CHAPTER ONE
ALLEGRA LOOKED UP and smiled at the flight attendant. With a slight shake of her head and a numb smile, she refused the proffered glass of champagne. Thankfully, the first-class cabin was nearly empty. No one could witness her shock or deep worry. No one could tell she still reeled from the news her brother Matteo had delivered two days ago.
How could Grandfather have kept the true extent of his illness from her? She’d known he was undergoing tests since doctors suspected his leukaemia had returned, but he’d brushed her off when she’d asked him about his prognosis two months ago. Now she knew.
One year to live.
Her heart clenched. It was impossible to believe the man who’d always seemed larger than life wouldn’t be here for Christmas next year. Tears welled in her eyes. She quickly dashed them away as she sensed the effervescent flight attendant returning. She couldn’t lose her composure. The world was watching. And these days, with technology streamed faster than the speed of light, maintaining the right appearances at all times was even more paramount.
For she was Allegra Di Sione, oldest granddaughter of one of the most powerful men in the world. She was also the face of the Di Sione Foundation, a charity she’d dedicated her life to. A full-time job she was more than happy to immerse herself in, even if it meant embracing a life that more often than not felt desperately lonely.
Shaking herself free of the self-involved thoughts, she glanced out the window as the plane left its berth at Dubai International Airport and slotted into place on the runway.
The early May sunshine was dazzling. Almost as dazzling as the wealthy guests and stunning success her foundation’s latest gala had been. Her well-oiled charity team assured her it was their best yet, with almost double the amount raised last year, but Allegra, as proud as she was of her achievements, couldn’t dwell on that now.
Not when Matteo’s words continued to spin in her head. Besides the news of the old man’s declining health, her brother had dropped another bombshell.
Grandfather’s little fable wasn’t a fable at all, if Matteo was to be believed.
For as long as she could remember, she’d thrilled to the story about her grandfather’s Lost Mistresses. At one time she’d even wondered if her grandfather had led as decadent a life as her parents to possess such wild stories. She’d discarded that idea because she knew her grandfather had remained devoted to her grandmother until she’d died. His integrity was one of the many stalwarts she’d tried to emulate. Besides that, building the Di Sione fortune had been his number-one priority.
Discovering that the Lost Mistresses held real-life meaning, however, was one reality she hadn’t been prepared for. Because why would her grandfather task her brother with retrieving a long-lost necklace on a whim?
As for the look in Matteo’s eyes when he’d told her to return home without delay...
Allegra sucked in a deep breath as the plane thundered down the runway and lifted into the arid desert sky.
She’d faced losing her parents in the most horrific, media-guzzling way when she was six years old. She’d smothered her own pain in order to be there for her six siblings, despite desperately missing the mother whose love had been as volatile as it’d been al
l-encompassing.
Whatever her grandfather had to tell her, she would face it.
* * *
Despite the bracing pep talk she’d given herself all through her flight, Allegra couldn’t stop the full-body tremble as the town car turned into the long driveway that led to the place she called home. She kept a three-bedroom condo on the Upper East Side in New York City, but the Di Sione family estate in Long Island where she’d grown up with her brothers and sisters was her true home.
As with most homes, the memories that came with it were bittersweet, although in the case of her siblings and her, they were more bitter than sweet. Allegra couldn’t stop her gaze from darting up the northwest corner of the stunning sprawling mansion that was the Di Sione estate. Cultivated lawns surrounded it with just a glimpse of Long Island Sound further beyond.
It was where she’d been brought after the night she’d stood at her parents’ home, watching her mother and father enact what was to be their ultimate screaming drug-fuelled row.
Two hours after that harrowing performance, a single, ominous police cruiser had arrived; an officer had stepped out, and, with a few words, turned her and her siblings into orphans.