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“Gualtiero, this is madness. You must see that,” I try again, the tears now brewing like a summer storm about to hit. “Please. Let. Me. Go!”
He shakes his head, and the dam breaks, the tears flowing like a wild river. Still, I hold his gaze. I want him to see what his refusal is doing to me.
He lifts my hand and places a gentle kiss on top. Pulling me closer to him, he cradles my face in his large hands and wipes my tears away with his thumbs.
He places a caring kiss on my cheek and whispers in my ear. “Everything is going to be all right. You’ll see.”
How can it be when he’s uprooted my entire life?
The ringing of a phone disrupts the silence. Gualtiero pulls it from his pocket, and looking at the display, frowns.
“Excuse me, princess. This has to be urgent. They know not to interrupt me when I’m with you.”
I watch his icy mask slip into place as he answers the phone, ”Che cos’è?”
Instinctively, I lean away from him, his sudden change in demeanor a stark reminder of whom I’m dealing with.
Thunderclouds darken his eyes before he closes them as if to rein in his temper. Rubbing his neck, he barks instructions and then abruptly ends the call.
“I have to go. We’ll talk some more later. Make yourself at home. I’ll see you at dinner.”
With that, he walks off and I slide to the floor, bursting into sobs.
I hug my legs tightly and let the tears pour out of me until there are none left.
Once upon a time, in my teenage folly and admittedly many times thereafter, I’ve dreamed about having a man in my life who I’d have a magnetic attraction to, who’d capture my heart and love me with all his might. A man who’d move heaven and earth to be with me, who’d let nothing come in between us.
Be careful what you wish for!
I never thought it would look like this.
Strangely, I don’t doubt Tiero loves me. And this soul connection we share is not likely to ever go away. But for the first time in my life, I wonder if love is enough.
Gualtiero is determined to keep me here, but could I ever be happy living in a golden cage? My life in danger at any given time? Picking up groceries in a black Ferrari?
Mariella finds me an hour later, still huddled on the floor of the balcony, hugging my legs.
I’ve completely lost track of time. The heaviness and dejected numbness within me is so debilitating, I can’t move.
Mariella rushes over with an alarmed expression on her face.
“Miss O’Neil, are you okay?”
Her kindness sets off another round of waterworks, and the previously timid girl crouches beside me to hold me in a tight embrace. I don’t resist, accepting the comfort.
When I calm down, she gently says, “Signor De Marco ask for dinner. Time to change.”
I look at her in disbelief. Signor De Marco can get lost. If he thinks I’m going to dine with him and pick up where we left off, he has another thing coming.
“I’m not hungry, Mariella. Tell Signor De Marco to eat without me,” I say, my voice defeated.
Mariella looks worried. “Please, Miss O’Neil. It best to change and come with me for dinner. He hates waiting.”
I so don’t care what Tiero likes or not. I’m not a puppet on a string.
That’s it. Maybe I’ll be so difficult, he thinks twice about wanting me around. Would he let me go home if he had enough of me?
“That’s not my problem. I won’t be leaving this room tonight,” I tell her.
