Romance: My Italian Prince, Undercover Love: Sweet Romantic Comedy

by JACOBS, JASMIN

  Vanessa was in tears as she stumbled down the stairs only to find Madame Dupont standing in the kitchen area. The old woman in just her nighties and a silk robe, her hair neatly placed on several curlers. She had swept a large shawl around her petite frame and looked quite happy as she stood blending a mix of milk and honey to a tall man sitting at the kitchen table.

  Vanessa halted in the door, not sure if she should approach or not. What if Madame Dupont had a lover and wanted to be alone with him? But as she turned around to leave the room without entering, the man at the table stood up.

  “Mademoiselle Green?”

  Vanessa looked at him, “Yes?”

  “I have a message for you from Mr. Di Savoy,” he said in a voice resembling one of the king's men in a 1600-century saga.

  “Yes?” she said impatiently.

  “Mr. Di Savoy has the great pleasure of inviting you to his yacht in the…”

  Was this a joke? Vanessa felt angry, why couldn't this man just get to the point?

  “Right,” Vanessa interrupted him. “So what you’re trying to say is that Alex is staying at his yacht tonight and wants me to go there?”

  “Pardon Mademoiselle, I have been ordered to make…”

  Vanessa almost jumped on her spot by impatience and she cut him short. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll just gather my stuff and I’ll come with you.”

  “Thank you, Mademoiselle.” The tall man said without even blinking at her dry tone. He just sat down on his chair and with a small nod at Madame Dupree, he finished the milk-and honey drink in about three slurps.

  As they drove back to Alex´s yacht in Monte Carlo, Vanessa tried to gather her thoughts. Something had obviously happened that had made Alex send for her. Probably he was just getting so late after he finished his meeting it was no point in driving back tonight. But still, why had he rushed a driver to St. Augustine to bring her back?

  It was a long drive for all her thoughts. At the point where she saw the harbor and all the boats, she had worked herself up into a state. What was going on? Could nothing just go smoothly around her and Alex? Why did it always have to be some drama messing things up? It was Brunetti, she was sure of it. He had always had a finger in the game when things went south in their relationship. Vanessa felt angry and she was fed up with this man trying to destroy what she and Alex had.

  When she got to the yacht, the staff greeted her as if she was a Queen, arriving back to her castle. However, she was too upset to appreciate any of the offered drinks and food, she had to find Alex.

  “Good morning gorgeous! How do you feel?” Alex voice met her in the corridor.

  What kind of question was that? How did he think I feel… Vanessa was too upset to answer him and instead she walked up to him and looked him straight in the eyes. He was hungover, no question about it, she could even smell the alcohol from his breath.

  “What have you been up to?” She asked, demanding an answer.

  “Take it easy, Vanessa. Calm down!” Alex tried to put his arms around her, but she bolted out from his embrace.

  “Take it easy? Are you for real? I been up all night waiting for you to get back,” Vanessa was outraged, how could he just stand here pretending everything was fine when he was the one who went M.I.A for a whole night?”

  “Come on Baby, don’t be like this, Alex tried again,” I just slept in the other room to avoid waking you. We arrived quite late and you were already asleep and when Gian-Carlo told me you had a migraine, I had the staff prepare another room for me.”

  “I did not have a migraine. I never had one in my life, this is ridiculous, was it Gian-Carlo who told you that?”

  “Yes it was, but I don’t see the problem here? When I arrived in Nice last night and after I finished Mitch’s papers, you’d left a message for me, Gian-Carlos said. Saying you had a migraine and preferred to go back to the boat so you could see a doctor in the morning. He was really quite concerned about you Vanessa, and arranged to have you picked up. We had to eat something so we just went over to La Terrazza and had light dinner. Some friends happened to sit on the next table and invited us over. We stayed just for a short while before I left to go back here to see you.”

  Vanessa didn’t know what to believe. It was all confusing to her.

  “Well, first of all, I never called Gian-Carlo, I tried to call you but your phone was switched off when I couldn’t reach you I almost panicked by worry.”

  “I’m sorry about that, it seemed as if I forgot my phone at the office but since you had already talked to Gian-Carlo who said you just went to sleep as soon as you came onboard, I didn’t see the point in waking you up.” Alex looked as confused as Vanessa did.

  “I don’t understand why you would take Gian-Carlos word over mine,” Vanessa said her voice sounding all wobbly and she could feel tears in her eyes.

  “What are you talking about, Vanessa? I just wanted you to rest because of your migraine.” Alex sounded as confused as he looked.

  “I never had a migraine, that’s the whole point, don’t you get it?” Vanessa suddenly felt tired and she didn't have the strength to stand here arguing about something that had never occurred.

  “I think I’ll go to Monte-Carlo for a while, do some shopping, and calm down. Why don’t you go back to sleep? You look awful. I’ll be back around noon” Vanessa was eager to get off the yacht and be alone with her thoughts and perhaps she could figure out what was going on. Because something was up, that she was sure off.

  “Fine, if that’s what you want I’ll arrange for someone to take you,” Alex looked tired and even more hungover than a few minutes ago. “I’ll rest for a while and then I come in and meet you and we can go back to the village.”

  “Fine.” Vanessa quickly turned around not giving him a chance to embrace her.

  Without looking back Vanessa stormed out from the corridor and onto the deck, she found one of the boat-boys in the staff and asked him to take her to Monte-Carlo at once. She couldn't get of the yacht fast enough. She was angry and upset about all the confusion between her and Alex and she was sure Brunetti was the one behind it. Migraine? That was so low, he had obviously told Alex the lie so he could bring him along to the party.

  When she sat on the smaller boats and waited for the driver to get the engine started, she looked up at the boat and caught a glimpse of someone moving on the deck. She squinted her eyes to see better in the bright sunlight. It was Brunetti. He stood leaning on the fence on the top deck looking down on her as she left the yacht. She looked away, she didn't want to give him the pleasure of him seeing her this upset, it would only fulfill his evil plan. As the boat turned in the direction of the harbor, her eyes couldn’t resist her but going up to the deck where Brunetti stood, still not moving, just watching her. Then she saw it, his face turned into a grimace, his normally angry expression now had changed into what looked like an evil smirk. Even if the sun was shining and the temperature high, Vanessa suddenly felt cold and she shivered in the sun.

  Chapter 5

  Vanessa wandered the streets of Monte-Carlo in a state, with Brunetti's smirk still clear in her mind. She sighed, this man was such a pain. But of course, nothing ever came easy to her. Alex was the man of her dreams and she was thankful she’d found him but it certainly came with a hitch. Nothing came for free in this world, she’d learned that the hard way. If you succeed in one area, you had to sacrifice in another. It was almost ironic how everything in her life turned out the same way. She had the most adorable father, who stood by her side no matter what, but he’d be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago, and was now in such a bad shape her mother wasn’t sure for how long she could take care of him at home. They had begun searching for a nursing home. She’d been one of the top students and athletes in school, but to the cost of good friends. She’d been pretty and quite popular with boys at school but because she was also independent, she soon got the reputation of being tied up.

  Enough dwelling Vanessa, she told herself
. She sat down at a café, ordered an espresso, and leaned back in her seat. She would go back to the boat, talk to Alex, and force him to see Brunetti for who really was.

  She enjoyed her coffee and tried to shut out all negative thoughts when she overheard a conversation from the table right next to her, where they talking about Alex? She had a hard time understanding, as they spoke in French, but as she leaned towards them she saw they were both looking at a magazine spread one of them was holding up so her friend, and handy enough even Vanessa, could see. She stared at the spread from over the woman's shoulders and although it was in French, she could understand the words Scandal, cocaine, playboy-bunnies, and Alessandro Di Savoy. She leaned forward, she had to get a closer look at this. It had to be quite an old gossip magazine but Vanessa was still curious to see what it said about Alex. One of the women looked over her shoulder and saw Vanessa who by now almost had her face in between the two of them.

  “Pardon?” One of the women looked at Vanessa.

  “Oh, pardon,” Vanessa sat up straight and pretended to look in her purse as she continued to glare under one of the women's arm. Damn! She couldn’t see a thing.

  “Excuse me, but what magazine it that you’re reading?”

  “You want a look at it? The woman handed her the magazine with a smile. “You can have it.”

  “Oh, thanks,” Vanessa eagerly reached for the magazine and began flipping through the pages.

  Her jaw dropped and she gasped when she saw the picture of Alex, zoomed in so much you could hardly make out his face from all the pixels, but it was no question that it was him, and it was not an old pic, it was from yesterday. He had the same shirt on he’d had during their dinner and she knew this by the fact that she had been the one carefully ironing it for him in Madam Dupree’s kitchen the night before.

  He sat at a table surrounded by girls dressed, or rather non-dressed, in bikini tops all wearing bunny-ears. On another pic, zigzagged in over the other, were a white powder and a golden visa card laying on top of a table. On a third pic the card was zoomed in and the name on the card clearly visible. A. Di Savoy. Vanessa stared at the pictures so hard her eyes began hurting and her nose almost touched the paper. Not until the paper became wet from tears running down her face she tore the paper in half and threw it into her purse.

  She walked out from the café on autopilot. Out to the sunny crowded street, one foot in front of the other, just another tourist walking along. Except, she was different, she’d just lost the man of her dreams to a pile of cocaine and a bunch of Lingerie models wearing bunny ears. She couldn’t understand how it had happened. Her mind kept turning it over and over obsessively. Her thought felt like drum beats in her head. Why hadn’t she seen this coming? How could he’d been fooling her so completely? Vanessa wanted to wake up and find it was all a bad dream, it had all happened in a movie. It had happened to someone else. That it was a story she had read in the gossip section and she would feel agog thanking her lucky star it wasn’t her. Nevertheless, it was her. It was all over. Alex and her were over. Vanessa’s breaths were getting shorter, her head felt dizzy. She felt as if she was being smothered. Was she having a panic attack? She sat down on a bench and waited for it to pass, prayed for it to pass.

  “Ok, I’m not feeling better. I’m feeling worse,” Vanessa said out loud to herself after a while and suddenly jumped in terror as her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and gave it a look. It was Alex. She couldn’t talk to him, she couldn’t talk to anybody, not right now.

  A moment later, the phone told her that she had a new message. Looking at the display, she scrolled down to read it.

  “Vanessa! Where are you baby? I’m waiting for you. Love you. Alex.”

  She almost wanted to burst into tears. But... she wouldn’t! “Love you?” How could he say that after humiliating her like this? She thrusted her phone in her purse and got to her feet again. She began walking faster and faster, weaving through the pedestrians, ignoring the strange looks she got. Her head was pounding and she had no idea where she was going, but she just couldn’t stop walking. She wanted to flee. Vanessa walked in what felt like hours. With her head in a daze, her feet had moved on their own along the sidewalk. The sun was beating down and after a while, her head started to throb. At some point here mobile vibrated again but she ignored it. At last, when her legs had started to ache, she slowed down and came to a halt. Her mouth was dry, she was totally dehydrated, she needed water. She looked up and around trying to figure out her location. Somehow, she’d seemed to have reached the Marina. Of all places! She’d been walking up and down the steep streets of Monte-Carlo, just to end up at the harbor, almost on the same spot where the boat-boy had dropped her off earlier that morning.

  Again, Vanessa sunk down on a bench but this time she couldn’t fight back her tears.

  This was what you got from trusting people. She had tried so hard to trust him and when she did, this was what she got in return. She’d made a fool of herself, laying in bed at the B&B waiting for a prince who instead of signing papers concerning his best friends hypothetically being on life-support, partied with playboy girls and snorting cocaine. Who was he? Not the Prince Charming he had pretended to be at least, that was for sure. She had to get away from him. She couldn’t stay here any longer. This was it, this was the end. Her thoughts rambled through her head as she sobbed and gathered herself. She had to talk to Kat. She fished out her phone and dialed her best friend’s number.

  “Darling! How are you?’ What’s up with that Prince of yours?” Kats cheerful voice felt like a comforting blanket and she began sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Vanessa! What happened? Please tell me,” Kat urged from the other side of the line.

  “I, I...” Vanessa didn't know where to begin and she sobbed even harder. “I want to go home!” she finally managed to say in between sobs. “I just want to go home!” As she said the words aloud, she realized it was the only right thing to do. She had to leave. It had all been just a dream, too good to be true.

  Sobbing heavily Vanessa told Kat what she just had seen in the magazine. Kat was as outraged as she was, perhaps even more.

  “That son of a bitch! He’s not worth you! Please come home, I miss you.”

  Vanessa managed to calm down a bit and despite her despair, she felt comforted knowing she had something to go home too.

  ‘“Oh God Kat, what shall I do? “

  “You will take the next flight back to New York and get away from that douchebag, that's what you should do!”

  “Right,” Vanessa swallowed. “Yes you’re right.”

  Somehow, it all sounded better in theory. The idea of actually going on a plane to NY and leave Alex behind scared her.

  “Well, hmm,” Vanessa tried to win time.

  “I don’t know how I’m supposed to get an airline ticket? I haven’t been paid since I left the hospital and I used up all my savings on that ridiculous shopping spree my first day in Cannes. Remember those glam movie-star style sunglasses I found at the Prada Shop?”

  It had been quite stupid, she saw it now, but being too proud to let Alex pay for anything except for the insanely expensive dress he’d bought her for the Gala, she’d used up all her savings. She began crying again and told Kat that her credit card limit had hit the roof. Rambling on to make Kat get of the subject of her taking the first next flight home. After all, she didn't want to leave Alex, she wanted to talk to him. Perhaps there was an explanation. Kat didn’t buy it for one second.

  “I’ll sort something out, don’t you worry.”

  Vanessa wanted to cry even more when Kat offered to get her a ticket. Hanging up she forced herself to focus on finding her way to the airport.

  “Madame!”

  She heard a young man's voice calling after her as she reached the center of the harbor peach.

  She turned around and saw it was the boat-boy from Alex yacht running after her. He looked sincerely worried and was out of breath when he r
eached her.

  “Madame, you need to go back to the yacht now,” he urged her. “Monsieur Di Savoy is worried and called me, have you lost your phone?”

  “No, Rafael,” she looked at the young man's nametag at his uniform. “I haven't lost my phone, the only thing I’ve lost is myself.”

  “Oh, please call me Raffi and I’m not sure what you mean Madame, but can we please go, I don’t want Monsieur to get upset with me.”

  ‘I’m not going back Raffi, I’ll never sat a foot on that yacht again, and you can tell monsieur that!’