Page 10 of Bride of Betrayal
He looked at her. ‘Your name.’
A reminder of her worth to him now. ‘Believe me, the sooner I can disentangle myself from what you rightfully own, the better.’
‘I’ll believe that when you have a piece of paper in front of you with your signature on it. You did warn me you wouldn’t make this easy.’
Yes, she had, but she hadn’t meant it like that. Angelica turned towards him, feeling injured, ‘You know I was never interested in anything like that.’
He raised a brow. ‘Do I? After you ran straight from me into Aldo’s bed?’
Angelica stifled her response. How could she deny how it looked? It killed her that she couldn’t just blurt out the truth but she daredn’t. There was too much at stake. Her mother and brother. Awful things had happened to family members of people who’d ever had the misfortune of getting entangled with the Mafia in Sicily. They were safe now but that could all change if Leo chose to use them as leverage as Aldo had.
The only reason she’d been relatively safe was because she’d got out early and had become an internationally recognisable face. They didn’t need the kind of PR that would come from harming someone like her. But her mother and brother were still at some level of risk. As Aldo had proven only too effectively.
Leo continued, ‘My personal wealth and assets were frozen while I was in prison, which inadvertently helped me because all Aldo had access to was the business finances and any assets in the company name. Something to be grateful for. Needless to say I won’t be going into business with anyone else, ever again.’
‘Not everyone is Aldo,’ Angelica pointed out.
‘I don’t care, I won’t take that risk.’
‘You knew him since you were kids, how did you not see that he was harbouring such resentment against you?’
Leo had told her of how, when he’d gone to the mainland to an orphanage run by a charity that specifically helped to remove children from the tentacles of Mafia gangs, he’d bonded with Aldo, who’d also come there in similar circumstances.
Leo looked away, out of the window. ‘It was the biggest mistake of my life, trusting that man.’
‘You loved him. He was like a brother.’
Leo looked at her again and she could see the bleakness in his expression. ‘My brothers were killed in front of me. Aldo was a leech who played the long game.’
Again Angelica had to curb her tongue. She’d heard Aldo drunkenly rant over and over again about how he and Leo had been equal until it had become clear that Leo was on a level that Aldo could never hope to achieve. Jealousy and bitterness had eaten away at him until he’d masterminded Leo’s downfall, which had ultimately led to Aldo’s downfall too.
‘You haven’t answered me—where were you going after the funeral?’
Angelica said as carelessly as she could, ‘Spain.’
‘Why Spain?’
To reunite with her family. She shrugged one shoulder. ‘I’d booked a holiday for myself.’
He made a whistling sound. ‘Straight after your husband’s funeral? With no luggage? I don’t think so.’
Angelica looked at Leo and his eyes were dark, bottomless. He said, ‘Whoever your lover is, you cut off all contact now, understand? He’ll have you back soon enough, if he wants to wait around.’
She shouldn’t be surprised that he didn’t believe that she was telling the truth on the plane. The thought of a lover was laughable. It had taken all of her energy to deal with a petulant, immature, vengeful husband and try to keep her professional life afloat.
‘Believe what you want, Leo, I’m not going to waste my breath again.’
She was suddenly overcome with a wave of weariness. It had been a tumultuous day and she still wasn’t entirely sure if she was dreaming. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to get out of these clothes and wash and rest. It’s been a long day.’
Leo felt a trickle of discomfort when he had to acknowledge the air of fragility around Angelica that he’d noticed earlier, compounded now by shadows under her eyes.
He still couldn’t quite believe she was here, in front of him, wearing his ring.And still wearing the clothes she’d buried her husband in.Suddenly he wanted any association with Aldo Bianchi gone.
‘Fine, absolutely, make yourself at home.’
A glint of something like humour came into her eye. ‘Why, thank you, so considerate.’
It mocked Leo for letting his guard drop for a moment. This woman wasn’t fragile, she was just human. Aldo had died of an overdose, Leo had to assume that Angelica had partaken of that lifestyle too, even though when he’d known her, she’d been vehemently against drugs, and hadn’t even drunk that much.
