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For a moment, I think I’ve reached him.
‘You were never there,’ he says. ‘How many times did you actually give Lottie a bath? Feed her or change her? The only thing you ever cared about waswork.’
‘My job never mattered more to me than Lottie! Do you have any idea what the last two years have been like for me, Luca? Can you even imagine?’
‘I follow the news,’ he says, shortly.
‘Then you know I’ve flown all over the world looking for her! Every time there was a sighting, I was on another plane! Morocco, Algeria, Thailand – you broke my heart a thousand times!’ I can no longer control my anger. ‘How could you do that to me, Luca? How could you put me through that? You destroyed my life!’
‘I missed her, too!’ Luca says. ‘I thought I’d never see her again, and then Marc called my mother and offered a solution. What was I supposed to do?’
I’m exhausted by the futility of it all: our missteps, ourmistakes. All the damage we’ve caused the child at the centre of our conflict.
‘Luca, this has to stop,’ I say wearily. ‘Wehave to stop. We have to do what’s best for Lottie now. She needs a normal life.’
‘Shehasa normal life.’
‘Does she have friends? Go to school?’
‘Of course! I don’t keep her in a cage, Alex. She goes to the school in the village. We use my mother’s name. She’s Carlotta Bonfiglio now. Carli.’ His voice fills with pride. ‘She’s the tallest in her class. The smartest, too. She’s happy, Alex. She has everything she needs.’
‘Except her mother!’
‘She has her nonna,’ Luca says.
I glance over to the stone bench where Elena was sitting, but the old woman has gone inside. ‘Your mother isn’t well,’ I say. ‘She shouldn’t be looking after a child.’
‘Alex, I know you’ve missed her, but she’s settled here now. She’s safe, and she’s happy. If you want what’s best for her, leave her where she is.’
‘Living alie?’
‘Living a normal life,’ Luca says. ‘She doesn’t know anything else, Alex. She doesn’t remember her life in London with you. This is her home now. And you know what’ll happen if you take her back. The media won’t leave her alone. She’ll spend the rest of her life in a goldfish bowl. Is that really what you want for her?’
For the first time, I feel a twinge of doubt. Luca’s right: Lottie Martini is public property. She’ll never be left in peace. But Carli Bonfiglio is just an ordinary child, albeit with an extraordinary story.
‘I can’t leave her,’ I say. ‘I can’t lose her again, Luca.’
‘So stay with us.’
‘Stay?’
‘What d’you have to go back to?’ He gestures around him at the beautiful villa, the fountain, the vast, rocky expanse surrounding us. ‘Think about it. You could stay here and be Signora Bonfiglio, a normal wife and mother. You could escape your media prison and live here, with us.’
For a brief moment, I’m tempted.
A normal wife and mother.
‘We could be a family again,’ Luca says. ‘Isn’t that what you want?’
‘We haven’t been a family in a long time, Luca.’
He puts his hands on my shoulders, so I’ve got nowhere to look but at him. ‘I never wanted to leave you,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want the divorce; not then, not now. You’ve no idea how many times I’ve wanted to call you. We can turn back the clock, Alex. It can be like it used to be, before your work got in the way. Remember how good we used to be together?’
My body remembers.
Luca presses his advantage. His thumb traces the line of my jaw and I feel an electric tug at my nipples.
‘Stay with me,’ he says softly. ‘We can give Lottie her family back. You’ll be free of the media circus. It’ll be you and me again,cara. Just the three of us. Even better than before.’
