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‘It’s probably better if we do this in person.’
Anissa looked around. She didn’t know what to think. Her legs were actually shaking.
‘When will you be back in Mont Coeur?’
‘I don’t know.’ There was slight panic in her chest. ‘I’ll be in New York for at least the next four days.’
‘Oh, okay.’ Hans paused. ‘How about if I email you some information and then we can chat when you’re back in Mont Coeur. It will give you a few days to think about things and decide how you feel.’
Her brain was still in overdrive. She still wasn’t exactly sure what he was saying to her. She stuttered out her email address.
Her heart gave a little leap as she hung up. She had no idea what this meant. But that horrible churning feeling in her stomach that had been there for the last year—the one that wondered if she would ever make it back to championship skiing again—suddenly lessened a bit. She’d never really considered other career opportunities. She actually didn’t think there were any—apart from teaching skiing or being a chalet maid. This was different. Could this be the back-up plan that Leo had suggested to her?
This felt like the possibility of a light at the end of a very long tunnel.
* * *
Leo was pacing by the time he heard the elevator ping at the entrance to the penthouse. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said as soon as she stepped through the doors.
He’d spent the last few hours regretting his actions. He couldn’t really explain them to himself so how on earth could he explain them to Anissa?
It all felt like too much. The stuff with his parents. The will. Meeting his brother and sister under difficult circumstances. And on top of all that—Anissa. He liked her. She was slowly but surely finding away under the shell he’d built around himself. He liked her laugh. He liked her questions. He liked her work ethic and her striving to do well.
But he also liked the way she clearly adored her parents and was in contact with them every day. He liked the way she always tucked a bit of hair behind her right ear. And he worried about how disappointed she would be if she didn’t get back to championship skiing. He’d only known her a few weeks but he cared about her. He’d wanted her to enjoy herself in New York—and he’d almost ruined it today. All because of the torrent of emotion that had flooded over him.
He’d spent the last few hours feeling guilty, wondering where she was and hoping she would return. He’d had his phone in his hand so many times to try and call her—but that seemed ridiculous after he’d left her on her own.
It hadn’t helped that an hour ago a delivery had arrived from the bakery store—twenty-four rich and gorgeous cupcakes. He hadn’t ordered them, which meant that Anissa obviously had.
But now the constant ache in his stomach was gone. She was here.
Anissa’s cheeks had a glow about them and her eyes were sparkling. Her gaze narrowed and she got straight to the point. It seemed as if some time alone had focused her mind. ‘Are you going to tell me what was wrong earlier?’
The words stuck somewhere in his throat. He’d been ready to churn out a whole load of excuses. But now that she was standing in front of him, her blonde hair peeking out from under hat, her blue coat fastened to her neck and dusted with snow, and her pale blue eyes focused entirely on him, his prepared excuses just seemed to disappear into the air around them. ‘It’s just...’
She unfastened her coat and hung it up. ‘Just what?’
When he couldn’t find the words, she gave a sigh. After a few seconds she walked into the kitchen, lifted the lid of the cupcakes box and gave a little nod. Then she grabbed a bottle of wine and took a glass from the cupboard. ‘It’s late, Leo. I’m tired. I... I had fun today. Or I thought we did. Until we didn’t.’
She sighed as she poured the wine into a glass. ‘Leo, you brought me here on the spur of the moment. You had business to do. You took me sightseeing. You brought me to stay in your penthouse. You invite me to a ball. Then you thrust your credit card at me and tell me to use it for the cab, drinks or...whatever I might like. You told me to use your credit card to shop. Have you any idea how insulting that is? As if...you’re trying to buy me or something?’
Leo walked over to one of the windows. He stood with his hands in his pockets. In the darkness outside he could see all the glimmers of lights across the city. He wasn’t used to sharing. He’d never really had anyone to confide in before. Today’s conversation with Noemi had been...interesting. It finally felt as if he was starting to move in the right direction with his family. And now Anissa was asking him outright what was wrong.
Something caught his eye. A flicker to the side. A helicopter. New York was full of them.
It felt like an elephant had just put a foot on his chest.
Anissa appeared at his side, holding her glass of wine.
As he watched the light from the helicopter flicker across the sky the pain in his chest intensified. It was almost as if everything had finally come to a head and he just had to let it out.
‘The family stuff.’ His voice was croaky.
‘Yes?’ asked Anissa.
‘I was in Mont Coeur for the reading of my mum and dad’s will.’ His words were stilted.
‘Your parents died?’ She was clearly surprised, ‘I’m so sorry.’
He took a few moments to find the rest of his words. ‘I didn’t even get a chance to know them.’ His eyes fixed on the helicopter again. ‘When they came to meet me in New York for the first time, they...they were killed in an accident.’
Anissa stepped in front of him, blocking out the blackness and twinkling lights of the city beyond. Concern was laced across her face. ‘What kind of accident?’
The words choked in his throat. ‘A helicopter crash. They died coming to meet me.’
He swayed just as Anissa’s hands reached out to him. ‘Leo.’ Her wine sloshed on the floor as she guided him back to a chair.
He crumpled into the chair as the emotions that had been building inside him for the last few months bubbled over.
‘If they hadn’t discovered me, if they hadn’t got in contact they would never have died. It was my fault. Mine. I should never have answered that letter. I should never have agreed to meet them.’ Tears started to stream down his face.
Anissa knelt in front of him and took his hands in hers. ‘Oh, Leo, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But it’s not your fault. You could never have predicted something like that.’ Her brow furrowed. ‘But I don’t understand. Why didn’t you know your parents? You mentioned them before—but said they didn’t bother much with you.’
He ran his fingers through his thick hair. ‘I... I... I didn’t know them because they had me adopted as a baby. They weren’t married, they had no support and they told me they’d had no choice but to give me up.’
She reached up and cradled his cheek with one hand. ‘Oh, Leo,’ she said softly.
It was the touch. The pure worry in her voice that gave him the strength to continue. ‘I didn’t know them. I didn’t know them at all. My adoptive parents had always told me that I wasn’t wanted—that I’d been abandoned. They were the ones who didn’t bother much with me. I spent my whole life feeling not good enough—for them, or for my real parents.’
‘But you were a kid. Why on earth would your adoptive parents tell you that? That’s cruel.’
It was like a little light switching on in his head. He nodded. ‘Yes, it is. It’s how they were.’ He straightened a little and put his hand over hers. ‘They weren’t really interested in me. I think the thought of having a kid was better than the actual experience. They always made me feel as if I was constantly a bother.’
‘That’s terrible. How dare they? Where are they now? Do you
still talk?’
He shook his head. ‘I left when I was twenty and never looked back. When I got the letter out of the blue from my real parents I was stunned. I didn’t believe it at first. It took me a few weeks to get in touch.’
She nodded as if she could understand. ‘And when you did?’
He took a deep breath and lifted his head. ‘Salvo and Nicole were anxious to meet me. They said they’d been looking for me almost since they’d given me up. But they wanted a chance to tell Sebastian and Noemi about me. Apparently, they’d been so racked with guilt they hadn’t told my brother and sister about me.’
She was almost afraid to ask. ‘And did they get a chance?’
He gave a shudder. ‘Not the way they wanted to. Noemi opened my reply. She confronted her mother about it. She was upset they’d kept me a secret—and, to be honest, so was I.’
‘But you arranged to see them—to meet?’
A single tear snaked down his face. ‘I did.’ His voice broke again. ‘I wanted to meet them, Anissa. I did. I’d never had a real family, not one where I felt as if I belonged, where I felt as if I was wanted. And then, all of a sudden, it seemed like it might happen.’
‘Oh, Leo.’ Her words were so soft, so full of empathy.
‘And...then...’ he shook his head ‘...they were gone. They’d arrived in New York a few hours early and decided to take a tour of the city in a helicopter.’
His hands were shaking. He couldn’t help it.
‘And then there was the funeral...’
Anissa’s hand was warm on his cheek, the other clasping his hand. ‘So you didn’t meet Sebastian and Noemi then?’
He flung up his hands in exasperation. ‘How could I? I wasn’t sure what they knew about me. I didn’t even know if Sebastian knew I existed. I could hardly reveal myself at the family funeral as the missing son.’ He hated how this made his heart ache. ‘I went. I just stayed at the back. There were hundreds of people there. I was just another Italian-looking guy in a suit. One of many.’
He hated how bitter and twisted that sounded, but he hated even more how bitter and twisted it made him feel.
