The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife
Chapter 46

Mackenna wasn’t sure how it was Nuncio and the rest of the security team managed to get her home yet as she opened her eyes, she was indeed in her new apartment, in her new bed tucked in with Romeo purring at her feet. Whatever was in the concoction the nurse had put in her IV had knocked her out cold and felt as if she was nursing the worst hangover in her life.

“Never thought I’d see the day you’d share your bed with another fella,” a teasing voice called from the corner of her room. Romeo hissed in his direction.

Mackenna squinted against the dim lamplight to where Alessandro sat in a wingback chair Savannah had insisted, she needed for her bedroom. They had spent too much money furnishing this place but as she watched him sitting there, she was glad the chair was available to him. The way she was feeling, had he not been there when she woke, she likely would have had a meltdown.

“How long have I been asleep?” she mumbled. Her mouth felt as if she’d been eating cotton, dry and parched.

As if reading her thoughts, Alessandro stood up, setting his sketch book on the chair and grabbed a glass of water sitting on her nightstand. Holding it against her lips he encouraged her to drink. “You’ve been asleep about three hours. It’s coming on six now. Are you getting hungry?”

She made a face at the thought of food, and he chuckled, the sound reverberating in her chest. How she’d missed the sound of his laugh. After the fun they’d had the night, they’d gone dancing it was something she realized she needed. “I feel as if I were hit by a bus.”

“I bet,” he stroked her cheek softly. “I’m sorry Mackenna.”

“For what? You didn’t push me into the table. You weren’t even here.” She was confused.

“For not coming home sooner, for not calling you last weekend. For so many things.” His eyes were serious as he took her non-injured hand into his and squeezing her fingers gently. “We have so much we need to talk about.”

“We do,” she agreed.

“I know you have so many more questions about the things we talked about earlier today, but I think it best if you got rest and we tackled the important things tomorrow when you’ve had time to recuperate just a bit more. The last thing I want is for you to be upset any more, especially after the day you’ve had. Your body needs to rest.”

Her eyes flicked to his, suddenly aware she didn’t want to wait any longer to tell him how she felt or what she wanted but his gaze was serious. “Alessandro, I don’t want you to leave.” Her voice was husky and tear-filled.

“I said I didn’t want to upset you, I didn’t say I was leaving,” he cupped her cheek, wiping a solitary tear away gently. “I’m not going anywhere, cara mia. You would have to hire your own security team to drag me away.” He winked as her lips rounded in a surprised oh. He bent and placed a k**s on her forehead. “The lump is still pretty nasty looking.”

“Ugh,” she g*****d, “I can’t even imagine. It explains the fierce headache.”

“Savannah left instructions you needed to eat something. I know you’re not keen but is there anything I can get you?” He tried again.

Before she could answer a knock on the door interrupted and Nuncio stepped in. “Hey Mac, Savannah just texted me to check in on you. She wants an update. I will tell her you are awake.” He grinned broadly. “Also,” he pointed a finger at her, “you’re clumsy and don’t even do such a thing again. My heart nearly stopped.”

She giggled at his dramatics and shook her head, moaning at the movement. “Tell her I’m fine, I’m awake.” He leaned against the door frame and sent a text message, his fingers flying rapidly. A ding told her she had already answered. “She says you need to eat something.”

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I’m really not hungry. I don’t want to be sick.”

“You lost b***d Mac and a lot of it. Carlos and I disposed of your area rug and I’m quite sure the tenants in this building thought we were disposing of a body.”

“I hated that area rug.” She grinned at Alessandro. “Who wants a pure white area rug in a home owned by people who work in a hospital?”

“You’re changing the topic,” Nuncio called her out. “Food Mac.”

“Why must you insist on calling her Mac?” Alessandro g*****d. “Her name is Mackenna.” He drew the syllables out as if trying to explain the sounds her name made.

“The only person who calls her Mackenna is you,” he shrugged. “Even Dulce called her Mac when she called me earlier. Its just catchy.”

“Is she okay?” Mackenna interrupted. “I don’t like the idea she is alone in a hotel.”

“She has a guard,” Alessandro rolled his eyes.

“She’s been blackmailed, tortured and victimized by a masochistic son of a b***h who is now free.” Mackenna glared at him. “Her best friend is angry at her and she’s in a foreign country without any of her support system with her. She should not be alone. She must be so scared,” she whispered suddenly sad for the woman.

“I know you hit your head hard Mackenna, but she tortured you for five and a half years,” Alessandro shook his head. “I am not so quick to forgive as you.”

“Alessandro, please, call her and make sure she is okay. She didn’t need to come to me and apologize and she did. She promised to only have a working relationship with you if you would even have it. She must feel so alone in a strange city.”

“Because of her presence here, you fell, the press got wind of it and the news is suggesting you attempted suicide because of her.”

“All the more reason to bring her here among friends.” Mackenna wasn’t backing down.

“You are a stubborn woman,” Alessandro griped.

“I learned from the best,” she stared pointedly at him.

“Fine,” he threw his hands up in surrender. “We will make this deal. I will go get food and you will eat it and in return I will check on Dulce.”

“Deal.” Her smile held no shame.

He kissed her forehead again and walked out of the room shaking his head. Nuncio grinned at her from the doorway.

“I know what you’re doing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she rolled her eyes, ignoring the pain just the simple movement caused.

“You think you can fix everything for everyone, don’t you Mac.” Nuncio walked into the room and sat with his back against the footboard of her bed, kicking his feet up beside her.

“Still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You saw how upset Dulce was, earlier this morning about not being part of his life, and you know how much she is hurting. You figured you could send him over to her and they can patch it up.”

She picked a fluff of Romeo’s hair off her duvet and rolled it in her fingers not meeting his gaze. “Why would I do such a thing?”

“Because you’re you, Mac.” Nuncio offered as an explanation. “Always so worried about everyone else you forget about your own feelings.”

“You been talking to my shrink?” she didn’t meet his gaze, knowing he was smirking with self-satisfaction in her direction. The brown-eyed man was too observant.

“No, I just know my friend.” He kicked her thigh with his foot. He tilted his head in the direction of where Alessandro had left. “He hasn’t left your side since the ambulance. The only reason he didn’t ride in the ambulance was because the paramedics preferred having a doctor in the back instead of him.”

“I don’t even remember the ambulance,” she tried to recall anything from the time she fell to when she woke up in the hospital.

“Well, I carried you down to the waiting ambulance,” Nuncio shrugged, “and I won’t lie, I was terrified you were dying.”

“Pfft,” she tapped his foot with her hand, “I’m like a cat, nine lives baby.”

“You’ve used two so let’s just stop there, kay?” his brown eyes were serious as they held hers. “Savannah mentioned you could have another dose of painkillers with food. How’s your head?”

“Honestly, I have a bad headache but I’m feeling strangely numb,” she admitted quietly. “I spent the whole week thinking I was in limbo until yesterday when he gave his statement. Even when Dulce said this morning she would give us space, I really felt he made his choice and wasn’t coming back. I didn’t like it. I hated it. I just was ready to accept it. Now he’s here again and talking of taking me home and Nuncio, I missed him so much.” She reached up and pushed her bangs off her face. “I’m just so scared of things going sideways again.”

“He loves you, Mac. You love him.”

“He’s also stubborn and pigheaded and a bully,” she pursed her lips, “and I’m so afraid of losing myself again.”

“Tell him,” Nuncio gave a simple shrug. “Mac, I know it’s been a long haul for you both, but I think at the end of the day, you two love each other and if this is what you want, if you want to be with him, then be with him. Find a way,” he held her gaze. “I think there’s something else though. C’mon, spill it. What’s on your mind Mac?”

She took a breath, “I don’t want to go back to Milan. My life is here. I love it here. I love my job, my friends, and my life here. I don’t want to leave Savannah behind. I have nobody but Alessandro in Milan. I’ll have to replace a new job and,” she g*****d at Nuncio’s gentle smile, “I’m putting the horse before the cart, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” he replied with no judgement in his voice, “but I understand why you’re feeling this way.”

“The thing is, I love Alessandro and I don’t want to lose another minute with him.” She gave a deep sigh as she felt emotional about everything. “What do I do?”

“You talk to your husband,” Nuncio instructed, “you tell him how you feel, and you actually communicate with him.”

“Or I just accept his job is so much more important than mine. He runs a multi-billion-dollar empire, and he needs to be in Europe.” She twisted her lips wryly.

“Talk. To. Him.” Nuncio repeated himself, enunciating every syllable.

“I will,” she rolled her eyes at his tone. “You’re such a big brother.”

“Remember this wherever we go,” he pointed his finger at her. “Where you go, I go Mac. You won’t ever be all alone there.”

She offered him a tight smile noting the sadness in his eyes. If he left with her for Milan, Savannah was completely on her own. A thought popped in her head. “Hey, tell me about your date last night. How was dinner?”

“Dinner was great. The cabaret,” he tugged his collar and stretched his neck, “well, it was something else.”

“Fun right?”

He exhaled slowly. “Mac, I’m not sure fun was the right word. One, Savannah knew every single performer by name and not just their stage name. Two, I’m in damn good shape but some of those men made me feel weak and puny. Three, and I say this with all the love in the world, are you sure you’re not a tad gay?”

She threw her head back and laughed aloud. “Nope. Not even a smidge. I love a great body and a good laugh. The drag queens are my favorite part of the show and they’re incredible, not to mention hey are flipping hilarious.”

“I may be a tad gay,” he admitted with a self-deprecating grin. “I think I was attracted to every single one of them. I damn near threw Savannah in an alley on the way home.”

She giggled at his admission. “You’re not gay Nuncio, you’re just a red-blooded man and sexy is sexy.”

“All I know is, if they sold season tickets, I’d buy them. We had a really great time. Thank you for the suggestion, Mac. Our date was really fun.” He met her gaze naughtily. “Hopefully, we didn’t keep you up when we got home?”

“Ha!” she laughed at his comment. “I watched horror movies last night and freaked myself out so bad I had to take a sleeping tablet just to fall asleep. It’s why I slept in so long this morning. I heard nothing!”

“Good thing,” he teased her.

She slapped his foot. “You’re awful.”

He grinned unabashedly. “I know.”

They sat there talking for about an hour, Nuncio making her laugh until her sides hurt as he recalled the show, he and Savannah had taken in. The sound of the outer door opening making them both pause and look at each other.

“I suppose, I should go double check it’s Alessandro and not an intruder.” He swung his legs off the bed and headed in the direction of the door.

Mackenna settled back against the pillows and heard Alessandro’s voice and both men sharing a laugh. Nuncio was right, she would talk to Alessandro and let him know of her fears of returning to Milan. At the end of the day, communication, or the lack of it, was what had destroyed their relationship in the past. It was time to put it behind them and start fresh.