My Italian Prince: Clean Romance

by Jasmin Jacobs

  “How can I help?” Vanessa turned around and saw a skinny woman standing on the steps of the door. She’s wearing black jeans with her hair thrust up into a ponytail and holding a young boy on her hip.

  “How can I help you?” she repeated the question as Vanessa might not have understood her. And it wasn’t easy, as the woman had such a heavy French accent Vanessa first wasn’t sure if it even was English she spoke.

  “Oh, well, hi,“ Vanessa mumbled not sure on how to continue. “I’m looking for an Alex Di Savoy, he’s supposed to have a meeting here today. Is he around?”

  ”You’re a friend of him?”

  ”I’m not a friend exactly, but I’d like to see him.”

  ”You a social worker?” The woman's eyes narrowed. ”Police?”

  ”No!” Vanessa said shocked. ”Nothing like that, I’m just… A business associate.”

  ”You American?”

  ”Yes, yes I am”

  The woman sniffed and nodded. ”Well, you just missed them. They took off to the Trailer Park across the road were his friend stays”

  ”They took off to a trailer?” Vanessa said in shock. ”Do you know who he was with?”

  She shrugged. ”Just the bearded guy who lives in the trailer and another man, old looking and in a suit.”

  Must be Brunetti and someone else she was talking about.

  ”Ok, thanks for the information. I’ll just take off then. Thanks again.”

  It was no time to loose so she gave the woman one last friendly smile and turned on her heel to leave. This was so strange. She had to find out what was going on. A trailer? Whom did Alex know who lived in a Trailer Park?

  Vanessa was just about to open the door the get out from the depressive Motel Lobby when she came to a sudden halt. She recognized that voice. Oh, my God. It was Mitch. What was he doing here? Vanessa quickly jumped behind a plastic table with only three legs left and crawled underneath it.

  She watched in utter shock as Mitch approached the lobby area with Brunetti and Alex in tow. Mitch seemed upset and gesticulated in a wild manner.

  ”Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Mitch yelled at the two men who tried to catch up with him as he stomped along the lobby.

  ”Come on Mitch,” Alex tried calming him down. ”You know I care about you too much to do that. Why don’t you just sit down for a while and listen to us?” This retreat or whatever Gian-Carlo had found is supposed to be top notch. Everyone who goes is cured. At least you have to try it out. See what it’s like.”

  ”Absolutely not. It’s not a retreat, it’s a fucking rehab for people with addiction, don’t you think I know that? It’d be a waste of time for me going there since I’m not an addict!”

  ”Mitch, listen, you are an addict. You’re addicted to almost anything one can possibly be addicted to!”

  Vanessa watched with wide eyes as Alex and Brunetti gave it all to convince Mitch he was in desperate need of going to rehab. Her legs began feeling numb in the uncomfortable pose she had to sit in under the table. This was humiliating. Not even close to a True Detective move.

  After what felt like forever, the trio stopped babbling and took a seat around a table, well, Alex was standing, as there were only two chairs available. Unfortunately, they were too far away from her to eavesdrop on the conversation anymore. Instead, she was forced to listen in on an old couple sitting at the table next to hers having an intense argument over something in French. She didn't understand one word of what they said, they spoke so rapidly her French from school didn't do much to help her.

  Finally, the men stood up and Mitch slung his arms around Alex and hugged him hard. It looked as if he were crying. Brunetti stood next to them looking uncomfortable at this sudden display of emotion between the two younger men. It looked as if he was going to turn around and leave when Mitch threw himself at him and embraced the older man as well. Vanessa couldn’t help but smile as she watched the three of them standing in a circle man-hugging it out.

  Love Hurt, Love stings, love huuuurts. Vanessa tried to locate the source of the sound. Oh, shit, it’s my phone! She quickly fished out her phone and pressed on all buttons at once in an attempt to silence it. How could she forget to switch her phone off, during her mission? This was amateurish even for a beginner like her. She didn't dare look in Alex's direction, scared he might have heard the signal.

  “Ouch!” A hard knock on the top of the table startled her, she jumped up and bumped her head in the table. Slowly she put out her head and looked right into Alex confused eyes.

  “Vanessa!” Alex looked at her in astonishment. ”What on earth are you doing here?” He sounded so aghast she immediately regretted the whole idea of coming here.

  “I, I just wanted to see what you were up to,” Vanessa suddenly felt defensive. “And it seems as my feeling was right. This is not a business meeting!”

  “No, Vanessa you’re right about that. But still, I really don’t understand why you’re sitting under a table spying on me?”

  “Hmm, well. I’m sorry about that part I guess,” Vanessa said apologetic. “But you have to admit you lied to me about the meeting?”

  “Perhaps I was but it was to protect Mitch, It just comes by habit. We always have meetings in secret, because of the paparazzi.”

  “Is it Vanessa?” Mitch peeked at her from behind Alex back. “I need to apologize to you, for what happened at the Gala. I wasn't myself. I was drunk, I never meant to scare you or offend you.” Mitch seemed so sincere Vanessa felt sorry for him.

  “It’s ok Mitch, let’s just forget about it, ok?”

  “Really? That’s such a relief!” Mitch's eyes were tearing up and he turned around sobbing. Brunetti patted him on his back and put his arms around his shoulders as he led him away while giving Vanessa an angry look as if the crying was her fault.

  In the car ride back to the village both Alex and Vanessa sat quietly. Vanessa had so many questions for him, but she didn’t know how to approach him when he looked so angry. Alex had looked angry for over an hour’s drive. It must be exhausting to wrinkle his forehead like that for such a long time, Vanessa thought.

  “Hey, watch out so you don’t end up with that wrinkle in your forehead permanently,” she said in a vain try of joking to see if that might change the atmosphere. It didn’t. Alex didn’t answer and continued to sit in silence.

  Vanessa sighed. Perhaps it had been a stupid idea to follow him, but her gut feeling had been right. Something had been going on. It wasn’t a business meeting he had been attending, it was an intervention for Mitch. Apparently, Mitch was in real danger and even if Alex was both angry and disappointed on Mitch for his behavior at the Gala. Brunetti had convinced him of coming.

  After Mitch and Brunetti had disappeared from the lobby, Alex and Vanessa had gone for a walk and Alex had explained what was happening. After the Gala Mitch’s staff had been worried about him as he’d started chain smoking and drinking constantly. When he had left for Copenhagen and accidentally overdosed on magic mushrooms. Is that even possible? Vanessa had thought to herself, but Alex looked so concerned for his friend, she’d decided to let it go. They’d felt obliged to contact Alex and Brunetti for support and it was nothing but pure luck the press hadn’t found out. If they had, Mitch whole career could’ve been in jeopardy.

  They’d decided to go talk to him, and after a long and difficult conversation, Alex and Brunetti had finally managed to convince Mitch that he needed to check into a rehab. It was a place in the states called the Garden of Peace. Mitch was already heading there on a private jet and Alex hoped he would stay for the whole program.

  Vanessa hoped so too. Even after what he’d done she couldn’t help but liking him. He had a good heart, she could feel it. She even had told him that when they said their goodbyes outside the Motel, which led to Mitch again falling in tears and had to be led away by Brunetti. Mitch had been sobbing and dried his eyes on the older man’s shoulder and Brunetti had pulled off his suit jacket wi
th a disgusted facial expression and tossed it into the backseat of his car.

  They had left Brunetti standing alone on the parking lot as Alex had refused to go back with him and instead leaving with Vanessa to go back to the village.

  Vanessa didn’t know for how long they were supposed to stay there, but she was happy for Alex´s choice. His hand was placed steadily on the stick and she touched it with hers, to see if she would get a reaction. Alex immediately took her hand in his and held it tight.

  “You need to start to trust me, Vanessa.” Alex said sounding hurt, his eyes focusing on the road. She could hear he was still angry, but at least he talked to her, which was a good sign that he might at least consider forgiving her for spying on him.

  “From now on I will always trust you,” Vanessa promised and leaned over and placed a kiss on his mouth. She meant it, she wanted nothing else than to trust him. She wasn’t sure she knew how, but she gave a promise to herself that from now on she'd really put in an effort to be more trustful.

  Chapter 15

  For the next few days, Vanessa, and Alex didn’t mention anything about what had gone down at the scruffy Motel. They just enjoyed being by themselves and took long walks in the village, went bicycling in the hills and smelled the different scents from the flowers and herbs at the stands in the village market. Vanessa almost felt as if all was forgotten when Alex during one of their picnics suddenly decided to went the subject.

  “Vanessa,” he said with a soft voice. A voice she by now recognized as the one where he wanted to tell her something and didn’t wanted her to overreact. Which was not necessary since she never overreacted, or at least rarely.

  “I can’t stop thinking about Mitch and how he’s doing over there,” he said.

  “I know, me neither, but I think we should've heard something if he had left or doing worse at that place and It’s supposed to be great for people with his kind of problems, you said so yourself.” Vanessa said and tried sounding more sure of herself than she was.

  In fact, she wasn’t convinced at all Mitch had settled in at the Garden of Peace. What she had understood he was in such a bad shape when Alex and Brunetti had decided on doing an intervention that she wasn’t at all sure some yoga lessons would be enough.

  “Yeah, you are right,” Alex didn’t sound convinced. He laid down in the grass and stared at the cloud free sky.

  “Can you believe he actually lived in a trailer park for over a week? He’d stayed there ever since he got back from Copenhagen. That’s crazy even for Mitch,” Alex closed his eyes.

  “That was insane, I was in shock when I saw the place,” Vanessa agreed.

  “Lucky they found him, though,” Vanessa said comforting and put her head on Alex's stomach.

  Vanessa wanted to bring up the subject of Brunetti so she could tell Alex what she knew. But she hesitated. She knew it would upset him, and what if he wouldn't believe her? For some reason he trusted Brunetti with his life, she couldn’t understand why but guessed it was because Brunetti taken the role as Alex father figure ever since his parents died in that horrible plane crash. But now, when Alex was a grown man and didn’t need him in the same way she didn’t quite get why he depended on him so much. Perhaps it was time for him to learn what kind of person Gian-Carlo Brunetti actually was.

  “You know Alex, the night we stayed at the yacht after the Gala,” she said almost whispering.

  “Mm?”

  “I heard something when I sat on the pool deck, I couldn’t sleep and went out to get some air. I accidentally overheard Brunetti talking on the phone with Mitch.”

  “Go on,” Alex didn’t move but she could feel his breathing becoming faster.

  “I heard him say some awful things about me, about you and me,” Vanessa paused, not sure on how to proceed. How was she supposed to tell him his guardian and father figure wanted him miserable, wanted to split them up so he could get Alex to marry someone with a royal status, just to be sure not to lose his privileges as a prince? Maybe it was too much to take in for him right now with everything going on with Mitch.

  “I’m listening,” Alex said, “what did you hear?”

  There was no turning back, she had to come clean about what she'd heard.

  “Gian-Carlo wanted me to leave you and go back to NY without you. He doesn't trust me being with you for who you are but seems to think I'm in it for the money.”

  There, she finally said it, at least parts of it. Alex didn't say a word. He probably needs some time to take it all in, Vanessa thought when she heard a strange noise coming out of his mouth. Oh my god, he’s having a heart attack. What have I done?

  She sat up and looked at Alex in alarm who was now on his knees, rolling around in the grass in convulsions. Was he crying? No, the guy was laughing. Alex was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe and had to sit up. Vanessa just looked at him. Had he gone completely mad? This was no laughing matter!

  “Oh Vanessa, my sweet, sweet Vanessa, you think I don’t know Gian-Carlo´s ways by now. He’s always been this way. He just keeps going on and on about me marrying a princess so I won’t lose my title. This damn title, I couldn't care less, for but it's so important for him. It’s all about his promise to my parents before they died. He’s an old man who takes his word very seriously. But he would never do anything to jeopardize my happiness. Trust me he would never do that.”

  “Oh,” Vanessa felt a bit stupid. Perhaps she had overreacted after all and if it was as Alex said she had nothing to worry about, and maybe, but just maybe Brunetti wasn’t as bad as she had thought.

  She looked at Alex who had laid down again with a smile on his face. “I love you,” she whispered.

  “I love you too, and don’t you ever worry about Gian-Carlo again. He’s harmless. It’s you and me now and he just needs to accept that.”

  “You know I think I will set up a dinner for us three so we can talk and get him to relax. Yeah, that’s what I should do,” Alex seemed pleased with himself.

  “Ok if you think that will work, I’m in,” Vanessa said and laid down next to him again.

  Chapter 16

  “What wine do you prefer?” Alex looked at her over the large menu he was holding.

  They sat in the garden of the village restaurant, run by two brothers, which age was impossible to define, they could be 50, or they could be 102. It didn’t matter, as the food was impeccable, not to mention their dessert of chocolate cakes and strawberries. It was lovely.

  Alex phone buzzed. He took a quick glance at it and then put it back in his pocket again.

  He saw Vanessa's look and just shook his head.

  “Nothing to worry about, it's Gian-Carlo, but he will text me if it's something important. And if it’s not a matter of life and death, he won’t. He hates it, he thinks the phones is too small these days and that his fingers can’t write a message on those tiny digits. He misses the old telegraph I guess,” Alex smiled.

  As an answer to that, his phone buzzed again; “What now?” Alex mumbled a tad annoyed.

  Vanessa watched him as he read the message and then read it again.

  “What’s he saying? Is it Mitch?” She asked worried that something bad had happened.

  “Maybe, it’s not clear but it’ seems as if I need to fix a few things,” Gian-Carlo is writing that Mitch needs some paper transferred and I need to sign them.

  “What kind of papers? That sounds strange!” Vanessa looked at Alex who stared at his phone with frowned eyebrows. He looked worried.

  “Yeah, but it’s probably nothing. I will just get Gian-Carlo to sign them and send them over.”

  “Ok, great,” Vanessa was relieved. For a second she thought Brunetti would ask Alex to come to the city and she was starting to get quite tired of being interrupted at all times by that man.

  Alex tapped in a message and then put his phone away again.

  “Let’s see what’s for dessert shall we?” Alex sounded keen on not letting Brunetti destroy their roman
tic dinner.

  Just as, their hot chocolate cake was about to be served, his phone buzzed once again. Alex ignored it and took a spoonful of cake, smiling at Vanessa.

  It buzzed again.

  “Alex, please just answer him. He won’t stop if you ignore him, you know that.”