A part of her had soared when he’d done this…but another part? Why had it made her angry? Why had it made her embarrassed? She still felt the tinge of pink on her cheeks and she tried to swallow the emotional confusion she felt now sitting at the head of an abandoned table, save for Antonio and Ivy and Micha.
Antonio threw his napkin on the table and leaned back in his chair.
‘Well, that was something.’
‘Yes, it was. It was something that should have been said years ago, Antonio. And not by me now,’ Micha bit out.
The tension at the table shimmered in the air, Maria not quite able or willing to meet either her cousin’s or Ivy’s gaze.
‘I didn’t know it had got that bad,’ Antonio admitted. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ her cousin asked her.
‘She shouldn’t have had to!’ Micha yelled.
‘I was working, Micha!’ Antonio yelled back. ‘I was throwing everything I had into Alessina International. Where were you?’
‘Gio sent me to—’
‘Paris. Yeah, we know. And you can keep hiding behind that excuse all you like, Micha. But we all know that’s exactly what it is. An excuse.
‘Maria—’ Antonio started and then stopped.
She wasn’t sure why, because tears had clouded her vision and she couldn’t look up, couldn’t let them see. She’d never let them see how much she’d hurt. It was a weakness. A vulnerability that they would exploit. Even now, with these people she trusted more than anyone in the entire world—even Micha—she couldn’t let them see.
You were supposed to marry well.
Now we’ll never be free of that bastard.
We all know that’s exactly what it is. An excuse.
She was vaguely aware of Antonio and Ivy excusing themselves from the room, Ivy with a gentle brush of her hand on Maria’s shoulder, and Antonio stopping to whisper something in Micha’s ear. But she couldn’t move. She pulled and pulled, hoping that she could hold it together, hoping that she could hold herself together, but control was slipping through her fingers. She was slipping, and sliding and hurtling towards something and she couldn’t stop it.
‘Let it go.’
She shook her head, even as she fought to hold on, even as tears clung to her eyelashes.
‘There’s no one here,’ Micha said gently. ‘No one will see. No one will know.’
She clenched her jaw and shook her head again.You’re here, she wanted to say.You’ll see. You’llknow.
‘You’re my family now. It’s okay,’ he whispered and as if it were the key that she’d been waiting for her entire life, she let go.
She didn’t know how long she cried for, but she came back to herself slowly, feeling more drained and wrecked than she’d ever felt before. She’d never done that. Never cried. Not like that. Not when her father failed to show up to her preschool dance recital. Not when her mother sat for dinner alone at night at a table set for two. Not when her father gave up pretence at home and moved out without bothering to say goodbye. Not even when Gio had passed. Because instead of mourning the grandfather that she had loved, despite their difficult relationship, she had been thrown into the family turmoil that bubbled and broiled at the complexities of the will.
But she had to pull herself together. She couldn’t break. She couldn’t do that toherchild. Their child. She had to do better. Had to be better. As she gathered herself, she realised that she’d been in such a daze that she’d allowed Micha to doeverything. Organise the dinner, arrange for the wedding, somehow magic up someone who had done all of this within days. And ‘this’ wasn’t some quiet, out-of-the-way registry-office wedding. ‘This’ was a wedding in front of two hundred people, a priest and probably a significant number of journalists waiting outside.
It was time she did her part.
You’re my family now.
Was she? She’d learned long ago that family meant different things to different people. As for what it meant to Micha, yes, he’d stood up for her tonight, but it was as much professional warning as personal. What it meant in the long run, only time would tell.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Micha had nearlybeen late. For his own wedding. What a damn joke.
He’d been putting out fires that started last night. He’d expected Luca Gallo to retaliate, yes, but that quickly? He’d been surprised. Luca had a reputation as lazy, mean and selfish. It was distinctly possible that there were other family members involved, if not the whole damn lot of them. As it was, he’d only managed damage control. The rest, he’d leave for later.
Forafterthe wedding.
