Jonas gave a sad smile. “We broke up. Seemed, in the end, we wanted different things. She wanted kids, I don’t. She wanted me to be more than a high-school teacher – and to me, it’s the best contribution I could make to society. We’re still friends. Megan was never interested in Dad’s money, or making me take what trust fund he was offering that day. He wields his wealth as a controlling tool. Not into that.”
“Word, brother.” Sofia clinked her glass against Jonas’s. He grinned, his eyes sweeping around the luxurious suite.
“I can tell.”
Ivo grinned but Sofia chewed her lip. “Hey, I’m kidding,” Jonas said, nudging his sister and she relaxed.
“Did Fergus say anything to you about what he tried to do to me?” Sofia wanted to know that Fergus was sorry, that he knew she was never coming back. Jonas shrugged.
“I don’t know, I’m sorry. All this news I got from Tell Draven, his golf partner. He has a kid at our school. I don’t speak to Dad.”
Ivo stole a glance at Sofia. “What about your sister? Tamara, is it?”
Jonas’s eyes darkened. “I see her even less and believe me, it’s no loss.” He looked at Sofia. “She’s now into S&M in a big way, apparently. Bought a club in Manhattan and refurbished it.”
Sofia nearly choked on her wine. “Tamara? Is it a club for husbands of her friends?” She laughed suddenly. “Tamara Rutland, Madam. Figures.”
Jonas grinned as Ivo laughed. “So, you don’t miss her, then?”
“Hell, no.” She sighed. “I do love it here, though, Jonas. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know where I was.”
“I should have looked harder, but without the resources, and having to work…”
“It’s okay, bro. we’re together now. That’s all that matters.”
When an exhausted Jonas retired to his room to sleep off his jetlag, Sofia and Ivo enjoyed a long soak in the tub. “You know, the few days I’m away will be the longest we’ve been apart since we met.” Ivo trailed his fingers up and down her skin as he spoke, and nibbled her earlobe.
Sofia smiled. “I think it will be. I’ll miss you but there’s nothing else to be done.” Resting back against his hard-muscled chest, she looked around at him. “You can always change your mind. I could go with you.”
He brushed her lips with his. “No, you stay with Jonas. Actually, in all the melee, I forgot to go to Clemence. I wonder…would it be inappropriate for me to ask you to go see her? She was close to Mom, and what with baby being due soon…”
“Of course, I’ll go, it’s no problem. Did I ever tell you we went out for coffee a couple of times?”
“No, actually. You did?”
“Forgive me for not telling you at the time, I clean forgot. Clemence came to see me, right at the start of our relationship, yours and mine, I mean, and she told me she wanted to be friends because of the baby. I agreed with her and we went out a couple of times. She’s nice, and I liked her, but then things went a little weird for a while. I got the feeling she was a little jealous, and then there was that whole thing with telling your dad about your mom’s illness. We haven’t seen each other since.”
Ivo kissed her temple. “Will it be awkward to go see her?”
Sofia shook her head. “No, not under these circumstances, and besides, I should reconnect with her. After the baby comes, it’ll make things easier if we all get along.”
“Sometimes, Sofia Amory Zacca, you are wiser than your years. Thank you, darling.”
She turned around and straddled him. “God, I will miss you though. You only have to pick up the phone and I’ll come to you, you know that, right?”
Ivo slid his hands onto her face and gaze at her. “I do know. Sofia, I can keep saying I love you but it doesn’t even come close to how I feel about you.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “I feel the same way, Mr. Zacca. I know this is a sad time but we can get through it. Good things are coming for us.”
Ivo crushed his lips to hers. “You bet your sweet little ass they are.”
Sofia felt the wrench the next morning when Ivo left for the airport. She kissed him passionately and sent him off with an erection. Ivo chuckled. “Demon woman. I love you. I’ll call you as soon as I land.”
Sofia felt like a sulky schoolgirl as she went back upstairs. She had arranged a few days off to spend with Jonas and a few minutes after she got back to the room, he knocked at her door. “Hey, sis.”
“How’d you sleep?” Sofia hugged him, grateful of the distraction. Jonas grinned at her, flopping down on the couch.
“Unbelievably well. I have to say, I’m coming around on the luxury lifestyle.”
Sofia laughed, knowing Jonas didn’t mean it. “Yeah, right. Listen, J, we have so much to catch up on that it seems overwhelming. Want to go do some touristy stuff and talk on the way round?”
“Sounds good to me. I got the impression you wanted to talk about Mom. Am I right?”
Sofia nodded. “I do, or rather…I want to talk about whether she spoke about our life before she married Fergus.”
Jonas looked uncomfortable. “Why would she tell me anything?”
“Jonas.” Sofia sat down with him. “Ivo and I…one day we would like to have kids. Well, I should say, at the moment Ivo wants to have kids.” Sighing she rubbed her face. “I’m not so sure. There’s something in me that’s broken. Something stopping me from wanting to a be a mother and I think it has to do when I was a kid. Mom confided stuff in you, right? She told you about my biological father?”
Jonas looked away from her and was silent for a long moment. Sofia waited him out. Finally, Jonas, his eyes full of pain, shook his head. “She didn’t give me details. She just said he was a very bad man, that they had a one-night stand and when she told him she was pregnant…he tried to have her killed. He came after both of you when you were about two, in a shopping mall. He had a gun, and he knocked your mom out and shot you in the shoulder, but you screamed the place down and he left you there. The police caught up with him but he’d put the gun in his own mouth.”
“Oh, god…” Sofia put her hand over her mouth as a memory came flooding back. Pain, terror, blood. She darted to the toilet and threw up. Jonas came to help her, rubbing her back.
“You are nothing like him. You are your mother’s goodness and kindness. If an outsider was brought into our family, they would swear blind that Tamara was your biological dad’s daughter. She’s a psycho.”
Sofia looked up at him through her tears. “You know what she did?”
Jonas, his expression hard, nodded. “I know she killed my mother. Dad knew it too, he just covered it up.”
Sofia rinsed her mouth out and wiped her face clean with a face cloth. “My real dad was a killer.”
“But you are not, and never could be. Was that the only thing stopping you from having kids?”
She shook her head. “Honestly, no. I’m conflicted because one moment, I see our son, with Ivo’s hair and green eyes and it’s all I want. The next…I’m terrified.”
“You’re also twenty-one,” Jonas said kindly. “There’s plenty of time.”
“Ivo’s thirty-seven.”
“I know, I did my research. But, Boo, listen, you two are meant for each other, anyone can see that. Stop stressing about it. This woman, his pregnant ex-girlfriend…she nice?”
Sofia nodded. “Yes, she is. In fact, I have to go see her preferably today. Do you mind tagging along?”
“Not at all.”
“Shall we go first, get it over and done with? Then we can play all we like.”
“Let’s do it.”
Grant had been back in Paris for two days now and after enjoying a low-level stalking of Sofia yesterday – and seeing her obviously spooked – he had seen Ivo Zacca in a cab. He assumed Zacca was flying back to the States – he’d read the funeral notice for his movie star mother. Did this mean Sofia was alone?
Alone and unprotected. Grant’s whole body itched to see her, touch her. He waited now, outside
the hotel, hidden in a doorway for her to come out. He’d wait all day. if he had to, but an hour after his vigil began, he saw her leave the hotel. A man, a shaggy, scruffy looking guy, was with her and they were chatting, obviously close. It had to be Jonas Rutland. He could see the resemblance between the man and Tamara. Fuck it.
Calm yourself. If you kill her now, that’s it. Over. Your killing ground is ready and waiting for her. Would he risk taking her now? When the world’s attention was on the Zacca family? No. Don’t ruin this.
He followed them as they walked through the city and stopped when they entered an apartment building in the 3rd Arrondissement. High-class, expensive. Grant frowned. This was new – who the hell was she visiting here? He decided to check out who it was…and how useful they would prove in his mission to destroy Sofia Amory Zacca.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Clemence hugged Sofia. “Bonjour, darling, it’s been too long. I’m so sorry about Adria. If it wasn’t for the baby, I would have flown to Los Angeles for the funeral.”
“Ivo didn’t want to put family through the big show funeral. Walter and he decided we would celebrate Adria’s privately, once the papers have lost interest. Clemence, this is my brother, Jonas.”
Jonas shook hands with the other woman and Sofia was amused to see his face grow red as Clemence kissed his cheek.
“It’s good to meet you…please, both of you, come in.”
She led them into the living room. Another young woman was sitting at a desk typing. “Sofia, Jonas, this is Mireille, my research assistant. “
The young woman, dark hair piled up on top of her head, a pencil securing it, huge black-rimmed glasses perched on her face got up and shook their hands. “Can I get you some tea?”
Clemence smiled at her. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
Mireille grinned. “Not at all. Clemence is my mentor at school, so I’m pretending to pamper her in the last weeks of her pregnancy so I can pick her brain. Tea all around?”
She disappeared into Clemence’s kitchen and Clemence offered them a seat. “Sofia, before we talk about anything else…I’m sorry for the thing with Walter. I’m not making excuses, I was a bitch and you didn’t deserve it. I’m sorry.”
Sofia reached out and squeezed her hand. “It doesn’t matter, Clemence, really. I get it. I am the little upstart who bowled into Ivo’s life like a wrecking ball.”
“You love him and he loves you. That’s all I can ask. Anyway, onto cheerier things.” Clemence smiled at Jonas. “I’m so happy Sofia has her brother back in her life. She did tell me you were the only go…sorry, not tactful.”
Sofia laughed. “Nope, you’re right. He is the only good one in the family and we all know it.”
Jonas, his face flaming red at the compliment, nodded at Clemence. “Talking of family…when are you due?”
“A couple of weeks at the most. She’s shifting around, mostly playing a disco beat on my bladder, but everything’s going the way it should.” Clemence looked at little pale and Sofia frowned.
“Are you okay?”
Clemence nodded. “Oh yes, it’s just…the enormity of being a single mother is hitting me now.”
“You won’t be alone in this, Clemence, I swear. Ivo and I will be here for you every moment.” Sofia went to sit next to the other women. “Without being presumptuous…if you need someone with you in the delivery room, either Ivo or I can be there. Both if you wish.”
Clemence squeezed Sofia’s hand. “You are too kind. My mother is here, but yes…if I need you, I won’t hesitate to call, thank you.” She smiled at Jonas. “Your sister is the sweetest person.”
Jonas grinned. “I could tell you some stories from our childhood that would contradict that.”
They chatted with Clemence as Mireille brought them tea. Sofia grinned at the young woman – she guessed Mireille was about her age. “So, you’re a science geek, then?”
Mireille laughed. “Definitely, and proudly too.”
“My mom was a Professor of Molecular Physics at M.I.T.”
“Wow.”
Clemence smiled. “I never knew that.”
“Mom was a genius,” Jonas said with a smile at Sofia. “She could run rings around my father and he loved it.” His smile faded. “Personally, I never knew what she saw in him but, boy, am I glad she saw something.”
“Word,” Sofia nudged her step-brother. “Look, Clemence, we don’t want to take up too much of your time. Just know, we are always here for you.”
“Thank you, ma chere. Now, look, at least stay and finish your drinks. I could do with a reason to not work. Mirry, you come join us too.” Clemence grinned at her young assistant. “It’s time we all got to know each other better.”
Ivo sat with his father as they travelled from LAX to his father’s home in the Hollywood Hills. The flight to the States had been long and uneventful, but the sadness weighed heavy on them both. His father had been reluctant not to go to the funeral home with Adria’s body and but Ivo had convinced him finally. “They have things they need to do to take care of her before the funeral, Pa. It’s the best place, really. Let’s go home and start to arrange things.”
Walter was a broken man. Ivo had never seen him so utterly destroyed, and knew that despite their divorce, Walter had never stopped loving Adria. She truly had been his soulmate. Why am I so surprised? He asked himself now, it was obvious to everyone. At least he had been there when Adria died…was it better or worse that Walter had seen her die? Would he rather have remembered her in life, rather than death? Or was he glad she hadn’t been alone at the end?
God. Ivo felt sick. His darling mother, his champion, his guide. She had so much life to live yet…she hadn’t, after all, got to see her first grandchild and it made Ivo mad at whoever, whatever controlled life and death. A few weeks more and she would have known my child.
He desperately wanted Sofia here, with him, but it been the right thing to do to leave her with Jonas in Paris. He could only imagine the press frenzy if they caught a glimpse of the beautiful young wife of Adria La Loggia’s only son. They would trawl Sofia’s past up, paint her as a gold-digger, lord knows what else. No, Ivo told himself, it was best this way.
The funeral two days later was a parade of Hollywood best and brightest. Ivo felt the disconnect as he took the prayers and consolations from people he felt nothing in common with, even having been brought up here. So much plastic surgery, bloated faces – from surgery and coke habits, stick-thin women, over-tanned men…it really was La-La Land. Ivo longed for the simple elegance of Parisians, for Sofia’s tomboy naturalness…
The wake was another hurdle. His father worked the room, using his natural extrovert tendencies to distract himself from the grief. Ivo retreated into the corner, polite to those who approached him but otherwise counting down the minutes until he could escape.
A few of his mother’s friends hugged him, passing along their condolences but it wasn’t until a blonde woman Ivo didn’t know sat down next to him that he was engaged in a conversation.
“Your mother was a force of nature,” the blonde said. Ivo nodded, studying the blonde. She was very slim, her flat-ironed blonde hair falling past her shoulders, her blue eyes enhanced by contacts. She was beautiful, but Ivo wasn’t attracted to her – she was too icy looking for his taste. Again, he thought of his soft, warm wife back in Paris and wondered how long his dad would need him here.
The blonde touched his arm. “I’ve been watching you from across the room. You looked so sad I had to come and say hello. Madison Flynn.”
Ivo shook her hand politely. “Ivo Zacca. How did you know my mother?”
A slight hesitation, then. “She was a friend of a friend. Lovely woman, so much spirit. Do you take after her?”
Ivo gave a humorless laugh. “I hope so, at least, I hope I have her heart.”
The blonde traced a fingertip over his wedding ring and Ivo felt uncomfortable. It was a too intimate gesture for someone he didn’t know
. “Where’s your wife?”
Ivo felt his walls come up. He knew this type of woman: predatory, way too confident. “Waiting for me to call her. I’d better go.”
He stood, but the blonde stood with him. “Wait. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. Look,” she pulled a business card from her bag, “If you would like to have lunch with me, talk about anything, call me.”
Ivo took the card politely, but knew he would never call her. “Thank you. Good to meet you, Madison, but if you will excuse me.”
She put her hand on his arm, meeting his gaze. “Of course.” She held his gaze for a beat too long then moved away.
Ivo escaped upstairs to his mother’s bedroom - his father had always kept it exactly the way his mother had always had - and pulled out his cellphone. Checking the clock, he realized it would be nearly midnight in Paris. Nevertheless, Sofia answered on the first ring. “Baby.”
Ivo felt his whole body relax. “Hey gorgeous girl, I love you. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, how was the funeral?”
Ivo sighed, sitting down on the bed. “Just sad, Sof. There’s no other word for it – except maybe a three-ring circus. Half of these people, I have no idea who they are and yet here they are drinking my father’s champagne and making business deals.”
“Oh, sweetheart. When you and Walter come back, I promise you we will celebrate Adria’s life in the proper way.”
Ivo’s heart pounded with love for his wife. “How have things been with Jonas?”
“Good, good, although he is having to cut his visit short, unfortunately. The school he is working for recalled all of the teachers for an ad-hoc training week. He’s not happy.”
Ivo frowned. “I don’t like the thought of you being alone there.”
“I’m not, I have Desiree, and Clem. I’m fine. Listen, do you want me to come to you?”
“No, darling, really, the press is still haunting us. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
“I love you, baby.”
“Me too. I’ll call you tomorrow, darling.”
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