Page 184 of Falling for the Wife

“You ungrateful child!” my mother greeted me the second she opened the door and saw me looking like a tragic mess. “Are you done behaving like a stray dog? Your latest shenanigans were published in the newspapers this morning. Are you deliberately trying to ruin our family, Luca?”

“Mama…” I barely glanced at her coiffed hair and designer suit. Apart from the very exact shade of our emerald eyes, she and I had nothing in common. She was a rare breed, that one.

Gradually approaching me, she indignantly huffed, “How could you do this to me?Don’t you care that your actions reflect against the rest of the family? Have you no care about decorum and our reputation?”

Well, hell. She was grating on my last nerve. Each time I did something that wasn’t to her approval, she gave the same old speech. It truly was getting old.

“In case you have been living under a rock for the past decade, let me remind you that I don’t give a blasted fuck about my reputation or my family’s, for that matter.” I snickered, loving the horrified look on her heavily painted face. “Besides, you’re doing the damage all by yourself by sleeping with men, single or otherwise, just to spite my father.”

She growled before reaching out to slap me fiercely. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!”

The insult stung greatly when it was a proven fact that I did.

“Don’t I? How many folks in the media do you have under payroll just so they can keep your name out of the gossip columns?”

“That’s none of your business, Luca!” She raised her chin, outraged. “I’m going to have a PR team to spin this bad publicity. You’re going to stay out of the spotlight while you fully recover from your wounds. And, after you’re better, we’re going to announce that you’re engaged.” The woman was purely mad.

“Engaged?To whom?Cinderella’s ghost?”

“Don’t be foolish. I have a list of eligible women who will be suitable for you. Unless, of course, you fancy Grazia Conti. She’s not really what I want for a daughter, but I’m willing to compromise.” She put the word delusional to shame.

“There will be no engagements, Mama! I’m never getting married, so give it up!”

When would her cunning attitude stop targeting me? I didn’t have the capacity to deal with this, amongst other things.

She blinked at me with those heavily coated eyelashes. “Never?What do you meannever?”

“Never, as in you’re never going to have a grandchild or a daughter-in-law that you’d hate on sight. Get it? Now that solves everyone’s problems. You can get out of my house now, and don’t bother to come back until you’re a decent human being.”

“But you need children to continue our name, our history, the di Medici bloodline.” She seemed oblivious to my insults, because she was too concerned about—, you guessed it, family and the tiresome reputation to uphold in society. “I don’t understand you. What would people say?”

“Again, who gives a fuck about other people?” God, what I wouldn’t do to be anywhere but here. Seriously, the woman was insufferable. “Hell, let them think whatever they want. Better yet, tell them I’m sterile and can’t father a child, and that’s why I don’t want to get married.”

“You’re out of your senses!” Appalled, my mother looked like the epitome of a woman who was about to combust from anger.

“Welcome to the club.”

Shaking her head, she dismissed my previous rants, minding her own agenda. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to have someone drop off the list of eligible women tomorrow. If you’re not going to do this to save the family, I’m going to have your father speak with you.”

“Right, ‘cause that would really be effective.”

She growled, “You insufferable fool!” before she spun on her heels and walked away. However, before she fully exited the library, I heard her utter, “One day, you’ll thank me for all the sacrifices I make for you.”

Huh. I somehow doubted that.

Sette

My mother’s visit merely shook the teetering edge I was trying to hold on to. I wasn’t feeling any better a few hours later, so I had to succumb to taking my medication once more. The aches and pains I could deal with, but the blinding headache that was pounding my skull needed addressing since it was getting worse. Each sound my ears picked up felt a hundred times louder.

Felicia Constantia di Medici had the audacity to demand such idiotic things from me just because she was the person who gave birth to me. Her main objective was to save us and for the family name not to be tainted by bad press. Regardless, I wasn’t a child she could simply boss around and have cater to her whims and wishes. I had lived with my fair share of wanting to please my mother, but I had later realized that she was never going to be satisfied. She would forever demand whatever she needed to suit her purpose. There was no winning with her; I had long ago admitted that fact.

With an intrusive mother, my father actually was the polar opposite. Gianni di Medici was a reasonably fair man. He didn’t necessarily intrude into my personal business unless it was critical. We had a good relationship, but it was one that wouldn’t be considered close.

Not one single person I knew at the moment seemed to have any qualms about me being in bad shape. Even my best friends, Jacques and Andrès, had advised that I should seek help. I felt betrayed by everyone. I had no one—not a damn soul—who would simply be there without having to judge my actions. It was a saddening thought. It wasn’t so long ago where the three of us were thick as thieves. But I suppose, as we got older, things were truly shifting to place where we were gradually drifting apart.

Based on the negative spotlight on me as of late, I was actually wondering why FIA hadn’t called yet for my suspension. I had been fielding calls left and right from friends and acquaintances to media outlets, vying to get a word out of me. There were heavy speculations about my drinking and that there was a “reliable source” from the hospital that confirmed I had alcohol in my system during the time of the crash.

Sighing, I checked the time to see how long it had been since I had taken the pills. It had been five minutes of waiting for the medicine to relieve the pain. I was getting frustrated when it didn’t do anything, so I decided to sleep it off.