The Final Chapter
Antonio felt himself wake up, but he didn’t open his eyes. He wanted to see her as long as he could, sitting there with him on the beach down behind the house, her long braids pulled up, her dark skin glistening with salt water in the sunshine. He was so close to her, watching her, holding her hand, listening to what she had to tell him, but the more he woke up, the quieter she spoke, until he could not hear her any longer, and nothing she said made sense, and at last she vanished from him.
She vanished from him every morning when he awoke; his dreams drifting from him like a precious fog that he could not grasp or cling to. Sighing, he opened his dark brown eyes and looked around the room. It felt empty. She had never been in it in person, but she was in it so often in his thoughts and dreams that it felt like she was missing from it, missing from him, whenever he was awake in it.
He pushed himself from the bed and headed to the shower, waking more fully as the hot water cascaded over his muscled shoulders and back. He sighed and washed his face and body, trying to think of anything other than Gabriella. It was a struggle for him.
He dressed and readied for the day, although it was a day he had been dreading for a long while. He straightened his tie and pulled on his jacket, looking in the mirror once to make sure that his suit looked just right on him. It was tailored, so it fit like a glove, but this day was different, and he wanted to look his best.
This day was the day that the board had chosen to tell Julian about the changes in the company control. Julian knew that there was a business meeting, but he was under the impression that it was a standard meeting and was nothing more than one of the few meetings during the year where his presence was mandatory. He rarely went to any of the meetings if they were not mandatory attendance for him.
Antonio went to the kitchen for breakfast and was almost done eating it when Julian walked into the kitchen in slacks and a pullover sweater. He poured himself a cup of coffee and glanced at Antonio.
“I don’t know why you think you have to get dressed up for these stupid meetings. No one cares what we wear,” he said flippantly.
Antonio looked at him hard. “I don’t know why you think you don’t need to get dressed up for these meetings. What you wear reflects who you are inside and what you think of the environment that you put yourself in. Dressing up shows respect and dignity. You should know that… but I contradict myself.” He put his plate in the sink and walked out of the room with his coffee cup in his hand.
Walking into the garage, he passed his brother’s new Lamborghini and settled into his BMW. He pulled away from the garage and looking back, saw that Julian was nowhere to be seen. He knew that his brother would be late to the meeting. He was always late. He had complete disregard for anything that required his responsibility. When he was younger, Antonio used to be a little jealous of that fact, feeling like he might be missing out on the wild fun freedom that his brother seemed to exude with a passion in every aspect of his life, but the older they got, the more he detested it.
Antonio walked into the board room and saw seven members sitting around an oval table. Marcus was among them. He rose up and greeted his cousin with a strong hug and a pat on the back, and the other members all rose up and shook his hand, thanking him for being there.
He sat with them, pouring himself a glass of water, waiting in the room with them for Julian to arrive. The room was walled in. There were no windows. The walls were completely lined with bookcases and all of the bookcases were filled top to bottom with books.
There was a simple contemporary chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and at regular intervals around the room there were tall pedestals each topped with the bust of a famous Italian artist, composer, or philosopher. The Medici family, and the board, were extremely appreciative of the arts, literature, and deep thinkers of old.
The grandfather clock that commanded the attention on the far wall ticked slowly as the minutes passed by. No one spoke. Everyone waited. Finally, at thirty minutes after their original meeting time, Julian walked into the room as if he was coming into a party. He was smiling and completely indifferent to the fact that he had made every person in the room around him wait for half an hour.
Marcus looked sternly at him. “I’m so glad you could make it. I will be buying you a watch for Christmas this year.”
Julian chuckled and took a seat at the furthest end of the table, kicking his feet up on it as if he was in his living room. The board members looked on him with disapproval and Antonio shared a quick glance with Marcus before looking away from his brother toward the other members of the board.
“Well!” Julian said with a grin. “Let’s get this party started. I have a hot date in an hour that I’d like to get to.” It was true, he smiled to himself as he thought of Lea, the model who replaced Gabriella. Lea was a foxy little redhead with a large chest, long legs, and full lips. She was also all too glad to do anything and everything he wanted her to do, and while he wasn’t as turned on by her as he was by Gabriella, it pleased him to have someone who was so willing to give him orgasm after orgasm and never tell him no or make him wait.
Marcus sighed and cleared his throat, and all eyes went to him. “Julian, this board has been very concerned with your behavior, your business practices, and your continuing legal problems for some time. When your father passed away, the ownership of Medici Corp was split three ways; one third of it went to the board, one third of it went to you and one third of it went to your brother Antonio.”
Antonio looked down at the glass of water before him. The mention of his father leaving the company split between him and his brother reminded him yet again of how his father wanted things to be for them—shared equally, with no problems or quarrels. There he was sitting in a meeting about to shift that balance, and take away from his own brother what he felt was rightfully his. There was nothing to do about it at that point, but the guilt and sorrow of having to do it rested heavy on him.
“We spoke to you recently about changing your lifestyle and your business methods and practices to better suit the ideals of this company, and you have not done anything that this board is aware of to make those changes. What you have done is continue to live your life as if you had no rules, no standards, no code, and no consequences. You are driving your portion of this company into the ground, and you are risking a takeover by the Fanelli family who have been keeping close tabs on your every move, waiting for you to screw up enough that they can sneak in and take what is yours. You’re letting them do that. What’s worse is, you’re helping them to do that.” Marcus looked at him gravely.
“The other board members and I are not going to let you do that any longer. We all have a responsibility to keep Medici Corp running strong, and we are going to do that with you or without you. Your recent choices have given us no choice but to do it without you.” Marcus leaned forward in his chair and clasped his fingers together.
Julian lowered his feet off of the table and sat up in his chair, feeling that something a little more significant than their standard dull meetings was about to take place. He looked at Antonio, but Antonio was staring at the glass in front of him and not looking up at anyone. Glancing at the other board members, he saw that none of them were looking at him either. He frowned and his heart picked up its pace as he returned his gaze to his cousin Marcus.
Marcus never took his eyes off of Julian. “Some changes have taken place that you are as yet unaware of. Each one of the board members has given a percentage of their ownership in the corporation to your brother, Antonio. He is now the majority owner of all of it.
You may show up to meetings whenever you like; your presence will no longer be required at any of them, as you have no controlling say in any matter. You may offer your vote, or your opinion, but that is all, and neither is guaranteed to sway any decision by the board or your brother as far as the business is concerned. This change is already in effect. This meeting is for no other reason than to inform you about the changes.”
Marcus looked at Julian seriously. “As you are well aware, Medici Corp officially owns all of the Medici wealth, businesses, and properties. Ownership of the properties and control of all the wealth and businesses except for your magazine is now in your brother’s hands. All of it. There is nothing that the Medici’s own that you have any ownership of from here forward. Do you have any questions?”
Julian’s mouth fell full open. He was utterly shocked. He had never in his wildest thoughts imagined that he might lose any kind of control of the money, the properties, or the businesses. It was theirs, his and Antonio’s. It had always been theirs. There was no way it could be changing. He struggled with the words that he had heard, trying to make them make some kind of sense in his mind, but there was nothing he could do to untangle what he could not understand about what they had told him.
His eyes shot to Antonio, and Antonio was still staring at his glass. That was when it hit him. Antonio was not shocked by what they had just been told. Antonio did not look the least bit surprised. Antonio had known all along. Rage erupted in him and he vaulted up from his chair, glaring hatefully at all of them sitting before him.
“You! All of you have taken away my birthright! All of you have stolen away what my father left me and given it to my brother?! How dare you! You have no right! You have no authority! How dare you! You’ll be hearing from my lawyers!” he spat angrily at them. He grabbed his chair and shoved it forcefully into the table, turning around and storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
There was silence in the room again and Marcus looked at all of the board members with a sad sigh. “That went well,” he said sarcastically.
Antonio looked up at him. “I need to go talk to him. I need to try to reason with him and help him see the sense of this. I have to try to do something.” Then he turned and looked at all of them. “Thank you so much for your faith in me and in what I can do to keep this company strong and solid. I swear to you that I will do my best, and we will make it the best that it has ever been.”
They nodded at him and when he stood up, they all stood up around him and shook his hand, wishing him good luck. He left them then, and drove home, wondering what kind of state he would find his brother in when he got there.
He found out not long after he left the meeting. Julian had gone straight home and was in the bar with a bottle of booze in one hand and several shattered tumblers at the other end of the room. Antonio looked around him carefully as he walked into the room, heading to the leather sofa where Julian was sitting with the bottle, taking long gulps from it every few minutes.
Julian looked up and saw the cause of all of his problems approaching him, and all he wanted to do was throw the bottle of whiskey at him, but then he considered that it would be a waste of good liquor.
“You son of a bitch. You rotten, lying, low down, sneaky bastard,” he began, his words only slightly slurred by the booze he had already drunk. “You knew.”
He leaned forward as Antonio sat on the sofa facing him, and he glared at him. “I saw you in there, in that façade of a meeting. That joke… you never once looked up at me. I should have known it! You knew exactly what they were doing, you probably knew the whole time, and you never said a damn word to me! You just left me sitting out alone in the cold while you and the board stole everything that father left me right out from underneath me! What kind of big brother are you? What kind of family and blood are you?” He meant it rhetorically, but as he sat there fuming, he realized that he was right.
“Seriously! What the hell have you gone and done? You stole from your own brother behind his back? That which our own father left to us? Where the hell is your loyalty? Where is your sense of commitment? You low life son of a bitch! How could you do it? How could you do that to me!” he jumped to his feet and began to pace, turning back and forth as he walked, swinging his bottle of whisky round him.
Antonio sighed. He knew he didn’t have much time to try to reason with his brother while his brother was still partly sober. He knew he would have to help him understand it before the booze settled into his system and he was completely incoherent.
“Julian, please listen to me. It wasn’t my idea. The board saw how you were handling your business and your personal life and they saw the Fanellis trying to come after us and they had to make a protective move! No one is trying to shut you out, they are all just trying to protect what we have! Don’t you understand that? Can’t you see that?” He stood up and turned to face Julian who stopped mid-stride and stared at him.
“I’m not taking anything from you,” Antonio continued, “I’m just holding it until you straighten your life up a bit and behave a little more responsibly, and then I’ll give those controlling shares back to the board members, and you’ll have as much say as you ever did. You weren’t ever interested in running any of the company anyway, so what do you care about who is making decisions? It’s safe, it’s in my hands, and I’m not going to let you be without anything. You have to trust that everything we are doing is best for the company and best for us!”
Julian roared furiously and took a few steps toward his brother, stopping short of being able to reach him. “You’re lying! You wanted it! You wanted to take it from me, just like you wanted to take Gabriella from me! You know what, though, you lousy jackass…” he laughed and trailed off a moment and then spoke again, as he swung the bottle up to his mouth for a long pull and then lowered it again. “I got you good on that one. Yes I did. I stopped you from seeing her altogether, and no matter how bad you wanted her, I was able to keep her from you, so that’s something at least.”
Antonio felt his temper begin to burn, but he bit his tongue, knowing his brother had just suffered a huge blow and was in no condition to fight with.
Julian wasn’t about to let it go. “You know what I did?” He laughed wickedly. “I got a hotel room down in Beverly Hills and she came up to see me. Yes she did… that girl can kiss, I’ll tell you that, but I went ahead and fired her. She is long gone, and she has been for a while, but you didn’t know that, did you, big brother? You thought after I was done with her that you might get another chance with her… well not now.
That little whore is gone. Her career is done, her contract was tossed into the fireplace, and she will never model again. She should have screwed me when I told her to, but she had her head so wound around you that she couldn’t see the light of day, but that’s all right. She’s history now.
You’re never going to see that cheap ass little bitch again, are you! That’s right, brother… you may have gotten the business, the houses, the money… but you didn’t get the girl you wanted, and that’s something you can’t change.” He laughed wickedly and took another swig from the bottle in his hands.
Antonio had heard all that he could stand to hear. “You took that away from her? You fired her anyway? I let you have her and you destroyed her whole career? You selfish bastard! How could you do that to her! Her career was everything to her! I can’t believe you could be that self-centered!”
He took a few steps toward his brother, wishing he could punch him, but looking at the man before him, he saw a shell of the man his brother once was. He saw someone who was lost and heading down a dark one way street much too fast with little hope of redeeming himself, and his anger became disgust.
He shook his head and turned for the door. “Go to hell, Julian!” he shouted, and then turned and left, and all he could hear behind him was Julian laughing until the door closed.
Antonio went straight to his office and searched through his contacts to find the number he never thought he would use. He dialed it and a man picked up the other line, answering with an accent.
“This is Pierre,” he said lightly.
“Pierre, this is Antonio Medici,” Antonio said in as calm a voice as he could muster. Rage was still coursing through him like a raging river and he was doing all he could to control it.
“Antonio! What a pleasant surprise! I’m so delighted to hear from you. How are you doing?” Pierre asked in a friendly tone. Pierre Renault was the owner of the leading competitor magazine of Julian’s magazine. They were fierce rivals, and Antonio had talked with Pierre on various occasions at public functions, discovering that the two of them had a great deal more in common than either of them did with Julian.
They had developed a healthy respect for each other over many years, and though Julian would have considered it absolute sacrilege to know that Antonio was speaking with Pierre, Antonio no longer cared what his brother thought.
“I am well, thank you my friend.” Antonio hoped he sounded more convincing than he felt. “Listen, I have a business situation that I wanted to bring to your attention while I can. The timing on it is crucial.”
Pierre gave an interested hum. “Well, that sounds fascinating. What is it?”
Antonio lowered his voice ever so slightly, to give the feel and air of secrecy to Pierre, even though he knew full well that his brother wasn’t going to hear the conversation he was having.
“My brother has a model that he is going to launch into an international level, but she is upset with him because he keeps coming on to her and she wants to work with integrity rather than sleeping her way to the top.
She is unhappy with him, but she is a dedicated and hard worker and it means a great deal to her to reach the next level in her modeling career. Julian would shoot me if he knew I was telling you this, but her contract is up for renewal and he is anxious to sign her again, but she is hesitating because she does not like his advances.” He paused for effect and he knew that Pierre was listening closely.
“Go on! Go on!” Pierre said in a hushed voice, as if he was sharing the secret.
“I want to give her the chance that she deserves without my brother trying to make her sleep with him for the contract. I’m willing to give you her contact information if you promise me you will have a contract ready for her as soon as possible.” Antonio paused again. “I would consider it a great personal favor, Pierre.”
Pierre sounded delighted. “It would be my pleasure. Anyone that you recommend, and in particular, anyone that your brother is trying to keep and launch, would be of interest to me. Send me her details and I will have a contract drawn up for her immediately.”
He tried to keep his sigh of relief quiet so that Pierre would not hear it. “Thank you, old friend. I’ll send it right now. I appreciate it. Please don’t tell Julian that you got her from me. He’ll never forgive me.” He knew it was a lie, but it was the best way to ensure that Pierre was going to grab Gabriella up as fast as he could.
“Of course not! I’ll take care of this right away, and thank you so much for the tip, Antonio, I always enjoy speaking with you. Until next time,” he said in his hushed tone.
Antonio bid him goodbye and then sent him all of the information he had on Gabriella, along with some photographs of her. Ten minutes later, Pierre responded and told him that it was well under way.
***
Gabriella was sitting on a park bench looking out over the San Francisco Bay when her phone rang and she saw that it was an international number. Frowning in surprise and confusion, she answered the call.
“Hello?”
The voice that spoke was male, and French. “Yes, hello, I am looking for Gabriella Williams, is this she?” he asked hopefully.
She blinked in surprise. “Yes, this is she,” she answered.
“Miss Williams, this is Pierre Renault. I represent Stylesque magazine,” he began.
She gasped and her hand flew to her mouth as her eyes grew wide. She knew who he was. He didn’t represent it, he owned it.
“Oh you have heard of us! Well, that’s wonderful. I am so pleased to know that. You see, I understand that your contract is up for renewal with Julian Medici, and that you have not yet signed it,” he continued.
She frowned and her shoulders sank as she realized just how misinformed he was.
“I would like to talk with you before you do sign anything with Julian. I would like to offer you a contract here with our magazine. This contract will put you on the international modeling circuit, and you would be doing both print and runway all over the world, though mostly in Europe and America.
I have the information on your existing contract with Julian, as provided by his brother Antonio. Antonio tells me that he is representing you in this. I would like to offer you two and a half times the salary you are currently making, and of course all of the benefits you have as well as several others that would be appropriate for you new position with our company.
I can email this to you, but it is ready for you, all I need is a signature if you decide you would like to sign with us.” He paused and waited for her response.
Gabriella could barely breathe, let alone talk. She realized what it was that Antonio had done for her, and she was overwhelmed with gratitude, joy, and absolute happiness. “Yes! Yes, Monsieur Renault, please email it to me and I will sign it right away and get it back to you immediately!” She took a breath and closed her eyes, trying to steady herself so she didn’t sound like a high schooler getting her first job.
“I do want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me a chance and making me this offer. I promise you that you will be glad you did. I’ll work very hard for you, Monsieur Renault,” she promised.
He laughed lightly, sounding like a friendly and delightful man. “Of course. I know you will. Any recommendation of the Medici’s is someone I know will be good to have here. Thank you for signing with us; I can’t tell you how pleased I am to be bringing you on here. Don’t worry about Julian; he’ll get over it eventually,” he added at the close, laughing a little more as if it pleased him to pinch Julian just a little.
She knew that he had no idea just how angry Julian would probably be, and she didn’t care. “Thank you again. I look forward to talking with you in person, and working for you. Have a wonderful day,” she told him, somehow managing to remain calm until she ended the call and squealed in absolute joy. Her toes curled and she closed her eyes and laughed out loud, she was so happy.
She called Lila and told her the good news, and Lila was ecstatic for her, telling her that karma had come around and was giving both her and Julian just what they deserved. Gabriella laughed at that and told her she would be home to have dinner with her in a short while.
When she hung up from her quick call to Lila, she looked at her phone and realized that she had another call to make. A call that she had been wishing she could make for a long while. She searched for his name and swiped her finger over her phone, calling it as she looked at his photograph; his dark brown eyes looking at her, his smile warming her heart.
“Gabriella?” he asked breathlessly as he answered. “Is it you?”
She was almost giggling, she was so happy. “It is me. How are you?” she asked, her whole body flooding with joy and excitement.
“I’m wonderful now! God it’s been far too long since I heard your voice! I can’t believe I’m finally getting to hear you… to talk with you… how are you doing?” he asked her back, holding in a million questions that he had for her as he tried to have a sensible conversation with her rather than jumbling all his thoughts and emotions through to her at once.
She laughed again, “Antonio, I could not possibly be better, and it’s all because of you. You called Pierre Renault, didn’t you?”
He blushed a little and sat down on the chair in his office. Pierre was much faster than he thought. He grinned. “I might have, yes,” he admitted humbly.
“Well, he just called me and offered me the chance of a lifetime. He’s sending a contract over to me right now that is better than anything I ever dreamed of. I’m getting my chance to finally realize my dream, and it’s all because of you!” She reached her hand up to her eyes and wiped away a tear that escaped. It was a tear of pure joy.
“You more than earned it,” he told her affectionately. “Congratulations!” Then his heart got the better of him, and all of his thoughts streamlined into one focal point. “I wish I could see you. I miss you so much. Much more than you could ever know,” he said in a soft voice, closing his eyes and pretending that she was right there next to him.
She hesitated for less than a moment. “Come… I’m up in San Francisco visiting my best friend Lila. Come to San Francisco and see me,” she said quietly, hoping that she wasn’t asking too much of him.
He opened his eyes and suddenly sat up straight in his chair. “Are you serious?” he asked as excitement flooded through him.
She grinned and bit her lower lip slightly. “I am. Come see me, please. I would love to thank you in person.”
Antonio turned and faced his desk, turning his computer on and going straight to his favorite travel website. “I’m booking it now. I’ll be up there tonight. Can I call you when I get into town?” he asked, his heart pounding and his breath growing short and rapid.
She could not have been happier. “Yes, please call me when you get here. I’ll be waiting,” she told him with a shy grin. She could not believe that he was going to come and see her and that at some point that night she could be in his arms. It was the best day of her life.
“I’ll see you soon,” he promised, and they said a long sweet goodbye before he hung up and his fingers flew over the keyboard making the reservations he needed for a flight and hotel. She was going to be his that night, and he promised himself that he was never going to let her go again.
Five hours later he was sitting in a hotel room in San Francisco, looking out over the bay. He had just set his luggage down at his feet and he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, calling Gabriella to tell her where he was. It felt like forever, and no time at all before there was a soft knock at his door and he rushed to it, pulling it open to see her standing there smiling up at him.
“You have never looked more beautiful than you do right now,” he told her as he reached for her hands and pulled her into the room, closing the door behind her. She was sure she was floating on air as he wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace and buried his face in her neck, breathing her in.
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to see you again… ever going to feel you in my arms… this… this is all I want right now, right here with you. This is everything to me,” he whispered as he looked at her and lowered his mouth to hers.
She drew in a breath as he set fire to the butterflies in her, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly to her. Warmth began to fill her as he parted her lips with his, tasting her and turning everything in her upside down with his desire for her. Heat rose up in her like a bonfire, and nothing could stop it from taking them both over as their kisses swiftly became urgent, their mouths moving over one another’s, their hands holding each other fast.
“Gabriella….” he whispered between kisses, “I need you… now…” he sighed softly as her lips and teeth closed gently on his neck.
She lifted her lips to his ear, kissing it tenderly as she said back to him, “I need you, too.”
The words were barely out of her mouth before he was pulling her clothes from her, and in no time he laid her back on the bed, staring down at her, his eyes traveling over every curve, every line, and his hands followed his eyes as he caressed her soft skin, making her moan and arch with need for him.
“I have dreamed about you every night… waking to thoughts of you every day, and I can’t believe I’m going to be able to make love with you again,” he said in a soft voice as he lowered his mouth to her breasts, taking them into his mouth in turn, sucking and biting gently at her nipples.
His hands massaged and stroked her skin as they moved over her, and his mouth trailed kisses from her breasts to her belly, and then to her thighs where he teased her by kissing ever nearer to her until she pushed her head back and pleaded with him to taste her.
When he did, he devoured her, thrusting his tongue into her, making her gasp for air as she writhed in pleasure under his hands and his mouth. She brought her body up to meet his hungry kisses, moving herself against his lips as pleasure overwhelmed her and she came, threading her fingers through his hair and holding tightly to him.
No sooner had she begun to breathe again did he rise up between her legs, spreading her thighs apart with his hands and she looked up into his eyes as he pushed his solid erection into her, filling her and making her reach for him, clinging to his muscled shoulders as they began to move together as one.
Their bodies wrestled and turned, arched and drew near, building heat and ecstasy between and with each other until the fires in them had breached every barrier and their orgasms overtook them, rendering them rigid and tense, holding fast to one another until they could breathe again, and he laid himself down in her arms and looked into her silvery blue eyes, touching her cheek with his fingertips.
“Gabriella…” he whispered her name like a prayer.
She smiled at him. “Yes?”
“I love you,” he told her, his heart in every word.
She blinked back tears and leaned toward him, kissing him softly on his lips. “I love you, too. Always.”
They held each other near and made love again before the night became the dawn, and in the morning, there was more love, and nothing but total and complete happiness between them both.
*
Antonio drove with Gabriella back to Los Angeles. He wasn’t about to leave her in San Francisco, and she wasn’t about to let him go back without her. They spent their road trip back laughing and talking, and loving each other every chance they got.
When they returned, they were together as often as they could be until Gabriella had to leave to meet Pierre and do her first shoot with him. It was a shoot that landed her on the cover of their magazine and while the print edition of it sold out in stores, the online version of it went viral. It seemed to Gabriella that it was nothing more than the blink of an eye and suddenly everyone in the world knew who she was.
Before she made it back to Los Angeles, she was receiving calls from all over the world for different requests from modeling to interviews and shows. She had become a sensation, and she knew that she owed every bit of it to Antonio.
Julian was shocked when he saw her face on the cover of his biggest competitor’s magazine, and his fury knew no bounds. It was as if he had somehow lost her all over again, ever failing to really capture her in any way, and his first call from his office upstairs at the studios was to Kathy.
“Hello?” she asked, holding the phone close to her ear with two tight hands. She knew it was him.
“Kathy!” he nearly shouted and she jumped at the sound of his voice.
“Yes?” she asked hesitantly.
“What in the hell is Gabriella doing on the cover of Pierre Renault’s magazine?” he snapped at her furiously.
Kathy had no immediate answer. “I… I am not sure, but I will find out and get back to you,” she promised him, heart pounding rapidly.
“You better get back to me with that before lunch!” he demanded. She promised him she would and then she hung up the phone and scurried to get in touch with everyone she knew who might know the answer to that question.
An hour later she picked up her phone to call him back, not wanting to talk to him at all for the first time since she had laid eyes on him.
“Yes?” he answered in irritation.
“It’s Kathy. I found out what happened,” she told him, wishing she could be telling him just about anything else.
“Well?” he demanded impatiently.
She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “Um… it was your brother… Antonio. He called Pierre and told Pierre to sign her to a contract, and Pierre did it. Now she’s… uh… she’s kind of a global phenomenon.”
Julian cursed worse than she had ever heard him and she cringed, pulling the phone from her ear a short way to reduce the volume of the profanity spewing forth from him at the other end. She told herself that it could be worse; she could be telling him in person.
He hung up on her and she sighed in relief that she was done listening to him for the time being.
***
Julian barged into the mansion hollering for Antonio as he searched the house for him, finding him eventually in his office. He flung the door open and strode in with murder on his face.
Antonio looked up at him from his computer and knew that it could not be good.
“What can I do for you?” Antonio asked hesitantly.
Julian reached the chairs in front of Antonio’s desk and clamped his hands down on the back of one of them, leaning over it, glaring at his brother in outrage.
“You can explain to me just what in the hell you think you’re doing selling off one of my models to Pierre Renault! Gabriella Williams was mine! Now she’s tied to that French fool and she’s all over his magazine… hell, she’s all over the place… everywhere! You know what they’re calling her? Global phenomenon. That’s what they’re calling her. You know who did that?” Julian shot at his brother.
Antonio lowered his hands onto his desk and folded them together. “Yes, Julian. I did that. She was not your model any longer. She wouldn’t sleep with you, so you fired her, threw her contract into the fireplace at the hotel where you tried to force her to have sex with you, and then you made her clear out her dressing room and leave your magazine.
That makes her a free agent. That means it’s nothing to you at all if she happens to sign with another publication. I am failing to see what the problem is here, Julian.” He spoke calmly.
Julian rage exploded in him. “It’s pretty damn obvious to me what the problem is! The problem is you! You keep choosing everyone else over me and I’ve had it! You have absolutely no family loyalty at all! You couldn’t care less about me or the Medici family! All you care about is yourself and what you want! You’re the most selfish shallow bastard I ever knew in my life!”
Antonio stood up and slid his hands into his pockets. “I am choosing what you have left for me to choose, Julian. You didn’t want to love Gabriella, you only wanted to use her for sex and then throw her away. I wanted to love her. You left her out in the cold, and now she is mine and we are together, and we are in love. We’re happy, finally.
That is something you threw away. That was your choice. You disregarded the business and almost lost it to another family in this city, but the board stepped in and saved it, and that too was something that you willingly threw away, and that was also your choice, and so the board gave it to me to run to keep it safe, so that’s what I’m doing.
You are making all of your own choices, and because of those bad choices, you are suffering what the rest of the world calls consequences. I’m sorry, but that’s the way that it goes. I am not choosing anyone or anything over family. I am picking up all of the pieces that you are leaving behind in your path of damnation and destruction.”
Julian’s eyes were wide and his outrage had reached new bounds. “I warned you about this, Antonio. I said that I would leave, and I have had it. Either you give me back my part of the business right now this very minute, and you leave Gabriella, or our bond, our brother bond is done. I will walk out of that door and you and I will no longer be brothers. We are finished. Do you understand me?” he bellowed fiercely.
Antonio shook his head. “I do understand you, and I’m sorry that you think that choosing you over everything else is choosing family over love, or family over business… but, my dear brother, there again you are leaving me with no choice. I am not ever going to leave Gabriella for you. Never. She is mine and I am keeping her always.
I’m not giving any of the business back to you at this time because you will destroy it if I do, and I have to keep safe what we have left and rebuild it. I’m going to keep doing what I am doing, and I am going to do it with you by my side, or without you. I would rather do it with you here by my side, but that is your choice to make, not mine. You do what you think is right.”
Julian shoved the chair away from himself, realizing that his brother wasn’t going to be true to his blood or to him, and that he was finally, completely on his own. “You selfish, evil bastard. You think that you have to have everything. You have to have Gabriella, rather than choosing me over her, you think that you have to have the business and the money and the properties, you think that you should help my biggest competitor in the fashion magazine industry rather than making any kind of move to help me.
I’m always last for you! I’m nothing to you! You think of no one but yourself first, and I’ve had it! I’m done! I’m leaving. This is it for us. I no longer have a brother. We are done,” he snapped as he shot his brother a look of pure hatred.
He turned then, and stalked back out of Antonio’s office, slamming the door behind him, and Antonio watched him go, knowing that his brother was in earnest and that it was truly over for them as far as he was concerned. He sank into his chair with a heavy heart, knowing that there was nothing at all in the world that he could have done to salvage his relationship with his wild and untamable brother.
Julian was gone from the house with all of his belongings before the night was out, and Antonio left the mansion to go to Gabriella’s and spend the night with her in the peace and tranquility of her bedroom and her arms. He loved no place in the world so much as her arms, and he had decided that he always wanted to be there.
She knew the moment that she opened the door that something was very wrong with Antonio. “What is it?” she asked, taking him into her embrace and kissing him softly as she gazed up into his eyes.
He sighed heavily and rested his forehead against hers. “It’s my brother.” He spoke almost in a whisper.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She knew he needed to talk and that her own opinions of Julian had no place in the conversation. “What happened?” she asked gently.
“He is blaming me for everything that he has lost: the business, the houses, the money, you, and now he’s blaming your success on me, which isn’t fair to you because you earned that yourself. I just put you in touch with the right person to get you going. At any rate, he thinks that I have cost him everything, and he has broken away from the family. He has disowned me, and sworn that we are no longer brothers. He’s left. I have no idea where, but he’s gone.” Antonio felt like his heart would break and his only solace and comfort was in the woman who was holding him.
She rubbed her hands over his shoulders and leaned up to kiss him. “He’s just angry. He’ll cool down and see that things aren’t as bad as all that. He’ll come back. Give him some time,” she encouraged him.
He hoped she was right, though he strongly suspected that she was not even close. He drew a deep breath and pulled back from her just a little, looking down at her and taking her hands in his.
“There is something else I want to talk with you about,” he said with hope in his voice.
She tipped her head a little and looked into his eyes for a clue to his thoughts. “Of course, what is it?”
He smiled a little. “There is no one who makes me happier, who fills my heart, who brings me back to myself, more than you. I want us to be together. To stay together always. Gabriella, I want to ask you to marry me. Be my wife. Let me love you until we both leave this world.”
His heart was beating swiftly in him, but not nearly as fast as hers was beating as she made herself believe the words he had just spoken to her. “…what?” she whispered, unsure if she had really heard him right.
He smiled wider at her. “Marry me, Gabriella, and be my wife. I love you. I want you always. Say yes. Say you’ll be mine forever.” He grinned, unable to hold back the rush of happiness at the thought that she might say yes.
She laughed in surprise and grinned back at him. “Yes! Oh my god, yes. I love you, Antonio, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too.” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, laughing again as she did so.
He held her close and knew that the best was yet to come for them. No matter what happened with his brother, she was his family from that day forward. His wife, his life, his everything, always.
THE END
Authors Personal Message:
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Lena x x