Louis. He waved with his tiny hand as they approached.
Wringing her hands, Antonia smiled at the advisors lining the doorway and peeked inside the chapel to get a glimpse of the crowd. She gulped. Holy crap. Hundreds of people, dying to catch a glimpse of the newest royal family member.
“Okay. We’ve got this.” She didn’t sound convinced, even to her own ears.
Louis pulled her tight against him, murmuring, “You look fabulous, our son is perfect, and everyone will remember this day at the most fantastic thing they’ve ever seen.”
She nodded, searching his green eyes for reassurance. “I guess it’s time, then.”
She turned to her mother-in-law, holding out her hands for Albert. Cradling his head carefully, she eased him into her arms. Both her mother and mother-in-law helped arranged Albert’s coronation gown. Tears pricked at her eyes—the emotion of the day was overwhelming. This was her baby’s first foray into public, after a closely guarded four weeks with family, but she wondered if some of it wasn’t the post-partum coping during the first month.
Taking a deep breath, she looked up into Louis’s eyes, the warmth of their love bolstering her, propelling her forward.
In her arms, Albert cooed, his own bright eyes looking between her and his father.
“I love you, my sweet prince,” she cooed at him. Looking up at Louis, she added, “And this prince too.”
THE END
