“Nothing. Because she doesn’t know this yet.”
“Know what? You’re worrying me.”
He blew out a long breath and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “There’s a problem with the estate. Huge problems.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Financial. My father—he ran the estate into debt.”
“Oh, no.” She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry to hear this.”
Luca’s worried gaze met hers. “It isn’t like my father to fall behind on his credit payments. He’s used the estate, our home, to secure loans—loans that he doesn’t have a prayer of paying off.”
When Luca chanced a glance at her face, it was pale. She was getting the drift of the severity of the situation.
He didn’t want to, but he had to go on. “I’ve had to use my savings to stave off the creditors. And now I have nothing to offer you.”
“Of course you do. I didn’t marry you for your title or your money—”
“But you have a right to expect those things. And I can’t give them to you. Well, I still have the title, but at this point it isn’t worth much.”
“It’s okay,” she said confidently. “I’ve got enough money to support both of us and the baby.”
“No!” He jumped to his feet and moved to stand by the wall. “I’m not having you do that.”
“You mean you’re too proud to take money from a woman?”
“No, what I mean is that for a long time I shirked my responsibilities, and I won’t do that again. I have to make this right and not take the easy way out. If I did that, if I counted on you to pull me out of this mess, how would our child ever respect me?”
He couldn’t just stand there. He knew that Elena must now think less of him for letting things get to this point. If he was a proper son, he would have been there for his father before the business hit this critical juncture.
Luca took off down the steps of the decking bordering the cottage. He didn’t have a particular destination in mind. He just needed space to figure out his next step.
“Luca, wait!”
He couldn’t face her, not after he’d let her down. He kept going—kept moving down the beach.
“Luca, stop!” Elena cried. “There has to be a way to fix this. We just have to think about it.”
Luca begrudgingly stopped and turned to the deck. “I did. And... Oh, never mind.”
“No, you were going to say something. I want to know what it is.” When she reached him, she placed a finger beneath his chin and lifted until they were eye to eye. “Speak to me.”
“The only way to save the estate and the business is to find an immediate influx of cash.” Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe it was his pride and not some do-gooder notion that had him refusing to ask for her help. “I suggested that my father take on a partner with deep pockets, but he outright rejected the idea. He said that this was our legacy and only a DiSalvo would ever own the lemon grove.”
“Even if it means losing his business and his home?”
Luca sighed. “Yes. He’s a very stubborn man.”
“Maybe he sees this as his chance to reconnect with his son.”
The same thing had crossed Luca’s mind. “I shouldn’t have let things get to this point.”
When Elena didn’t interrupt, he was inclined to expand on his statement. The truth of the matter was that he hadn’t opened up to anyone about this part of his life. By not talking about it, sometimes it was easier to pretend that his mother hadn’t been stolen away and his family hadn’t fractured under the weight of grief.
“It wasn’t always this way,” he said aloud as a way of convincing himself. “After my mother’s death, I needed my father’s assurance that everything would be all right—that we would be all right.”
Luca drew an unsteady breath as his thoughts rolled back in time. He didn’t want to go there and experience the too-familiar pain. Still, he needed Elena to understand how important his endeavor to save the lemon grove was to him. It was his plan to undo some of the damage that had been done to his family.
“My father withdrew from my sister and me. He was cold. He didn’t cry. He didn’t speak of my mother. I was convinced he didn’t love her.”
Elena sat down on the beach and patted a spot next to her. When he joined her, she said, “Maybe he was in shock. I don’t know. But anytime I saw your parents together, there was obvious affection.”
“I’m starting to think you’re right. But back then I was an angry, confused kid. When my sister couldn’t get love and assurances from my father, she turned to me, and I failed her.”
“You can’t blame yourself.” Elena reached out and placed her hand over his. “You were so young. It was just too much.”
“But I was the oldest. I should have been there for Annabelle. I should have been her rock.”
“And because you couldn’t be there for your family after your mother’s death, you’re trying to make up for it now?”
He shrugged and then nodded. Finding warmth and strength in her touch, he laced his fingers with hers. “Do you think it’s too late?”
“No. I think saving your family’s business is heroic.”
“But I haven’t accomplished it yet. The only option I can think of is to gain one of Mirraccino’s contracts. They are lucrative and far-reaching with their export business. I talked with Demetrius, but he said that they are experiencing a full audit after what the king’s lord-in-waiting did to my mother. There’s fear that he was embezzling from the crown. Demetrius said he couldn’t do anything for me now, but that we could revisit it in the future. The problem is that will take too long. The creditors will call in their loans before then. The only way to get around Demetrius’s decision is to go directly to the king, but I can’t get to him.”
“And you need my help to get access to him.”
Luca nodded.
Now it was up to Elena. And he had no idea how she would feel about pulling strings with her father in order to help him. He hated to put her in this position, but at that moment, he just couldn’t think of any other plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY
TALK ABOUT STRESSFUL.
Luca had been in a lot of tense business meetings, but this one was the worst.
He sat on a wing-back chair in the king’s suite of rooms. He hadn’t been in here since he was a little kid, and to be honest, it was still a bit intimidating as an adult. The room was regally decorated, mostly in maroon, with cream-colored walls. The furniture was all antique and he couldn’t even begin to guess their ages, but every item was well maintained.
The king was up and dressed, but he looked to be a shell of the man that Luca once knew. Luca couldn’t decide if it was age or stress or a little of both.
Luca had given his uncle an overview of the challenges facing the DiSalvo family. He had brought some projections with him, but he knew not to present them unless invited. As of yet, no invitation had been extended. The king had merely listened and nodded at the appropriate moments. And now that Luca had said everything that he’d come here to say, silence filled the room.
After a few moments, the king said, “Luca, I am sorry I haven’t been around, especially as I hear that you and Elena have married. I want to offer you my best wishes.”
“Thank you, sir. We appreciate it.”
“I hadn’t realized that you two were seeing each other. But then again, I haven’t exactly been accessible recently. But I thought that Elena’s father would have mentioned it.”
Luca swallowed hard. “Actually, it was a bit of a whirlwind relationship, and we sort of kept it to ourselves.”
“I can understand. Once upon a time I was a young man. Things can happen quickly.” The king stared off into the distance as
though he was caught up in memories. “I’ve watched Elena grow up, and there’s something very special about her. She’ll make you a good wife. You take care of that girl.”
“I will, sir.” This was his chance to get the conversation back on track. Please let him agree. “That’s why I’m trying to secure a deal for the lemon grove.”
“About that, I am sorry. But my son is right. We cannot grant new contracts right now. The kingdom’s records and finances are all under review. Everything is on hold at the moment.”
“I understand.” He might understand, but that didn’t make his situation any better.
“Once every file and account has been audited to make sure that criminal didn’t embezzle or sell any national secrets, our security will return to normal and new business will commence. If you could just wait, we will give your proposal due consideration.”
Luca couldn’t just walk away. Even though the king couldn’t help him now, he wanted to do or say something to help his uncle, or to just let him know that he wasn’t alone. “Sir, you know that what happened with my mother wasn’t your fault. And no one blames you.”
The king’s tired eyes widened. “How can people not blame me? That murderer worked for me. He was right here in this palace.” A sorrowful expression filled his face. “I am so sorry this happened to your mother. I can’t express enough my sorrow and regret that this happened.”
How exactly did he respond to that? Luca never blamed him. “I appreciate your words, but you don’t need to apologize.”
“I should have known something was wrong.” His fist pounded on the arm of his chair. “What kind of ruler am I if I can miss something so important?”
“You are human like the rest of us. Please believe me that no one in my family—or in the palace or, for that matter, the nation—blames you. But people do miss you.”
“Thank you. I will take that under consideration.”
After thanking the king again for seeing him, Luca made his exit. He was in no better position than when he’d arrived. But he was in no worse shape, either.
And yet, he could feel everything he’d strived for slipping away. His childhood home, his legacy—it all now hung in a very precarious position. And should he fail to save it, he imagined that he would lose contact with his father and sister once more. This was why he kept people at a distance. Letting them in just set him up for more pain.
Most important, he would lose all of his savings on this venture and have no way to support Elena and the baby. He raked his fingers through his hair. If this was the best he could do, then perhaps he didn’t deserve this family.
As he made his way out of the palace, he knew he would find a way to make this all work. He had to. Everyone was counting on him.
* * *
The deed was done.
Elena couldn’t believe she’d begged her father to let Luca speak with the king. She knew her father didn’t want to do it, but she’d pleaded with him and told him that her entire future was on the line. He’d asked if it was really that important, and she’d promised that it was. She knew that if Luca didn’t save his legacy, their marriage didn’t stand a chance of surviving—if it ever had.
She sure hoped Luca knew what he was doing. He seemed so certain the king would help that she wondered what would happen if the king’s hands were tied just as his son’s were. Elena didn’t know a lot about how the government worked, but something told her the king would not override the crown prince’s decision, not when the king was positioning his son to take over the kingdom—at least, that was what her father had led her to believe.
After stopping by to check on her mother, Elena retrieved her sketch pad and colored pencils. If nothing else, she could get some work done. Now that her modeling contract with Lauren Renard had been dissolved, Elena needed to focus on her new career path—designing her own fashions.
When she arrived back at the cottage, it was empty. Luca still hadn’t returned. She’d taken that as a good sign—the king was hearing him out. And though Luca didn’t go on and on about his family’s business being in danger and what that would mean to his father, she knew it had Luca tied up in knots. If it was possible to get the lemon grove on level financial ground, would Luca be more open about his feelings toward the baby? And her?
But Elena foresaw a problem with his plan. Luca was trying to take on this enormous problem all by himself. Granted, she wasn’t that familiar with the business world, but to her it seemed like the more people you had brainstorming ways to solve a problem, the quicker and easier the solution would be derived.
She grabbed her phone and selected Annabelle’s number. Elena hesitated before she pressed Send. Sure, Annabelle had invited her to her engagement festivities, but how would she feel about Elena inserting herself into family business? Would she be willing to talk to Elena about something so intrinsic to her family?
There was only one way to find out. Elena pressed the button. The phone rang once, twice...
“Hey, Elena, I was just thinking about you.” Annabelle’s cheerful voice came over the line.
“You were?”
“Uh-huh. I was wondering how the impromptu honeymoon is going.”
Elena paused, not sure what to say.
“Elena, is something wrong?”
This was her opening. She just had to take it. “That’s the thing—the honeymoon, it’s not going so well.”
“I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“Actually, there is. I need to talk to you about Luca—”
“Elena, who are you talking to?” Luca’s voice boomed across the room.
Elena jumped. She hadn’t even heard him enter the cottage. She turned to find a dark look on his face. She wondered just how much he’d overheard.
She held up a finger to get him to wait and then she spoke into the phone. “I’ve got to go.”
“I’m here whenever you need to talk.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.” Elena disconnected the call. She turned to Luca. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Obviously.” His tone rumbled with agitation. “What exactly were you planning to say before I interrupted?”
Elena felt bad that he’d misinterpreted what he’d overheard. “It was nothing bad.”
He crossed his arms and waited.
“I was talking with your sister and I was going to see if she had some ideas of what to do about the lemon grove.”
“Why would she have any ideas?” His brows drew together in a formidable line. “This isn’t her problem.”
“The last time I checked, she was part of your family, and the lemon grove does belong to your family.”
“But this is my problem, not hers...and not yours.”
His last words stabbed at her heart. Even though they’d gotten married, made mad, passionate love and she was carrying his child, Luca still refused to let her in. What was his problem? When was he going to learn that people weren’t out to hurt him?
In this moment, she felt as though she was fighting for the future of her marriage. “This is my problem. I’m your wife, remember. And it’s your sister and your father’s problem. What is wrong with you? Why can’t you let people in?”
“I don’t need to let people in. I do fine on my own.”
She lifted her chin. “If you’re so fine, why do you look so miserable?”
“Because I came home to find my wife doesn’t believe that I can take care of our family.”
“And so you’re going to stand on your pride instead of reaching out for help.”
“I don’t need help. Just leave me alone.”
Really? This was how he was going to play it? He’d been pushing her away for too long now. And she wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.
“Luca, I love you. I want
to help you. What is so wrong with that?”
He shook his head, and his gaze didn’t meet hers. “I didn’t ask for anyone to take pity on me.”
“It’s not pity. It’s what people do when they love each other.” And then she realized that the night they’d spent together might have meant something totally different to him than it had to her. “Luca, do you love me?”
He didn’t say anything. And then he walked toward the balcony. If he thought he was getting away and avoiding this, he was wrong. She followed him.
“Luca.” When he didn’t even acknowledge that he’d heard her, she tried again. “Luca, answer me.”
He turned to her. “I can’t tell you what you want to hear. I can’t be the man you want me to be.”
Tears pricked the backs of her eyes, but she refused to give in to her pregnancy hormones. She blinked back the moisture. She refused to let Luca see how much his words hurt her.
“You might not love me, but you can’t say the same about your family.”
“I don’t need them, either. Why do you think I can’t be happy alone?”
“Because I believe that everyone needs somebody. I have to believe that, otherwise...” She stopped as her emotions threatened to overtake her.
“Otherwise what?” His intent gaze studied her as though trying to ferret out the truth.
She swallowed hard. “Otherwise you won’t be able to love our child.”
He didn’t say a word. Not one syllable. Instead he turned to stare out at the sea.
That’s it! She had tried to be understanding, but she’d had enough of his stubborn attitude. If he couldn’t meet her halfway, she was done.
“You know, you don’t have to face the world alone.” She held back from saying that she would stand by his side through anything. “Your family would rally around you if you’d let them in. That’s what families do.”
He turned to her. His eyes were dark, and his stance was rigid. “And what makes you think I need their help?”
“A better question is how are you supposed to be a loving parent to our baby if you never let anyone in?”
Married for His Secret Heir Page 16