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“I want to see you happy, Natalia.” He pauses for a bit, and I feel him shuffle on the bed. “Even if the Conti boy makes you happy.” I look up at him with narrowed eyes. Did he just say that? “You heard me.” He smiles, looking down at me.
Reluctantly, I sit up. “I’m sorry Mamma went through what she did, and I’ve been the one to make her relive all of those moments,” I tell him.
My father reaches out and joins hands with me. “She doesn’t blame you nor does she blame Alessandro. Your mother has come a long way, and last night I think she got the closure she needed, but she’s upset that it was at the expense of your happiness.”
“It was never going to work, not with that kind of history between the families.”
“We would have welcomed him if that was what you wanted.” I nod. What does it matter now he’s gone? Our annulment is going through, and it’s as if the two of us never existed. “He seemed like a good guy in the end.”
“He was.”
“Sweetie, I’m sorry this has all happened. Like I told you from the beginning, no deal is worth more than my family,” he says, reaching out and hugging me.
“But you won in the end. He pulled out of the deal, signed my annulment papers, and has disappeared.”
“Winning by default isn’t a nice feeling,” he grumbles.
“Losing by default isn’t nice either,” I quip. “I need to be alone, okay?”
“Okay, sweetie, let me know if you need anything,” he says, kissing my forehead before leaving me alone.
I disappear underneath my sheets and hope something swallows me whole.
Hours later
“Natalia,” Allegra rushes into my room, waking me from my sleep.
“What?” I answer groggily.
“Giuseppe Conti’s dead.”
Wait, what?
I sit up in bed and stare at my sister. Is this a dream? I don’t understand.
“What did you say?”
“Giuseppe Conti is dead. He had a heart attack last night after an altercation with his son. It’s all over the news,” Allegra informs me.
Huh.
He’s dead?
“Shit, Alessandro. I need to go see him. He lost his father. Oh my god, this is devastating. I’ve got to go,” I tell her.
“Hold up there. Before you even think of going anywhere, you need to go have a shower, you stink, and your hair looks like a rat’s nest,” my sister tells me. I lift my arm and give it a sniff, ew, she’s right. “Do you think now is the right time to go see him?” she asks.
“His father died, of course it’s the right time,” I tell her. Is she mad?
“Nat, he’s made it very clear that he doesn’t want to see you,” she explains.
My heart sinks. Oh. Yeah. I noticed he’s blocked me on everything.
“He didn’t want to see me because of his father …”
Allegra glares at me. “Just because his father’s gone doesn’t mean everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours is void. It might be even worse.”
My stomach turns. “Did I kill his father?”
