The Temporary Wife: Luca and Valentina's Story(108)
Grandma places a hand on my shoulder and shakes her head. “Don’t be mad at them,” she murmurs. “I’m the only one who deserves your anger. Each of them came to plead your case with me individually, and they collectively refused to show up for family dinner unless I made you two come back home. I had to tell them, and they all love you enough to stand back when that was what you needed most. I told them that we’d give you six weeks to find your way back to each other with no interference whatsoever, and then I’d tell you everything.”
Valentina stares at Sierra, Raven, and Alanna. “Is this why you’ve been so distant in our group chat, and why you haven’t been taking my calls?”
The girls nod, and Sierra’s eyes fill with tears. “I can’t keep a secret, Val. You know I can’t. I was so close to telling you everything every single time we spoke, but Grandma was right. You both have such strong personalities, and you needed to figure this out together, without all the factors that forced you together. I know you’re mad at me, but I don’t regret what I did.”
“What about blacklisting us?” I ask, my anger surprisingly tempered. “How could you do that to Valentina after how hard she fought for her position as COO?”
Grandma smiles then. “You aren’t blacklisted, and you both still hold your positions at Windsor Finance. To be perfectly honest with you, I’m close to begging you to get back to work. I’m far too old to be working this hard. I sent out a company memo notifying our staff that you were both on leave due to personal circumstances and left it at that. Silas and Lexington intercepted all your job applications and sent you rejections. We couldn’t risk word spreading about a fallout in our family, so we had no other choice. Thankfully, you both use company-owned devices that are easy to control, or so Silas and Lexington tell me. The only one we failed to intercept was the Canadian one.”
I glance at my wife, unsure what to do or say. I’m not even sure what to think of all of this. I knew my grandmother was up to something, but this extends further than I even could’ve imagined.
“For now,” Dion says. “Sit down.”
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Not Canada, that’s for sure,” Zane chimes in.
I glance at my wife, and she nods. That’s all it takes for me to lead her to our usual seats, despite the way my thoughts are reeling. If this is where she wants to be, then this is where we’ll stay.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Luca
“Are you okay?” Valentina asks, her voice soft. I turn to face her, my gaze roaming over our large hotel suite. We ended up landing in Hawaii, but I’m not sure how to feel about this impromptu family trip.
“I’m not sure,” I tell her honestly. “Are you?”
She nods. “The photo surprised me, but it makes sense that our fathers knew each other. Knowing that he’s at least partially responsible for me getting my job hurts, but I also know that I did everything in my power to prove to both myself and everyone else that I deserve my job. It doesn’t sit well with me, but it’s okay. All that really matters is that Grandma Anne gave me a chance — the reason why is irrelevant at this point.”
“I knew,” I tell her, my voice soft. “When we ran into him, I confronted my grandmother, and she admitted that our fathers were friends. I was worried about you, baby. I didn’t want you to cast a shadow on your hard work, so I kept it from you.”
She grins at me and tilts her head a little. “I figured as much. You did it because it was in my best interests, right?”
Valentina walks up to me and wraps her arms around my neck, her eyes on mine. “Similarly, Grandma Anne meant well too,” she murmurs. “If we think about it objectively, did we ultimately benefit from her actions? Take the emotion out of it, Luca. If you stop focusing on the fact that we were manipulated and instead focus on what she aimed to accomplish, would you say that her meddling was in our best interest?”
I pull her closer, and she rises to her tiptoes. “I hate it when you’re so rational,” I whisper against her lips. “Can’t you just let me be mad?”
She buries her hand through my hair and shakes her head. “How can I, when I know that her heart is in the right place? I just keep thinking about what I would do if it had been Abuela. Could I have stayed mad? Would I come to regret the time I spent arguing with her? If she hadn’t done what she did, would we have ended up together at all? Would we be standing here, on equal footing? Luca, tell me honestly. Would our marriage be as strong as it is without her?”
I sigh and lift her into my arms, unwilling to admit that she’s right. I don’t want reason right now, not when I’m still so fucking mad. How can she not blame my grandmother for all the stress she caused? I could forgive her if she hadn’t touched Valentina, but for a few weeks, she made my wife believe that she’d lost it all. Not only was she barely coping with the loss of her grandmother, she also had to suddenly cope with losing the job she fought so hard for. How can she just forgive Grandma for that so easily?
Valentina wraps her legs around my waist and smiles at me. “You know I’m right. If you hadn’t been evicted, I may not have snapped out of the spiral I was in. The only reason I was able to pull myself out of that was because I felt like you needed me. If that hadn’t happened, I’d have continued to convince myself that you were better off without me.”