The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife

Chapter 2

Mackenna trembled when she passed the woman at the gate her ticket, admitting she was frightened. In ending the marriage to Alessandro, she was admitting she had failed. She hadn’t been able to succeed at being a wife, hadn’t been able to hold onto her husband and hadn’t been able to make it work. She had given up on her marriage and was incapable of taking back her husband from a gorgeous Brazilian supermodel. Not like it was a competition and Alessandro was a prize; he was no prize. He was the antithesis of a prize. Her marriage to him was a cost, a penalty for which she had paid much too much.

 She drew a shaky breath as she boarded the aircraft and when she took her seat she was quaking like a leaf. The flight would take her almost a full twenty hours from Phoenix to Milan. Twenty hours to panic and worry somehow Alessandro knew she was coming, and he was going to meet her flight. Terrified somehow, he would convince her she was the crazy one and she would wind up on her back, in his bed and still married to him. Even with the ocean between them, she felt his s****l pull on her. She resented him for it.

 She was exhausted when she arrived in Milan and more than annoyed with herself as every tall, lean, dark-haired man made her do a double take. Her heart fluttered nervously with each confirmation it was not Alessandro and his amber eyes coming to make her pay for the insult she’d bestowed on his family by walking out on him. She simply needed to get in and out of the country and since she knew from the magazine, she had read the week before, it was fashion week in Paris. He was in France, not Italy, representing his company and his label. She had planned this trip at this time for this reason. Knowing he would receive the divorce petition when she was safely back in Phoenix was the only way she felt safe.

 Mackenna paused in her daydreams as she caught sight of a man she recognized, and she raced to him and flung herself into his open arms. “Nonno!” She laughed as her grandfather swung her around, lifting her clear off the ground. She hugged him tight, tears streaming down her face. “Oh, my Nonno, how I’ve missed you. I didn’t know you were meeting my plane.”

 He kissed her cheeks repeatedly as he hugged her tight. “Oh, my Mackenna, I couldn’t let my only girl take the subway home.”

She laughed at his words, knowing he was proud of the company he’d worked for more than thirty years. She swung her overnight bag over her shoulder and walked tucked under his strong arm in the direction of the taxi stand. He didn’t own a car and relied on the public transportation system as did many of people who lived here.

“It is so good to see you,” he spoke happily as he escorted her into the taxi.

“I shouldn’t have stayed away so long,” she realized it now as she rested her head against his thick shoulder. “I let my imagination get the better of me perhaps.”

 “Possibly,” the older man nodded quietly but he didn’t necessarily agree with the statement. He did not believe for one minute Alessandro Giordano would stop at anything to return his wife home. Even now, five years later, the man called him weekly, demanding an address he did not have. The man was obsessed with his granddaughter and although he wished it were because he loved her, he sincerely doubted it.

 Alessandro had done everything in his power to ensure his marriage was kept quiet and hushed but his relationship with the model was displayed for the world to see. In his opinion he should have shown the world he was proud of his wife, not hidden her away like she was a dirty secret. As far as he was concerned, Mackenna was ten times the woman compared to Alessandro’s constant companion. Alessandro did not deserve the love his granddaughter had offered. He believed the man was a fool.

 “What time is your appointment tomorrow?” He asked his granddaughter quietly.            

 “Nine in the morning,” she answered just as quietly as the knowledge of what she was going to do struck her. She took a shaky breath as she felt her grandfather’s hand tighten around hers. “I need to move on Nonno. It’s time.”

 “I agree.” He kissed the top of her head. “You deserve happiness Mackenna. Your life has known too much sorrow and it is time for you to get on with your life and to live it the way your parents would have wanted you to.”

 “I know,” she wiped a tear off her cheek. “There’s a doctor at the hospital where I work, and he asked me to dinner. I said no but he’s asked me three times since. He’s a very nice man but I want to clean up this messed-up relationship before I start on the next one.”

“You are a very smart young woman.” He commented quietly. “How do you like your job at the hospital?”

“It’s great. I really enjoy the work. It’s fun.” She smiled up at him. “I suppose I can tell you now, I’m living in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s nothing like Pittsburgh and not even close to anything like Milan but its good.” She lifted her head and looked out the window of the city she’d once called home. It was beautiful and vibrant and everything she missed when she was in Phoenix.

“Are you worried about seeing Alessandro?” He asked quietly.

“No, because it’s fashion week in Paris.” She gave him a flash of her white smile, but it held no happiness to it. “Nothing short of a nuclear disaster could tear him from his precious Dulce walking down the red carpet in one of his luxurious creations. She is his muse. By the time his legal advisors notify him, I’ll be long gone. I don’t have to be here for it to be finalized, just for it to be started.”

 She leaned forward as they approached the apartment complex her grandparents lived in. “Since fashion week started yesterday though, I plan to stay here all week. I haven’t gone shopping in so long and I could really use a wardrobe update.” She shook her bag on the seat. “I only brought one bag with me but I’m hoping to leave with a lot more.”

 Just thinking of the way Alessandro tended to the other woman made her want to scream in frustration. Even still it smarted the way he’d made her the number one priority in his life ahead of his wife.

 When, not long after their first anniversary, Alessandro had returned home from a fashion show in Brazil with the lovely model who went only by the name Dulce on his arm as the new face of the company, she’d tried to be understanding to show him the support he’d given her. After all, hadn’t he agreed with her to finish her second year of her two-year program? Hadn’t he been supportive and loving and never balking at her working for another company during her job placement?

 However, when Rosetta, her mother-in-law, had been unable to hold her gaze during the celebration dinner she knew something wasn’t right. Rosetta had clearly not liked the other woman and had been glaring at her son with fury but each time she met Mackenna’s eyes, she saw sadness. She had been confused at first. Then she herself had heard the story of how Alessandro had met the woman, straight from Alessandro’s lips who had found the tale hilarious.

 Dulce would do whatever it took to be Alessandro’s top model and had gone to his hotel suite in Brazil wearing nothing at all. Striding through the corridors unashamed of her nudity, insisting to meet him and then notifying him she wanted the job she knew he’d been in Brazil promoting. He’d been impressed by her tenacity and spunk or so he claimed. Mackenna knew he’d more likely been impressed with her long slender body, flawless complexion, and dark exotic beauty.

 Although her own waist had been tiny, Mackenna had the curves the women in her family had been blessed with, a healthy bra size and hips, her grandmother assured her, made for childbirth. She was averagely built, a normal five-foot-six woman. Her hair a dark dirty blonde coupled with gray-blue eyes which were nothing worth getting excited over. She knew she didn’t come close to the perfection of Dulce and instantly upon meeting the woman she’d felt second-rate. The feeling had never dissipated, not in six years and she doubted it ever would.

 She pushed the thought of the Latin beauty from her mind and smiled as she saw her grandmother standing on the stairs of the complex waiting anxiously for her and as she got out of the cab, the woman raced to her. She had definitely been gone too long.

 She let the two of them fawn and fuss over her. Her grandmother cooked her favourite meal for dinner and then they went for a long walk through the city streets, each of them holding her arm.

 It was close to midnight before she finally convinced them they needed to go to bed. Her grandfather had reassured her he would be by her side with the lawyer in the morning so she had no reason to worry needlessly, and she too should get some rest.

 But rest was hard coming for Mackenna as she tossed and turned, the image of Alessandro’s eyes haunting her. His gaze had always been intense and heated and she shivered even now thinking of how with a simple glance he could cut her down.

 As a child her parents had taken her to the zoo, and she’d seen a giant tiger and it had gotten awfully close to where she’d stood outside its enclosure. Its eyes had been a brownish yellow with a glint of gold to them and when she’d looked into Alessandro’s eyes, she’d felt the same fear she’d had of the giant cat.

 The way he’d stared at her had always made her feel as if she was his next meal. There had been a time she’d craved his gaze but as their marriage fell apart, she feared it and loathed it. It wasn’t hunger for her she had realized but only hunger to possess her. She knew when he was around her, she was powerless against him.

 Like a tiger he was lean, strong, cunning, and smart. He knew how to outwit her, and he’d always seemed one step ahead of her. Although her heart longed to see him just one more time before she ended their marriage, she knew it was the wrong thing to do. She had to be strong. She reminded herself of the potential dates she could have in Phoenix once this was cleaned up. She was going to get her life back. She was starting over.

 She could do this, she reassured herself. She’d find a good man. She’d get married and she’d have a family. Mackenna knew deep down she’d never love someone the way she had Alessandro, but she had to do what was best for her and he was not. He’d hurt her too deeply for her to ever forgive him and there was no way she could ever go back to the mindless adoration she’d once had for him. She knew the truth. She had to move on from his possession.

 She needed someone who wanted her and her alone. Unlike the tiger she’d seen in the zoo, Alessandro was not capable of monogamy. When she finally fell asleep, her cheeks were damp, and her pillow was soaked, and her dreams were filled with the image of tawny seductive eyes.