Jennie Adams - The Italian Single Dad

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For my friends Jennifer and Lynell.

Thank you for your support.

And with thanks to Susan, Pazit, and Lina.

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EPILOGUE

TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Arabella Gable took her seat behind two of the other models, and waited for the plane to take off. As Italy grew smaller beneath them, she finally let out a breath.

Her second trip to the country was over, the payment for the fashion shoot safe in her bank account where she and her sisters could benefit from it. From now on she would work only within Australia. She certainly had no desire to come back to Italy again. The country was beautiful, but the reminders of Luchino, of the mistake she had made, of how he’d preyed on her and hidden things from her, were too strong, even after almost a year.

A stewardess offered in-flight headphones to those who wanted to listen to music. Bella took a pair and nodded her thanks.

‘I can’t believe you saw him, Karen.’ In the seat in front of her, one of the models spoke. ‘I’m so jealous. Apparently he travels all over Europe now. What are the odds of you stumbling across him in Naples?’ The older model, Lareen, had a deep, carrying voice.

Bella wasn’t interested. She stared out of the window and wished herself home with her sisters in their cosy flat in Melbourne. Were they both OK? Had the money and provisions really lasted, or had they said so when she phoned simply so she wouldn’t worry?

‘Yes, I saw “Mr Diamonds” himself! Not the older brother. Who’d want him? But Luc Montichelli…Oh, yes.’ Karen giggled. ‘He could show me his assets any time.’

‘Mr Diamonds’? Luc Montichelli?

Bella’s breath stopped in her throat. Her worry over her sisters suspended for a moment. Luchino had been in Naples? Right there where she might have bumped into him?

She had felt safe from the chance of seeing him. Had believed he would be in Milan, where he made his home, otherwise she wouldn’t have come, would have found some other way to tide the finances over until her new contract started next month. Bella’s heart raced and a fresh well of hurt and betrayal rose up. She hated that just the mention of his name could do that to her.

I’m over him. It doesn’t hurt any more. It doesn’t!

Oh, but dear lord. She could have stumbled right into Luchino and his wife and child. What if they’d been travelling together, on holiday, or lived in Naples now or something?

Thank God she hadn’t seen them. The models continued to talk about Luchino, his looks, how much money he had. Bella didn’t want to know what Luchino did, or where he was, or how he looked or sounded or anything else.

Luchino was a blot on her life, a horrible, hurtful error she never wanted to repeat. She would never be gullible like that with a man again. Bella fumbled to pull the earphones from their packaging so she could drown the voices out. The plastic covering crackled between her fingers, but refused to open.

Lareen spoke again. ‘I don’t know if I’d want to tangle with him, though.’

‘Why not?’ Karen responded with curiosity to the hint of warning in the other model’s tone.

‘Because I think he might be too ruthless to handle, honey.’ Lareen went on. ‘I heard he divorced his wife and got custody of his kid, then stuck the kid away in a house in a remote village with only a nanny to watch over her and simply never goes near them. You have to admit, that’s cold-blooded.’

‘Really?’ Karen gasped. ‘When did the divorce happen?’

‘I’m not sure, but they’ve been apart at least a few months.’ Lareen paused for a moment. ‘He doesn’t look like the same person now. That’s what struck me when I saw him. He’s got this anger in his eyes…’

Bella sat completely still. Her heart raced. She could barely believe what she’d heard. It shocked her enough that Luc’s marriage had ended, although maybe she should have expected it. After all, he hadn’t exactly been faithful. But to snatch his child from her mother’s arms, and then abandon that child was unforgivable. That wrenched at Bella’s heart, because she knew just how much it hurt.

Unaware of Bella’s shock behind her, Lareen went on. ‘He must have taken the baby just to punish his wife or something. Divorces can be ugly.’

‘Are you sure this is true, Lareen?’ Karen sounded uncertain, but hungry for more information.

Bella clenched her hands in her lap as she wrestled with her feelings. She still felt raw inside from her parents’ desertion of her and her sisters two years ago. Despite Luchino’s deceit last year in Milan when he blatantly pursued her and hid his married state from her, a part of Bella didn’t want to believe he would abandon his child.

She didn’t want to believe anyone would do that. Some days she still struggled to accept it had happened to her and her sisters. Until she went back to their apartment and looked in the cupboards to check if they had enough food to last them, enough money in the rent jar, and reality smacked her in the face all over again.

Bella tried to protect her sisters from the worst of the worries, but they weren’t stupid. They knew, and knowing…hurt them, undermined Bella’s efforts to ensure they felt safe and guarded and comfortable.

A wave of protective anger washed through Bella. And that anger, which had focused solely on her parents for two years, now began to turn towards Luchino as well. He had pursued Bella when he had a wife and baby. Bella had fallen most of the way in love, thought it was the real thing. It hurt so much when his wife turned up and Bella realised Luc had simply been toying with her.

Bella learned from that, built walls to protect her heart. But even with all of that, she hadn’t imagined Luc could do such a thing as abandon his child.

‘It’s true.’ Lareen’s voice deepened even further as she seemed to tap into Bella’s very thoughts. ‘My cousin, the one who went through Europe on a work visa a while back, got a job in that same village. She went out with the grocery delivery guy, and he told her everything.’

Lareen’s voice lowered even more. ‘The nanny had her friend at the house one day when the guy delivered the groceries. She told her friend Luc just stayed away. He paid the bills, but he wanted nothing to do with the child.’

They went on to talk about how it might feel to be abandoned.

As though they would know anything about it!

Hands shaking, Bella finally got the headphones free of their wrapping, put them over her ears, and plugged into the airline music.

But she didn’t hear it. She only heard the rising tide of her disgust and condemnation of a man she had thought she couldn’t despise any more.

At least the baby had someone’s care. Bella consoled herself with that, but she would never forget what she had learned today.