“Now who’s running away?”
He turned back to her. He was a big blur in her field of vision. She swiped her tears away, watching him shake his head.
“You would know, mio fiore. You did it quite well.”
Chapter 16
Dante’s stomach gnawed with pain as if he’d been sucker punched. He clenched his fists as waves of anger swept him along the Paris sidewalk.
Abby had lied to him—again. A lie by omission was still a lie. It wasn’t even a little lie, but a lie about something that fundamentally affected their lives together. He wondered how long she’d have waited to tell him. He suspected she must have known before she agreed to move back home and provide him with a son. That was why she hadn’t wanted to tell him until much later. She wanted to make it look as if she hadn’t known and hadn’t fooled him all along.
She’d made him look stupid. However, guilt also hammered away at his head until he couldn’t think. He’d had this headache since he’d left the villa twelve long hours ago. Abby had accused him of using her silence about her inability to conceive as a reason to walk out on their marriage. Her words pricked at him and he didn’t like it. She was the one who’d hidden things from him, who’d lied and misled him. What of the family name, the title—the business? His shoulders felt weighed down with stark disappointment.
His hands sank deep into his trench coat pockets. He stoodat the entrance to Parc Monceau and watched the world around him. He saw a family. The mother sat on a bench pushing a baby in a stroller back and forth. The father was on the grass teaching his toddler how to kick a ball. Would he ever have this? Would he ever have this with Abby? He knew he didn’t want it with anyone else. That’s what hurt the most. Was that what he was truly angry about? Was he angry at the situation they found themselves in, rather than Abby’s deceit? Wouldn’t this pain still be here regardless of whether Abby told him the truth any sooner?
His memory journeyed back to the day his father collapsed and was taken to hospital. The shock of ascertaining how sick he actually was and learning he’d kept it hidden from them almost broke his mother.
Dante remembered how angry she was at his father for not telling any of them about his illness. But looking back, he realized it wasn’t his father’s omission that she was angry about. It was the fact that his father would die.
Was Abby protecting him?
He’d made it perfectly clear to Abby how important a son was to him and his family. Christ, he’d resorted to blackmail to ensure a son. The family name, the tradition, the title… In the Maldives, he’d gone on and on about how they could have a big family. Loads of children. Yet all the while she knew she might have to smash his dreams. She must have been dying inside. If she felt nothing for him, she would have simply told him the truth, not caring if she caused him pain. The fact that she might not conceive would be easy to tell a person you had no feelings for. But telling a person you loved…
He swung around and headed back to his apartment. “Essere dannati!”He broke into a jog as he continued to curse in Italian. He needed to get home. He knew the jet had flown her back to Florence. His heart began to pound in his chest, growing fasterwith each stride.
“He’s gone to Paris?Without you?” Katarina asked incredulously. “On your honeymoon?”
“Business, Katarina. It waits for no one, not even Dante.”
Katarina understood the demands of the Lombardi Group. Even if Abby’s words were untrue, Katarina suspected nothing.
“Si, I remember the number of times our holidays were canceled.”
Nana was a different matter. She was not hearing a word of it. Abby could read it in her eyes. Her grandmother linked her arm in hers. “Come and see the cottage. It looks amazing.” When Abby didn’t move, she added, “I’ll make you a nice up of tea. You look a bit peaked under that tan.”
She felt more than peaked. She’d cried an ocean of tears on her own at the resort until they ran out on the flight back home. She felt drained and emotionally exhausted, and she had a dull ache in her lower belly. She pulled her arm free. “Later, Nana. I need to lie down.”
Katarina giggled. “Dante’s exhausted her. If he’s anything like his father…”
“Go, Abby, you do look exhausted. I’ll bring you a nice cup of tea and you can tell me about the Maldives tonight at dinner. I’ve always wanted to go there.”
Abby’s tremulous legs managed to carry her to the bedroom. The pain in her stomach had worsened, but she couldn’t even muster a whimper. The thought of her life without Dante was more painful than the feeling of being stabbed with a knife. She only just made it to the bed when pain ripped across her stomach. She doubled over and screamed. The room was spinning and she felt wetness dribble down her legs. She looked down and all she saw was bright red. Everything went black and she saw no more. Nor did shehear the bloodcurdling scream, or the sound of smashed crockery, when fifteen minutes later her grandmother entered her room.
Chapter 17
Dante had been in the air when he got his mother’s frantic call. Once landed, he’d broken every speed limit on his way to the hospital. He had to remind himself to breathe. He strode down the corridor, his heart beating so fast it hurt. Katarina and Nana Taylor greeted him in the waiting room with red-rimmed eyes.
“Where is she?” he demanded before they had time to cling to him.
“She’s in surgery,” his mother said while Nana Taylor hugged him as if she’d never let him go.
He hugged her back and smoothed her hair. “Abby will be fine.”
“How do you know? I can’t lose her too.”
Katarina looked on with fear in her eyes.
“No one is going to lose anyone, do you hear me?” He pushed her out of her arms and looked into her eyes. “Do you really think I’d let anything happen to Abby?”
