Page 18 of Destined
Ginny nodded, gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and went off to do the necessary. Serena ran an assessing eye over the room, trying to decide where best to start. She and Ginny worked, like the team they were, to get everything squared away. Finally, the last of the guests were gone, the room turned back over to the hotel, and they could call it a day.
Serena hugged Ginny goodbye before heading to her car. All she wanted was to get home. The anger had begun to dissipate, and all that was left was hurt. She’d seen how aloof and standoffish he’d been the afternoon in his hotel room, but he’d been so different since then she’d chalked it down to a once-off occasion.
Apparently, she’d been wrong. It seemed it was how he operated. She gritted her teeth against the humiliation as an old saying her grandmother used flitted through her head.Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Yeah, Grandma. I’m definitely the fool this time.
Much as she tried to fight them back, tears began to track down her cheeks. Thankful home was just a short drive away, Serena drove faster. She was desperate to get inside and hide herself away from the world.
Showered, makeup free, tired, and hurting, Serena crawled into bed. The tears continued to fall. The ache in her chest seeming to grow.
She’d remembered to plug her phone in when she’d gotten home. Turning it on, she saw a number of missed calls from Sebastian’s number, but not one message. Not any the wiser as to where Sebastian had disappeared to, Serena curled into a ball and allowed the tears to flow.
She’d be strong tomorrow. Tonight, she would allow her heart to break a little for the dream she’d been building that was crumbling to dust right before her eyes.
23
Sebastian
Sebastian sat broodinginto his glass of cognac. He’d been back in Italy for what felt like forever, and he’d yet to gather the courage to speak to Serena. He’d dialled her number so many times only to hang up before the call connected. He knew he was being a coward, but he didn’t know how to explain his silence now that he’d allowed so much time to go by.
Sighing deeply, he wondered how best to fix this clusterfuck he’d created. His father’s passing had given him perspective. He realised now that he’d been falling in love with Serena. But now, having allowed so much time to go by without a word from him, he wasn’t even sure he could get Serena to talk to him anymore.
Hearing a sound behind him, he turned to see his mother enter the room. His heart ached to see the heartbreak and weariness that had etched itself into his mother’s beautiful face. She’d always been youthful for her age, and he could see the toll his father’s death had taken on her.
His parents’ love had been deep and mutual. Despite his father’s bitterness at losing his eldest child, he had loved deeply and passionately, and family had meant everything to him. Sebastian had always wanted a love like his parents had shared for himself. And he’d thought he’d found it with his ex-fiancée. Almost too late, he’d discovered that it had, in fact, been money that motivated Gabrielle all along. His father’s business partner’s bank account more to her liking than Sebastian’s heart, he’d sworn off love. After that, he’d dated only women who knew the score – no emotions, no strings. At first, they were willing to play by his rules, but it didn’t take long for them to show their true intent in the end. It had only strengthened his belief that all women wanted from a man was money.
Then he’d met Serena. Beautiful, big-hearted, passionate Serena. She’d forced him to take a step back and re-evaluate what he’d come to believe. He’d never met anyone quite like her. She was absolutely exquisite on the outside, but the thing that made her stand out far above all others was the beauty reflected on the inside, her gentle spirit. When he was with her, he could be himself. There was no need for pretences. And it was that, exactly that, that made Sebastian feel most vulnerable. She got to see what so few other people saw – the true Sebastian, no guards up.
The sound of his mother speaking to him pulled him from his reverie. Getting up, he crossed the room to pour a glass of madeira. His mother had a fondness for the aperitif in the evenings. She was going to need tonight’s one. It was time he let his mother know he’d decided to return to South Africa, and no time was better than the present. He’d come to realise how much he wanted — no, needed — Serena in his life. He just hoped he wasn’t too late.
He wasn’t above begging, if it came down to it. He’d had enough time and distance to see more clearly what he’d been feeling. To realise the enormity of what he’d been feeling was what had him feeling so out of control.
He could only pray that Serena still felt something for him, no matter how small.
24
Serena
The soundof the doorbell shattered the silence as Serena sat working in her office, the sound completely out of place. She rarely received unexpected visitors at home. She couldn’t think who it could possibly be. Especially late at night. Getting up from her desk she headed down the passage just as the doorbell pealed again.
“All right. Keep your hair on. I’m coming,” she muttered under her breath. Aloud, she said. “Just a minute.”
Looking through the security peephole to see who it was, Serena’s body went stiff with shock. Surely, she couldn’t be seeing right. The last person she’d expected to find on her doorstep in the middle of the night was Sebastian Marino. It had been so long since she’d heard anything from him she was sure it was just a figment of her imagination.
Being contrary, she called out, “Who’s there?”
“Open the door, Serena.”
“It’s late, Sebastian. What do you want?”
“Serena, I’m not asking again. Open the door.”
“All right, all right. Just give me a second.”
She disarmed the alarm and unlocked the security locks on the front door before opening it. Getting her first look at him after the long weeks he’d been gone was like a sucker punch to the gut. Serena tightened her hold on the door as she just stood staring at him.
For a long time after he’d seemingly disappeared from her life, she’d dreamed of just such a moment. But now he was here, she had no idea how to act, what to say. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to see him after the way he’d treated her.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” The silky tone of Sebastian voice pulled her out of her reverie, and her gaze snapped to his. His sarcastic tone had her spine stiffening, and the anger she’d finally been able to beat back flared to life again.
