Chapter 11
Christmas was soon approaching and Mia made her way to work, glancing at the beautiful displays in the shop windows. She smiled sadly. Christmas was normally her favourite holiday, but this year she felt nothing but the blues. She ducked her head as she went along her way, arriving extra early at her studio. Fiddling in her pocket for her keys, she tried to balance her coffee and bag and then heard her phone ring.
Quickly entering, she placed her coffee on the table and grabbed her phone.
“Mamma, Ciao! Is everything okay?”
“Ciao, Mia. I was hoping to catch you early. I have news about, Gino, cara.”
Mia’s heart pulled at the mention of his name. It had been three days since he had basically told her to back off. She sighed. “Mamma. I don’t think I want to be a part of this anymore.”
“Mia, what’s the matter? Has something happened?”
Mia told her of the events, which took place a few days ago. “He wants to be left alone, mamma. I tried to help, but he doesn’t want it…” She trailed off as her mother listened in silence.
“Mia, I think what you are about to see will change your mind. Following this information, we are happy to step in, but I think it will be best coming from you. Put your computer on — I’m emailing you some phone records.”
Her interest piqued at the serious nature of her mother’s tone, Mia quickly fired up her laptop and waited patiently for the email.
She sat watching the screen, drumming her fingers on the counter as she sipped her coffee. A minute passed and nothing had come through yet. Frustrated, Mia kept refreshing the page until finally, the email she awaited, arrived.
With a pounding heart, she clicked on the attachment, scanning her mother’s message as she waited for it to load up.
Minutes later, Mia sat back in her chair, eyes wide open at the information presented to her. She felt her blood turned to ice. Picking up the phone, she spoke to her mother, discussing the details. Afterwards, she knew what had to be done.
With trembling fingers she dialed Nico’s number. To her disappointment, she got her brother’s voicemail so she left a message to call her back urgently. Once again, Mia sat drumming her fingers on the table. There was no way she would be able to concentrate on work now — especially armed with this new information. She jumped when her phone rang and, seeing Nico’s name on the display, she quickly picked up.
“Ciao Mia. Sorry, I was on the phone with the team in Milan. Is everything okay?”
“Hi. Oh yes, sorry.” She forgot about his weekly conference call.
“No problem. We were wrapping up anyway. You sound strange.”
She took a deep breath. “Nico, I need to see you urgently.”
“What’s going on?” His tone changed and his voice was immediately authoritative, taking charge of the situation.
“I’d rather tell you in person. This is huge. Please come, I’m at my studio.”
Mia could hear him giving instructions to his driver to turn the car around. “Hold tight. I’ll be there in twenty.”
* * *
Whilst she was waiting for Nico, her assistant, Kate, walked in, wrapped up from the cold and smiling as she acknowledged Mia. However, her smile immediately turned into a frown as she rushed over, quickly discarding her hat and scarf. “Mia, are you feeling, alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Mia glanced at her, forcing a smile. “I’m okay, thanks, Kate. Just had some unexpected news so I’ll be heading out for a bit this morning. I’ll be back later.”
“Sure, take your time. Is there anything I can do?”
“No, thank you, Kate.” She smiled kindly at her assistant, thinking how great it would be to have her around permanently. An idea formed in her head, but she quickly dismissed the thought for another day. She would work out the finer details and speak to Kate in a week or so.
The buzzer went to the studio and Mia grabbed her coat and laptop. Swinging the door open, she was pleased to see Nico standing there.
“Mia, where can we talk?”
She nodded her head gravely and led him to the coffee shop a few meters down the road. He quickly ordered them two coffees as Mia located a quieter table for them at the back of the cafe. She turned on her laptop, waiting for it to load up as he walked back with their drinks.
“Okay, the suspense is killing me. Talk now.”
Mia took a small sip of her coffee. “When I went home recently, mamma and I had a long talk about Gino.”
Nico nodded, waiting for her to continue. “I thought this might be about him.”
“We both agreed that we didn’t like the situation that he has been placed in with Louise.”
“But Mia, we’ve talked about this. There is a baby involved now and we have to at least try to get on with Louise.” He frowned at her.
“Hear me out, Nico.”
“Sorry, please proceed.” He put a cube of sugar in his coffee and Mia watched him stir the cup.
“So, and don’t freak out, but mamma and papà decided to do a little digging around into her background.”
“What type of digging around? As in use the family PI service? Does Gino know anything about this?” He seemed slightly taken aback.
Mia looked down at her cup and spoke softly. “No, we didn’t think it would be a good idea to tell him. Especially, if we didn’t find anything. The thing is, all of us — the girls — and our parents included, suspected that something wasn’t quite right. So we felt justified looking into her background, if only to protect Gino.”
She proceeded to tell him about the conversation she had overheard at the restaurant and then the incident outside Louise’s flat. He listened intently.
“So mamma called me this morning and basically, Nico, all our suspicions were confirmed. Here, take a look at this.”
Nico read through the information. His face paled and he let out a low whistle. “Mio Dio.” He shook his head in bewilderment. “This is fucking huge.” Pinching his eyebrows together, he thought for a while and then together they formed a plan. A little while later, he made a call, nodding to Mia when he was finished.
“One hour. Let’s head to Canary Wharf.” He called his driver, asking him to collect them now.
* * *
They walked into the huge glass building that was home to one of the biggest banks in London. Nico announced themselves to the receptionist and they took a seat in the waiting area. It wasn’t long before a tall man, similar to Nico’s age, brusquely walked across the foyer, stretching out his hand in greeting.
“Mr. Moretti. Pleasure to meet you. And Miss. Moretti, you too. How may I help you both?”
Both Mia and Nico stood to shake his hand. “Thanks for seeing us, Mr. Brown. As mentioned briefly, this is a personal matter. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”
“Of course, Mr. Moretti - there is a meeting room here on the ground floor. Let’s go in there.”
“Great. And, please, call me Nico.” He smiled as they followed Jack Brown to the meeting room, which was thankfully vacant.
They sat across from each other on the long mahogany table as Jack tried his best to appear normal, even though his eyes were wary.
Nico looked at Mia and she nodded, allowing him to lead the conversation.
“Mr. Brown—“
‘Please, Jack is fine.” He smiled at both of them, holding up the palm of his hand.
“Sure. So Jack, I understand you know or used to know Louise Knight?”
Jack frowned as he slowly nodded his head. “Yes, I did know her, very briefly.” He muttered something under his breath.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that?”
Jack’s face coloured slightly. “I apologise. I was just saying good riddance. May I ask why you are asking me about her? We only had a very brief fling.” He looked at them expectantly, waiting for more information.
“Jack, I understand she became pregnant when she was with you?”
His face reddened further. “Yes, that’s correct. But we took care of it.”
“Took care of it?” This time it was Mia who looked on with confusion.
Jack sighed as he sat back in his chair, looking at both of them. “Mr. Moretti, I deeply respect you, which is why I am entertaining this conversation about my personal life. I don’t know why either of you are here, but I can assure you that I haven’t spoken to her in over two months. In fact, after we took care of the, er, situation, I’ve never heard from her. I tried to call a couple of times to check on her — you know, to do the right thing — but her phone line was dead. I even stopped by her place once but her neighbor told me she had moved out. Honestly, I don’t understand why you’re here?”
“Jack, when you say you took care of the pregnancy, can you tell me what you mean?”
“Well, I told her that I was not ready to become a father. I barely knew her and what I did know of her, I didn’t like. I was thinking of ending our fling anyway, when she told me she was pregnant. She pleaded with me to keep the baby but in the end, agreed to have an abortion if I paid her a lump sum to get rid of it.”
“What?!” Both Nico and Mia exclaimed in unison. Nico rubbed his hand over his face in frustration. “Let me get this straight, you paid her off to have an abortion?”
“I know it seems wrong, Mr. Moretti. But she promised she would go through the abortion if I paid her twenty thousand pounds.” He hung his head.
They sat in silence for a few moments. “I still don’t understand why you’re here. I’ve told you everything. What’s going on, please?”
Mia spoke softly. “I’m sorry, Jack. She never went through with the abortion.”
His face paled. “What are you talking about? I booked the appointment myself.”
“I’m sorry, Jack. She changed her mind. The clinic would have had to abide by patient confidentiality, so if she changed her mind, she might have told them not to tell you.”
Jack’s face screwed up in anger. “That stupid, lying bitch!” He pounded his fist on the table. “Where is she?”
“Jack, I’m afraid there’s more to it. It looks like she has somehow convinced my best friend that the baby is his. I’m sorry. Seems like she has played us all.”
Chapter 12
“Gino? Hi, it’s Mia. Please call me when you get this message.” Mia sat on her sofa later that evening, her head pounding from the revelations of the day. Together, they had formed a plan and, with the phone records as proof, even if she couldn’t be taken to task legally, Louise and her scam would be exposed.
An hour later, he returned her call.
“Hey, Mia. How are you?” He sounded defeated and Mia’s heart tugged at the resignation in his voice.
“I’m okay, thanks.” She spoke softly, picturing his face. “Are you possibly free tomorrow to join me and Nico for lunch? Louise as well? We have someone we’d like you to meet.”
He thought for a second. “You want Louise to come too?”
Oh hell, yes. “Yes, we’d really like her to be there too.”
“Okay, Mia. Sure, I’ll let her know. It’s not like she’s doing anything anyway, besides spending my money on maternity clothes.”
Mia winced. “Well, glad you can make it. Is one o’clock good for you?” He agreed and she reeled off the details for a restaurant in the City.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Mia.”
* * *
The next day, Mia met Nico at 12.30. She was a bundle of nerves as she sipped her mineral water, running through their plan one final time.
“Mia, just don’t be offended if Gino lashes out at you. This is almost too much for any man to bare. He may be initially angry at you for doing this behind his back.”
“But it wasn’t just my idea.” She protested. “Mamma and papà were fully behind this too.”
“I know and I completely support their decision. I’m just saying. Gino’s been a broken man for the past month and this may be too much for him all at once.”
Mia nodded. “I understand, Nico. I feel sick myself.”
“I know. The sooner Gino knows the truth the better.” He glanced at his watch. “They’ll be here any minute now.” He sipped his wine and Mia regretted not ordering anything stronger than her water.
At exactly one o’clock, the door opened and Gino walked in with Louise following closely behind. He smiled wearily as he approached them and Mia quickly ran her eyes over him.
Even in his misery, he looked so damn handsome. Wearing his staple Levi’s, he wore a soft cashmere navy jumper over a pale blue Oxford shirt. His grey eyes pierced hers before he quickly looked away. Louise tried to hold onto his arm from behind and, looking irritated, he turned to help her.
Nico and Mia stood up to greet them, both struggling with their false smiles towards Louise.
“Gino, Louise, thanks for coming at such short notice.”
“No problem, Nic. Good to see you both.”
Mia silently wanted to throw up. No one ever addressed her brother as Nic — he hated it. She watched as he forced a smile and sat down.
“So, Mia, it’s nice to see you again.” She looked pointedly at Mia, smiling, but her eyes were cold.
Mia didn’t say anything, but picked up her glass to drink her water. She felt Gino’s eyes on her, but didn’t look up.
“So, I’ve not eaten here before. What’s good on the menu? I’m eating for two now, right, darling?” She flashed Gino a grin as she picked up the menu.
“Actually, Louise, I don’t think we’ll be staying for long.” Mia couldn’t wait any longer. She checked her watch and looked over Louise’s shoulder. Jack would be here any minute and they had arranged the seating so that Louise would have her back to the door. She smiled as she saw the door open and watched as Jack caught her eye. Right on time. His face was solemn, his lips pursed in a thin line as he made his way over.
“What do you mean? You invited us to lunch, didn’t you?”
“Well, we thought there was someone you would like to meet first.”
Gino raised his eyebrow, looking at both Mia and Nico. “Who else is coming?”
At that moment, Jack arrived at their table. Louise was sipping her water and did not immediately look up. When she did, her face drained of all colour.
“Hello, Louise. Long time, no speak.”
“Er, hi, Jack.” She looked at Mia with panic in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Louise, who’s this?” Gino sat up, watching the interaction between the two.
“Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Jack’s face had reddened as he spoke through gritted teeth. Louise quickly gave Gino a reassuring smile and scraped her chair back.
“Jack, please, can we go somewhere and talk?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
Mia and Nico watched silently as Gino stood up. “What’s going on here?” His tone was hardened as he glanced at both Louise and Jack.
Louise shot both Mia and Nico a dirty look. “It’s just a big misunderstanding. Please, Jack, another time.”
“Shut up, you bitch.”
She flinched, but didn’t say anything.
“Excuse, me. Just hold on a moment here.” Gino looked at both Mia and Nico with anger and frustration for their silence. “What’s going on here? Either explain or leave!”
“I’m happy to explain. This woman here is carrying my child.”
Gino’s face paled as he sat down. “What are you talking about?” His voice was ice as he looked at the two of them.
Nico stepped in, speaking softly. “Gino, you need to hear him out. His name is Jack.”
“Sorry, but I don’t need to be here.” Louise grabbed her bag and started to stand up. Mia stood immediately, towering over her, eyes flashing. “SIT the hell back down.”
* * *
Three days had passed. Three long days, where she couldn’t get hold of Gino. His phone was turned off. She recalled the drama that had unfolded at the restaurant. Louise had caused a huge scene, drawing the attention of the other diners. She denied the truth fiercely, until they produced the phone records detailing their conversation about the abortion. Jack produced his bank statement, which showed the twenty thousand pounds transferred to her account.
Knowing that she couldn’t lie any further, she began to sob, openly begging Gino for his forgiveness. Gino was silent through the heated argument. When he saw the final proof, he looked at her with such disgust in his eyes that she shrank away from him. Warning her never to contact him again, he walked away, closely followed by both Mia and Nico, who left Louise and Jack at the table. By the time they had left the restaurant, Gino was nowhere to be seen.
“Give him time, Mia. This is a huge shock for all of us. I’ll call him later.”
She nodded sadly as she made her way home. That was three days ago and neither she nor Nico could get hold of him. She had begun to worry as she dialed Nico’s number.
“Any news, Nico?”
“Morning, sis. No news, I’m afraid… I’m sure he’s fine. He’ll be back with us soon.”
“I don’t know, Nico.” She sighed, tears forming in her eyes. “I’m worried about him. Do you have any idea where he could be?”
Nico thought for a moment. “There’s only one place I can think of. He has mentioned in the past that he has a beach hut in Cornwall that he sometimes likes to escape to.”
“Do you have the address?”
“Mia—“
“Please, Nico. I need the address.”
* * *
An hour later, she was on the train to Cornwall. She didn’t know if he would be there, but she was going out of her mind with worry and couldn’t sit in her flat any longer, wondering where he was.
Six hours later, the train pulled into its final destination at St Ives in Cornwall. She took her bag and stepped out. It was already dark outside and the cold wind from the sea immediately attacked her hair, causing it fly out in all directions. Smoothing it down, she made her way out of the station and looked for a taxi — thankfully there were plenty of them waiting for passengers and she gave the address to the driver.
Mia’s heartbeat picked up as the taxi made its way up the steep road along the coastal path, silently praying that this wouldn’t end up being a wild goose chase. Soon a lone beach hut came into view, although she wasn’t sure why it was called a hut when it clearly looked the epitome of luxury. Perched on a grassy verge, Mia could imagine that the beach-front view along with the noise of the Atlantic Ocean crashing against the cliffs, would make a heady combination.
As they drew closer, she was silently thankful that she spotted the lights on. The taxi drew to a stop and Mia thanked him as she walked out.
“Should I wait, miss?”
Just then, she spotted Gino’s silhouette against the window. “Oh, no thanks, I’m fine.” She smiled at the friendly man as she walked towards the door, relief flooding through her body that he was well and safe. Her heart was racing as she rang the bell.
A moment later, Gino swung open the door, shock registering in his eyes.
“Mia, what are you doing here?”
“Um…freezing?” She shivered and he quickly moved out of the way, letting her inside. He slowly shut the door behind them as Mia stood awkwardly in the doorway.
“Come in, please.”
She followed him into the sitting room, her eyes drawn to the cozy log fire.
“This is beautiful.”
“Thanks. It’s a great place to think.” He sat on the sofa, indicating for her to do so as well. “Can I get you a drink?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.”
Silence. “You came all this way? How did you know where to find me?”
“Nico said he remembered you mentioning this place.”
A small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth as he stared into the fireplace. She followed his gaze, finding the flames hypnotic.
“So, I got totally played, huh?” He shook his head, picking some lint off his trousers.
“I’m sorry, Gino.” She spoke softly, desperately wanting to reach out to him, but instead stayed put in her place.
“My life’s a fucking mess.”
This time she moved closer. She took his large hand in hers as he watched her. “It’s not, Gino. Look how much you have going for you. Louise was messed up…I’m just glad you found out now.”
“I still don’t know how you found out, Mia. Tell me.”
So Mia spent the next few minutes explaining about her and her parents’ concern, the conversation she overheard and the use of the PI. If he was shocked he didn’t say anything.
“I feel like such a fool. I see everything now. All the little bits that wouldn’t add up. She slipped up on the due date a couple of times, but blamed it on pregnancy hormones.” He shook his head, smirking. “I can’t believe the lengths she went to.”
Mia was silent as she held his hand. With her other hand, she reached up to lightly stroke his face and he lent into it, closing his eyes. She couldn’t bear to see him so broken.
“Why are you here, Mia?” He looked at her with confusion, torment and hurt. “You tried to warn me and I was too stupid to listen.”
“It doesn’t matter, Gino. It all worked out in the end.” She smiled, squeezing his hand for comfort. He was silent as he looked at the flames.
“So what’s the ending for you, Mia?”
“Ending?” She whispered as he turned and their eyes met, gazes locked. Suddenly, the air between them became charged. “I was hoping that this is just the beginning.”
With courage, Mia lent forward and kissed his lips. Unresponsive initially and disappointed, she started to pull away. Within a second, Gino gripped the back of her head and pulled her to him, kissing her with a passion she had never felt before. She moaned into his mouth as his tongue traced the soft fullness of her lips as wild desire swept through her. Abruptly pulling away, he lifted her onto his lap and looked at her with smoldering