Page 34 of Unconditional

ChapterSixteen

THEO

I walk up the pasture on Beau, breathing in the fresh Floridian air. It calms me. Grounds me. Puts me in the right headspace. It took a while to get here and a lot of hard work, but I did it.

Eventually.

I lost everything when my piccola left me. I was a shadow of a man, destroyed in every sense of the word. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that one day, I would get her back.

After Mel announced her pregnancy, it took a couple of months, a lot of questioning if the baby was even mine—her paperwork stated it was—for me to finally came around to the idea of being a father. The baby was an innocent in all this; it wasn’t responsible for the choices I made, or the choices Melody did.

Although I tolerated her at best, she still made my skin crawl and my dick shrivel up every time she was around. We cohabitated, but I stayed away from her as much as I could. I would be there for my child, but I would never, ever, be with Mel. No matter how much she tried to push it. What I called assault she simply brushed off as me having too much to drink and putting myself in a vicarious situation. The woman was deluded in every sense of the word. She seemed to forget and ignore the fact that she drugged me.

As much as I came around to the idea of being a father, I wasn’t happy. I missed Thalia more than anything, and she was all I thought of. All I wanted. I’m man enough to admit, I shed some tears and the hole in my chest grew bigger with every moment I was without her. She was my whole world. I wanted her. More than anything.

I understood why she couldn’t stay with me. Why would she want to be in the middle of my shitshow with Mel? She deserved better than me. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t be going after her when the time came. She is my other half, my soulmate. There is no me without her. One way or another, I will get her back. We belong together.

All my thoughts surrounding my piccola were even more obvious when three months after she left, three months after coming to terms with my new reality, Melody went into labor. I was scared that the baby I had come to love despite the circumstances was too early and would be premature. Scared there would be complications.

Imagine my shock when Mel gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Mel was possessive of him, only letting me hold him briefly. But in that moment, realization hit. Whether it was a fact or a myth, I’m not sure, but when born, babies tended to resemble their father. It was so the father would recognize the baby as his and interact more.

The baby looked nothing like me.

That was my first red flag.

I hadn’t been to any appointments with Mel, she insisted on going alone as we weren’t together. I didn’t argue with her on this. To me, it seemed like something personal, intimate, to attend with the woman you loved. I didn’t love Mel. I despised her.

Despite my questions regarding myson,I played the doting new daddy. I didn’t want Mel to know I was suspicious. I couldn’t bring myself to bond with the child, though. Not if he was someone else’s.

One afternoon, after she and the baby fell asleep, I took it upon myself to investigate my concerns. And boy did that give me some insight.

Turns out, the baby wasn’t conceived in February like Mel had led me to believe, but in December. The last time I slept with Mel before everything went to shit was October when I took her on that trip to Miami. Which meant the baby wasn’t mine? I did a sneaky DNA test just to be sure, and it confirmed what I already knew. I wasn’t the father. She wanted to play him off as if he was. It was all just another one of her games. One that ruined me and pushed my piccola away.

I confronted her a couple days later once we had left the hospital and were at home. She broke down and admitted everything. She slept with some artist in London when she went home before Christmas. She was so desperate to keep me, she would have done anything. She divulged that when she drugged me, nothing happened between us. She didn’t assault me, just wanted me to believe something transpired between us because she knew it was the one thing that would get rid of Thalia. Which is why she wasn’t worried about if I did decide to go to the police. I can still remember her exact words.

“I could barely get you undressed let alone get you hard.” She sniffed like she wasn’t telling me her plans to assault me were ruined by fabric and my soft dick. “I love you. All I wanted was you to love me back. But that whore came along and ruined it all. I gave you everything. Being here, with me, a father to that baby, is the least you can do”

I had never been violent towards a woman, but it took everything in me not to strangle the life out of her. The only thing that stopped me was the crying baby in the next room. An innocent in all this shit, in all his mother’s games.

Not long after that, I spoke with Mel’s father, told him everything—well apart from the bit about Thalia— and he was shocked at his daughter’s actions and summoned her back to England immediately. He didn’t want the bad press that he knew would come if I spoke out and we came to an agreement about the horses and the farm. It would all be sold. Apart from Beau and Sully. My investor bought Mr. Whitlock’s share of Beau—me owning the other half—and my parents bought Sully outright. I lost everything else, but I could rebuild.

With the money owed to me after the sale of the farm and the rest of my animals, I was able to buy a small farm around thirty minutes away from my old home. It’s only a two-bedroom house with ten stalls, an arena, 12 acres, and a two-bed guesthouse, but it does what I need, and it was nice to have a fresh start after all the bad memories that came with Rhodes Farms.

I had to let all my staff go, apart from Tessa who stayed with me. It was hard but I couldn’t keep them. Not when I only had two horses.

I wanted more than anything to go to my piccola, be with her and bring her home to me. But after everything that had happened, I was in no state to be around her. I wasn’t the man she deserved. But I would change that. As stupid as it sounds and after knowing I wasn’t assaulted like I had spent months believing, I still suffered. After taking the steps to see a counselor, it turned out I was suffering from mild PTSD. It wasn’t just from the stuff with Mel, it was losing the love of my life as well. I spent months with my therapist, bettering myself, being the man my piccola needed. Deserved. And I finally got there. It took a while, but I believe I’m the best version of myself I can be. I didn’t just do it for Thalia—although she was a large reason for it—I did it for me. Looking back on my time with her, I was never the man I should have been for her. But I’ve rectified that.

Now it’s time to get her back.

Although the pretty boy French prince might be a problem. I’ve seen the pictures of them in the tabloids. The way people comment on how perfect they are for each other. She may think she loves him,wantshim. But I’ll show her. I’ll find her and make her see just how much she belongs to me.

Before she left, I told her I would come for her. Now it’s time to make good on that promise. I managed to find out her schedule through some contacts of mine. After the sunshine tour in Spain, she’s heading to Italy for another competition. She’ll be there for four weeks, which is enough time for me to convince her that she’s mine. That she has always been mine, will always be mine. I completed my registration and entries, organized transportation from Wellington to Europe and hired a horse trailer for when we land in Holland. It will be my first competition in over ten months, but I am ready for it. My fellow riders may think I’ve dropped off the face of the earth, but I’m back and feeling better than ever.

I am going to Italy.

I am getting my piccola back.

And no one or nothing is going to stop me.

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