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CHAPTER 12
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Your Serene Highness, I have that information you requested,” Francesco said a couple of days later, as he brought in Federico’s coffee.
Federico lowered the newspaper he had been reading and gave his aide his full attention.
“Tell me everything.”
‘Miss Antonini is living at a small flat in Marconi Lane with a former drug addict, a woman by the name of Teresa. Apparently, they met in prison but the other woman was released two years ago. She works at one of the local hotels as a housemaid.”
His eyebrows came together.
“Is there a man?” he asked.
“There is no man. However, there is a small child, a boy around five years or so.”
Federico straightened in his chair, a cold hand of unease disturbing the hairs on
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“Chris? You mean the little boy who drew me the picture?” Ava blinked at him, her brain whirling and spinning out of control.“Um… He’s… Teresa’s little boy,” she finally managed to croak out. Federico gave her a quizzical look.“I thought the boy’s name was Nicola,” he said. “Or at least that’s what Francesco said it was, but then he could have got it wrong.”“N-no, that is right…” She hastily mortared another lie into her wall of deceit.“Teresa’s son is called Nicola but… but he prefers his second name…”“Like my sister prefers Tori instead of Victoria,” Federico added.&nbs
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He was still frowning at her.“Whatever you were thinking about must have been extremely distressing for you,” Federico told her. “Was it something to do with your time in prison?” Ava sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. She was as close to crumbling as she had ever been, but some tiny rod of pride kept her spine upright.“You seem to be rather fascinated with my prison life,” she speculated. “Is that because you harbor some sort of fantasy about an ex-criminal? Sex with someone from the slammer… It has a sort of ring to it, don’t you think?” Federico felt his desire for her rise in his body with the force of an earthquake. It rumbled through him, it shook him, and above everything else… it challenged him. He would have her. It didn&rsquo
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The moment she stepped into Federico’s private study, Ava felt extremely nervous and excited at the same time. Her senses were heightened by his light touch as he took his jacket from her shoulders and laid it over a chair. Federico came back to stand in front of her, his dark gaze meshing with hers as he took both of her hands in his.“Are you feeling better?” She shook her head, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips.“Yes… I’m a little bit better… thank you.” Federico settled his hands on her waist and brought Ava up against his body.“I think I should pour you a cup of coffee… or tea…” he said slowly, looking down at her mouth. Ava felt her li
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Ava slipped inside the flat, closing the door behind her just as Teresa appeared in the narrow hallway.“Ter, is he alright?” she asked. Her friend nodded and touched her arm to reassure her.“It was hard to convince him, but the moment I sent you the text, Chris went back to sleep. I really hope I didn’t interrupt anything important…” She shifted her gaze from Teresa. Ava would tell Teresa everything at some point, but not now.“No, sweetie,” she replied heading towards Christian’s room. “Nothing important…” Ava added and entered her son’s room and stayed there, watching over her baby boy, trying to protect him from whatever the future was bringing. The
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Damn her! For a second, Federico felt the urge to strangle her for what she did… for keeping secret the existence of a child… He had a son… There was no doubt the boy was his since the resemblance was uncanny. Five years had passed and he had been robbed of every minute of his son’s life. How many milestones had he missed? It tore him apart on the inside to even think about everything he didn’t witness about his child. When had Christian taken his first step? When had he said his first word? For God’s sake, he didn’t even know what day he had been born! Five birthdays had passed and he hadn’t been there to celebrate any of them.“S-sorry, M-mummy,” Christian said with a wobble in his voice as he looked between them with eyes wide w
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Ava paced the floor of the study where Francesco had instructed her to wait for Federico. Christian was in bed, exhausted, barely putting up a struggle when the elderly but totally competent nanny Costanza had told him she would be babysitting him while his mother was downstairs. Her nerves felt as if they had been stretched beyond the limit. She was jumpy and agitated, feeling like she was some kind of a trial… all over again. But this time she was in part, guilty. “Keep breathing, Ava… Keep breathing,” she told herself slowly All of a sudden, the imposing walls of the luxury villa were closing in around her and she started feeling like she was in prison all over again. “Stay focused… This is about Christian…” Whatever happene
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“Did you know you were pregnant when you ended our relationship?” Federico asked, still glaring at her furiously.‘No… I only found out after I was in prison. I wasn’t feeling well, so I had a health check done and a pregnancy test was standard procedure. The results came back positive. I was extremely shocked. I didn’t even know you could fall pregnant while on the pill,” she said slowly, trying not to give in to pain. “I was lost, alone… I was in prison… How can I even contemplate bringing a child into this world, in these conditions? What kind of mother would I be?” Federico heard the anguish behind the words and felt his anger loosen around the edges. Ava was almost eighteen at that point. Sure, she had acted like a streetwise slut, but finding herself pregnant and in prison must’ve hit her pretty hard.“I had no clue what t
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Ava opened her eyes and it took her a few seconds to understand where she was. She looked around her then pushed away the soft blanket and got up from the armchair she fell asleep in a minute ago or an hour ago… The silence was killing her. After years in a noisy prison, Ava still found the quietness of night faintly disturbing. “My God… It’s true… All true…” she whispered. Quietly, she left her room and went to check on Christian, who was sleeping next door. She gently pushed open the door of his room but came to a startled halt seeing Federico near her son’s bed, holding one of his tiny hands. “Is… is everything alright?” she asked in a low whisper. Extremely carefully, Federico tucked Christian’s hand back under the covers. “Yes… I was just… I wanted to see him before going to bed.”
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The next morning, Ava was overwhelmed by the press on her way to the ferry with Chris. Her son was already in tears, not quite understanding what was going on. Federico had spent some time with him earlier, but he had left before Ava could see him one last time. The nanny had said he had been called away to something urgent at the palace, but Ava had wondered if the old woman had been told to say that so Federico could avoid saying goodbye.“But I don’t want to leave Daddy,” Chris wailed as she tugged him along the gangplank to board the passenger ferry.“Sweetie, it’s just not possible to stay here,” Ava told her son, fighting back tears of her own at some of the vicious insults still being thrown at her from the wharf. Ava kept her head down as she showed
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His dark eyes meshed with hers.“Have you ever had an item of clothing in your wardrobe you don’t wear anymore but still don’t feel quite ready to discard it?” She gave him an ironic look.“I’m sure you aren’t the one in your household to sort through your socks and underwear drawer. You have numerous servants who do that for you.” His smile was a little crooked.“Yes… Perhaps you’re right. There aren’t many things I do for myself these days.”“Including choosing a wife?” Ava wished she hadn’t let it slip out since she was sure she sounded as jealous as she felt. Federico held her gaze for an interminable moment.“As future King,
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“Daddy says I can have a real paint set and brushes and a… a… weasel all to myself!” Christian announced proudly as he came running towards Ava one morning, four days later.“It’s called an easel, baby,” Ava corrected him as she bent down to kiss his forehead. “A weasel is a small furry animal.”“Oh…” Christian went on excitedly. “I’ve got a new tip truck and a kite Daddy and I are going to use on the beach and Daddy promised me I can have a camera all of my own when I am six.” Ava forced a smile in spite of her inner turmoil. How could she tell Chris this little holiday was soon to end? She had no doubt Federico would continue contact with his son. He had made that very clear every night they had spent together. In such a short time, Federico had establis
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She looked at him as if she was going to say no, but then Ava gave him a smile tinged with sadness.“I guess we should make the most of the time we have left… So… Yes, Federico… Yes…” Federico didn’t want to think about how each day was slipping through his fingers like fine grains of sand. All he could hope for was a few more days to keep Chris and Ava close while he sorted through his options. Everything had happened so quickly and he was still coming to terms with it all. Not just his son’s existence but how his feelings for Ava were rising up to the surface after years of being shoved down. He led her upstairs to his bedroom, closing the door softly behind them. She took a few steps in and set down
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“I will get justice for you, Ava,” he said, pulling her closer. “I promise I will leave no stone unturned until I do.”“It’s okay, Federico… You've tried and it didn’t work… For me it’s enough you believe in my innocence…”“Ava…” She was standing too close to him to be able to ignore the pulse of his body. The thin layer of her clothes that shielded her form, couldn’t possibly disguise her own response to his nearness. She ran her tongue over the dryness of her lips. Her breathing going out of time, her heart tripping as his head slowly came down… The press of his lips against hers was gentle at first, but as soon as he stroked his tongue across the seam of her lips, everything changed. Passion flared like a combustible fuel exposed to a ligh
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Ava spent the next few days watching Federico and Christian together, spending quality time like father and son should. It was so moving to see them together… Their dark heads bent close together over a puzzle or a book or a painting they had done, their smiles so similar. Christian was starting to blossom, his confidence growing as each day passed. He clearly adored his father and Federico made no effort to hide his very deep love for his son. She tried not to let it concern her but Federico hadn’t asked her to sleep with him again. She didn’t know if be happy about it or extremely sad… Was he trying to distance himself from her? It was so hard to tell. When Christian was around, Federico was happy and smiling and chatted with her as an
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The words tumbled out and once they had started, Ava couldn’t seem to stop.“He broke my arm when I was four years old. On the way to the hospital, he told me if I said a word to anyone about how it had happened, he would do much worse. He told me to tell everyone I was jumping in bed and fell on the ground. I was so frightened… It wasn’t the first time he had hit me, far from it. He was always hitting me, in my stomach, or my back… Because he didn’t want people to see the bruises… But after that, he toned it down a bit. It wouldn’t do to have anyone pointing their finger at him, now, would it? He was a high-profile man who made a great show of how much he loved his difficult, rebel daughter.” Federico kept on stroking her cold, lifeless hands.“Oh, Ava,” was all he could manage to say.
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Federico’s cellphone started to ring and he took it out from his pocket and glanced at the display. “I’m afraid I’ll have to take this call,” he said. “Can you find your way to my study? I’ll meet you there in ten minutes.” Ava gave a nod and slipped out of the room while Federico took the call, keeping his voice low as he spoke to Francesco. She heard him saying something about searches of the Royal Star diamond and that there was nothing leaked to the press about Christian. In the papers, there were some photographs of the party and a short piece about Christian’s role as royal patron, but thankfully nothing else, so far. Ava took the scrapbooks she had made and after a few wrong turns made her way to his study. She stood outside for a moment, holding the books against her chest, trying t
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The next morning, Ava was helping Christian with his breakfast, when Federico came in. She looked up, knowing her cheeks were glowing from all the intimacy they had shared during the night before she had slipped back to her own room in the early hours of the morning while he had been sleeping. He met her gaze for a pulsing moment before turning to the little boy.“Good morning, Christian,” Federico said, taking the chair beside him. “Did you sleep well, little man?” Smiling shyly when Federico called him that, Christian put his spoon down politely.“Yes. I could hear the sea. Mummy said I might be able to go to the beach and build a sandcastle.”“I believe that your Mummy is absolutely right. I too think that would be a very good idea. But first…Can we have a little talk? I would like to talk to you
