Lili avoided his eye. ‘Two brothers, but again we’re not close.’
‘You mentioned a wealthy background, yet you’re working as a housekeeper. Didn’t you receive any inheritance?’
Lili shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t want anything from them.’
Corti made a sound. ‘It must have been bad. What happened?’
The last thing she wanted was to reveal how two sets of parents hadn’t deemed her lovable enough. She looked at him reluctantly. ‘The truth is that they valued my brothers over me and my brothers valued taking their place in the family business over a relationship with me. They had no use for me so I decided to cut ties as soon as I was old enough.’
‘So it’s just you now?’
Lili nodded and tried not to let that impact her like a barb. Itwasjust her and had been for some time. And she was okay with that. And now, if she was lucky enough to have a child of her own…maybe she could finally start to heal that wound of abandonment and ensure that her own child never felt the lack that she had.
He said, ‘I’m sorry that you’ve had to walk away from your family, I can’t imagine it was easy.’
Afraid he thought she was looking for sympathy, she said, ‘I’m not angry or resentful or sad about my experience. I’m happier now that I’ve cut ties. Unfortunately I didn’t have a positive childhood but that’s one of the reasons why I want a child, to show them the love I never received.’
‘And maybe find someone who will love you back?’ Corti said quietly.
Feeling prickly and exposed she said, ‘Is that so bad? To want to feel loved?’
He shook his head. ‘Not at all, it’s something everyone should experience. I had it with my parents but then it was taken from me and I learnt not to look for it again. Loving and losing is not something I would recommend.’
‘I would ensure our child knows only love and security,’ Lili said fervently.
Corti was silent for a long moment. And then he said, ‘Well, you’ve given me a lot to think about.’
He was dismissing her. Lili put her hands on the arms of her chair. ‘I’ll go then, leave you in peace.’ She stood up. ‘Goodnight, Signore Corti.’
He stood up too. ‘Goodnight, Lili.’
She walked away quickly, her skin prickling all over as the full enormity of what she’d just done landed in her belly. Of course there was no way he would choose her. He would undoubtedly find some titled Italian socialite who would be only too happy to bear the Corti heir. He was probably chuckling into his wine right now at the very thought of allowing his family lineage to be tainted by a woman who had chosen menial work over an inheritance.
But at least he hadn’t laughed in her face.
* * *
‘Signore Corti wants to see you in his office, Lili.’
Lili looked up from where she’d been sitting in the villa’s managerial office. She’d been ordering supplies online. Her insides went into free fall. She’d seen Corti at breakfast briefly but he’d been on his phone speaking in rapid French and had barely acknowledged her.
Maybe, Lili had thought to herself, her suggestion last night had been so outlandish that he wasn’t even going to countenance it? But now he wanted to see her. Maybe he’d had time to reflect on the audacity of her behaviour and was going to fire her?
She went up through the villa and once outside his office she heard voices. She recognised the solicitor’s voice from yesterday.She was going to be fired.
Before she lost her nerve, she knocked lightly on the door. The voices stopped, and Corti said, ‘Come in.’
Lili pushed the door open and the solicitor stood up again to greet her, except this time he held out his hand and said, ‘Buongiorno, Miss Spirenze, I’m Giorgio Macchi.’
Lili looked at his hand. She had no choice but to touch it or seem incredibly rude. She steeled herself and let their hands touch for as brief a moment as possible before pulling her hand back and putting it behind her back. Her heart was beating too fast.
She looked at Corti who was frowning slightly but then his expression cleared and he said, ‘Join us, Lili, take a seat.’
She sat down in the empty chair beside the solicitor, hands in her lap. Corti was standing by the window, tall and imposing. Dressed a little more formally today in dark trousers and a tucked-in light blue shirt, top button open.
She was a little surprised to realise that the man in front of her didn’t really resemble the partying playboy she’d read about in the papers. There was an air of…something like boredom about him. Jadedness.
He said, ‘I’ve been talking to Signore Macchi about our conversation last night. I need to know if you were serious?’
