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CHAPTER 11
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2024-10-29 19:42:56His face darkened. His walk as he came down the hall towards her, became a statement in itself. He wasn't used to being spoken to like that, especially in front of his minions. And he didn’t like it that she was daring to do so now.
Alessandro flashed the guard a slicing look that had him abruptly letting go of her arm then melting away like ice under the burning summer sun.
“Now,” he said shortly, “would you like to tell me what that was all about?”
“No, I won’t,” Hailee replied, her face still tense with anger and disgust.
He wouldn't understand if she did try to explain how no man would ever touch her again without her permission. Not without her retaliating accordingly, anyway. She had learned that lesson the hard way, at Ryan Lewis's hands.
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His reply to what she just said was a short, hard, mocking laugh.“You’re really something else, you know that?” Alessandro said in scathing disbelief. “Your own sins are not allowed to linger long enough to place a single line of guilt or shame upon your lovely face! It’s no wonder you remain so stunningly beautiful when you can shed blame as easily as you do! It must be the perfect recipe for eternal youth!”“And what's your recipe, Alessandro?” Hailee countered, then went very still, realizing what she had just said. He was still too, silent, unbreathing, pumping the wretched Freudian slip for all it was worth.“For my beauty?” he prompted silkily after a while. Her nerve-ends went into panic mode, forcing her hands to move again in short, jerky
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“But your father doesn't like me.” She'd tried to make him understand.“I'm not what he wanted for you, Alessandro, and he lets me know it at every chance he gets!”“He teases you for your shyness, that's all. It’s your own paranoia that makes you see everything he does as malicious!” Alessandro was always so blind when it came to his father. Guido hadn’t been just malicious in his dealings with his son's unwanted wife, he had been downright destructive.“Okay, I’m listening,” Alessandro said gruffly now. “Let’s talk about it.” The command made her blink, simply because she had been so lost inside her thoughts about him that she had forgotten he was actually there.
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“No!” She was in shock. They were both… naked. Her nightdress was gone… His clothes, too… The crisp hair on his chest was rasping against her breasts, and one wonderfully muscular thigh was heavy across her own.“You want me, Hailee,” Alessandro insisted. “I can feel it. Your body wants me. Your subconscious wants me! Don't tell me no when I can see you burning with desire for me!”“I don’t… I don’t want this. And you said comfort,” Hailee reminded him whimperingly.“This is comfort, Hailee,” he declared. “The most exquisite comfort there is.”“But…”“No,” he gritted. “I need this too, piccola! We both do.” Then he cut off her protests with the hungry crush of his m
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She sucked in a breath of air, her heartbeat pounding in her head. But it was no use. The fact that Alessandro had actually convinced himself that Guido, his father, had nothing to do with Ariana's abduction, only made this moment of truth more impossible to deal with.“Oh, my God, you’re still protecting him, aren't you?” she derided bitterly. “No matter how many dirty tricks he pulls on you, you still refuse to see what a nasty, cunning, evil man he is… Even when the proof of it is shoved right under your very…” His hand snaking around her neck and yanking her forcefully towards him stopped the words.“Hold your tongue, you little shrew!” he rasped. “Before I bite it off!”“Right now, I hate and despise you so much… You have no idea…” Hailee threw into
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The car stopped and her heart too, for a few seconds. The driver got out, stepping up to open her door. Her senses were assailed by the sweet scent of flowers and the crisp tang of fruit, the quietness, the sheer peace that enveloped her just another deception she had to do battle with. The house from the back appeared quite humble when compared with its dramatic front. It had a big white wall with blue-painted shutters thrown back from small windows and a terracotta-tiled roof. Twin blue doors stood open to offer a welcome. Hailee gritted her teeth, tried to make her suddenly shaky legs move. A cicada sawed lazily, hidden somewhere in a tree. No other sound. Nothing. She remembered that silence and felt her back frozen even if outside the sun was high and hot. &n
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It was like witnessing the most spiritual communion life could offer. And no one privy to it couldn’t be moved by the vision. Not Guido, who lowered his silvered head and shook it with a sharp, jerky motion that was almost pained. Not the thin, dark-haired woman standing quietly in a corner of the room. Not even Alessandro, still standing tensely in the open doorway, who had to close his eyes to block out the heart-wrenching vision. The seconds ticked by. No one moved. Not Hailee. Not the baby. Not father or son or the strange woman present in the room. Not even the air in the room... Then the small head lifted, still frowning, still cross as she fixed her mother with a condemning look.“I love you, mummy,” Ariana said. Hailee's legs gave away beneath her. Hearing her was such a sweet but also a gut-wr
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“Oh, no…” Alessandro gritted. “He lied to me, wasn't he? The manipulative old devil was put on a pathetic act to make me jump to his bidding!” “Guido assures me he knows he's a wicked old man,” Hailee put in soothingly. “I should kill him,” he muttered. “Please, Alex… Don't do that!” Hailee cried, looking genuinely alarmed. “Your daughter will never forgive you! She adores that nasty old man!” She shouldn't have said that… Hailee realized it the moment the words left her mouth and his face suddenly darkened, his body rolling sideways out of her slackened grasp. “My daughter… My own flesh and blood…” he mumbled. “The child I rejected before she was even born, because of him.” “Oh, Alex, don't,” she murmured, coming to lean over him, arms holding now instead of clinging. “Blaming your father will only make you bitter. And I don't want you to be bitter! I want us to finally be happy,
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It began to rain, quite suddenly… An absolute deluge that completely halted her miserable thoughts and sent her running for cover as fast as she could. By the time Hailee reached the villa steps, she was drenched to the skin. She began running upwards, head down to shield her face from the worst of the rain. So, Hailee wasn’t aware of the person hurrying down the steps with a big umbrella open ready for her, until she crashed right into the solid wall of his chest. Hailee cried out, almost tumbling backward with the impact, and would’ve done if a strong hand hadn’t caught her arm to steady her. She looked up, a shaken ‘thank you’ ready on her lips, then was struck silent when she found herself staring into a pair of guarded golden eyes. Alessandro… Her b
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Something flickered in those golden depths at last.“Am I to understand that you didn’t have this support the last time?”“No, Alessandro, I didn’t.” The flicker became a glimmer of wry comprehension.“Exactly, how bad a husband was I?” Alessandro then enquired, very drily.“You weren’t a bad husband exactly,” Hailee said. “Just a very busy, absent one.” That seemed to explain it best.“I've changed since then, Alessandro,” she felt obliged to add. “I might say that I finally grew up. I can fight my own battles to a certain extent. But not without your added support.” Hailee sent him a wry smile.“A
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What did he just say to her? What kind of a game was he playing now? The impact that shocking announcement had on Hailee resulted in a complete collapse of everything inside her just for a moment, but it showed in the way her body gave an awkward jerk, in the way her breath was sucked sharply into her lungs.“Hear me out before you say anything,” Alessandro added quickly, obviously reading her reaction as a negative one. “I’ve spent this last week trying to find some solution to this situation we’ve created between us. There isn't one,” he announced heavily. “At least, not one where we both keep what bit of our pride that is left, anyway.” He turned his head to look at her, while Hailee kept her glazed eyes fixed on a point somewhere between Ariana and the table.&l
