Marcus carefully folded the letter again and placed it inside of his pocket.
Dio.
He had hurt her again, broken his word to her, and it didn’t matter that he hadn’t meant to do either.
She was truly gone now.
And he didn’t even want to go after her.
This was what he deserved, after everything he had done.
Eleven
After leaving BruinHemel in a hurry, Anneke flew to Contini and booked herself a hotel room, wanting to be alone with her pain. She didn’t want to go home and lick her wounds while her family worried about her. She had troubled them far too long already. She was a big girl now. She could and would solve things on her own, and in time she would be able to forget Marcus Ravelli.
In time.
It was on the second day of her stay when reception rang her room, saying she had a visitor. It wasRaquel Ravelli,and it took her more than a moment to realize what that meant.
Marcus’ mother? Why was Marcus’ mother visiting her?
Her first instinct was to have the older woman turned away, but old habits died hard, and in this case, those habits had to do with good old manners. She gave reception the green light to let Raquel up, and soon enough, Anneke was welcoming her mother-in-law into her suite.
The woman was painfully thin, but she looked much better than Anneke had feared, and when Raquel caught her staring, Anneke turned red. “S-sorry—-”
The older woman’s lips curved into a humorless smile. “What were you expecting? An aging sexpot with her boobs about to fall out?”
Anneke stammered, “N-no, of course not.” But actually, that was exactly what she had thought.
“A few months ago,” Raquel revealed thinly, “you wouldn’t have been mistaken.”
Oh.
Marcus’ mother gestured towards the settee. “Aren’t you going to invite me to sit?”
Her cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry, and yes, please. May I get you anything?”