Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

The return to the villa should have felt like a homecoming or at least a tactical retreat. Instead it felt like walking into the headquarters of a very polite very expensive cult. We pulled up the gravel driveway in the dusty Land Rover and I expected to see the usual quiet olive groves and the occasional bored security guard. What I found was a fleet of white sedans and a woman in a lab coat standing on the front porch with a clipboard like she was waiting to process a shipment of hazardous chemicals. "Dominic," I said as the car came to a halt. I didn't get out. I stayed firmly buckled into the passenger seat. "Why is there a woman with a stethoscope standing where the lemon trees used to be? And why is she looking at my midsection like it is a ticking time bomb?" Dominic sighed a long weary sound that suggested he was already drafting a very angry email to his mother. He rubbed his face with his hands and looked at the crowd gathered under the stone archway. "Eleanor. She mention

The gravel driveway of the villa sounded like it was being ground into dust under the weight of an invading army. I stood at the tall arched window of the second floor bedroom watching a literal semi truck negotiate the narrow turn past the ancient cypress trees. It was followed by a line of black SUVs that looked entirely too much like a funeral procession for my liking. This was the Eleanor Thorne version of a grandmotherly visit. She didn't arrive with a suitcase and a hug; she arrived with a manifest and a logistics team. Dominic was standing down in the courtyard looking like he wanted to go headfirst into a wood chipper. He was on the phone probably screaming at his head of security for letting the caravan through the gates but it was already too late. The back of the truck opened and four men in white gloves began unloading crates of heavy dark wood furniture that looked like it had been stolen from a haunted Victorian mansion. Eleanor stepped out of the lead SUV looking like

The moonlight was streaming through the windows of the hallway making the marble floors look like sheets of ice as I tried to make my way to the kitchen for a glass of water.My back was aching with a dull persistence that I had been trying to ignore since the afternoon and my stomach felt heavy in a way that made every step feel like a marathon.I reached for the mahogany banister but my fingers felt clumsy and cold and a sudden sharp spike of pain radiated through my abdomen like a bolt of lightning.The world tilted on its axis and the beautiful Italian villa started to spin until the shadows of the olive trees outside blurred into a single dark mass.I didn't even have the breath to scream as my knees gave out and the last thing I felt was the cold shock of the floor against my shoulder."Seraphina!" a voice roared from the top of the stairs sounding like it was coming from the bottom of a very deep and very dark well.I heard the sound of footsteps pounding against the wood and t

The morning sun filtered through the tall windows of the villa like liquid gold and for the first time in a week I was allowed to put my feet on the floor.Dominic was already standing by the bed with a pair of soft silk slippers in his hand and a look of such intense focus that you would think he was handling a delicate glass sculpture.He insisted on sliding the slippers onto my feet himself before he swept me up into his arms despite my very vocal protests that I had been cleared to walk."The doctor said limited activity Seraphina and walking through this massive drafty hallway does not count as a productive use of your energy," he said firmly.He carried me down the corridor toward the solarium his heart beating a steady and reassuring rhythm against my shoulder that made all my lingering fears fade away.The scent of fresh rain and blooming jasmine filled the air as he pushed open the heavy glass doors to my new studio which he had stocked with every imaginable luxury.He settle

The passage of two months had turned the villa from a gilded cage into a sanctuary that smelled of citrus blossoms and expensive oil paints.I stood in front of the full length mirror in our dressing room and stared at the undeniable curve of my stomach which was now too large to hide under silk robes.At nearly six months the twins were no longer a quiet secret but a pair of restless inhabitants who seemed to enjoy using my ribs as a personal jungle gym."You have been staring at that reflection for ten minutes and I am fairly certain the mirror is not going to give you any legal advice on how to handle them," Dominic said.I looked over my shoulder to see him leaning against the doorframe with a soft smile that reached his eyes in a way it never used to back in London.He walked toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind resting his large palms over the bump that now dominated my silhouette."I am officially the size of a small house and none of my vintage Dior piece