It was then she noticed other things. How he wasn’t as put together as normal. Stubble on his jaw, like she’d witnessed in the days after her accident. His hair was a little longer than she’d ever seen him with before, and messy. Like he’d run his hands through it too many times. His shirt, usually pressed and perfect, a bit wrinkled.
He looked like he’d just come home from some corporate battle.
Well, she was here to start an emotional war.
‘Simone.’
One word, but it wasfullof meaning. A rough sound, like it hurt him to say the syllables. Then he frowned.
‘What are you doing here? Have you forgotten something?’
There were so many answers open to her, but she told him the truth.
‘I left because you said you were a bad man. That you didn’t want me. I came back because I discovered—you’re a liar.’
His eyes widened.
‘You’re not a bad man. Even though you think you are. And I’m here to remind you of that.’ She took a step closer. ‘Because I know all about Rome.’
Leo hadn’t seen her in over a month and, whilst it might have been a cliché, she was like an oasis in the desert. A cool drink to a parched man.
She stood before him, looking more like herself than he’d ever seen. In a beautiful denim dress, no sleeves. Espadrilles that made her look summery, as if she was about to go to the beach or for a stroll by a lake. Embodied with a casual elegance he’d always known lay inside her. It struck him then, how she’d grown without him. Morphed, like a chrysalis turned into a vibrant butterfly. It ached, seeing her. Knowing without a doubt that she’d moved on without him…
And yet, Rome?
‘You’ve heard the story about Rome. I told you myself.’
‘You told me the lies you tell yourself. When are you going to see the truth for what it is?’
He didn’t understand. He’d laid out the truths of his past. The things he’d done. Whilst he might pretend he was a better man now, the reality was harsh and incontrovertible. He hadn’t looked after his mother and he hadn’t looked after Simone. He was, in all ways, a selfish man.
A good man wouldn’t have entered into an arranged marriage with his executive assistant to secure a business deal, no matter the merits and knowing what he could do for the company in the partnership. A good man would have been there for his mother. Wouldn’t have tried to change the woman now standing before him.
She’d fallen and almost died because she was trying to please him. Just like his mother had fallen because she was trying to ensure she earned enough money for him.
He always hurt those he loved the most…
Loved? No. He loved no one. If he did, he wouldn’t have done the things he had. Yet why did it feel something inside him had torn in two and was bleeding in torrents?
‘Morzone.’
It was as if a shock of electricity jolted through him. A name from a past he wished was more distant. Or wished he’d never heard at all.
‘I don’t know what you’re—’
‘Bazzoni,Antonelli,Riccardo…’
She kept going. The list went on and on. Names of the families he’d helped extort. Families he’d tried to ruin. Each sin he was required to atone for.
‘I know about them, Leo. I know about them all.’
It should have been impossible. ‘How?’
‘Circolo’s accountant. It seems you haven’t told anyone you’d asked me to leave and since I’m still your wife and EA…’
He hadn’t wanted to admit to anyone that he’d pushed her away, most of all himself. He’d been waiting for the inevitable resignation letter when it would have been impossible to deny the rumours currently swirling round, that all wasn’t sunny in the Zanetti household.
‘All these people, they show the best of you, not the worst,’ she said.
