“Damn him.”
“My thoughts exactly.” I reclined on the couch and stared up at the ceiling.
“What will you do now?”
“What I was doing before he dropped back into my life uninvited: be a devoted mother. I just don’t get it. Why come back if he’s screwing the woman I saw him with by the pool last year? Why, Alba? Why stir up my emotions like that?”
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “It’s cruel and selfish if you ask me. But Paolo says it’s all a mistake.”
“Don’t be foolish. Paolo would defend and protect Ciro until his last breath.” I rolled my eyes, frustrated at her naivety.
“You’re probably right. Do you want me to come over? I’ll bring your favorite ice cream, and we can watch a movie.”
I smiled weakly. “No, enjoy the next couple of days living it up in the lap of luxury. Get all the spa treatments. Order room service. Hell, shop until your heart’s content in the downstairs boutique and bill it all to your room.”
“Oh, I couldn’t.”
“Why not? I haven’t paid you a single penny for babysitting Pippa. Ciro paying the bill is the least he can do. He probably wouldn’t pay attention to the amount.” Billionaires like Ciro never bothered with amounts under fifty grand, or perhaps, it was only him.
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked, sounding sad for me.
“Are you kidding? I’m totally fine. Ciro Remotti won’t break me again. In fact, I’m proud of myself for bouncing back so quickly.”
“I mean, you did sleep with him, and I know you don’t have casual sex.” Why did she go there?
“Maybe I should have a one-night stand to harden me.” After the other night with Ciro, my body had woken from the dead. I wanted more intimacy. I needed a cock and multiple orgasms.
“Don’t even go there, babe.”
“Why not?” I sat up not appreciating how she was trying to talk me down from the ledge. “It’s so easy for him to screw women left and right. Or in this case, the same redhead. Does she even know what a lying, cheating man he is?”
“I doubt she cares.”
“You’re probably right. I hate this, Alba.” Thankfully, she couldn’t see me wiping traitorous tears off my face. She’d be here in a flash if she knew I was hurting more than I let on.
But I was doing a million times better than the first time Ciro broke my heart. A heart could only be fractured once and mine hadn’t been put back together. I counted it as a small win.
“I know, babe. I hate it for you, but I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Yeah, that was right. I was doing just dandy, and I’d be even better if I never saw Ciro Remotti again.
Of course, luck would not be on my side. He had a vested interest in my life now: Penelope Giovanna. Our daughter bonded us together for life.
33
CIRO
“Jesus Christ.You should’ve called me the second she said she was leaving the hotel. Her fucking apartment complex isn’t safe!” I could kill my cousin for being so goddamn stupid. But then, knowing Isla as I did, she could be very persuasive.
Still, Paolo knew how I felt about Isla’s place.
“There wasn’t time.”
“You could’ve handcuffed her to a chair!” I yelled at him.
“And what about the baby? Should I’ve handcuffed her too?”
I stopped pacing and nearly threw my phone at the wall. “You hurt a hair on my daughter’s head and you’re a dead man.”
