The Villainess Wants a Divorce Chapter 08
Now came the part where Luca earned his keep.
I arranged to meet him at a restaurant nearby.
We’d barely sat down when a server came over to take our order.
We both looked up at the same time.
Noemi.
She had a second job. Apparently she really did need the money.
She instinctively turned away, then caught herself and turned back, her expression set with the dignity of someone drafting a personal manifesto.
Luca snorted. “What’s the performance this time?”
She drew herself up. “Donna, I think your behavior has been beneath you.”
I looked around, pointed at myself. “Me?”
She nodded, grievance written across her face.
I leaned back, relaxed. “How exactly? Go on. And while you’re at it, I’ll have the ribeye.”
She blinked back tears she wasn’t quite ready to let fall, controlled enough that every person in the
restaurant could hear her without it sounding like a scene.
“Donna, there is nothing between me and the Don. If you want to believe the worst, I can’t stop you. But you can’t take out your assumptions on my parents. That’s not fair.”
I frowned. “You think I targeted your parents? I don’t even know who your parents are. You’re nowhere near qualified to frame me.”
She was winding up for another speech when Renato walked in.
Big mistake on my part: I’d left one of his scarves behind, and he was wearing it in this heat.
I tapped my glass with a spoon, amused. “Perfect timing. Someone truly qualified has arrived just in time.
Noemi turned, saw him, and pressed both hands to her mouth with a soft, delighted sound.
Renato didn’t look at her. His eyes moved between me and Luca.
I’d never seen that expression on him before. The Don was jealous.
“Here to back up your lover?” I shot him a sideways glance. “Playing the hero to save the damsel? That plot is awfully cliché.”
“Why aren’t you home?” His voice came out tightly controlled. “Why do you keep meeting with Luca?”
He sliced a look at Luca that could have drawn blood.
Luca raised his water glass and drank from it even though it was empty, his throat working silently.
I sighed. “It’s not what you think. Luca and I have a professional relationship.”
I met his eyes with absolute sincerity. “That’s all it is. Really.”
He stood there looking like he’d swallowed something wrong, his expression strangled.
I turned to Noemi. “Bring us a bottle of the ’82 Lafite as well. That’ll be everything for now.”
Noemi looked to Renato for support. He was unmoved, still frozen. She lifted her chin slightly.
“Donna, my parents have worked in your company for ten years. Why were they fired? Because you
assumed something about me and the Don? Is that fair?”
I blinked. Her parents worked for me?
“Noemi, I don’t know your parents. I have no idea why they were let go. That’s an HR matter. If you want
answers, schedule an appointment.”
“And if you need it done quickly…” I looked at Renato and smiled pleasantly. “Renato can escort you personally. I’ll make an exception, as a courtesy to him.”
I turned to Renato. “A gentleman would say thank you right now.”
Renato pressed both palms to his face and dragged them down.
“Gi-” He stopped. Tried again, his voice coming out exhausted. “Darling. Come home. I replanted the
ginkgo tree. Just come home with me.”
I looked at him.
I was the one who’d insisted on planting that tree, so that when we were old, we could sit in the shade of
it together.
He remembered.
But what did that change?
You could fill a hole in the ground with a new tree. You couldn’t fill the hole in a person the same way.
“A new tree deserves a new Donna.” I gestured to Noemi. “She looks like a good fit.”
Noemi looked at Renato, something blazing in her eyes.
Renato didn’t return it. He looked at the floor, reached out, and caught the hem of my jacket between his fingers.
“I was wrong. Just come home first. Please.”
I shook him off. “No. Sign the papers. That’s all I’m asking. Don’t bother me while I’m eating.”
His anger finally broke the surface. He seized my hand, hard.
“I’m not signing. Not today. Not ever.”
He stood there, jaw tight, looking like a man arguing with fate.
“You’re coming home with me.”
He pulled. I pulled back. In the struggle, my stomach caught the corner of the table.
A sharp pain shot through me. I went white and wrapped both hands around my middle.
Renato caught me before I could stumble, and the look on his face was one I had never seen: raw fear.
“Darling, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me.”
I stared up at him, eyes burning.
“Renato. If anything happens to this baby, I will make you pay for it. Every single thing.”
