AllFreeNovel
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First published 2024
(c) Clare Connelly
Cover Credit: adobestock
Contact Clare:
http://www.clareconnelly.com
Blog: http://clarewriteslove.wordpress.com/
Email: [email protected]
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CHAPTER ONE
LEANDRO BRACED HIS PALMS against the cool marble of the kitchen counter, his eyes lingering on the panoramic views revealed by the penthouse’s expansive wall of windows. In every direction, high rises seemed to lift from the ground, glistening all over with a mix of lights and reflections, the sky of Manhattan a deep, inky black.
A depth of darkness that matched his mood.
With a grimace that had been in place for almost a week, with the exception of when he’d been forced to don a tight smile for his brother’s official wedding photos, he lifted the scotch to his lips, closing his eyes as the sharp, spiced flavour hit him hard.
Which was just what Leandro Valentino wanted.
To be hit, hard.
To feel.
To feel something other than shock and anger and betrayal, to be shaken out of this nightmare and brought back into something resembling reality.
“Is it true? Mother? Father? I don’t even know what to call you.”
“We’re still your parents,” Patrizia had sobbed.
“Like hell you are. I’m adopted. And no one thought to tell me?”
Patrizia flinched. “You are our son, in every way that matters?—,”
“Except I’m not. I was not born to you, I am not a part of you. God,” he dragged a hand through his hair. “I don’t know who you are anymore. I don’t know who I am.”
Would he ever know who he was?
All of the features that had been so familiar to him before the discovery were now utterly foreign. Where once he’d seen a hint of his mother’s nose in his own or the crinkle of his father’s eyes in his own face, he now realised he’d been chasing ghosts. Imagining things. Believing himself to be something he was not.
His siblings were not his own.
Nothing about his life made sense anymore.
He drained his scotch then reached for the bottle. Empty. That’s right. He’d made a fair go of it the night before, choosing to get drunk in his hotel room and watch sport on TV rather than spend the night with the remainder of the wedding guests, who were all intent on celebrating Andie and Max’s incredible love.
Sure, Leandro was happy for Max.
