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‘Crocodile tears, my dear?’ Luc didn’t buy them. He wouldn’t buy them. He knew better than that now. Maybe Arabella hadn’t confirmed Maria’s financial status. That wasn’t his problem, and it didn’t exonerate her from pushing for the highly unreasonable deal in the first place.
‘I can’t buy the gowns back.’ Bella’s gaze dropped to her hands. She hardly seemed aware of him. ‘I’m—I’m in too deep already.’
‘Yet you were quite happy for Maria to be in that deep.’
‘I knew it would work over time.’ Unease pooled in the depths of her eyes. ‘Perhaps I should have built in an escape clause for Maria.’ She hesitated. ‘I didn’t think of her side of it.’
‘You thought only to use Maria, and walk away without any responsibility if things didn’t work out. Do you really believe I’ll stand back and leave the future of my aunt’s business in your hands now I know what you’ve done, Arabella?’ He had bought up Maria’s debts as a secret backer in order to protect her while he sorted this out with Bella. That was his business, but Bella would not be allowed to shrug off her responsibility.
‘If Maria had been wealthy as I imagined…’ Bella rose, stepped away from her chair and gathered her bag to her. Her movements were mechanical, but she couldn’t seem to smooth them out.
Luchino believed she only wanted to use Maria. It wasn’t true, but she hadn’t considered Maria in the agreement, only herself. Bella hadn’t wanted to run any risks, but Luchino wouldn’t understand that, especially now!
‘You will work with me to set things to rights, Arabella.’ Luchino decreed it, like a god speaking from the peak of Mount Olympus. ‘You’ll wear your gowns at Melbourne’s most élite functions, at the theatre and opera, in homes and at gala evenings, to dinners and parties. Anywhere your prospective clientele gather.’
‘It’s one thing to put on a nice dress and go to the theatre with my sisters.’ They had all enjoyed such times, and nowadays the heavily pregnant Chrissy came with husband in tow and Bella liked Chrissy’s husband, mostly, but Luc Montichelli wanted too much. ‘You can’t just decide this and say I have to do it. Why would you want to be with me, anyway?’
‘I can say it. I can make you do it. And I don’t want to be with you. I want to see to it that you comply with my demands. That my aunt doesn’t suffer because of you.’ His arm brushed hers as they moved out of the restaurant and stepped along the pavement. ‘I want your agreement to do everything necessary to make this work, and to do it quietly and discreetly.’
‘Without telling Maria about it.’ Bella believed Luc’s proof of Maria’s financial status. She still wanted to discuss the problem with Maria. Most of all she wanted Luc to forget all this and go away. ‘If I insist on speaking with Maria?’
He simply kept walking, turned that dark, exotic profile until his gaze met hers, and told her. ‘If you fail in any way to comply with what I want, I will retaliate by ruining your reputation as a designer so you’ll never work in that field again.’
‘You would do that?’ One glance into Luchino’s dark, angry eyes told Bella he would. His wealth and status as an international jeweller meant he could.
‘Don’t doubt it, Arabella.’ But instead of more anger at her, Luchino looked up, ahead of them, and his steps slowed.
Such an expression of anguish came over his face then that Bella almost stumbled at his side. ‘Luchino? What…?’
But he didn’t seem to hear her.
She followed his gaze, realised they were near his car again. Saw…a little girl and a middle-aged woman standing beside that car. A girl with curly black hair and olive skin who clung to the woman’s hand while her gaze followed Luc’s every movement.
Luc’s daughter?
But here? With him? How? Why? Bella struggled to comprehend even the possibilities but all she saw was a scared little girl, clinging to the older woman’s skirt, her face pinched and anxious as she watched Luchino’s approach.
Thoughts came. Memories. Her sisters’ faces had borne the same scared, confused expressions this child wore now. Over and over and over for years until Bella finally managed to rebuild enough of a life for them, enough security for them that they began to recuperate from the loss of their parents.
Bella had given her sisters all the love her parents refused to give. Had given and given it. Now her throat tightened and a stifling, smothering feeling suddenly swept over her.
‘Papa?’ The little girl took a few tentative steps towards them. ‘You were gone a long time. Nanny Heather was scared you wouldn’t come back.’
This statement brought raised eyebrows and a solemn look from the woman who stood at the child’s side.
‘Grace.’ Luc murmured the child’s name as though it hurt somehow to say it.
The air hummed with emotion.
‘I accept your terms.’ Bella blurted the words and knew she had no choice. ‘I’ll work to get all my gowns sold as quickly as possible, I’ll attend functions with you until Maria’s finances are in a better state, then I’ll go on without you.’ How long would it take to get to that point?
Luchino inclined his head. ‘A sensible choice.’
When he started to move forward again, Bella remained where she was. ‘I have to go now. I’ll miss my tram. It’s—it’s that way.’ She pointed randomly in a different direction. ‘I’ll be in contact about our…arrangement.’
‘You don’t have my number.’ Luchino drew a business card from his pocket and handed it to her.
‘OK. Now I have it. Goodbye.’ Without waiting for his response, Bella rushed past Luc, blended into the pedestrian traffic and took the fastest possible route away from his daughter and the nanny.
CHAPTER THREE
BELLA made her way to the flat, tried to pull her emotions back under control but too much had happened too fast and she didn’t know where to begin to try to come to terms with it all.
‘I’m home.’ She called the words out, stepped through the door, closed it and leaned on it as Soph came out of the kitchen area to greet her.
‘Hi. How do you like this hair colour? It’s supposed to be a rinse-out but it seems rather…’ Soph stopped. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘Yes.’ A laugh escaped Bella and she snapped her mouth shut because it held an edge too close to hysteria to be comfortable. ‘I’ve seen a ghost, and if I don’t do what he wants he’s going to take my lifelong dream from me.’
Soph peered at her for all of a second, then grabbed the cordless phone off the coffee-table and punched a speed-dial number. ‘Can you come? I think we need a family council.’
‘I’m fine, Sophia. There’s nothing to worry about.’ Bella stepped away from the door and tried to pull herself together.
But it was too late. Soph had already ended the call, and their sister arrived not long after, and Bella wasn’t pulled together, anyway.
Chrissy stepped inside the flat while Bella was brewing a pot of chai and trying to sort out her thoughts. Her sisters both stared at her, and Bella realised she couldn’t avoid this. She would have to explain.
Maybe it would help to talk about it…
‘I saw Luchino Montichelli today.’ She got through two cups of tea and half a Pilates routine in her comfortable black catsuit before she finished her story with an explanation about his child. ‘He—his daughter was with him. Not with him with him, but there, waiting by the car when we got back to it, with a nanny at her side.’
‘He’s taken the child back?’ Soph’s tone made it clear she found this incomprehensible. ‘Didn’t you just say he deserted her after his divorce?’
Bella fought to overcome the upsurge of pain Soph’s simple question invoked. ‘I find it hard to believe, too, and I have no idea if the girl is with him permanently or what. With everything else, I’d had it by then and I just left.’ In fact, she had reacted in a blind panic. Bella still didn’t know why she had rushed off like that!
‘I wonder if he loves the child now.’ Chrissy’s hand caressed her distended tummy in a gentle, circling motion, but her gaze was fierce as she asked the question. ‘Because a child needs to be loved and if a parent can’t give it that, they have no right to even be near it.’
Soph slid her arm around Chrissy’s shoulders and squeezed. ‘You love your baby to bits. We all do. I can’t wait to be an aunty.’
‘What are you going to do, Bella?’ Chrissy accepted her sister’s hug, but her gaze remained fixed on Bella. ‘You can’t accept his ultimatum. You’d have to see him constantly, put up with his ridiculous view that you’re money-hungry and used Maria.’
‘I don’t see that I have any choice.’ Bella began to pace the floor in front of the TV.
Chrissy stepped towards her. ‘Nate and I can buy your gowns back so you can leave Maria’s altogether. We can set you up on your own, Bella, so you can start again. Your own shop, any location, whatever you want. I’m sure Nate would see it as a good long-term investment, and at least then you wouldn’t be beholden to this Montichelli man.’
‘It’s either that, or the three of us all get loans for whatever the banks will lend us, and pool it to take care of the problem.’ Soph nodded so that her bright pink hair flew in all directions around her face. ‘That’s doable as well.’
‘That might work to get Bella out of Maria’s.’ Chrissy pushed her glasses up her pert nose as she considered Soph’s suggestion. ‘But I don’t think we’d get enough money to set her up in a new shop. It would be rather a lot.’
‘I suppose so.’ Soph turned her face up and blew at a strand of hair, then looked directly at Bella. ‘I guess it has to be Nate, then, and I know you and he didn’t get off to a great start what with him getting Chrissy pregnant and everything, but look how well it turned out. Anyway, he’d help, and the main thing is, we don’t want you back near the creep who hurt you when you were in Milan.’
‘One of the creeps,’ Chrissy reminded her. ‘Remember the show manager lured Bella to his room that final night, too.’
‘You should have told us the whole truth when you came back from that trip.’ Soph launched into a protective tirade over the sleazy show manager’s behaviour.
Chrissy added her voice to it.
Bella stood between her sisters and ached inside. She loved them. They wanted to help her but ultimately she couldn’t let them. And why was it so hard to have them try to care for her?
Because the order’s been reversed and you don’t know how to cope with that.
‘Have you told us everything now, Bella?’ Chrissy’s eyes behind the glasses sparked with demand for the entire truth.
‘Yes, that’s all of it. I know I could have told you much more about what happened in Milan at the time, but I wanted to put it behind me.’ She hadn’t learned of the divorce and Luc’s abandonment of his child until almost a year later, either, and by then, hadn’t wanted to talk about it ever again.
Now her sisters knew everything, except just how much of her heart Bella had given to Luchino in that whirlwind week overseas.
Bella drew a deep breath. ‘I appreciate the offer to help me out, Chrissy, but it wouldn’t be right to ask you and Nate to tie up so much money that way. It would be bucket-loads, much more than even just the cost of repurchasing the gowns, and I admit I got a good price out of Maria for them.’ When she named the figure, both sisters gasped.
Bella shrugged. ‘I put every spare cent into creating that stock of gowns, and they are designer-wear.’
She hesitated as she considered her situation, and then admitted in a low tone, ‘Right now I’m wondering if I should have given up modelling. It’s true it was never my dream job, but maybe I miscalculated the risks in branching out into fashion. Just because I’ve created all our clothes for years—’
‘You’ve created the most amazing outfits on a shoestring budget. Anything from jeans to stunning stuff fit to wear to a palace. You have the talent, Bella,’ Chrissy insisted.
And Bella remembered that even Luchino admitted she had ability. She had to believe that, too. Now was not the time to doubt! Bella held Chrissy’s gaze. ‘I can’t let you and Soph get loans to help me, either, although I appreciate both thoughts very much.’
‘But you have to get out.’ This came from Soph.
‘No. Luchino said I have no choice, and he’s right. I have to sell the gowns quickly. If working with Luchino is the only way to do that—’ she shrugged ‘—I’ll have to cope, that’s all.’
‘It will fix the problem.’ Chrissy gave a reluctant nod. ‘Provided he doesn’t try to encroach on the business arrangement, make it more personal or anything.’ She gave Bella a searching look. ‘Is that likely to happen?’
‘Not when he thinks I’m money-hungry, and when I know all he is capable of. Distrust on both sides is not fertile ground for the development of anything personal.’ Refusing to think of the twinges of awareness that had passed between her and Luchino, Bella hugged first one sister, then the other, being careful not to squash Chrissy’s baby bump in the process. ‘Thanks for the talk and for what you both offered to do to help.’
‘What—what about his daughter?’ It was Soph who asked the question, who tried hard to hide her vulnerability as she waited for the answer. ‘Maybe we should, you know, look into how he’s treating her or something.’
‘Oh, Soph.’ Bella had wrestled with that very question five years ago but what could some upstart twenty-year-old do from another country when a multimillionaire chose to leave his child in what was probably thoroughly adequate care while he ignored said child? Who would have even listened to her concerns?
But she was wrestling with those same concerns again now and knew she had to act on them. It was the right thing to do even if she now suspected it was also the reason for her earlier panic. She would have to remain at an emotional distance, that was all. ‘I’ll look into it, Soph.’
In fact, this was how Bella had to tackle the whole situation. She would do what she had to, but her emotions would remain safely behind those fortified walls around her heart. ‘I can do this. It’ll work out. I’ll take care of myself and make sure I can’t get hurt.’
‘If you get out of your depth, you will let us get you out of there.’ Chrissy decreed it.
Bella reluctantly nodded, even though she had no intention of allowing her sisters or brother-in-law to cough up that kind of money no matter what.
‘All right, then I guess we’re settled. And I want to show Danni and Michelle this hair colour.’ Soph headed for her bedroom. ‘I’d better see what I’ve got to wear tonight.’
Once both her sisters were gone, Chrissy to the home she made with Nate Barrett and Sophia to a club with her girlfriends, Bella took the business card Luchino had pressed on her as she escaped him near his car earlier, and phoned the after-hours number.
‘Montichelli.’ Even the sound of his voice over the phone cut a swathe through her nervous system.
So get over it. It’s just a voice.
‘I want an itinerary of events you expect me to attend with you so I can work out what to wear for each occasion.’ She didn’t bother with a greeting, just launched into the purpose of her call. Which was to arm herself with information, and to take as much control as she could over the situation. ‘I’ll agree not to say anything to your aunt about it for now, but I want it on record that I don’t like the deceit. When will we go to our first event?’
‘Tomorrow evening.’ He named the hosts and the suburb they lived in. ‘They’re a husband and wife who own a chain of member-only golf courses around the country. I’ll call for you at seven.’
‘I’d also like to know how you intend to explain these outings to your aunt—’ Bella stopped abruptly, because Luc had handed down his order, and ended the call!
Bella thought back over that conversation as she put the finishing touches to her make-up the next night. Or rather, she thought about the things she should have asked, but hadn’t got a chance to. It was Saturday, and she wished it was Saturday a year from now and Luchino Montichelli was once again a distant memory. How long would it take to rid herself of him?
Soph stood in the open doorway of the bathroom, one hand wrapped around the door frame, a hairbrush in the other. The pink hair had washed out, Bella noted with affection. The outcome had been touch-and-go for a while there for her funky hairdresser sister.
‘It’s not too late to change your mind about this, Bella. Luchino Montichelli has no right to make you do this stuff.’
‘He’s concerned about his aunt.’ Bella didn’t say it to try to placate Soph. Rather, she had pondered it and decided Luchino really did seem to care about her boss.
‘And you’re going to check on his daughter.’ At that pronouncement, Soph relaxed a little.
Bella, on the other hand, stiffened before she managed to force a smile. ‘Yes. I’ll do what I can. And Soph, I have no interest in being close to Luchino in any way but a business one.’
Probably when Luchino arrived tonight, Bella would feel nothing at all towards him except irritation that she had to be in his presence. The earlier internal twitters would simply have been a result of memories and the shock of seeing him suddenly after so long. She had schooled herself now.
‘If you say so.’ In the past, her sisters would have simply accepted her assurance, but Soph didn’t look completely convinced. ‘Chrissy and I still don’t like that this man insists you go out with him under the guise of business. What if he tries to seduce you again?’ Her voice filled with concern. ‘We don’t want him to hurt you.’
‘I won’t let him, and you and Chrissy should worry about your own issues, not mine. I shouldn’t have told you so much.’ But her sisters rarely had ‘issues’ any more, and somehow that knowledge left Bella feeling rather lost, confused when her sisters tried to watch over her, upset when she no longer had the chance to watch over them.
Anyway, you’re not lost. You have a whole new career to pursue.
One that was now the source of a great deal of concern for her.
With one final glance at herself, Bella twitched the midnight-blue gown into place and hustled Sophia out into the living room. ‘It’s just business, Soph. All I need to do is treat it as such.’
Footsteps sounded outside, followed by a sharp rap on the door.
Bella’s heart stumbled in a way she couldn’t blame on irritation or unease. But it wasn’t awareness, either, because she had talked herself out of any more of that nonsense. She moved towards the door on four-inch stiletto heels and warned her sister over her shoulder, ‘Leave this to me.’
On those words, Bella pulled the door open, and tried not to notice the devastation that was Luchino Montichelli in full evening garb. She drew a deep breath.
He looks nice. There’s nothing personal in noticing.
‘Hello, Luchino.’ Catch that calm tone? This is me, Luchino, ignoring you on every level but that of business acquaintance. ‘I’m ready to leave.’
‘Good evening, Arabella. Won’t you introduce me?’ Luc glanced beyond her shoulder and stepped into the flat’s small living room before Bella fully realised his intention.
Great, now she got to sense him as well as see him, and he smelled nice, too, like freshly showered man. Not that she cared what he smelled like. ‘Uh—’
