baggy top.
‘It was me.’
And then she was crying, her hand clasped over her mouth, her face a stream of tears, her whole body trembling with the force of her misery.
He flew back up the steps and took hold of her, pulling her to him.
When she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his chest, he held her tight, devastated to see the depths of her despair.
This was all his fault.
She tilted her head back to look at him with red-rimmed eyes, tears still pouring down her cheeks.
‘It was me,’ she repeated, biting into her lip.
He brushed her tears away and gazed into her distraught face. ‘What was you?’
‘My father.’ She hiccupped. ‘I made him confess. I told him if he didn’t he would never see me again.’ Her face crumpled. ‘Oh, Gabriele, I’m so sorry. He did frame your father and let you go to prison for it. He’s been laundering money for years. You were right all along but I couldn’t see it.’
Unable to bear her distress any longer, he pulled her back into his arms and stroked her hair. ‘My love, please, no, you have nothing to apologise for.’
‘I didn’t believe you.’
‘Of course you didn’t. He’s your father. We all want to believe the best of our parents.’ He burrowed his nose in her hair, breathing her in, hardly able to believe she was allowing him to hold her and that she held him in turn.
‘You should be at the launch,’ she suddenly wailed. ‘This was your big night for your father...’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ he cut in. ‘You are all that matters. My father would understand.’
When she was finally still, he took her face in his hands and stared intently into her eyes. ‘Elena...why? Why did you make him confess?’
Incredulity came into her eyes. ‘Because what he did was despicable. What he did to you and your family...’ She shook her head, her chest shuddering. ‘I’m still struggling to believe he could do such a thing. The money laundering and fraud... I might have been able to accept that, but to set your family up like he did and watch you be imprisoned for it...’
Her entire body shook, fresh tears falling over his hands.
‘He was jealous of your father’s success. When my mother died his jealousy grew—he saw your father with a happy family and thriving business and it turned him. When he learned the FBI was monitoring him, he framed your father without any remorse. I’m trying to understand how he could do it but...’ She blew a breath of air out. ‘I can never forgive him for what he’s done to you.’
‘Listen to me,’ he said, speaking quietly. ‘Whatever he’s done, he’s still your father. You will always love him and he will always love you. Never forget that.’
‘I feel tainted,’ she whispered.
A dog barked from across the street, its walker staring at them with curiosity.
‘Can we go inside and talk before someone accuses me of bothering you?’ he asked.
She attempted a laugh. ‘You want to come inside a Ricci house?’
‘The Ricci blood can’t be all bad if it made you.’
She gazed at him, her brow furrowed.
‘Can’t you see how special you are that your father would willingly go to prison rather than lose you?’ He kissed her forehead. ‘And you’re so special to me that I ripped up the documents and sent Carlos on his way rather than have your father arrested because your happiness and peace of mind mean more to me than anything. More than revenge. More than clearing my name. I had lost all faith in humanity and you gave it back to me—you, the woman with Ricci blood in her veins. I love you more than I knew was possible and I will never, ever forgive myself for what I’ve done to you.’
‘Your name will be cleared now,’ she said softly.
‘That means a lot to me,’ he admitted. ‘I’m just sorry it comes with such a heavy price for you.’
‘I’ll survive.’ She swallowed and gazed into his eyes. ‘I’ll survive if you’re with me.’
Speech suddenly became impossible.
Elena stared at the man she loved, wishing he could see into her heart and read what was there. ‘You saved me.’
His eyes didn’t leave her face.
‘You saved me from those men and then you saved me from myself. You opened my eyes to who I really am. You taught me there’s nothing to be ashamed of in being a woman; in being me.’ She looked up at the starry sky. ‘Without you in my life, it feels like all the stars have gone out.’
When she gazed back at him, stark, silent hope and disbelief were etched on his face.
Now it was her turn to touch him. She pressed her palm to his cheek, a shiver racing through her to feel the smooth skin she’d dreamed of every night since she’d left him.
‘I love you, Gabriele, and I forgive you.’
His eyes widened and he nestled into her palm.
‘You love me?’ he asked in a choked voice. ‘You forgive me?’
‘What you did... I can’t say in all honesty that I wouldn’t have done the same in your shoes. What you’ve been through—what we’ve both been through...’
‘If you give me a second chance I will never lie to you again,’ he said, with such sincerity the last doubts in her heart fluttered away.
‘I know,’ she said softly.
Suddenly he dropped to one knee and took her hand. ‘Elena Ricci, will you do me the honour of divorcing me?’
‘What?’
A smile tugged at his lips, the heavy lines that had marred his face since his arrival on her doorstep lifting. ‘Divorce me...and then do me the even greater honour of marrying me, but this time for real. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to have little Mantegna and Ricci babies with you.’
If her heart could expand any further it would explode out of her chest.
All the misery of the past five days was pushed aside as a wave of joy ripped through her.
‘So will you?’ he asked, still on one knee, his finger rubbing the gold band on her wedding finger. ‘Do you want it too?’
‘More than anything,’ she said, a beam she had no control over spreading over her face. ‘I love you, Gabriele.’
With that, he pulled the ring off, threw it over his shoulder and kissed the space on her finger where it had been. Gazing back up into her eyes, he said, ‘The next ring I put there will be for keeps. All the
