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CHAPTER 18
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.
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SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 19
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
SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 20
Frustration and fear that came from experience in dealing with Guido Baroni, made Hailee tremble inside. Black and white… Alessandro dealt in black and white. The grey area in Guido's favor was that Hailee would never be able to prove she didn’t go to bed with another man! “Signora? (Ita for ‘Ma’am’)” The demand brought her eyes flickering into focus. Assunta was standing by her chair, her smile warm. “Signora Baroni… La bambina, (Italian for ‘little girl’)” she prompted softly. “No need to give you my baby… At last, Ari sleeps peacefully with her mummy's arms around her.” Asleep… Hailee glanced down in surprise to find that Ariana was indeed fast asleep, her body heavy and her limbs slack, her steady breathing a sign that, just as, Assu
SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 21
Hailee went hot, then cold, then began tingling all over as his softly provoking tone sent disturbing little messages to all her senses.“Alessandro, if you don’t mind, I will eat my dinner here in the suite,” she said coolly as a way to counteract the disturbance.“Out of the question! You will eat in the dining room as is the custom in this house,” he ordained. She didn’t feel bothered by it. At least that other tone, the more intimate one, had gone from his voice. Hailee shook her head.“No. I won't leave Ari here alone. She may wake up and be frightened.”“Assunta is here, with her, is she not?”“Yes, she is,” Hailee conceded that point. “But Assunta is not Ari's mother, is she? She's had enough upsets in her little life recently without waking to a str
SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 22
Hailee was squatting by the cultivated border of one of the many white-painted terrace walls, carefully coaxing bougainvillea strands around a wire support that she had just constructed, secure in the knowledge that she could hear Ariana's happy voice drifting up to her from where she played on the beach with Assunta. An electric whirring sound behind her warned Hailee of Guido's approach. She didn't turn, didn’t even reveal she was aware of his unpleasant presence. But her inner sigh was heavy. In the six days since she had arrived here, Hailee had carefully avoided any contact at all with her father-in-law. He came to see Ariana each lunchtime, guiding his chair into the suite and staying long enough to share lunch with her baby. But Hail
SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 23
While giving her a grin, Guido nodded.“It would be difficult to deny this when she is the perfect image of you.”“And remember also that Ari is at the age when she needs her mother the most.”“Of course!” Guido looked almost shocked that Hailee should feel the need to tell him that.“All children need their mother…” he added, his attention drifting back to the beach where the game had now finished and Ariana was busy with her bucket and spade while Assunta mounted a beach umbrella over her to keep off the sun.“Alex was entirely devoted to his mamma,” Guido went on softly. “On this same beach, they would play together… just like that.”“Ariadne,” Hailee prompted gently.“Eh, sì (Ita for &
SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 24
Did he mean by that, that she owed him the use of her body in return for his retrieving her stolen child? Hailee looked at him in horror. “But you hate and despise me! You even hated yourself for what happened the last time we shared a bed!” “This is quite true.” His hard face tightened. “But if I had wanted the whole world to know that Alessandro Baroni was foolish enough to marry a cheating woman,” he threw at Hailee, “I would’ve divorced her three years ago and left her by herself with her illegitimate child!” Hailee blanched at the intended insult. He took the reaction as his due. “As it is,” he continued, “to the world and this household, we are still very much man and wife. And man and wife share a bed and have a certain amount of marital privacy which doesn’t include
SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 25
That was it… Hailee was trapped. Trapped by need. Trapped by her own body, which would respond to the slightest touch from the man who had reawaken it to its pleasures… And did he pleasure her! Night after night, hungrily, devouringly. But she never woke up to him still there beside her, and that trapped her too… Trapped her in a tight little world of self-disgust and helplessness because she couldn’t do a single thing to change the situation, to change his mind about her, to change this show where she played the loving wife and he played the ravaging conqueror. Hailee was trapped by his ruthless determination to appear the master of his own household by making her sleep with him, eat in the dining room with him and his father. Trapped in a stupid, pathetic play where she wa
SOMEBODY LIKE YOU CHAPTER 26
Hailee kept singing and humming until Ariana closed her eyes and calmed down. There was silence behind her, filled with the battle that Alessandro was having with himself at her cold dismissal. Hailee could hear him breathing, but his anger or frustration wasn’t her problem. She was interested in her little daughter. Then, without saying another word to her, he just went away. When eventually Ariana drifted back into sleep, Hailee didn’t replace her in her crib but sat down in the chair beside Assunta's rumpled bed and allowed the little girl to spread out on her lap with her warm cheek cushioned on Hailee's breast. She stayed like that for ages. How long she didn't know. It didn't matter. When Alessandro eventually came back, she barely acknowledged him. He went to stand by the window. A habit of his when struggli
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