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Adriano swallowed the biting retort that rose to his lips. The last thing he would do was to ruin Nyra’s hard work by getting into an argument with his mother at the tail end of the party. Bad enough he’d behaved like a grumpy bastard for most of it.
But her condescending tone grated on him. “You do know that she’s pregnant with twins,si?”
Below them, under the glittering glass deck, Nyra was now surrounded by a group of women from the board of some charity foundation. Even from here, the exhaustion pinching the corners of her mouth were visible. But she wouldn’t listen to a word of his entreaty that it was okay to leave. “You’re running her ragged, having convinced her she needs to make reparations. My wife doesn’t owe anyone a thing.”
“She’s already beginning from a place of…weakness when it comes to our society. She needs to have her finger on everything before the babies come. Then there’s all the arrangements we need to make with nannies so that she can continue the work she’s started here. There were at least two charities that she showed interest in. I plan to get her on board immediately.”
He gritted his teeth. “She will need time to recover from the pregnancy. As for nannies, that is a decision she and I will make together. Your advice on all things parenting, while appreciated, is not required.”
She turned to stare at him, only now catching the growl in his words. “You will decide on nannies, Adriano?” A scornful laugh escaped her.
He straightened to his full height. “Si.And all this…” he said, moving his hand over the guests and the yacht and the party. “I will indulge it only as long as Nyra wants it.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means our marriage is nothing like yours and Papa’s. And I will light this entire society on fire before I let you mold her into another version of you.”
“Adriano!” Mama said, paleness creeping in under her skin. “You dare to speak to me that way…”
“I think the question should be why I left it so long. All you and Papa did in your marriage is one-up each other. Affairs, lies, cheating, scandals…a parade of nannies for me and a cluster of illegitimate children spread along the coast. Papa didn’t even leave one of the nannies alone.” His gaze fell on Bruno, who had looked up at them just then. A shake of his head followed, because of course, his half brother could read Adriano’s tension from his body language. But this was something he should have done ages ago.
His parents had misunderstood his aversion for this kind of discussion—where he had to caution them for their behavior—as his apathy for how they treated his wife.
He faced his mother. “My children will not be raised by a string of strangers, will not be used as pawns in a game of drunken, cheating bluff. Will not be left alone at a cavernous suite at some luxury hotel at the age of five, for a whole day and night. Until Maria came back to look after me, I didn’t know what it was to be touched and hugged. And loved.” His voice broke at the last word and he felt…as if he’d been punched in the head. Never once had he admitted to himself the effects of his parents’ sheer negligence of him.
“Adriano—”
“No,” he said, cutting her off.
Even the glitter of tears in his mother’s eyes didn’t dissuade him. If she did feel regret, it was too late.
“Whatever Nyra wants to try and become, your job is to support her and walk her through it. You have no say, no power when it comes to my marriage, my wife or my children. If not, I know how to make you and Papa behave.”
“Adriano, please—”
“Now, let’s not drag this out into one of your drama specials, Mama,” he said, bending and kissing her cheek. “After all, my wife worked quite hard on this party,si?”
The mild rose scent she’d always worn squeezed his heart. As a child, he’d adored her, craved her attention, cried for her deep into the night. He’d begged, and then bargained, with a God he didn’t even understand, for her to see him. For her to love him.
Until he had had no choice but to harden himself against that kind of dependence on her or his father. Or anyone else for that matter. It was only Maria’s presence, and later Bruno stubbornly pushing into his life, that had stopped him from becoming a complete island. Desolate, alone.
Suddenly, he could see the damage all of it had wrought on him.
His skin prickled and when he looked down, he caught the gaze of the woman who had paid the price for that damage. It was his own incapability of trusting her and himself and their bond that had damaged their relationship. He saw it now.
And yet Nyra stared at him with such faith in her eyes that he felt renewed hope for himself.
Maybe it was time to see his birthdays as something worth celebrating. For Nyra and for their future together, if not for himself.
Chapter Ten
Itwaspastmidnight when Nyra dismissed the two women from the catering staff who had assisted her in the gourmet galley. The chef had barely hidden his laughter, which had begun as contempt for her pitiful attempts, but this was one thing she’d wanted to do by herself. Even if it took her forever.
Finally, the yacht was empty, free of even family.
Adriano was nowhere to be seen though. For just a moment, she wondered if he’d left with the rest of the guests. But he wouldn’t just abandon her. Would he?
She emerged from the galley onto the lower deck and looked past the glass walls that kept out the chilly breeze. In the dark, a new kind of magnificence greeted her, with lights from elegant villas and charming villages shining on the dark waters. The yacht’s sleek exterior gleamed, reflecting the colors of the earlier sunset.