Page 51 of Magnus
“It seemed—it seems that Cami had been pregnant six months before Marco died,” Patrice revealed brokenly. “He persuaded her to get an abortion, claiming that now wasn’t the time for them to go public with their affair, that they could have other children once his political career was established. After he died, and Cami discovered she was only one of the many women Marco was sleeping with before and during your marriage, that there had never been any intent on his part to ever be with her, she realized how stupid she had been to fall for his lies. She said in her letter she couldn’t live with herself after what she’d done.”
Sapphie was past being hurt by anything Marco had done, before or during their marriage. Nor had she ever contemplated suicide because of his infidelity. But she could feel pity for Cami, and all those other women Marco had lied to.
“Her parents were friends of ours, as you know,” Patrice continued. “But they want nothing to do with us now. Nor do the parents of the other young women Marco had affairs with before or during his marriage to you. Not that I blame them for that,” she added bleakly. “I would feel the same way if it had been my daughter Marco had treated so disgracefully.”
Sapphie’s hands tightened about the older woman’s. “I am so sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Patrice choked incredulously. “It’s we who should be apologizing to you. We were unfair to you because you weren’t part of our social set. We never gave you a chance. And all the time Marco was—he was—” She began to cry in earnest.
Roman took his wife in his arms and allowed her to cry for several minutes before once again looking at Sapphie. “I owe you my deepest apology too. Maybe we were to blame for indulging our son too much. But what we’ve learned since Marco’s death means that he’s not a man, or a husband, I could be proud to claim as my son.”
Sapphie couldn’t even begin to imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for them to learn of Marco’s adultery and other undesirable behavior in such tragic circumstances. She was beyond caring for her own part, but she could sympathize with the Carluccis for now knowing what sort of man their son had been.
No, they hadn’t been very nice to her when she came here as Marco’s wife. But Marco could be so disarmingly charming, and she knew from being a mother to Angel that it was hard to ever see any wrong in your own child. Not that Angel was remotely like her father in any way, but Sapphie could still appreciate how hard it was to ever see any faults in your own child.
“None of which explains why you have allowed the accusation of her being mentally unstable and an unfit mother to stand against Sapphie,” Magnus put in harshly.
Reminding Sapphie of exactly why she’d had no choice but to take Angel and run away from here two years ago, and to keep on running.
“That’s my fault,” Roman admitted. “We had people looking for you all over the world, but I thought that if we left the charges here outstanding, that if you ever came back to the States, we would be notified, and we could then apologize to you and explain all the many mistakes we made where you were concerned.”
“It didn’t occurto either of you that because of those charges, Sapphie has been running and hiding for the past two years, terrified those people you had looking for her would find her, and you would try to take Angel away from her?” Magnus accused.
It was all well and good for these people to acknowledge what a shithead of a person their son had been—more so than even Sapphie had known, apparently—but it didn’t change the fact that Sapphie had been living under the cloud of those accusations for the past two years.
“No!” Patrice choked. “Oh my dear, we are so sorry if that has been the case. We just wanted to find you so that we could apologize for all our mistakes.”
“Thentry to take Angel from her,” he accused. “Which isn’t going to happen, by the way. Sapphie and I are getting married, and I’m going to adopt Angel as my daughter.”
Roman nodded abruptly. “And from the little I’ve seen, how protective you are of Sapphie, I already know you will be a far better husband to Sapphie and a father to Angel than Marco ever was or could have been.”
Magnus appreciated the comment coming from Marco’s own father. But it didn’t change the fact that it had been the Carluccis’ selfishness that had made Sapphie’s life so difficult these past two years. “I want those charges not just dropped but totally removed from the records, as if they never existed,” he bit out.
“Consider it done,” Roman Carlucci agreed, instantly taking out his cell phone to make a call. “Arnold? Have the police remove all trace of any charges against my daughter-in-law, Sapphire Carlucci. Because they’re fucking bogus! Yes. Right now,” he snapped. “It will be done by the end of the day,” he told them after ending the call.
“Sapphie?” Magnus prompted, knowing that what came next had to be her decision.
He watched as a war was waged behind those beautiful violet eyes, as Sapphie weighed the pros and cons of what she should do for the best.
The moment he saw that decision was made, she turned to the Carluccis. “Do you swear to never again try to take Angel from me?”
“Of course,” Patrice and Roman said at the same time.
Sapphie nodded. “As you can see”—she glanced pointedly about the room—“Magnus and his brother have more than enough men to ensure you will never be allowed near us again if you break your word.”
“We won’t,” Roman assured flatly.
Sapphie drew in a deep breath before slowly releasing it. “Then would you like to be reintroduced to your granddaughter?”
Patrice Carlucci’s face lit up with excitement. “Angel is here?”
“I want your promise first,” Sapphie reminded in a steely voice.
“Sapphie, I swear to you that neither of us ever want to cause you another moment of unhappiness,” Roman stated firmly. “Our son did that far too successfully. We only want to occasionally be allowed to see our granddaughter, with your own and your future husband’s agreement, of course.”
“That’s all?” Sapphie still looked wary.
“I swear to you it is,” Roman vowed.
