Page 42 of Bound By The Italian’s 'I Do'

‘The ones you know will die?’

Her next, ‘Yes,’ was barely audible through the barrier of the door.

Her voice lifted a little. ‘But they’re incredible. All of them. Children are so brave, much braver than adults.’

‘Do you really think that?’

‘That’s just from my observations over the last four years.’

‘I know very little about children,’ he mused. ‘I’ve never been in a social setting with a child.’

‘Never?’

‘Never,’ he confirmed. ‘I’ve never held a baby either.’

‘You’ve missed out.’

‘How?’

He imagined the shrug she gave at this. ‘Holding a baby is the most contenting thing in the world.’

‘You want children of your own?’

‘Definitely.’ She paused before adding, ‘You?’

‘I’ve never thought about it until this minute, but I think I would like children. With the right woman.’ The image of a small, plump, chestnut-haired Issy holding an ice cream sundae flashed in his mind. Immediately disconcerted, he blinked the image away and moved the subject away from children. ‘Did you never want to be a real nurse?’

‘Nursing was founded on caring for the sick and that’s what I do, but originally I wanted to be a medical nurse.’

‘What stopped you?’

There was another long beat before she softly answered, ‘You.’

He closed his eyes and filled his lungs with air. ‘Tell me,bella. Tell me everything.’

She took so long to speak he became convinced that she’d slipped away. ‘When our father lost the business it had a domino effect on the rest of our lives. Looking back, it feels like it happened overnight, but I must have been sleepwalking through it. One minute I was the luckiest girl alive, living in a big, beautiful house in London and spending my summers in our home in Italy. I went to a school I loved, I had great friends, a loving family... The next minute it was all gone. We lost our home. Amelia and I were forced to leave our school—our parents couldn’t afford the fees—and start again at a new one where the other students hated us. Most of our friends abandoned us and our parents’ friends abandoned them too. Dad always liked a drink, but I don’t remember ever seeing him drunk before, but from that day I don’t have a single memory of him sober. A year later he was dead. He literally drank himself to death.’

Gianni rubbed his temples. He remembered hearing on the grapevine about Thomas Seymore’s death. The grapevine had whispered about alcohol. For once it seemed the grapevine had been correct.

‘After his death, Mum was forced to file for bankruptcy and we were forced to move again—we’d become so poor the council had to provide us with accommodation. I think, though I don’t know for certain, that that’s when her drug dependency started. Amelia clocked on to it before I did—she’s always been more observant than me—and protected me from it as much as she could but she couldn’t protect me for ever. I just know that when I lost my dad, the last of the mother that lived in the woman that is Jane Seymore died with him.’

‘She really is addicted to drugs?’

‘Yes. We looked after her as best we could, but we were kids. As soon as Lia got the job with you, we could afford to send her to rehab in South America. Lia found it. Mum likes it there...as much as she likes being anywhere on this earth.’

A long passage of silence passed before she said, ‘Everything we went through pulled me and Amelia together. Her strength was amazing and, in a way, inspired me to be strong too. She kept me sane. We took care of Mum and each other, and we vowed revenge on the men we believed killed our father and drove our mother into addiction. We wanted to hit you where it hurt and that meant your business. Every single thing we’ve done since Amelia went to university to get the qualifications that would make her the ideal candidate for your company has been with that end goal.’

‘You’ve played the support act?’

‘No. I was the backroom worker in the project but we’ve supported each other. Every decision we made together. All the money we earned went into the same pot.’

‘But you wanted to be a medical nurse.’

‘I needed to be earning money. Believe me, we both made sacrifices but neither of us saw it as that, and it worked out for the best. I love my job and being so hands on with the kids. It’s the most rewarding job in the world and I wouldn’t change it for anything.’

The ache that formed in Gianni’s chest at this was so acute that he had to exhale slowly to relieve it. ‘A few times just then when you were speaking of your revenge, you spoke in the past tense...’ He was, absurdly, almost afraid to ask. ‘Does that mean you believe me?’

CHAPTER TWELVE

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