Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire (20 page)

“I presumed he’d gotten bored with family life and run off. He seemed to do that at regular intervals anyway; just this time he didn’t come back.”

Luc brought her a fresh cup of coffee and sat down next to her. She waited to see the anger and resentment he must be feeling. After the way he had reacted to her bringing up his criminal record, she expected him to be furious about this. But she could make out nothing from his expression, as if he was hiding his reaction from her. She sipped her coffee, trying to think through what this meant, what effect it would have on them. There was no mention of Luc’s record, but it could only be a matter of time before it all came out.

“Would you like to phone home,
cara?
”

Luc’s question interrupted her thoughts, and she glanced up to find him sitting back in his seat still watching her intently.

“Sorry?” she asked.

“Would you like to phone your housekeeper, warn them about this? Make sure your brother doesn’t see it?”

“Oh my God, yes. I never thought of that.” But she didn’t move.

The phone rang. Luc picked it up and said something before replacing the receiver. “The press want a statement.” He looked at her thoughtfully and then seemed to come to a decision. “I think it would be better if you go away for a while.”

Lia’s heart dropped. Of course Luc would want to distance himself from her. There was nothing derogatory about him in this article, but someone was bound to get around to it. She’d hate for him to be publicly humiliated because of her. She was bad news.

She had been planning on leaving anyway. There was no way Luc would actually use those pictures against her, and she had decided she had to go before it was too late and she got herself in even deeper. But his asking her to leave hurt.

She blinked and stared down at the paper, pretending to reread it, wanting to get herself under control before facing him. At last, she found the strength to look up.

Luc’s eyes were focused on her. He didn’t appear particularly upset by it all, but she knew that unlike her, Luc was exceptionally good at hiding his feelings.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“What for,
cara?
” His voice was gentle; Lia had never heard that tone before. It didn’t help the tenuous grip she had on her emotions. She bit down on her lip to stop the trembling.

“For getting you this negative publicity,” she said. “I’ll pack and be out of here. I’ll go home. You can release a statement saying we’ve split.”

“And how would that make me look? Dumping my fiancée because of a bit of bad press, and not even bad press about her.” He spoke soothingly. “There’s absolutely nothing bad about you in there, Lia, only your father.”

“I know, but they’re bound to dig deeper. They’ll find out about you.”

“About me?”

“About prison.”

He gave her a curious glance as if she was not behaving as expected. “My time in prison is a matter of record. It’s no secret.”

“Yes, but it’s not on the front pages yet.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry about me. But we do need to get you away until all this dies down, which it will, given time. I have the perfect place for us to go.”

Lia felt a strange unexpected lift. “Us?”

“Of course.” He cast her a glance that she didn’t quite understand. “After all, you wouldn’t want me to come out of this a heartless bastard, would you? No, I definitely think it’s best if we go away together. I’ll take my beautiful, innocent fiancée away from the horrible muckraking press. I may even come out of this a hero.”

Lia felt like she was missing something. “Why aren’t you more upset about this?”

“I’ve lived with the press for years and truthfully, unlike you, I really don’t give a damn what people I don’t know think of me.”

Lia blinked. This was all moving too fast. Luc didn’t want her out of his life. He wanted them to go away together? “I can’t leave Mike and Sally to cope with this alone.”

“I’ll send Gary over. He can make sure they’re okay, and if any reporters do turn up he can always take them over to Shellwood for a few days. Security there will make sure no one bothers them.”

“So is that where we’re going, Shellwood?”

“No. We’ll go to my place in Italy—it’s more private. Give it a few days, and this will all blow over, and we can come home.”

“I can’t go to Italy. I don’t have my passport.”

“Gary can pick that up as well.”

She frowned. “You’ve got this all worked out, haven’t you?”

He smiled blandly. “Planning is my forte,
cara
. Just leave it all to me. Now, drink your coffee, and I’ll organize everything. I’ll be in the office.” He bent down and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.

Why was he taking this so well? She would have expected him to be furious. Then the truth of the situation hit her. She was going to Italy with Luc. She couldn’t believe it. It felt like a huge weight had lifted from her, and she realized with something approaching fear how much she had actually dreaded leaving him. This would only put it off, and that was as it should be; she didn’t want anything permanent, even if it was an option. But to have some time alone with Luc, in Italy, was beyond anything she could have imagined.

She finished her coffee and made some phone calls. Sally took it extremely well and said she would talk to Mike. She only appeared concerned when Lia mentioned she was going abroad with Luc, but Lia managed to put her mind at rest. She also called Kelly, who was bubbling over with excitement.

“Did you know all this about my father?” Lia asked.

“Of course I did. I just never talked about it because I presumed it was a bad subject. I’m sorry, Lia, but don’t let it upset you; it’s nothing to do with you and the person you are.”

“I can’t believe my mother kept it from me, told me all those lies.”

“Can’t you?” Kelly made no effort to hide her disbelief. “Knowing your mother, I would have found it stranger if she had told you the truth. You know how obsessed she was with keeping up appearances. She probably lived in constant fear of someone mentioning her husband, the bank robber.”

“Bank robber?”

“Oops. Is that something else you didn’t know? Honestly, Lia, sometimes I think you lived your whole life with your head in a hole.”

Kelly’s irreverent attitude did make her feel slightly better, but also made her reflect on what her mother’s life must have been like. If she ever loved a man like that, she wouldn’t be ashamed of anything he did. Which brought her back to Luc.

She drifted into the kitchen and poured herself another coffee, then took it up to the rooftop garden. She sat in her favorite chair with Murphy on her knee and tried to get her head around what was happening. On one level, she was devastated, but on another, it felt almost like a reprieve. She had thought she had reconciled herself to leaving, to never seeing Luc again, but now the tight band around her chest was loosening. She knew it couldn’t last forever, but at least she had a few more days with him. And she knew with clarity that she was going to make the most of those days—and nights.

He shook his head. The damage was done now. He hadn’t planned it, but he wasn’t above using it to his advantage.

…

Lia opened her eyes to find Luc studying her. She wriggled uncomfortably and sat up; she didn’t like the idea of someone watching her while she slept. He had a strange, almost pensive, expression on his face. When he saw she was awake, he picked up the phone by his seat and spoke a few words into it.

A flight attendant appeared almost immediately, carrying a tray with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. She put down the tray, expertly poured the wine, and disappeared with a slight smile.

Lia sat staring around at the sumptuous interior of Luc’s private jet and wondered how things could have moved so fast. She shook her head; this sort of wealth was beyond imagining. Three o’clock that same afternoon and they were 30,000 feet above the ground and well on their way to Rome.

Picking up her glass, she stared at it for a long moment. She had been so careful since she had moved into Luc’s place, so determined that she wasn’t going to do anything that might undermine her ability to withstand Luc, and alcohol had been on the top of her things-not-to-do list. Now, she watched the bubbles rise to the surface and accepted that she no longer had any wish to withstand Luc. She wanted whatever small part of him she could get and whatever memories she could take away from their time together. She swallowed the champagne in one gulp and held out her glass for more. Luc picked up the bottle and refilled her glass, a small smile playing across his features.

“This might seem commonplace to you, but I’ve never had champagne on a private jet before,” she said.

“May it be the first time of many.”

She sighed and put down her glass. “You must think me a naïve fool.”

Luc’s smile widened.

“What?” she asked.

“The first time I laid eyes on you, I thought you must be naïve, stupid, or a very good actress.”

“Brilliant. And what do you think now?”

His smile broadened. “Well, I know for a fact that you’re an extremely bad actress, and I’m pretty sure you’re not stupid.”

“Thanks,” she said, laughing slightly. She supposed she had asked for it.

“There are worse things than being naïve,
cara
.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Then explain.”

“It’s like my whole childhood was a lie. Oh, I knew my father wasn’t a good man, but not this. And I always thought my mother was painfully honest—she drummed it into me constantly for as long as I can remember—don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t…” she shook her head in confusion. “Was it all an act?”

“Maybe she was trying to protect you. Maybe it was what she believed, but she loved your father and was ashamed of it.”

“Perhaps. Were you ashamed?”

“Of what,
cara?
”

“Of your father.”

He shook his head. “No. Well, not in the way you mean. My father was weak. I recognized that as I got older, and I suppose I was ashamed in a way. Where I grew up, being weak got you into trouble, which was definitely true of my father.”

“What happened to him?”

“He died when I was sixteen. He was killed in a robbery that went wrong.”

“And your mother went back to Italy?”

“No, not then. My mother is a proud woman—she wouldn’t go crawling back unless she had to.”

“It’s where you got it from. But she’s back now?”

“When I was convicted she returned. She knew only a good lawyer could do anything for me. She put aside her pride and went to her family.”

“So her family have money then?”

“Just a little.”

“And they got you out?”

He regarded her curiously. “Have you read about my case?”

Lia shook her head.

“Why not?”

“I think there’s a lot of rubbish on the Internet. I never know what to believe and what not to.”