Page 18 of The Sicilian’s Deal For 'I Do'

‘Stop saying that,’ she shouted with rich anger. ‘You have no right to speak to me so disdainfully. I entered into our engagement in good faith.’ Her hand lifted, finger jabbing his chest. ‘You’re the one who broke the deal. You’re the one who left me...who left me...’ Emotions welled inside her. This place had haunted her and was taunting her now, flooding her with memories that weakened her. ‘Who left me on our wedding day,’ she finished anticlimactically, staring at a point past his shoulder. ‘How dare you try to pin any blame on me?’

‘On you? Who would have had me sink a billion dollars into a worthless company? Who thought a single kiss might tempt me to ignore common sense and go ahead with the deal anyway?’

She shook her head, to dispel his words, the implication buried in them. She knew the value of their family business because she worked in it—and what was more, she’d seen her parents’ lifestyle first-hand for years. ‘A worthless company?’ She rolled her eyes, hoping her derision would dismiss the very idea from his head.

‘You are very beautiful, Mia, and I’m not going to say I wasn’t tempted, but I am not stupid enough to gamble my fortune on a woman, no matter how nicely she kisses.’

Mia’s fingers tingled with a need to slap him but that would be far too demure. Instead, she shoved him hard in the chest, hard enough to fell someone else, but Luca stood perfectly still, head tilted down at her, almost as if he’d been expecting it. But that wasn’t it: it was simply that Luca was always poised for a fight.

‘This is all—lies,’ she said, pushing him again. ‘To what end? Perhaps to assuage your guilty conscience?’

‘I have no guilt, Mia.’ His calm voice only aggravated her further.

‘No guilt,’ she repeated, dropping her hands to her sides and staring at him with disbelief. ‘You handed me, without a doubt, the worst day of my life—and, believe me, that’s saying something. You feel no compunction about that?’

‘Did you hear what I said?’ he demanded, after the smallest of pauses. ‘You were a part of a plan to con me out of more than a billion dollars—that’s tantamount to theft. As far as I’m concerned, you forfeited the right for any consideration.’

Her lips parted.

‘I feel very sorry for you, Luca. To be so cynical at such a young age.’ She shook her head. ‘No one in my family intended to con you into anything. I don’t know what you think you “discovered”, but you’re wrong. This was a business deal, pure and simple. We are a respectable family and you—you are nothing.Niente!’ She slashed her hand through the air. ‘No, you’re worse. You are a bastard, and I can’t stand the sight of you.’ She pulled away and began to run, with no idea of where she was going, only absolutely certain that she needed to get away from him.

She had taken a path through the citrus grove, and towards the beach, but Luca hadn’t followed immediately. He’d been frozen. With shock, but also with the emotions he’d thought he’d conquered as a young boy, when the children in his village called himbastardoas a running joke.

Bastardo.Bastard. The illegitimate son of a poor, struggling housekeeper, and no idea who for a father. The bullying had followed him all through primary school, until his mother had died and his father had come from the woodwork to claim him. But by then, the damage was done. Luca, rejected and ignored by his father, raised by a mother who couldn’t look at him without seeing Carrick Stone and feeling the pain of his betrayal, and taunted by his contemporaries, Luca’s heart had hardened a long time ago. And yet that single word, issued by Mia, cut him in a way he was truly surprised to feel.

He clenched his jaw and stared after Mia’s retreating figure until she was no longer in sight.

She hadn’t meant the word in the traditional sense. She’d intended it purely as an insult, as she might have chosen ‘jackass’ or any other not particularly flattering term to describe him and his behaviour.

And she wouldn’t be one hundred per cent wrong.

Oh, he hadn’t changed his opinion of her, nor her parents, but he wished he hadn’t been drawn into that argument.

He didn’t want to argue with Mia—there was no point. Arguments were useful to clarify disagreements, in the spirit of seeking a more harmonious relationship, but Luca didn’t intend to have a relationship with Mia beyond a few nights in bed together. It was very obvious to him that they both needed to work this out of their systems, and he presumed time here at the villa would be sufficient.

But once they returned to Palermo, that would be the end of it.

He might even leave the country again, to be sure.

A visit to Singapore was always nice—he had an office there and could lose himself in operations for a while. Even Sydney, at a pinch. He’d avoid his father, see his brother. Perfect.

By the time his anger had simmered down and the wound from her insult had faded, Mia was long gone.

Discarding his jacket on the front steps of the house, he began to stride through the groves, instinctively heading to the beach. It was as good a place to check as any.

He found her there, but far away, her figure small as she walked too far, too fast, in the afternoon heat. He quickened his own step, easily outstripping hers, until he was close enough to reach for her.

He grabbed her wrist, a hint of his anger returning, spun her around and then froze.

Because Mia Marini wascrying. Actual tears. Her cheeks were wet with them.

It pulled at something in his gut, something he hadn’t felt in a long time, something he really didn’t like. He knew, with absolute certainty, how angry his mother would have been with him, for having made Mia cry. No matter what sins Mia had committed, Luca should have been better.

Don’t stoop to their level, Luca amore.

Mia had been a part of a plan to effectively steal from him, but that didn’t mean he needed to debase himself by hurtling insults at her feet.

‘Just don’t,’ she groaned, pulling at her hand. He didn’t let go. He couldn’t. It was as if they were welded together.

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