by Jennie Lucas
She was talking about Esme, he realized. She and Tess also bore the Zacco name now.
Anger built higher. She was attacking him, and he had to defend himself. “I married you, isn’t that enough? I’ve been a good father. I’ve given you both everything I can. Even you—I’m offering you a position that any other young designer would kill for!”
“I know,” she said softly. “And I’m grateful.”
That was more like it. He leaned forward. “Then—”
“But I don’t want to be your employee. Only your wife.” She blinked back tears. “I wanted so badly for you to love me, Stefano. I would have given everything—my heart, my soul—to make it come true.” Reaching up, Tess unclasped the million-euro diamond necklace. “But I don’t want this.”
Gripping the jewelry in her hand, she held it out to him across the table.
“That necklace is a gift,” he said, hurt. “I bought it for you.”
“Take it back. Wait.” He watched in shock as she pulled the diamond ring off her left hand and added it to the ball of precious jewels she extended toward him. “Take it all. I don’t want it anymore.”
Disoriented, he held out his hand, letting her drop the hard, cold diamonds into his palm.
“Not even the ring?” he said, his heart numb.
Her green eyes looked gray. “You don’t love me.”
“I never promised to love you. Just to honor and cherish. To romance you.”
“I didn’t know the difference then.” She took a deep breath. “Now I do.”
A roar of pain rushed through him, which swiftly turned to anger. Dropping the diamonds to the table with a clatter, he said, “If you’re threatening to divorce me because I can’t give you every single thing you want—”
“Every single thing?” she repeated incredulously.
“You’re being unreasonable,” he ground out. “What does love matter? It’s just a word.”
“Not to me.” Anguished tears filled her eyes. “Please, Stefano. If you cannot love me, then please,” she whispered, “let me go.”
Let her go? Let her go? Every part of him rejected that ridiculous notion. She belonged to him! Tess was his wife. Esme was his child. They belonged with him. At his disposal. At his command.
He set his jaw. “No.”
“You must.” Her sad voice echoed in the great hall, beside the crackling fire. “If you don’t let me go, it will destroy us both.”
He stared at her. “You would throw our marriage away for nothing? Because I won’t say those three words? Because I won’t lie?”
“Because you’re afraid.”
“Afraid,” he sneered.
She nodded. “I understand why, after everything you went through, but Stefano, don’t you understand?” Shaking her head, she choked out, “Loss happens anyway. Whether you’re brave enough to love or not. The answer isn’t to feel nothing until we die. The answer is to seize our joy and live. To love as hard and long as we can.” Tears streaked openly down her face. “As I wanted to love you.”
Stefano’s jaw clenched as he stared at her. Did she think he was a fool? Of course he wanted to love her! He just did not know how! If he could have spoken three words as a magic incantation to make her happy forever, he would have!
But he couldn’t feel them, and he couldn’t lie and pretend he did. He wished he could. Stefano took a deep breath, trying to force the words from his lips. I love you. No one else found it hard. Why did he?
The words choked in his throat.
Savagery filled his heart as he turned away. Fine. He would simply lay down the law. He would tell her how it would be. She was his wife, damn it. She would remain so. She would obey—
Then he heard the quiet heartbreak in her earlier words. If you don’t let me go, it will destroy us both.
He thought of the optimistic, romantic, dreamy-eyed girl she’d been. He looked at the heartbroken woman in front of him now.
When he’d married Tess, he’d honestly thought it was for her own good. He’d believed he could take better care of her than any other man.
He was no longer sure of that.
He said in a low voice, “I have given you everything I have to give.”
“I know,” she whispered.
Stefano rose unsteadily to his feet. He felt dizzy and powerless and cold all over, in a way he hadn’t felt since he was a boy. He stared down at her.
“Go, then,” he said hoarsely. “Take Esme and go.”
Closing her eyes, she took a deep, shuddering breath. When she opened them, they were luminous with grief.
“Thank you.” Rising from the table, she walked slowly up the stairs. Stefano stood by the enormous fireplace in the great hall, frozen in shock.
Surely Tess would come to her senses. Surely she’d realize that they were meant to be together.
But when she came back downstairs five minutes later, she was wearing a coat, with a diaper bag over her shoulder and Esme sleeping in her arms. “I saw Salvatore in the hall. He’ll give me a ride to the airport.”
Stefano looked at his wife and child, and his chest twisted painfully. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want them to go.
“Goodbye,” Tess choked out. She turned to go.
“Wait.”
She stopped, not turning around. Stefano still couldn’t believe this was happening. He came up behind her.
“If you really love me,” he said in a low voice, “how can you leave?”
Tess turned, and the look she gave him cut him to the core. Stefano realized her rose-colored glasses were finally gone. She now saw him exactly for the man he really was.
“I loved an illusion,” she whispered, and left.
CHAPTER TEN
“YOU HAVE SOME NERVE. Stealing my designer.”
Fenella Montfort softened her words with a feline smile. She was sitting behind her black lacquer desk in her office at London’s Zacco headquarters.
“I didn’t steal Aiko Sakurai,” Stefano replied coldly. “She quit after you hired von Schreck to replace her.”
“I intended for them to be co-designers. Creators of a brand-new synergistic vision.”
He gave a grim smile. “Apparently Mrs. Sakurai didn’t see it that way. Your loss. My gain.”
“I still have von Schreck.”
“Which is why you should sell all your shares now. Because once he shows his first collection, your numbers will drop.”
Fenella narrowed her eyes. He returned her gaze coolly.
Stefano should have felt a thrill of triumph. For the last month, since Tess had left him, he’d focused on this goal, day and night. He’d done everything he could to get this meeting today.
His own company, Gioreale S.p.A., had already gotten offers from around the world for Stefano’s controlling interest in the stock. He’d hired away Zacco’s star designer, Aiko Sakurai, by tripling her salary and giving her a large amount of stock, so even if the company sold, she’d be wealthy enough to start her own brand, should she choose. And Fenella Montfort must by now have some inkling how awful Caspar von Schreck would be for Zacco.
For once, Stefano held all the cards.
And he would have traded every one of them, he thought, to have his family back.
Just thinking of Tess caused a deep ache through his body, from his throat to his jaw to his chest to his hips. All of him.
Turning away, Stefano looked out the large window, toward the gray steel and glass of London’s business district, and behind that, the gray November sky. All so gray, Stefano thought. Flat and gray.
“So cheeky,” Fenella said.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to focus on her. “So that’s why you finally agreed to a meeting? Because I stole your designer?” Stefano knew she was as competitive as he was.
“Not just that,” Fenella said. Clicking on her computer, she turned the monitor to face him on the other side of the desk.
A shock rippled through his body.
Tess�
��s picture was on the monitor. He hadn’t expected to see her. He’d spent the last month trying not to think about her, or think at all. Since she’d abandoned him so brutally, their only connection had been through his New York lawyers, working out a custody agreement for Esme. He’d tried to arrange for Tess to receive a generous monthly stipend, not required by their prenuptial agreement. To Stefano’s shock, Tess had refused it.
Even his money, it seemed, was no longer good enough.
Tightening his jaw, he glared at Fenella on the other side of her desk. “Why are you showing me a picture of my wife?”
“Didn’t you read it?”
Stefano looked closer at the screen. It was an online article from a New York newspaper.
It seemed he hadn’t been the only one who’d been busy this past month. Since she’d returned to New York, Tess had already begun her own small fashion studio. Tonight, according to the article, she’d be hosting a charity runway show for her first capsule collection at the Campania Hotel.
Stefano looked back at the picture of Tess. His heart lifted to his throat. She was sitting at a bright green desk in a colorful bohemian office, with their sweet baby daughter playing nearby on a fluffy white rug covered with baby toys. Tess’s beautiful face beamed up at him, her red hair tumbling down her shoulders, her emerald eyes warm. So much light and color. She’d done it even without his help. She’d followed her dreams, on her own terms. He was proud of her, so proud.
Tess had never really needed him, he realized. She’d always had the strength to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. Why had she ever been willing to accept less?
Because of him.
I don’t want to be your employee. Only your wife. I wanted so badly for you to love me, Stefano. I would have given everything—my heart, my soul—to make it come true.
But he couldn’t love her. So she’d left him. She’d started her own small business. A company with integrity. With heart.
Just like Tess.
She was better off without him.
Stefano was filled with grief he hadn’t felt for a long, long time.
Without looking up, he said in a low voice, “Why did you show me this?”
“This is really why I invited you,” Fenella said. “Not because of Aiko Sakurai—at least, not only because of her.” Her cool eyes met his. “But because your wife has left you.”
Stefano looked up sharply. “So?”
“That makes you interesting.”
“How?” His lips twisted bitterly. “You sense weakness?”
“I sense strength.” Tilting her head, Fenella said, “The possibility of a partnership.”
Partnership. At the word, Stefano felt overwhelmed with memories of the partnership he’d had with his wife. The two of them laughing, talking, making love. Supporting each other. Caring for their baby. Pain went through his heart.
“What are you talking about?”
Leaning forward, she said coolly, “We have an opportunity.”
“You’re finally willing to negotiate for Zacco?” he said, leaning back in his chair so he didn’t gag on the overwhelming floral smell of her perfume.
“Now that your unfortunate wife is gone—”
“Don’t call her that—”
“You should replace her. With someone more appropriate.”
Fenella’s cold blue eyes met his, and he knew exactly whom she was suggesting.
A chill went through him. He rose to his feet, pacing to the window. He looked down at the gleaming steel and glass buildings beneath the lowering November sky. He finally said, “Are you trying to imply you care for me? Because we both know that’s a lie.”
“I care about success. And so do you.” She rose to her feet. “We come from the same world, Stefano. Our families go back generations. We both know how to win—at any price.”
A ray of sunlight burst through the gray clouds, illuminating the faint web of lines around her hard blue eyes.
“Forget love.” She shook her head. “Love is for losers. You and I—we were born to rule. If we join our companies together, we’ll be more successful than you can imagine. We have no limits. We can work twenty hours a day, every day, until we achieve it. We’ll be so powerful, no one will ever be able to touch us.” She took a step forward. “The world is ours to take.”
Stefano stared at her.
Fenella Montfort was offering everything he’d once thought he wanted. Thought he needed. The pure control of single-minded focus that led to absolute power.
Wasn’t that what he wanted—to never feel vulnerable again?
Tess had been right, he suddenly realized. He had been afraid. Of being powerless. Of feeling the pain of loss. So he’d pushed her away. Refused to love her.
Then why was it, that from the moment Tess had left, all he’d felt was the abyss of howling, terrifying loss?
His eyes went wide.
Loss happens anyway. He heard the echo of Tess’s voice. Whether you’re brave enough to love or not. The answer isn’t to feel nothing until we die. The answer is to seize our joy and live. To love as hard and long as we can.
“Well?” Fenella purred as she came closer. “What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
With an intake of breath, Stefano looked up at the woman’s cold, calculating gaze. If not for Tess, he might have accepted her offer. He might have given away his only chance of real happiness for the sake of power and fortune.
But power was an illusion. Fortune was empty. He knew that now. Because for the last month, without his wife and child, he’d felt nothing. Everything he’d once cared about was worthless. A booming stock price. Unimaginable wealth. Why did he need more of those things when they didn’t make him happy?
Love was the only real legacy.
He closed his eyes, remembering Tess’s quiet voice. Start a new legacy, she’d said.
He hadn’t understood it then. Now he remembered days of warmth and joy, of red wine and sunshine and blue skies. Nothing to do with money or power. A different kind of legacy.
He opened his eyes slowly.
Love.
Suddenly he had to see Tess. Now. Immediately. He felt dizzy with need. He needed her like sunlight. Like rain. Not because she loved him, but because he loved her.
He loved her.
Stefano looked at Fenella. “Not interested.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t be a fool.”
A beam of sunlight fell against his cheek, warming Stefano like the touch of Tess’s hand, and he suddenly knew he was throwing away everything he’d once wanted for everything that truly mattered. He understood now.
Tess.
A smile rose straight from his heart. “Keep Zacco. I don’t need it. I already have everything any man could dream of.”
Stefano felt free. Joy thrummed through him like a song. Like a whirl of color. Red like Tess’s hair, green like her eyes, their baby’s laughter calling to him across the sea. “Goodbye, Ms. Montfort.”
Grabbing his coat and briefcase, he strode out of his office, glancing back one last time at the Zacco headquarters. He knew he’d never see it again.
For all his adult life he’d thought winning the company was the only way to save the family legacy. To save himself.
Tess had shown him otherwise.
Life wasn’t a game to be won or an asset to acquire. It wasn’t a business based on profit or loss.
Life meant giving your heart. Taking the risk. Because though loss was guaranteed, joy was a choice. And joy came only from loving others.
Love was a gift, freely given. A leap of faith in this cold modern world. It wasn’t weakness. It wasn’t illusion. It wasn’t even an ocean to drown in.
Love was the life raft.
*
“I never should have agreed to this,” Tess breathed, raking her hand through her untidy red waves. “Why did I think I could do this?”
Her two friends looked at each other.
“Because you can,” sai
d Lola firmly.
“Easy,” said Hallie.
Tess’s first runway show was due to start in five minutes, in the intimate venue of the hotel’s elegant Edwardian tearoom. They were in a backstage area with the models and mirrors and racks of clothes. Their three babies were being watched by Cristiano and Tess’s cousins.
Looking at her now, Hallie gave a low laugh, then covered her mouth with her hand. “Sorry. But you look so nervous.” At Tess’s glare, she added with a grin, “I’m just remembering how it felt. But you guys still made me go onstage and sing!”
“Because you’re amazing,” Tess said.
Hallie looked at her pointedly. “And so are you. Which is why I invested in your brand.”
Tess’s brand? She had a brand? All she’d done was design clothes she liked. But Hallie was right. She had a brand now. The thought made her want to run back to cower in the Morettis’ old hotel suite upstairs, where Tess had been staying with Esme since Hallie’s family had moved into their remodeled mansion in the West Village. “I never should have let you invest in my company, Hallie. I’m not ready!”
“Of course you are.” Lola looked at the models around them, each of them carefully dressed in an outfit that Tess had designed and sewn herself. “Your clothes are so pretty.” She looked down at her own outfit, also a Serena original. “And shockingly comfortable!”
“We’re going to make a bundle,” Hallie said gleefully, rubbing her hands together. “I can’t let Cristiano be the only entrepreneur in the family.”
Nervousness roiled in Tess’s belly as she thought of how much money her friend had already invested in her. Grabbing a pin from her belt, she tightened the neckline of a model’s brightly colored shirt. “What if my collection is a flop?”
“A flop?” Hallie said indignantly. “At the Campania? Impossible! And we’re raising money for charity. How can it go wrong? Serena is going to be a huge hit!”
Serena. Tess shivered. She’d named her company after her mother, and this show would raise money to fight the disease that had killed her. Another layer of pressure if she failed.
The last month had been a whirlwind. Since she’d returned to New York, Tess had spent hours in her new baby-friendly office working on her designs. In the evenings, Hallie and Lola had joined her with their babies, drinking wine and listening to Tess talk tearfully about her marriage. Naturally, her friends had taken her side.
