The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife (Mackenna and Alessandro)

Three days passed with Nuncio acting as her shadow, disappearing only when she was delivered safely to her workplace with the promise of being there when she was done work for the day. The press was not going away as they had last time, most likely because Alessandro Giordano was in Phoenix Arizona, and it was causing the world to tilt on its axis.

Not to say there were not insanely rich celebrities in Phoenix, There were plenty of wealthy people in her city. There just weren't very many obscenely rich, drop-dead gorgeous Italian men who descended on the city where his wife had made a new life for herself to escape the affairs her husband had. They were a tabloid sensation and she wanted to throttle him for it. She had gone from being his dirty secret to the victim in a horribly sordid story and she wanted his head on a platter.

She took a bite of an apple imagining shoving it in his mouth if she really did have his head on a platter in front of her. She was grateful she hadn't seen him since the night he had come bearing food to her apartment. She was frightened she might lose her cool and murder him where he stood. Nuncio had taken it upon himself to bring food to the apartment and stock her fridge. The man could cook and slowly, with his prompting she was starting to eat more. He'd even packed her a lunch the last two days, telling her the cafeteria food was not meant for human consumption.

Savannah for her part was enthralled with the man. Everything from his accent, how he kept them both safe to and from work, and now keeping their kitchen smelling like a five-star restaurant, the man was pushing all the right buttons for the doctor. She kept threatening Mackenna she was going to seduce her bodyguard. Mackenna told her not to get too attached because she was sending him on his merry way once Alessandro pissed back off to Italy.

Now as she sat opposite her best friend, eating her bagged lunch, aware Savannah had the same bagged lunch, she considered Nuncio would be a much more suitable mate for her friend than Dulce. She waved her apple at her. "Fine, you can do what you like with him but do it when I'm not there. I don't want to hear the headboard rattling against the walls."

Savannah squealed with delight. "You serious? I know he's been looking."

head while you cry real tears when he goes back to Italy." She pointed a finger, "and hežs going back because there is no way in hell they are staying here forever." Savannah pulled another chair closer and propped her feet up on it. "Do you know what would be amazing?"

"If you say double date, I'll brain you right here with a cafeteria food tray,"

Mackenna warned her.

Savannah grimaced at her. "One, you've been really violent since you got back. Talk to the counsellor about it. Two, I was going to say a night on the town. A couple of the nurses and the new doctor on Portman's team were talking about hitting the new salsa club downtown on Saturday night. We should go."

"Nuncio would have a fit," she rolled her eyes. "I'm also not ready to go partying.

"You know who else would have a fit?" Savannah grinned devilishly.

"Alessandro," they said in unison, and both laughed.

"It's like we conjured him," Savannah grimaced distastefully looking beyond Mackenna's shoulder.

"Are you kidding?" Mackenna turned to see him making long strides in her direction weaving around the round tables in the dining area. She looked back to

Savannah, "Security has one job, do not let the man in the building."

"He made a huge donation to the orthopedic wing," Savannah hissed at her. "

He's made Portman his * He Can come and go as he pleases."

"Are you kidding me? How did I not know this?" she whispered back frantically.

Damn Derrick Portman.

"I found out this morning and forgot about it until right this moment." She looked up with an angry glare as the shadow fell over their table. "Hey asshole, you're on the wrong floor, Urology is on the tenth floor." He stared back at Savannah, confused. "What?"

"I thought maybe you were here to try to get those oversized balls of brass you have fixed. There can't be any other reason why a total knob head would harass a

gotitjs

balls of brass?" As he shifted his feet, she put her hand to her ear. "Hear the clanging sound, it's not healthy. You should definitely get it checked."

"Been saving that one awhile Doctor Kirkland?" He shook his finger at her as he swung into a seat opposite them, "you're a very crass woman."

"Too bad for you. Your wife likes it when I talk dirty," Savannah leaned over to him. "I've been in her bed more in the last two months than you have in the last five years."

Mackenna saw the flush rising under Alessandro's collar and chuckled at how easily Savannah got under his skin. She wasn't lying, she'd held her more nights while she cried than she cared to count. Alessandro eyed Savannah with a smirk, "can't get a partner of your own so you're trying to steal mine? You're out of luck Kirkland, she's straight so you're missing the one thing she needs from a lover." Savannah shrugged her shoulders, his insults rolling off her back like water from a duck, "I have the one thing you don't have, a heart. My heart full of love will beat your puny d* *k any day of the week. Sometimes a woman needs a gentle hand

Giordano. Also, I have a strap-on."ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

A guffaw, the first real laugh she'd emitted in a long time erupted from her chest at Savannah's smart comebacks and the high red color on Alessandro's cheeks at Savannah's sass. She could watch Savannah rip him a new one all day.

A page over the loudspeaker paged Savannah back to the trauma unit and

Mackenna giggled as Savannah stood up and planted a big noisy kiss to her cheek. With a wink and a rustle of her boobs in what was supposed to be a provocative move she whispered loudly at Mackenna, "see you at home darlin""

"You better hope a reporter doesn't hear her speak in this manner," Alessandro glared at Mackenna.

She held his gaze, as the last of her mirth melted away, realizing she was alone with the devil himself. "I hope they do. Imagine the headlines now, Alessandro

Giordano loses two lovers to the same woman." She spread her hands in front of her

45

print. I'm sure Savannah wouldn't mind being the lead story in a tabloid."

⚫you are not funny Mackenna,» his palms were flat on the table as if trying to restrain himself. ⚫you would do well to remember you are being scrutinized. The world is desperate to know."

Mackenna cut him off abruptly, "wrong! Nobody is desperate to know anything about me. It's you Alessandro. It's all you and your precious Dulce. I'm just a fly in the ointment. Where is she by the way? She must be losing her mind you're not at her beck and call. I saw the article where she said you were her best friend in the whole world. How special."

"So, you have been keeping tabs," he leaned back as if he'd just earned a victory.

She twisted her lips with a sneer, ayou know what they say Alessandro, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Frankly, I expected to hear from your lawyer before I saw you again. Thought for sure I'd see an NDA on my desk about the whole Savannah-Dulce thing."

"There was no thing," Alessandro retorted angrily.

"Says the man who wasn't there," she wrinkled her nose at him, "does it bother you to know your lover had Savannah's tongue down her throat?" She couldn't resist the taunt.

"If you're referring to yourself, then yes, it would bother me," he admitted with a shrug.

"I'm not talking about me," she glared at him.

⚫you're the only lover I've had since I put this on my hand," he pointed to his wedding band.

"Let me guess, you slip it off when you get into bed with her and then put it on in the morning?" Mackenna suddenly was grateful for all the verbal sparring she did with her friends because it was coming in quite useful now as she had him at a loss for words.

She reached into her lunch bag and pulled out the homemade granola bar her

took a bite before wrapping it back up.

"A bite of a bar is not much of a lunch," Alessandro spoke quietly. "You need to eat more"

"Alessandro, I ate a bowl of soup, a slice of bread and an apple. I took a bite of this because I knew it was there and I really want to eat the entire thing but I'm full."

He leaned backward linking his hands behind his head and crossing his long legs under the table. When they touched hers, she jerked them backwards wrapping them around the cold steel of the hospital chairs. She cursed herself for responding so dramatically to the simplest of his touches.

"I'm glad you are eating."

"I'd be glad if you went away," she eyed him critically, "it'd be so nice if we were both happy, wouldn't it?"

"Why are you being so difficult?" "You didn't answer my question, where's your precious Dulce."

"Italy, learning how to walk again.

"Pity," she wished she felt compassion for the woman, "she must be lonely without her BFF."

"Her mother and sister are with her."

"How nice for her, she has family. Mine are all dead." His gasp as he sat up quickly made her eyebrows raise. "What? Too soon?" she queried coldly.

"You are not yourself, so I will forgive the bad attitude." He rested his elbows on the table, his chin on the top of his hand as he eyed her critically. "How are you really, Mackenna?"

She gave a loud laugh at the question, drawing the gazes of several people in the hall. "Oh my God." She snorted with derision, "you're joking, right?"

"No, I am genuinely concerned for your wellbeing. There was a photo of you in a paper back home and my mother brought it to my attention. You looked unwell. You

still do."

"I always liked your mother. Your father is okay, I mean he never bothered with

grandparents before they died to tell them how excited she was to be a grandmother?" She saw from the expression on his face he hadn't known. "She's a lovely woman. I'm not sure how the acorn fell so far from the oak."

"Mackenna," he spoke gently, "I'm- "

She cut him off with an angry finger pointing at his face, "don't you dare. Don't you dare apologize to me when we both know the only thing you are sorry for is the world finally seeing you for the philandering asshat you are."

"She was not, nor will she ever be my lover. How many times do I have to tell you I was never romantically involved with Dulce?"

"I thought about it and maybe until you're blue in the face and can't breathe any more?" she offered with a sneer. "I think I'd like to see the blue look." She waved her fingers in a circle around his face. "You are hateful," he spit back.

She waved her hands over her

frame, "you made this, all of it. Enjoy the responsibility of knowing you are single-handedly responsible for all the bitter horribleness I am. I had believed once I got my divorce, 'd be able to move on with my lifeNow, I don't care if I'm ever divorced. I will forever live with the guilt bbrought you into my grandparents' life and they died as a result."

"I want to go to counselling with you," he threw out of left field leaving her momentarily reeling.

Her eyes wide as she stared in disbelief, she spoke slowly, "come again?"

"Counseling. I want us to go to couples counseling.

She scratched her finger to her temple. "Let me see if I understand what you're suggesting. You," she pointed at him, "a year into our marriage brought a woman into our lives who felt for some sick sadistic terrible reason thought it a good idea to tell me repeatedly, whenever she could, she was f*****g you." He flinched at the vulgar word, but she continued ignoring his discomfort. "She would call me from your hotel room to tell me you were showering after having s*x with her. Then, when

I would ask you about it you would say things like 'Ah Mackenna, you are mistaken,

but we both know even if it were true, you would never leave me"" She mocked his accent with a flourish and a wave of her hand. "It continued for months until finally I grew the cohones to leave you, You knew

all along she was playing it up for the cameras and you played along with her."

She took a breath and shook her head. "Alessandro, I don't care if you screwed her seven days a week three hundred and sixty-five days a year or if you've never put your d* *k in her."

"Mackenna!" he slapped the table at her language. "That's enough"

"Is it Alessandro? I don't care if you were truly her lover or not. The truth is you let me believe it. You let the world believe it. You let everyone in the universe believe it, all the while knowing how much it hurt me, how much I suffered, and you didn't. make it stop." She stood then, scraping her chair noisily back on the floor, "it's not me who needs to go to counseling Alessandro. I'm not the sadistic misogynistic son of a bastard who dragged his poor pathetic wife through hell and back

Gel.

just to protect a stranger's not so dirty secret yet still expects his wife to capitulate to his every whim. It was all you. You made your bed. Lie

in it."

With her back ramrod straight, she swiped her lunch bag off the table and walked away, her head held high as for the first time in her life, she felt truly in control, and it felt good.