The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife (Mackenna and Alessandro) novel Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Mackenna wanted to scream with frustration at his comment. Of course, it was all Dulce‘s fault, she grimaced angrily to herself. Heaven forbid the man take any responsibility for his own actions.

She folded her arms over her chest defensively, tightly closing her fists under her armpits lest he see how much she wanted to throw the right hook she had learned in the class she took with Savannah,

She took a breath and spoke as eloquently as she possibly could through a jaw which wanted to remain clenched tightly shut. ―I saw you with your arms around her waist and dancing provocatively, grinding on each other. I thought I would be sick, and I had to look away. It was like watching a car accident and I couldn‘t not look again. I looked back and she was kissing you and not a sweet peck on the cheek, but her tongue was in your mouth. I saw you pull away and thought this was where my husband, my husband,‖ she exaggerated the last words, ―would put a stop to it. Where I would see once and for all she was nothing to you. I was such a fool

Mackenna continued furiously. ―You didn't stop her. You didn't correct her. You didn't pull away in some romantic gesture and show her your wedding ring She felt the same pain in her chest rising as if she had just lived the experience in the current moment. ―Do you remember what you did?‖ She could see from his flushed cheeks he did. ―You laughed Alessandro and then you kissed her again. You put your lips on her and kissed her right on the mouth and it wasn‘t a little friendly kiss. You put your arms around her waist, and you pulled her to your body, and you kissed her. I couldn‘t look away until the flash of a camera went off. Like waking from a bad dream

She felt her breath shake as her lungs ached with the memory. ―I left then. I went home, grabbed my passport, my purse and left She wiped a tear off her cheek angry at herself for being so weak in front of him.

―I told my grandparents what I saw. My grandfather, oh my poor grandfather. The man who lived only for me was crushed. He thought he let me down giving you permission to marry me. He saw how hurt I was. All he wanted in the moment was to make his granddaughter stop hurting She wiped furiously at her face remembering her grandfather crying at the airport.― My grandfather paid for my plane ticket to the States and when I landed in New York, I simply boarded the first plane anywhere

She lied on the last part. She didn‘t want to tell him the how desperate she‘d been to cover

friends and we moved in together

―You should have come to me in the club He would have explained things to her then, he could have stopped her from leaving. ―Had you simply come to me and talked to me instead of

running away, I would have explained

Unbridled rage coiled from deep in her stomach at his words. She would not allow him to gaslight her into believing she had done anything wrong. She wasn‘t the one who was making out with another person after leaving their bed.

―No,‖ she looked at him then, hoping he could see the anger there. ―You should never have gone to the club Alessandro She pointed at him accusingly. ―You wanted to have your cake and eat it too. Just like your grandfather. Well, it doesn‘t work like that, I don‘t work like that.

My parents and my grandparents raised me better

―You are wrong Mackenna, you should have come to me

―No!‖ She slammed her fist on the desktop and noted he jumped at her action. She was tired of being a docile little pet. ―You should have stayed in your bed with your wife instead of traipsing off with your lover. I told you to choose, you made the choice. You would rather have your tongue down her throat than be with me

She was beyond angry now and she felt the heat rising in her cheeks. ―You can contest the divorce all you want but the truth is, in the end, I'll still get it. I would have filed it before I even left if I would have had the money to do it. You asked me last month in Milan why now?

Why did I go back then? Well Alessandro it‘s taken me five years of watching every penny and

scraping by just to make ends meet so I could do this on my own. I don‘t care if it drains my savings to the last nickel, I will have my freedom from you and your mistress

―Dulce and I were never lovers, Mackenna He spoke quietly, refuting her accusation completely for the first time. ―I know the tabloids

―Screw the tabloids. Even if I never saw it with my own eyes, I heard it from the horse‘s mouth!‖ She yelled at him then, her patience long past snapping. ―Dulce was in our home on so many different occasions telling me you were sleeping together. I tried to listen to your mother when she told me she was just jealous I wore the gold ring, and she didn‘t. I cannot count the number of times you would be in another country, and she would call me from your room and tell me you were showering after having s*x with her. How many times she would come into our home, uncaring of the staff being present or not just to approach me and tell me you‘d loved her so well she could barely walk the catwalk the next day

―You call me a liar?‖ She threw her hands in the air. ―The last time I saw her before the club was at the house. She came in ahead of you, dressed in a dress fit for a doll with her hair all over the place. You had just come back from London. She came in told me you‘d shared the hotel room and you‘d made love all night and you were both simply too tired to work any longer and it was why you‘d come home. You walked into the living room, dropped a kiss on my head and then went straight to bed and slept from noon until dinner. When you got up, I wanted you to deny it, to tell me the truth. Instead, we had the stupid fight and then we ended up in bed, per usual. I woke up to learn you left to go be with her. You left our bed to go to her. You tell me which of the two of you I‘m supposed to believe!‖ Alessandro was furious with her allegation. ―Are you suggesting Dulce told you we were lovers?‖ She let her mouth drop open at his question. Hadn‘t she said this straightforward in as blunt a language she could this was exactly what the woman had said.

―Are you being deliberately obtuse?‖ She flung her hands in the air furiously wishing she could wrap her fingers around his neck and shake him until his head rattled off his superb shoulders. She let out a gurgled scream of frustration.

―Suggesting? No, I'm not suggesting it. I‘m straight out saying it. She said it, multiple times with vigor and graphic description and she didn‘t care who heard her. The poor housekeeper knows the size of your manhood because of Dulce‘s vivid descriptions. For the record, her illustrative depictions were perfectly accurate. I believed her then as much as I believe her today.”

―It is not true He refused to believe her. He was unsure of why Mackenna was making these allegations. It made no sense.

―You know what? I don‘t give a crap,‖ she saw his face flinch as if she slapped him. ―I don‘t care what you think, how you feel or whether you think I‘m telling the truth or lying. Your opinion of me no longer matters to me. I don‘t give a damn

She sighed and pushed her hair over her ears impatiently. ―I want my divorce. I‘m getting my divorce. God, if I wind up penniless and homeless in the process, I will be rid of you and the malicious, cruel, calculating b***h of a model you call your friend at some point before I die

―There will be no divorce

She ignored him. ―Enough, I‘m done with this conversation. I was done long before it started. If you don't mind,‖ she walked to the door and held it open, grateful she didn‘t see her assistant at her desk. ―My workday is finished and so I‘ll ask you to leave so I can lock up my ―I am going to look into this matter,‖ Alessandro said as he rose from his chair, deeply troubled with the information she was giving him. ―I will investigate your allegations thoroughly

―I don‘t care what you do with this information She spit at him as he stood in front of her. ―You can take the information and shove it up your posterior for all I care. Hell, you can take the information, climb into her hospital bed, and laugh over it. I don't care!‖ She slapped her fist into her palm. ―All I want is for you to go far, far away from me. Just stay the hell away from me. Any future billing questions or concerns can be managed by one of the clerks or my assistant

―We will discuss this after I look into it further,‖ Alessandro lifted her chin and before she could stop him, he placed a kiss to her lips. ―Regardless of what you are saying, the divorce proceedings will halt, and you will come home

She wished her lips didn't burn as if she‘d eaten a handful of habanero peppers from a simple peck to the lips. The desire to stomp her feet, throw herself on the floor and throw a tantrum worthy of a toddler was strangely overwhelming. He was infuriatingly frustratingly obstinate. She shrieked in frustration, grabbed the stapler off her desk and threw it across the room.

―There is no need for temper tantrums,‖ he admonished quietly. ―You will come home to Milan. You will fly back with me when Dulce is discharged

―Not in this or any lifetime She caught him leaning down for another kiss and she felt her stomach clench nervously. She stepped backwards and turned her face away from him, but his lips still brushed her cheek. ―Get out Alessandro

―I'll be back for you Mackenna. I promise you. This is not over He pointed his finger. ―I am not sure how things became so confused but I‘m certain there is a simple explanation. Then we will put this all behind us and you will come home and be where you belong, with your husband His voice was assured and controlled as he stroked her cheek before leaving her office.

As she watched him walk away, his shoulders set back, strong, and proud, his swagger and posture demonstrating his satisfaction at himself, she had to grip the doorknob to keep from running after him and flinging her arms around his neck and beg him to deny it again. To repeat he‘d never been lovers with his protégé.

Why was his insistence he‘d never taken Dulce as his lover resounding in her head like

―Because, you‘re a stupid fool,‖ she reminded herself bitterly. It had been the first time he‘d ever actually outright denied it and she knew, deep in her soul, she wanted nothing more than to believe him. In her heart of hearts, she knew whether it be five years or fifty years, she still loved him desperately and wanted nothing more than for him to love her in return.

With tears in her eyes, she locked her office door and strode down the hall once she was certain he was no longer in her view. She needed to go home, get a grip, and have a long and serious conversation with her heart about this masochist behavior it and her libido were holding onto. If she didn‘t, then there was a very real possibility, with Alessandro hounding her, she would wind up back in his arms, back in his bed and back in Milan, right beside Dulce.