Either that, or the Californian wine was just too good to resist...
Hands shaking, Molly stared at the screen, closing her eyes in a futile bid to quell the crippling spear of jealousy which lanced through her like a hot blade, but it was still there when she opened them again, her gaze caught by the glitter of the diamonds at her finger. The diamonds she had once compared to tears, rather than rain. But there were real tears now. Big ones which were splashing onto her trembling fingers. Pushing her chair away from the desk, her vision was blurred as blindly she stumbled into the bedroom. She rubbed her fists into her eyes but the stupid tears just kept on flowing, even though deep down she knew she had no right to feel sorrow. Because it wasn’t as if theirs was a real relationship, was it? She had no right to be jealous of a husband who had never loved her, did she? Not really. It had only ever been a marriage of convenience—providing each of them with what they wanted.
Or rather, what she’d thought she’d wanted... Security and passion with a man she’d begun to care for and, ultimately, a family of her own. Only now the truth hit her with a savage blow as she forced herself to acknowledge what it was she really wanted. Not the fancy penthouse or the different homes dotted all around the globe. Not the platinum credit card with its obscene spending limit.
She wanted Salvio’s love, she realised—and that was just a wish too far. He didn’t do love—at least, not with her. But he had loved Lauren. And try as she might, she just couldn’t put a positive spin on his reunion with his ex-fiancée in that sunny and glamorous Malibu setting. For the first time in her life she was right out of optimistic options.
There were no tears left to cry as she walked across the bedroom, but she was filled with a strange new sense of calm as she opened up the wardrobe and took out her battered old suitcase, knowing what she intended to do.
She would do the brave thing.
The right thing.
The only thing.
* * *
‘Molly?’ Salvio frowned as he walked into an apartment which instinct told him was empty. Yet he’d texted her to tell her he was on his way home and he’d assumed she would be waiting with that soft smile which always greeted him when he arrived home from work. ‘Molly?’ he called again, even though the word echoed redundantly through the quiet apartment.
He found the note quickly, as he had obviously been intended to. One of those brief notes which managed to say so little and yet so much, in just a few stark words. And sitting on top of it was her diamond ring.
Salvio.
I’ve seen the newspaper article about you and Lauren and I want to do the best thing, so I’m staying in a hotel until I can get a job sorted out.
I’ll send you my address when I have one, so you can instruct your lawyers.
It’s been an amazing experience, so thank you for everything. And...in bocca al lupo.
Crushing the note in an angry fist, he strode over to the computer and saw the article immediately, reading it with a growing sense of disbelief before cursing long and loud into the empty air. Why hadn’t any of his staff alerted him to this? Because his assistant had been instructed to treat gossip columns with the contempt they deserved, by ignoring them. He stared at the photo, thinking that whoever said the camera didn’t lie must have been delusional. Because it did. Big-time.
He saw Lauren’s finely etched profile and the angled bones of her shoulder blades. Her long blonde hair was waving gently in the breeze and she was leaning forward with an earnest expression on her face. It must have been taken just before his response had made her delicate features crumple and her blue eyes darken with disbelief.
Pulling the phone from his pocket, he found Molly’s number and hit the call button, unsurprised when it went straight to voicemail over and over again, and his mouth hardened. Did she think she could just walk out on him, leaving nothing but that banal little note?
Scrolling down, he found another number he used only very infrequently. His voice lowered as he began to speak in rapid Neapolitan dialect, biting out a series of terse demands before finally cutting the connection.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MOLLY STARED AT the richly embossed walls of the fancy hotel and the dark red lilies which were massed in a silver vase. She’d chosen the five-star Vinoly because she’d heard Salvio mention it, but as from tomorrow she would start searching for somewhere cheaper to stay. No way was she going to try to cling to the high-life she’d enjoyed during her brief tenure as his wife, because that life was over and she needed to get used to it.
The phone rang but she didn’t need to look down to see who was calling. Salvio. Again. After yet another brief internal tussle she chose to ignore it, just like she’d avoided reading the texts he’d been sending. Because what was the point in hearing anything he had to say? What if his smooth weasel words tempted her back into his arms and the guarantee of heartbreak? She didn’t want to hear excuses or half-truths. She wanted to preserve her sanity, even if her heart had to break in the process.
But first she needed to start looking for a job. A live-in job she could practically do with her eyes closed. She would sign up with an agency in the morning and tell them she wanted a fresh start. Somewhere she’d never been before—like Scotland, or Wales. Somewhere new so she could be completely anonymous while licking her wounds and trying to forget that for one brief shining moment she’d been the wife of a man who...
She bit her lip.
A man she’d fallen in love with, despite all her best efforts to remain immune to him.
But Salvio hadn’t wanted her love. Only Lauren’s. She swallowed. Was the beautiful heiress willing to give Salvio a second chance? Was that the reason behind their secret liaison when they’d been making eyes at one another in the Californian sunshine?
She didn’t feel hungry but she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and she always used to tell Robbie that your brain couldn’t function properly unless you kept it nourished. Ordering a cheese omelette from room service, she thought about her brother. She hadn’t replied to his email, mainly because she couldn’t think of anything to say. Not yet, anyway. She wondered if he’d acted out of the goodness of his heart. If sending the proof of Salvio’s clandestine meeting was a brotherly intervention to protect her from potential hurt. Or had Robbie been motivated by spite—because his wealthy new brother-in-law had refused to give him the loan he’d wanted?
She paced the room, unable to settle. Unable to shift the dark features of her husband from her mind and wondering whether she would ever be able to forget this interlude. Or to—
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud rap on the door.
‘Who is it?’ Molly called out sharply.