Chapter Fourteen
Marco blinked when he realized there was someone pounding on the door. For a moment, he was content to simply let the pounding go until it stopped, but after a few moments, he realized it was going to do no such thing.
The pounding continued, echoing the pounding in his head until his choices were either to suffer or stop it. He staggered out of bed wearing only a pair of jeans. He was faintly surprised at how clearheaded he had been, given how much he had drunk the night before.
He made his way to the door, kicking aside the custody papers that he had left there. It had been four days since Eva and Briony had disappeared.
Marco knew it was his duty to go after them, to at least retrieve the girl who was meant to be his successor to the throne of Florence, but there was nothing in him except a boiling rage at Briony. He didn't want to know what he would do if he saw her again.
Other men might have been afraid of violence, but for Marco, he was more afraid of his heart. He was afraid of falling down onto his knees in front of her and begging, demanding to know why she had done such a thing. If she would come back.
His pride refused, and so now he was staggering towards whatever damn fool was behind the door and who would not stop knocking.
He opened the door with a snarl and was confronted by a head of bright chestnut hair and a flash of sweet blue eyes.
She came back...
His instincts had been right, because without a pause, he seized her in his arms, dragging her close to his chest. She shoved him away, which was unexpected, and she swore at him, which was even more unexpected.
"What the hell are you doing? Where's my sister?" Seanan demanded.
He had to shake his head and look again. Seanan, not Briony, and he growled.
"You should know better than I do where your damned sister is," he snapped, and her eyes narrowed. She was a small woman, but now something protective and enraged came over her features.
"Start talking and start talking now," she said. "I didn't come here just to see you, and the staff says she and Eva are gone? What the hell?"
Marco glared, something that had set grown men to fear, but Seanan brushed right past him, coming in and looking around with distaste.
He shrugged, because he wasn't in any mood to sugarcoat things for this woman.
"She met up with a damn movie star behind my back," he snarled. "She cleared out before I could confront her about it, like a coward."
Seanan stared at him, and there was nothing but a white heat in her eyes. "This movie star? Was it Paolo Olivetti? In the gem district, at his flat there? Last Thursday?"
Marco fell silent, stunned, and Seanan nodded her head with disgust. She pulled a handful of paper scraps out of her purse. He could see the ticket stubs there as she separated them out and thrust them at him.
"You did this before, you know," she said witheringly. "I'm not my sister, and I was visiting my lover that day. I suppose I got a little caught up with him, but I came here to surprise Bri with a visit, and maybe to spend some time getting your measure too. I can say right now, I'm not impressed."
He flinched as hot shame poured through him. The realization of what had truly happened broke his mind, and Briony's face when he had come in to speak to her that night broke his heart. She had every right to refuse to see him again, but the desperation grew in his throat, making him turn to Seanan.
"Do you know where she's going to go?"
She looked at him scornfully. "So you can go hurt her some more? Beg her to take you back?"
He shook his head. "Never. To apologize. To tell her what a fool I have been. To offer her all the money she needs to care for Eva if she wishes, to see what she wants to do next."
He stopped, hands open.
"To give her a choice. To tell her I was wrong."
For a moment, he thought Seanan would spin on her heel and leave. He wondered dazedly how much angrier Briony might be if he grabbed Seanan and forced her to tell him where her sister was, but thankfully Seanan thawed.
"All right. Best thing you could have said there, I think. I believe I know where she ran to."
***
Chicago, Briony thought, was the opposite of both LA and Florence, and that was appropriate for her mood.
The loft apartment was slightly chilly, but other than that, it was perfect for her at the moment. She would have welcomed the chatter of Oliver, the apartment’s owner and a good friend of Seanan’s and hers. But as Oliver had told her over email, he was touring with the rest of the ballet company he danced with and would be gone for another two months.
But of course you can stay! Get the key from the lady next door, I'll phone her and let her know to give it up. Best cure for a broken heart is some quiet!
Quiet was right. She wondered if it was her imagination that Eva was so quiet since they had come to Chicago. The Midwest fall was setting in with a vengeance, and the tall windows looked out over a sky that was mostly gray. It was only two in the afternoon, but there were already speckles of rain on the glass, with a distant rumbling promising more to come.
She knew she should try to do something, get her life back on track, but Briony felt numb. All she did was care for Eva; she couldn't even muster up the energy to call her sister.
Almost as if her thoughts had summoned her sister, she got a text from Seanan.
This is your warning.
She wondered what it meant, and then the doorbell chimed. A tide of gratitude poured through her. Seanan would make her feel better, help her decide what to do, but when she opened the door, she realized it wasn't Seanan at all.
It was Marco.
She started to close the door in his face, but he stuck his hand in, forcing it open.
"You can't be here, I don't want to see you," she babbled, backing away.
There was no rage on his face, only a hurt and pain that was almost worse. She couldn't let him in, though. If she did and he hurt her again like that, she wasn't sure if she would be able to take it. If she would survive.
"Don't...please don't," he said softly. "I'm here to tell you a few things. You don't have to speak to me again if you don't wish to, just listen."
She subsided, holding herself tight. She shook as if she had a fever. She watched as he took a sealed envelope out of his jacket pocket.
"These are the results of the paternity test for Eva and I."
She blinked as he tore it into a dozen pieces and dropped it to the ground.
"I don't care what they say. You told me Eva is mine. I believe you, and I love her. She will be the princess of Florence when she is grown.
"I made a terrible mistake, Briony. I...thought you had betrayed me. I thought you had gone to meet a lover in Florence."
"Why would you..?"
"Because I am a fool," he said hoarsely. "Your sister set me straight, not that she had to. I am grateful, however. Please, will you listen to me a little longer?"
She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I love you," he said, the confession coming from deep in his chest. "God, I love you, and if you will allow me, I will make you my wife. I will apologize to you for this every day of our lives if you wish, and I will spend the rest of my life living for your pleasure if you will allow it.
"I love you, and please, marry me, Briony."
She gasped and stared in wide eyed shock, but Marco wasn't done.
"And if you can't because I am a fool, just let me tell you this. Regardless of your answer, I have been proved wrong. You have acted with far more character than I have. So has your sister. All I can do now is hope to learn my lessons on how to behave with integrity from you."
To Briony's shock, he knelt in front of her, offering up a velvet ring box.
She couldn't stop herself any longer. She pushed his hand aside and threw herself into his arms, kneeling with him.
"Oh god, you hurt me so," she sobbed. "You hurt me, and you thought that horrible thing about me..."
"Can you ever forgive me?" he rumbled. "Please, if you do, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you."
"Just love me," she whispered, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Love me as much as I love you, for the rest of our lives, please..."
"I love you," Marco whispered, and deep in her heart, Briony knew he would never stop saying it.
He said it again later that night when they were on the jet back to Florence. He said it in the morning when they woke up together. He said it months later when they announced their engagement to the frantic Italian press, and he whispered it to her when she told him she was pregnant again, just two weeks before their wedding.
"I love you," Marco said as he leaned in to kiss her.
The wedding alter was laden with pure white roses, and dressed in pink, held in both their arms, Eva cooed with delight.
"I love you," Briony replied, and as they kissed in front of the jubilant audience, their daughter between them, Briony knew they would never be apart again.
THE END
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