Melody Anne's Billionaire Universe: Devoured (Kindle Worlds Novella) (10 page)

Frowning, he turned his head to follow her gaze. He grinned when he saw who it was. “Good morning, Palazzo. I wasn’t expecting you.”

Rafe grinned back. “Clearly.” Then he turned to Luca’s wife, saying gently, “It is a pleasure to see you again, Mrs. Valencia.”

As she and Luca stepped out of the elevator, she said with a shy smile, “Please call me Vivian.”

Rafe smiled back, saying, “Only if you also promise to call me Rafe.”

She glanced at Luca. “I’ll be heading to my class then?”

“Alright.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he murmured, “Be at my office by eleven, si?”

“Si.” After shooting Luca’s friend a quick smile and a nod, she hurried towards the meeting room where her Italian tutor was waiting.

Having heard her last words, Rafe asked, “Has your wife gone back to school?”

“Italian lessons with a private tutor,” he explained. “She takes them here five times a week.”

Rafe grinned. “You don’t want to let her out of your sight that much?”

Luca rolled his eyes but didn’t bother answering.

As they walked towards Luca’s office, Rafe could not help but marvel at how much marriage had changed Luca, and it was even more surprising that the changes were all because of his young, sweet wife.

Although Rafe and Ari had attended Luca’s wedding, they had not had a chance to speak with the bride at all. Following the ceremony, Luca had only briefly introduced everyone to her before whisking his family off and flying them to Tuscany.

At that time, Rafe had privately believed that Luca’s explanation of wanting his bride to immediately meet his mother and spend their honeymoon there were merely an excuse, to avoid hearing Rafe preach at him.

After all, no one had heard anything about Luca dating, and then all of a sudden the man had sent his friends wedding invitations, and to a woman none of them knew anything about. In fact, the first time Rafe and Ari had seen Vivian Day, they had looked at each other and thought the same thing.

Luca Valencia had hired himself a wife.

That could be the only reason why Luca was marrying someone so sweet and innocent like Vivian.

But clearly, they had been both wrong
, Rafe thought. Inside Luca’s office, his friend immediately had coffee and refreshments served, and Rafe briefly shared with Luca about the charity project he was involved in and which he would like his friend to take part of as well. Luca agreed readily, and when they finished ironing out the details, Rafe stood up to leave.

“You must bring Eula and Vivian over to our place one time. We would love to have you.”

“I might just take you up on that,” Luca answered with a twist of his lips. “It has just occurred to me that I’ve been monopolizing her too much and that I haven’t taken her anywhere in the three months we’ve been together. I do not wish anyone to think that I am embarrassed of her or such.”

Rafe clapped a hand over his friend’s back. “You’re not doing anything wrong, Valencia. It’s entirely normal, for newlyweds and for a couple clearly in love with each other.”

About to speak, Luca remained silent instead, his friend’s last words causing him to whiten.

As Rafe walked to the door, he missed the way Luca’s jaw hardened as he continued, “I’m ashamed to admit that for one second, I really thought you hired yourself a wife but I only have to look at you now – you’re definitely no different from me. You’ve lost your heart to your woman, and I’m glad it’s someone like Vivian.”

When Rafe left, Luca slowly walked back to his desk. Taking his seat, he swung around to face the window, staring sightlessly at the sky as Rafe’s words rang in his mind.

You’ve lost your heart to your woman.

He closed his eyes, but it was no use. He tried to think of Vivian, his wife, but all he could see was her—

Maria.

The other woman who first had his heart.

His hands clenched.

Rafe was…wrong.

He was not in love.

And he could and would prove it this very day.

Chapter Nine

The moment Vivian entered her husband’s office, she knew that something was wrong, like her instincts were stirred by impending danger and she began having a sick feeling in her stomach.

She had been standing by the door for five minutes, and not once had he looked up. He might think he was fooling her into thinking he hadn’t noticed her arrival, but he wasn’t. She knew he knew she was there, just as she knew he was purposely ignoring her.

Vivian just wished she knew why.

Every day of her marriage, there wasn’t a moment that she had regretted, not a moment that she had wished for something to change.
But if she could have that wish today
, Vivian thought, then it was to never have left Luca’s side. She didn’t know what had happened, but her guts were telling her that either Rafe Palazzo had told him something or Luca had learned something from Rafe – and whatever it was, this was the result.

Maybe, if she had been there, things would have been different.

Maybe.

Still, Vivian didn’t really blame Rafe Palazzo for this change.
This
, she thought sickly,
was inevitable
, no matter how she hard she tried to subconsciously convince herself otherwise. Taking a deep breath, she said finally, “If you’re busy, we can always postpone this.” She was already turning towards the door as she spoke, hoping she could escape so she would have time to just think about what she should say or do next.

“Hold on.”

Fudge. Double fudge. Triple fudge.

She reluctantly let go of the half-turned knob between her fingers, and when she turned around, it was like looking at a stranger.

A too-cold, too-beautiful stranger who had a too-perfect smile of apology on his lips as he came gracefully to his feet---

She watched him cross the room, thinking bleakly,
This isn’t the man I’ve been married to for three months.

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice you sooner,
cara.
”

She almost flinched at the last word but caught herself in time. She had always loved hearing Luca call her that, but now that didn’t feel right either. It felt…forced.

He laid a hand at the small of her back. “Shall we go?”

She forced herself to smile. “Okay.”

Inside the limousine, she busied herself texting on her phone while he made one call after another, even though in reality she knew they were both pretending. He had never spent so much time on the phone while he was in the car with her, and now it was as if he just had to make a call to every manager on his phone book.

Her vision began to blur, but she blinked them back furiously.
It’s not the end of forever yet,
she told herself fiercely.

It wasn’t over until it really was over, and this wasn’t it.

It wasn’t.

The moment she saw where they were eating, she hated the sight of it, and the sick feeling in her stomach got worse.

Noticing the tense line of her mouth, Luca asked in surprise, “Have you dined here before?” It was unlike his wife to exhibit any sign of dissatisfaction, and he wondered if she had any unpleasant experience with the restaurant he had chosen.

She wished she could lie, but at that moment, just the thought of lying required too much energy. Right now, it was already taking everything to just be able to stay on her feet and not to give in to her fears.

Slowly, she shook her head.

Luca hesitated. “We can always change---”

Vivian managed a smile. “No, it’s okay, I was just thinking of something else, from my Italian lessons. This place is gorgeous.” And it was, really. Her only problem about it was the fact that it seemed too private, like someone had hired the entire place to himself.

And of course, the only people who would go to such lengths either had secrets to hide…or were about to do something that they intended to keep a secret.

Like dumping a wife.

The thought came out of nowhere, and she stumbled. Vivian would have fallen flat on her face if Luca hadn’t caught her by the elbow. “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay,” she reassured him brightly. “You know how clumsy I am.” Upon reaching the table set up for them, Luca pulled out a chair for her and she took her seat, her heart plunging when instead of taking the seat next to her, like he usually did, Luca opted to sit across her this time.

The waiter handed them their menus, and neither of them spent much time poring over their choices.
Surely he knew by now
, she thought numbly. She usually took ages to order, but then that was because those times, she had known she would enjoy those meals.

This meal, however – it felt more like the Last Supper, only it was lunchtime.

“You look beautiful,” she heard Luca say.

Vivian’s fingers clenched against her lap, and she said tremulously, “Thank you.” She had done her best to make herself beautiful today, spending almost half an hour just to style her hair on her own, choosing a new dress to wear, and even putting on makeup. At that time, she had thought she was going out on a date.

Worse comes to worst
, she thought, at least she was going to go out with a bang.

Luca began to talk again, making polite conversation, and slowly driving her crazy with every minute. By the time their appetizers were served, she could no longer take it, and she waited just long enough for the waiter to disappear back into the kitchen before whispering, “Just say it.”

Luca tensed, and when he saw his wife’s glassy eyes, he tensed even more, realizing too late that all the pretenses had been for nothing.

“Just say what you brought me here to say.” The way her lips trembled at the effort not to cry made his fingers clench around the stem of his wineglass. “Please.”

Drawing a sharp breath, he said flatly, “Since it appears you have already guessed the gist of it, then there is no reason---”

“
Say it!”

It was not quite a shout, not quite a cry, but her voice was much louder than it usually was. Much shriller.

Much sadder.

It had both of them stiffening, Vivian because she was shocked and aghast at how she had failed to control herself and Luca because he was beginning to realize how much he would have to hurt her still.

“Don’t make this harder for you,” he bit out finally.

She shook her head. “You mean, don’t make it harder for yourself, right?”

“Vivi---”

“Don’t c-call me that!” Her voice caught. “You can’t call me that until I hear what excuses you’ve come up---”

“There is no excuse,” he said tonelessly.

Her laugh had the tinge of hysterics, and she looked at him like he was insane. “Do you really think I’ll buy whatever you have to say as the truth?” Hands clasping and unclasping on her lap, she asked shakily, “Why did you bring me here?”

Luca gazed straight into her eyes, and she found herself praying.
Please God. Please change his mind---

“I came here to let you know I will be divorcing you.”

Ah.

Despair extinguished the last embers of her hope, and even though she had expected the worst – and no words could hurt more than what he had said – knowing what was to come didn’t make any difference in the way her heart broke.

Lowering her head so he wouldn’t see how close she was to breaking down, she forced herself to ask, “Why?”

“Because I found someone else more appropriate.”

She had thought the pain she had felt earlier was already the worst, but it was nothing compared to the way Luca’s words devastated her now.

It hurt.

God, it hurt so, so much.

She had not known that she could hurt this much.

With her head bowed, Luca was unable to see how she was taking it all in. Crushing the urge to tip her face up and telling himself he no longer had a right to be concerned, he forced himself to continue. “You’ll have visitation rights to Eula, and this will be discussed with you at a later date by my lawyer. You will of course receive alimony, and I urge you not to reject it. You must be practical at times like this.”

All the while he had been talking, he had been waiting for her to interrupt.

But she hadn’t.

He stared at her, thinking that this might be the last time he would ever see his wife---

No.

He must stop thinking of her that way again.

Luca took a gulp of his wine, a fine vintage that tasted stale to his tongue. He looked around him, and it was almost like the whole world was just a bit duller, the colors washed away by the knowledge that after this, Vivian would not be in his life again.

Glancing back at her, he asked abruptly, “Are you not going to say anything?” He heard her laugh and choke, and Luca froze. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she had already looked up, raising her gaze to meet his, and he already had his answer.