The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife
Chapter 56

As they stepped into the condo Nuncio and Carlos immediately went through and made sure they were safe before they were permitted all the way inside and Mackenna wrinkled her nose at their actions. They were taking Salvatore’s threat from earlier in the day very seriously even though he was an ocean away.

She started to walk towards her bedroom but stopped when she realized Alessandro was not following her. She turned to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“You are exhausted.”

“I know,” she didn’t deny it. “My head is throbbing, my arm is aching and after going through the inquisition earlier tonight, I know my emotions are raw. I’m ready for bed.”

“I will let you get some rest,” he stepped forward and kissed her cheek.

“You’re not staying?” she queried quietly

“I feel as if I’ve put you through the wringer today and perhaps you might sleep better on your own.” He seemed unsure as he ruffled his hair with his fingers. “I am not ready for bed, and I have a lot I need to work on.”

“You’ve worked here the last two nights. Is this something you need to do at your office?”

“No,” he denied.

“Then why do you need to leave?” She felt tears welling in her eyes. “If you don’t want to stay, then just say you don’t want to stay. It’s because I messed up tonight, right?”

“No,” he protested seriously and then grimaced, “you did not mess up. You were incredible. I just feel I put a lot on you today while you are supposed to be healing. You are pale and even Samuel’s make-up is not hiding the bruises under your eyes. I am feeling guilty for forcing you to do too much. I just want you to have a good night’s sleep without me intruding.” He stared into her eyes and noted the dejection. “I feel I am always forcing my life onto yours and right now you do not look well Mackenna. I noticed you holding your head in the car and I’m feeling a complete jerk for putting you through the wardrobe today and then dinner tonight. I should have paced things better. If I stay, then I’m afraid I will keep you awake and you will get ill. I’m trying to be respectful.”

“Alessandro,” she stared up at him and let out a sigh, “I need to go to bed. You can work in the living room, or you can work in the chair in the bedroom, or you can sit in the bed propped up with pillows. I don’t care. You’re not leaving. I need you to stay because I don’t feel well. I need my husband to stay and be with me.” She watched as a hundred emotions crossed his face with relief as the last of them before he nodded and pressed a k**s to her forehead.

“It’s settled then, let’s get you ready for bed.” He let her lead him down the hall to her bedroom and he turned the light in the bathroom on. “Would you like a hot bath before bed? I can run it for you?”

“No, I just want my bed.” She shook her head and grimaced at the action as it throbbed. She watched him disappear into the walk-in closet and reappear with a silk nightdress dangling from his fingertips. “Oo, pretty.”

“It is and it’s also going to be easier to get you into than anything else,” he lay it at the foot of the bed and started to undress her by gingerly removing the bolero. He helped her step out of the dress and he tossed it over the back of a chair. At her huff, he chuckled, “I promise to hang it up. I know you don’t like things hanging over your vanity chair.”

She mumbled something incoherent, and he knew he’d guessed her irritation correctly. He helped her out of her undergarments and then into the silk creation. He pulled the sheets back and held her arm as she crawled into the bed. He stood over her watching her as she tried to nestle into the pillows.

He walked out of the room and reappeared several minutes later with pain tablets and a glass of water. Making certain she took the medications he tucked the blankets up to her chin and kissed her cheek.

“You’re not leaving, right?” she fought the sleep pulling on her eyelids.

“No,” he touched her cheek softly, “I’m going to grab my laptop and sketchbook and I’ll be sitting right there,” he pointed to the other side of the bed.

His words seemed to have reassured her and she immediately fell into a deep sleep.

In the early morning hours Mackenna rolled over and reached for him and found he was not there, and she sat up in the bed in confusion.

“I’m here my love,” he spoke quietly as he stepped back into the bedroom. “I had a call from my father and didn’t want to disturb you.”

As they stepped into the condo Nuncio and Carlos immediately went through and made sure they were safe before they were permitted all the way inside and Mackenna wrinkled her nose at their actions. They were taking Salvatore’s threat from earlier in the day very seriously even though he was an ocean away.

“Is everything alright?” she saw the concern etched on his face in the light from the hall.

“No,” he admitted and rounded the bed to sit beside her. “Salvatore is missing.”

Her hand immediately went to her mouth. “How?”

“I don’t know,” he shook his head in disbelief. “I have his house being watched and there’s been no activity in or out. My father cut his phone lines and took his cell phone. I do not know whether he had another phone or not.”

“Do you think he’s coming here?”

“He had to surrender his passport when he made bail. He is quite recognizable so it’s not likely. It’s unsettling. My father is furious, and he has my mother on edge.”

She remembered the man had threatened his mother. “Is Rosetta, okay? She must be terrified.”

“She is fine. She dared the man to approach her, and she’d show him what happens to someone who takes her family away from her. She is quite angry.”

Mackenna gave a surprised gasp and he chuckled. “My mother is your champion Mackenna. She’s been yelling at me for years. She was looking forward to being a Nonna and he stole it from her. She wants her pound of flesh.”

“Don’t we all,” she muttered dryly. “We will have our day in court I hope.”

“Mm,” he looked away and she tried not to consider what he was contemplating.

“So now what?”

“Now, we continue as we have been. Carlos’ team in Milan is working to replace him. Because he was under house arrest, he’s broken the conditions of his bail, so the police are also looking for him. We will replace him.” Alessandro spoke quietly. “I would like for you to stay home today and not venture anywhere. If nothing more than for mine and Nuncio’s peace of mind.”

“You’re going to the office?” she questioned

“Yes,” he nodded, “but not for a few hours. It’s just five. I was hoping to come hold you for a bit longer before I get showered and head over.”

“I would like very much for you to come hold me.” She waited for him to round the bed and then once he was in the sheets, she lay her head on his chest, draping her arm over his waist.

His arms moved to wrap around her, and she noted he was holding her more tightly than usual. “Are you okay Alessandro?”

He was quiet for a moment at her question and then he let out a long slow breath. “I would be lying if I said I was. I am trying awfully hard to be strong, to be objective and rational but the things I’ve learned about my friends and my family over the last several months have me questioning my judgement. I am trying to take lessons from you, to surround myself with, as your friend Derrick said, good people but I’m replaceing myself questioning all the people I’ve had in my life and I’m regretful to have allowed them a place in my heart. I should have seen the truth of my grandfather by the way he treated my grandmother, but I turned a blind eye because he was my grandfather. In doing so, I’ve put the rest of my family at risk. I should have protected my grandmother better. I should have protected my mother and my wife and our unborn child. Now he’s out enjoying whatever freedom he’s just found, and I am sick for it.”

She lay with her cheek pressed against his bare chest and listened to his heart thudding quietly beneath her ear.

“I have not been a good husband, a good son, a good grandson. I put my business and a friendship above you all and listened to the little lies the old man sputtered in my ears for so long I was turning into a version of him,” he kissed the top of her head as his fingers trailed through her hair. “The day we met in Milan when you went to file your divorce papers, you told me I was no better than him and you were right. I wasn’t.”

He spoke sadly, “I danced with Dulce and kissed her in a nightclub for a laugh and while on my part, it was as innocent as a k**s you would share with Savannah, it was inappropriate, and I know it now. My actions hurt you. I am so sorry Mackenna for the hell we put you through. I wish I had been the son my mother raised me to be and to treat you better than I had. Maybe if I had, I would have seen what Salvatore was doing to Dulce and I could have helped her too. I just feel,” he paused, “I feel responsible for all this mess. I am so sorry for all the hurt I’ve caused you. I am so sorry.”

Mackenna felt her heart swell as he took responsibility for the pain she’d gone through. She swallowed the lump in her throat clogged with tears and lifted her chin to face him. “I forgive you Alessandro.”

“You shouldn’t,” he shook his head. “Tallulah was right. Any other woman would have dumped my sorry a*s and moved on.”

“Good thing I like your a*s,” she joked and saw the tiny edge of a smile pull on his lips.

“Mackenna, I never want to lose you again but if you said to me, you never wanted to see me again, if you told you felt it was truly over, I would let you go. Knowing my family had hurt you so deeply, I was ready to let you go and move on because you deserve only happiness in your life. I cannot live another day knowing I continue to hurt you. I cannot keep hurting you. I am trying to be a better man, to be the man I know you deserve but I replace myself lacking. Even yesterday I got carried away and put you in danger by pushing you too hard.”

Mackenna adjusted herself so she could look at him better. “Alessandro, you asked me if I wanted to go to dinner. You didn’t order me to go. I chose to go. It was my choice. If we are being honest, if you hadn’t been here yesterday morning, I would have gone to work. I would have worked a full day and would have come home just as exhausted.”

He stroked the curve of her jaw with a cupped palm, his thumb stroking her cheekbone. “I adore you, mi amore. I have never loved anyone like I love you. I do not deserve you and I know it. I will keep trying to be the man you deserve if you let me.”

“You are all the man I ever want and need Alessandro. Besides,” she turned her cheek into his hand, “who else would be my dance partner? After dancing with you, nobody else would compare. It’s like having s*x with clothes on.”

He leaned his head back and laughed at her comment, exposing his long neck to her and she lurched forward and planted a hot k**s where his pulse throbbed. His hands found their way to her, one along her waist and the other in her hair as he g*****d as she swirled her tongue and suckled gently.

“Mackenna,” his amber eyes were molten lava as she paused and lifted her eyes to meet his. “You are supposed to be resting.”

“I’m feeling much better after a night of sleep.” She wriggled her fingers in a demonstration of her recovery, “I even have movement in my fingers.” She shifted her body, so she sat atop him straddling him. She stared down at him from her perch and caressed his cheek. “I love you, Alessandro. I think we’ve done much too much talking so early in the morning.” She looked down at the pale pink silk nightgown skimming her thighs. “Besides, I’m wearing an Alessandro creation and it feels divine,” she lifted his hand and placed it on her breast and ran it over the swell of her mound. “Doesn’t the silk feel incredible?” Mackenna’s eyes glinted with desire as she felt the burgeoning of his body’s response beneath her bottom.

“It is not the silk that feels so incredible,” he lifted his other hand so he could palm both her breasts in his hands, his thumbs taunting her n*****s into hard peaks through the soft material. “As beautiful as this gown is, your body needs no adornment. It is perfection without it. I much prefer your skin to silk.” He g*****d as she wiggled her h**s to pull the dress over her head and tossed it away.

“Like this?”

“Yes, absolutely like this,” he closed his eyes as she ground her h**s against him.

She made a face. “Why must you wear briefs now? They need to go.”

He chuckled, “you have a roommate, and I wasn’t going to the living room to talk to my father stark naked. The last thing I need is Nuncio trying to kill me because his woman is jealous of what you have, and she doesn’t.” his eyes were teasing and happy as she threw her head back and laughed. He watched with a wide smile as she tried valiantly to remove his briefs with one hand. Her hair falling in her face, her cheeks flushed with excitement and her breathing uneven as she tugged until he was free of the encumbrance of clothing. “You are so beautiful,” his voice hoarse with emotion.

“I’m also ravenous for my husband,” she eyed him and licked her lips. When he went to protest her actions, she put her finger on his lips. “Hush, don’t you know the saying, happy wife, happy life? Let me have what I want.”

As she lowered her head to his now exposed body he g*****d loudly and dug his fingers into her hair. Happy life indeed.