The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife
Chapter 49

Mackenna g*****d as she reclined on the sofa, a pillow behind her back and her arm resting on her stomach. “I ate too much,” she complained as Alessandro lifted her feet to sit under them, his sketchbook in his hands.

Savannah had gone to have her sleep since she hadn’t gone to bed following her shift change at seven and it was now near eleven. Nuncio went with her and Mackenna wondered if her friend would tell the man what she was feeling or if she was going to simply let things play out.

“What are you thinking with your brow all furrowed like this,” he mocked her expression pushing his eyebrows together. “You will cause premature wrinkling with all this frowning.”

She dug her heel into his thigh and was rewarded with a tap on the top of her foot. “I’m just worried for Savannah. I don’t like thinking she’ll be all alone going through heartbreak,” she felt herself getting weepy. “I think she has it bad for him.”

“Good, he’s a good man. She’s a good woman. They deserve each other.” He propped his book against her feet and flipped through several pages.

“Yes, but he’s already told her his job is to protect me.”

“I don’t see the problem.”

“She can’t just pick up in the middle of a residency and follow him,” she slapped the sofa with irritation.

“Follow him where?” Alessandro was deliberately avoiding her gaze.

“Why do your lips move as if you’re trying not to laugh at me?” Mackenna accused him suddenly.

“My love, would you like to see my latest line?” He held his book towards her. “This is a final compilation, I think,” he rolled his eyes. “I’ve pulled multiple out and added a couple in. It’s a completely new direction and I’ll admit, I’m second guessing some of my choices.”

She didn’t like he was changing the topic, but she accepted the heavy book from him.

“I’m hoping to debut the look in New York during Fashion Week in February.”

She looked up in surprise. “You’ve never done a debut of a brand-new line anywhere but Milan. You would forgo Milan for New York.”

He waved her to look at the book. “I feel it’s more New York than Milan, but I do also have another line debuting simultaneously. Dulce will be hitting the runway in Paris and Milan if she can get her stride right. She has already told me she refuses to limp down a runway.”

“She has six months,” Mackenna mused. “I didn’t see her walk when she was here, but she did have a cane with her.”

“She has just over five months and given how little therapy she’s actually been doing; I’m not holding my breath. I told her to get her act together this morning or I’m going to start interviewing her replacement. She hasn’t been taking her recuperation seriously. She needs to stop behaving as a spoiled brat and do her job.” Alessandro waved at the book again, “are you going to look, or no?”

“Yes, stop being so pushy,” she shrieked when he lifted her foot and bit a toe. “Alessandro!”

He watched her face as she opened to the beginning of the book, noting all the pages he had put special tabs on. She was very quiet, the surprise on her face at the drawings not unexpected. She flipped through every single page before finally looking up to meet his eyes. “These are stunning.”

“But?”

“There is no but,” she shook her head, “they are stunning.” She realized there was a but. “Dulce can’t model these things.”

“No, she cannot. I have my team already in negotiations with three models who be the faces of this line if they agree.”

“Three models?”

“Yes,” he shrugged. “Women come in various shapes and sizes, and I want to celebrate all of them. The models I’m working with are three very distinct frames and heights. One is petite and curvy, five-two, wears a size ten American. Another is six feet in height and wears a size eighteen in American sizes. Finally, the third five feet eight inches in height, a size six and she’s an amputee. I really like her spunkiness; I can’t wait to watch her hit the runway in New York. She reminds me of someone I love very much. She has a way of fighting back all the horrible things to have happened to her and come out stronger and more resilient without losing sight of who she is.” He made a pointed glance at her. “I believe you two will be fast friends. Ultimately, the line will range from a size zero to a size thirty. We will offer custom sizes for anyone larger than this should they need it.”

She whispered as she flipped back through all the drawings of haute couture to regular daytime wear for women of various sizes. “Your grandfather would have an aneurysm.”

“Excellent, an added bonus,” he quipped dryly.

She ignored his macabre comment, “Alessandro, this is such a departure from the House of Giordano name.”

“It will not run under House of Giordano,” he shrugged as if it mattered not. “The Board vetoed the designs unanimously about a month ago.”

“I don’t understand,” she scratched her temple. “You’re creating a line, on your own, without House of Giordano as the label.”

“Yes,” he had no qualms about his decisions. “I have already made preparations to start under a new label.” He saw her confusion, “Mackenna, I resigned from my position as CEO of House of Giordano. As of right now, I am self-employed. I am backing myself completely without any influence from the Giordano name, much to my father’s chagrin. The line Dulce will model, I am working as freelancer to House of Giordano and I’m charging them a fortune,” his grin was wicked.

“When did you do this? Resign I mean?” She was trying to keep her mouth from falling open in shock.

“It has been on my mind for some time, but do you remember when I said I had to go get my portfolios?”

“The week before we went dancing,” she spoke softly, “you had sat with me and read books with me.”

“A whole night without fighting, who would have thought it possible?” he teased her.

“Then we went hiking and then you gave me more money than I know what to do with,” she wrinkled her nose, “you need to tell your accountant to stop putting money in my account too.”

“Focus Mackenna,” he snapped his fingers laughing at her rapidly moving thoughts. “When I went back to Milan, I already had my resignation prepared. I simply needed confirmation from the Board they were not willing to see the shift in my vision. They confirmed it, I left the company in the hands of the VP, and I resigned. My grandfather,” he grimaced distastefully, “it burns my tongue to call him grandfather, but I digress, was furious. He said I was spending too much time with people beneath me, and we argued. I told him I would be where you were, and you came first. You and our family came first. Whether you wanted to try again for a child or not, you were my family, and I was done putting House of Giordano ahead of you.”

She felt her heart thudding at his words but forced herself to remain focused on the conversation. “That’s why he agreed with her to release the video,” Mackenna squeezed the book in her fingers, suddenly understanding. “Poor Dulce.”

“Hm,” he made a face at her name, evidently still irritated with her, “then the video was released. You knew immediately it wasn’t me Mackenna. Never have I ever been so grateful for a tattoo in my life and to also have never revealed it to the old bastard.”

“It wasn’t just the tattoo,” she shook her head. “I would know your body anywhere, fuzzy pixels or not, but it was the words he spoke to her. As much as I know how much of a bully you can be,” he opened his mouth to protest and she pointed at him, “you are!”

They held each other’s gaze for several seconds before he gave a hapless shrug, “I admit, I like things my way.”

“Thank you,” she threw her hands up in a silent hallelujah, “what I was going to say is, you can be pushy and domineering but you would never in a million years hurt someone the way the person in the video was trying to hurt Dulce.”

“And yet you believed for five years, I had an affair with her,” he countered, holding her gaze seriously.

“I did,” she admitted truthfully, “which is why it hurt so much. I know in my heart, Alessandro, you aren’t a cruel person so it simply made no sense you would purposefully hurt me in such a way.”

“I meant what I said, since the day you stepped in front of my car, I have never been with any other woman, nor have I ever wanted to.” He rubbed her calf. “You are all I want. You have always been all I want Mackenna. Dulce has never appealed to me in a s****l way, not ever. You are nearly the same age, but you are so much more woman than she was even six years go. I’ve always known she was gay Mackenna and when we danced in a club or went out, it was always just as friends. We are not now, nor have we ever been attracted to each other. Since the day I met you, you are in my b***d, and I cannot let you go.”

They stared at each other from their seats until he rubbed his face suddenly. “Wow, off track.”

She giggled. “About right for us.”

“Where was I?”

“Resigned, unemployed,” she grinned suddenly, “are you broke now?”

He gave a bark of laughter at the comment. “As I said, I’m charging the company a small fortune for my collection. However, even if I weren’t, I could start and fail multiple businesses and still have more money than most people, Mackenna. I have made very shrewd investments over the years outside of House of Giordano and let’s be honest, I was born wealthy. I cannot say I am one of those self-made men, but I will always argue I work harder than most. If something happened tomorrow, you would be one of the wealthiest women in the world. As of right now, you are my sole heir.”

Her eyes were huge as she swallowed deeply at his words, “Are you kidding me? You need to change this.”

“I will, someday when we have a child. I will make sure they are well provided for.”

“Alessandro, I don’t want your money,” she hissed.

“Which is why I am leaving it all to you,” he grinned widely, “you are the least likely to kill me for it.”

“Oh you,” she threw his book back at him. “Not funny.”

They sat in silence for several minutes as she reclined back in the sofa and tried to absorb all he’d told her.

He reached beside him and pulled his phone off the side table. “I would like your opinion on something else, if you’re not feeling too overwhelmed with all we’ve discussed so far.”

“Yeah of course,” she waited for him to scroll through his phone and then accepted the device in her hand. “What am I looking at here?”

“I’ve put my estate in Milan on the market.” He ignored her gasp, “so I’m looking at a new place, but I don’t want to rush it. I can always bunk with my wife at her place. Then I was talking to Derrick and Padma when you were in surgery yesterday, I really like her by the way.” He smiled at Mackenna, “you have a way of surrounding yourself with good people.”

“Thank you, I like my people very much.” She blushed at his words.

“Anyway, Derrick mentioned he lives in a gated community and said this place was on the market. Bitter divorce so the husband is selling it for a steal. Wife did some damage so it will need some remodeling, but I wondered your thoughts?” He waited for her to catch up to what he was saying.

She scrolled through the pictures and then suddenly she snapped her head up. “Wait, you’re buying a house here in Phoenix?”

“I don’t want to live in this tiny apartment forever. I am an artist after all and I do need my creative space,” he grinned at her rolled eyes.

“We’re not going back to Milan?” She spoke over the thickness of tears in her throat.

“Not unless you have an intense desire to move back to Milan. Here in Phoenix, we are close enough to California so I can dress any of the starlets who want to be dressed and Vegas is close for fun. It’s a bit of a jaunt to New York but I can make it work and Miami isn’t too far either. We’re also a hop skip and a jump from the Gulf of Mexico so I can dock the boat.” He watched the emotions going over her face and smiled gently, “Mackenna, I have no intention of uprooting you from the life you’ve built here. You are important to your community and the hospital, and they are important to you.”

“How does it work though? Don’t you need a work visa?”

“I’m rich and Americans like people with money coming to their country,” he flexed his shoulders and winked at her, “and I’ve already started the paperwork. It helps when I’m already married to a US citizen. Also, when I said I would be creating at least twenty to thirty jobs, the government was willing to push some paperwork around a bit faster.”

“Oh,” she was still staring at the phone. “You’re really going to buy a house here?”

“I’m hoping to buy a place we can make a home here,” he smiled softly.

“What about this place?”

“You own it,” he said, “it’s a good investment for you. It also would make a great place for your bodyguard and his wife to live.”

“His wife?” Mackenna squinted. “What are you talking about?”

“Nuncio told his mother he met the woman he’s marrying about a week after he met Savannah.”

“Shut up!” she covered her mouth in excitement.

“You can’t tell her.” He shook his finger at her warningly, “but he already has his grandmother’s engagement ring being fitted.”

She giggled, “and she was so terrified to tell him she loved him in case she was just one of hundreds around the world.”

“It that why all the tears in the closet this morning?” he questioned

“Well, that and I thought we would be moving back to Milan as soon as the doctor cleared me to fly,” she met his surprised look. “I really didn’t want to move away from my friends.”

“My love, you should know by now, I’ll do anything to keep you with me, including moving to America from Europe,” he smiled gently, “especially now I know Nuncio can make coffee to rival the stuff from home.” He watched as she grinned slowly, and another expression crossed her face. “What now?”

“Can you make sure your new three models don’t have any skeletons in their closets? I don’t know if I could do Dulce times three.” As he threw his head back and laughed, she felt for the first time in a long time she was content.