The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife (Mackenna and Alessandro) novel Chapter 32

"Let me get this straight?" Savannah was leaning on the kitchen island, half perched on the stool, half sitting, an icepack to her forehead with a giant glass of water in front of her staring in amazement at her friend. "He came here. Admitted he was an asshole. Said he was in counseling. Asked to be friends and not friends with benefits, just friends and then he made you tea and you sat in our living room barely speaking until midnight reading books about grief?"

"Yup," Mackenna understood her friend's incredulity because she was right there with her. It had been truly bizarre behaviour from her husband.

"1 don't get it," Savannah grimaced as she sipped more of the water. "Is this for one day and then when he sucks you back into a feeling of comfort, he'll kidnap you and drag you to Milan kicking and screaming?"

"He said three months," she reached out with a laugh and closed Savannah's gaping mouth. "Three months with s*x off the table," she clarified and giggled at Savannah's wide eyes.

"He must be desperate." Savannah said suddenly. "Let's face it Mac, you're a catch. He knows he lost a great thing. He's going to try whatever it takes. You agreed?"

"What do I have to lose?" She shrugged. "l can't go any lower than I am now and he sure as hell can't hurt me any more than he already has. He told me the ball is in my court."

"Swing away," Savannah said pretending she was slicing a ball with a tennis racket.

"I'm not sure," Mackenna admitted quietly. "If it weren't for him, my grandparent would still be alive. He hired that maniac."

"l understand. I'd be torn as well. He certainly didn't instruct the guy to act like a fiend though. I know how much you love him Mac but the things he's done, I don't know if I could forgive it either." She pushed away from the counter and groaned. "l can't believe I agreed to go in early. I need to go shower and try to wash some of this hangover down the drain."

"Portman was making out with one of the new triage nurses. She's a clinger.

He's never getting her off him. I'd bet my last dollar she already has the names of the two children and their dog and the street name of the house she wants with the white picket fence."

Mackenna smiled sadly. "1 hope she makes him happy."

"You would have made him happier," Savannah griped. "l bet you could go to him right now and he'd be all in."

"Except Alessandro put enough money into the orthopedic wing Portman probably thinks he needs to bend over the operating table for him," Mackenna grimaced. "It was an obscene amount of money."

"It was the least he could do considering his BFF turned the entire ward in a three-ring circus." Savannah griped.

The sound of scuffling in the hall made them both grimace. Mackenna looked at her. "I'll look today online. I have enough money in my savings since I didn't have to pay Camille to put a good down payment on a condo or even buy one outright." "l can probably almost double what I'm paying now in rent and utilities so between us, we should be solid."

"I'll set up some visits for our lunch hour tomorrow if we can."

"Mac, I trust you, if you find a place for us out of the cave we are living in now, I'm happy with it."

She laughed at Savannah's words. "You say it but then when I take the bigger bedroom, you'll throw a fit."

"1 will," Savannah grinned, "l have a lot of scrubs I need to hang in my closet."

She heard Nuncio turning his key in the lock. "There's my cue, I'm out."

"Chicken," Mackenna teased her, but Savannah simply lifted her middle finger behind her head and vanished into the bathroom.

Nuncio walked into the area and grimaced at Savannah's retreating back. "What time did she get in?"

”You make worse coffee than you do food," Nuncio refused. "There's a huge congregation outside and I had to throw one of the paparazzi out of the hall. Your neighbor upstairs is furious."

She rolled her eyes. "l didn't bring them here."

"No, but they don't care. If this keeps up, I'll be protecting you against the photographers and irate people in your building."

"Tell him to go back to Italy, they will follow him, they don't care about me." She shrugged as she sipped her coffee. He was right, she did make terrible coffee. She set the cup down on the counter hating the Italian men in her life were ruining her simple pleasures.

"They have a taste for you Mackenna, they are like piranha with blood. One taste is enough to start a frenzy. All it took was Alessandro leaving here in the early hours this morning and they are camped out with hopes of a reconciliation story." He held her gaze seriously. "It isn't safe for you to leave here unescorted at all."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" She saw him open his mouth, "and don't say go to the hotel with Alessandro."

"I'm just saying it would be much easier to keep you safe if you were in a safer building." He pulled at his hair. "What if you took a room in the same hotel as Alessandro. I know he will pay for it, and I will have better access to the rest of the security team."

"No, I'm not leaving my apartment to go live in a hotel, and I don't care who pays for it."

He pointed at her in frustration. "You are a very stubborn woman."

"l know, I get it from my mother and grandmother. They were the same." She smirked. "Any other suggestions?"

"Move? Preferably a high rise building with security doors and elevator access with only a key?" He knew he was dreaming large.

She gave a shrug. "Savannah and I actually talked about it this morning. We're both doing a bit better financially. I was given a raise when I came back, and she's

We're going to go look for a place out of the cellar."

The sound of Nuncio saying a prayer of gratitude made her flick a tea towel in his direction. "When?"

"I'll do some research and see what might be suitable. Then she and I will go look together. She has to work today so it won't be today so don't get too excited." "She works too much," he muttered.

"Says the man who pretty much sleeps on my lumpy sofa and never leaves my side." If she were being honest, she was grateful for his constant company. He was quiet, rarely bothered her and didn't push her to do things she didn't want to. For one of her husband's thugs, he was turning out to be decent.

"The sofa is a treat compared to some places I've slept," he gave a half-smile. "Talking about your past lovers again?" Savannah tossed as she stepped out of the bathroom wearing her scrubs.

"You look like hell," Nuncio commented to her and if Mackenna was to guess, he sounded damn happy at her friend's appearance. "Rough night?"

Savannah grinned widely, "no, had a great night. Drank so much I puked in the cab on the way home. Didn't pay for a drink either." The inuendo wasn't lost on him and she relished his scowl. She bent down and put her runners on, making sure her butt was on full display. "l got home so late there wasn't even a single cameraman outside."

"You're disgraceful," Nuncio said bitterly.

"I'll take it as a compliment from someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"Yeah, someone like you. You know, the kind who has a stick shoved so far up his arse bending is a problem."

"Whoa!" Mackenna moved to stand between them putting her hands on both of their chests. "Doctor Kirkland, go to work. Nuncio, go do something else." She grinned when Savannah kissed her cheek and looked at Nuncio.

"Make sure you tell your boss I had my lips on her again," she said wickedly

"l may lose my job for killing your best friend," he growled angrily as he absentmindedly grabbed her coffee cup and took a swig. He spit it into the sink in disgust wiping his mouth furiously.

Mackenna grimaced at him, the coffee hadn't been so bad he needed to spit. She pointed to the door and the noise in the hall. "If there's a crowd out there, you should go walk her to work. Make sure nobody gets in her face or she'll be front page news for punching a reporter."

"Do not leave or unlock the doors until I get back." Nuncio moved quickly to the door to try to catch up to Savannah.

She agreed and slid the deadbolt behind him. Leaning against the door she breathed deeply waiting for silence. Instead, she could hear her cell phone ringing in her bedroom, and she moved to her nightstand and lifted it up. An international unknown number on her display. She answered tentatively, "Hello?"

"Hello Mackenna."

The woman's voice seemed familiar to her, and she took a minute to try to place it and then closed her eyes as her mind caught up. "Dulce, what do you want?"

"l need to talk to Alessandro." Her voice was silky and smooth.

"Then call him." Mackenna ground out. "Why are you calling me?"

"Oh, right, I knew he wasn't there with you," the laugh made Mackenna's chest hurt it's because he's in his hotel room. I just hung up with him not long ago. I thought it might be interesting to tell you all the things he and I just discussed." "l really don't care," Mackenna flexed her fingers around the phone surprised she hadn't cracked the screen with her tight grip.

"We were reminiscing of all the nights we've had together. Even distance cannot dull our desire for each other Mackenna. Did you know we had a video chat last night, long into the morning? We got naked and had long-distance s*x. He was naked in front of the camera, and I touched myself for him so he could see me bring myself to pleasure at the sound of his voice. I know it was late in the evening there for him, but it was early morning for me here. It felt as if we were in bed together."

transpire before or after he left my apartment in the early hours of this morning." She was met with radio silence. "Just as I thought. I don't care if you have s*x with him in person, virtually or through other people. Just stop calling me." She hung up the phone angrily.

Instantly the phone rang again, and she ignored it. It continued to ring incessantly, going to her voice mail, and hanging up before Dulce would redial and call her back.

Finally, she grabbed the phone. "What do you want?"

"l will never let him go," the woman spoke coldly. "You can say all you like he was with you last night but we both know you cannot give him what I can give him. Let's be real, you're nothing like the woman a man such as Alessandro deserves.

You are short and fat and you have an ugly little nose."

Mackenna wiped a tear off her face, hating herself for letting this woman get under her skin. "Funny, Dulce, for someone with all the confidence she is keeping her lover, Alessandro is here in Phoenix, instead of with you in Italy."

"He has an obligation to you," she answered simply. "Men own little women like you. You're a pet."

"I'm not a pet," she tried valiantly not to lose her cool, but she wanted to scream, "if I'm nothing to him Dulce why is you keep calling me? I'm not calling you. I'm not chasing you. It's all you who are hounding me. I beg of you, leave me alone."

"l will never leave you alone Mackenna," Dulce threatened. "Get used to my voice. Perhaps when he convinces you to move to Milan, you will see how much I mean to him. Maybe he'll finally let me move into the house with you both."

At her words, Mackenna screamed as she punched the end call icon on her phone. Why had she even answered the second time. This was all his fault,

Alessandro had brought this psychopath into their lives and because of it, even now, she was still suffering. At what point in her life would they finally let her be?