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CHAPTER 17
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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He had to remember that, even if some secret part of him would’ve liked things to be different. He wouldn’t have been the first royal to marry a commoner, but Ava’s past made an alliance of the sort pretty impossible. Was that why he was feeling this burning ache in his throat? Ava looked so beautiful sitting there like that, her long slim fingers dancing over the keys as her confidence increased. Federico recognized Chopin’s Prelude Op. 28, No. 4but she suddenly stumbled over a note and froze like one of the marble statues in the gallery three rooms away.“Ava?” He stepped towards her. Ava got to her feet, the piano stool almost toppling backward in her haste.“I’m sorry…” she whispere
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Ava brought his mouth back down to hers.“A bed would be extremely nice,” she murmured throatily.“That’s usually where this happens first,” Federico said, nuzzling against her neck. “I don’t think we’ve been together in a bed before.”“Then it’s about time we did something about that,” she whispered, sliding her hands down his chest as she popped each button on his shirt. Federico shrugged himself out of it, and, kicking it aside with his foot, scooped her up in his arms and carried her to a room several doors down. He shouldered the door open in a classical-hero sort of way that did serious damage to Ava’s heart rate. The mattress was soft, but he was rock-hard when he came down on top of her.“You’ve got too many clothes on, Federico,” she said, tugging at his be
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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
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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 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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