Chapter Twenty

Chase paused at the employee entrance of Huntington Place Malibu and rested her forehead against the cool glass. It was an unusually warm day, even for June, and the chilled glass against her skin felt heavenly. Pulling in a breath, she straightened her spine and walked through the doors.

As she stepped into her office, she was hit by the scent of cinnamon and honey, making her think of Addi.

“Why haven’t you been returning my calls?” Speak of the devil.

Her best friend sat on the sofa like a ray of sunshine. Everything about her glowed, from the silky strands of her cropped blond hair to the bright coral polish on her toes peeping out from a very familiar pair of wedges.

“Hey, are those my shoes?”

Addi stood up, turning one ankle from side to side. “Yup. And you’d know that if you ever answered your phone. What’s going on?”

Her friend’s long legs were golden from the sun, making her crisp white skirt and tank top seem even whiter. It was either her coloring or true love that made her glow. Addi and Roque were living the dream with a nice long engagement while playing house in her bungalow.

Chase’s heart squeezed with painful pressure. She wanted the same thing someday. Trying to breathe hurt her, and she rubbed her chest. Happily ever after wasn’t a thing in the corporate world. Instead it was takeovers, buyouts, and oh yeah…manipulation. At least it was if you were stupid enough to play with a dragon.

Had she dared to think she might have found happiness in Ferrara? Her heart thumped hard in her chest. Drago wasn’t for her. That had been a huge mistake, and she was tired of making mistakes. But she had cared, and worse, she’d trusted him.

Returning the hug, she then lowered into her chair. “I’ve been busy.”

“So busy you’ve canceled on me twice even though you’ve only been home a week.”

Home. Funny how hearing Addi say it left her feeling…nothing.

What in the hell was wrong with her? “I think I made a mistake.”

“By leaving the jerk, Drago? We’re still calling him that, aren’t we?” Addi frowned.

As soon as Chase had left the inn, she’d called Addi in tears. Her trip to Ferrara had been a resounding success and a crushing blow all at the same time. In Addi’s new grown-up state, she’d encouraged Chase to go talk to Drago again, but how was she to confront a man who never existed in the first place? Every moment together had been nothing more than the finest acting against the most beautiful backdrop. And he’d said it himself. She didn’t belong in Ferrara.

She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. For the first time, she’d felt as though she’d been part of a community. But it had been nothing but a big, fat, Italian sabotage. Tears stung behind her eyes.

“I still think you need to talk to him.”

The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Drago. Merely the memory of the low timbre of his voice left her stomach hollow. How in the hell did she feel so damn lonely now that she was home with her friends and family? It made no sense at all.

“No, he made himself clear. Besides, he jeopardized my career and was willing to destroy my chances to make my dream come true. He knew everything and did it anyway. How do I ever come back from that?”

Addi pressed her lips together and sat on the edge of Chase’s large desk. “By changing your perspective.”

Rubbing her temples, Chase longed for sleep, or a drink, or a dark room. “How would you suggest I do that? Facts are facts.”

“But are they?”

Chase groaned. “I’m too tired for this, Addi. I’m still fighting for the board to see the reasoning behind the decisions I’ve made, I—”

“Exactly. Your decisions.”

The muscles at the back of her head cemented in place, leaving her with a cold, hard headache. “That’s what I said.”

“Regardless of what a man who was desperate to save his grandmother did when he first met you. He did not make you reschedule the opening. In fact, he never even asked you to.”

“So that’s supposed to make me feel better? You’re using Nonna?”

Addi sighed. “Let me ask you this. Do you love me? Think I’m a good person? ”

Chase pushed back from her seat. “That’s a ridiculous question, love.”

Smoothing her blond hair back behind her ears, Addi gave her an embarrassed grin. “Because I was desperate once, too. I made horrible decisions in a last-ditch attempt to save Aunt Addi ’s home less than a year ago. I stole from the man I love. Yet you think I deserved forgiveness.”

A twist in her stomach took Chase off guard. She stood, hoping to relieve the discomfort. “This is different.” Her heart hammered in her chest. It was different, what Drago had done…

“How?”

Chase’s mind spun. Surely Addi couldn’t believe she should forgive him?

Bold blue eyes met hers and stuck. “Unless you were lying to me all along. Unless you think I didn’t deserve the chance to make amends.”

“Oh, Addi. Of course you deserve all the happiness this world has to offer.” She wrapped her arms around her friend. “I just think for me, it’s time to settle in.”

Pulling back, Addi narrowed her eyes. “You are my dearest friend, and I can’t stand the thought of you living anywhere but here.”

Chase dipped her chin.

“However, you haven’t smiled once since you’ve been back.”

“I’m—”

“Heartbroken?”

“You have to be in love to be heartbroken.”

Addi stared at her, and Chase dropped to her leather office chair.

“Look.” She took Chase’s hand. “I can’t say whether you love Drago or whether you love Ferrara; only you know that. But you’re in love. And it’s no longer with Malibu.”

Squeezing her friend’s hand, Chase shook her head. “I love my family. I love you. I’m home. This is where I belong.”

“Is it?”

“What’s going on here? I get home and you’re running me out of town?” She brushed her fingers through her hair, straightening the strands that were never out of place.

A look of understanding passed over Addi’s face. “I want you to know something. It doesn’t matter if you live here or Ferrara—you’re my family and I’m yours. That never changes. The only thing that changes is our commute when we meet to drink wine or go shopping. Besides, I’ve always wanted a reason to load up on air miles.”

Addi grinned and slid from the edge of the desk. She leaned over and kissed Chase on the cheek. “I’m meeting my mother and Sam for lunch. Want to join us?”

“I can’t. I have a meeting with my father to prepare for the case I’m presenting to the board.”

“Okay. Good luck. They’re crazy if they don’t understand what you were doing.”

With a nod, Chase opened a new document on her computer and smiled. The love and support Addi and her parents had shown since her return had made an impossible situation manageable. Her heart still lay flayed open, but their love kept it from splitting apart altogether. “Thanks for inviting me, though. Don’t stop doing that, okay?”

Addi winked at her over her shoulder as she stepped through the door. “Never.”

“And make sure I get my shoes back without custard all over them.”

The little blond bombshell let the door close with a laugh, and Chase smiled. The action felt good.

With a sigh, she opened her email. Lucinda’s name stared back at her.

Addi was right; she’d fallen in love with Ferrara, and she’d made the mistake of thinking Ferrara had fallen in love with her.

But she wasn’t their family; she was an American interloper they were hoping would go home. And the crushing weight of it all sat squarely on her chest. The community of Ferrara, the step back in time, the rich unity tied into all of their traditions had spoken to her soul. The history itself was a symbol of putting down roots, and the people of Ferrara had roots so deep you’d never be able to dig them free.

She loved how everyone knew everyone else, how far back the families went, their stories, their romances. She loved how they embraced the children and revered the elderly. Nonna’s face popped into her mind. The flashing jewels on her fingers, her brightly colored hair wraps, and her engaging smile. She was a woman of the world who loved as if everyone she met were family. Her words whispered in Chase’s mind. “When you feel the pulse of your city in your veins, that’s when you know you are home.”

Chase thought hard about Malibu, the beautiful sandy beaches, the peach and raspberry sunsets, the cool blue ocean waters. She thought hard, and she waited.

Nothing.

She frowned.

Everything she’d ever wanted had been at her fingertips, almost in her damn hand. But now she felt empty and alone, and as if she’d yet to come home.

She clicked on Lucinda’s name and the email opened.

We miss you. Love, L.

Below the message were pictures of the two of them drinking wine while confirming plans for the opening, pictures of a fashion show from Lucinda’s clothing store, pictures from opening day of Casa di Nonna, the cathedral, and the market. And Drago, bent over his laptop with his head in his hand and a frown on his face.

All of us.

Her heart thumped in her chest, and she slapped the lid of her computer down, wincing at the sound. “Shit.”

Carefully, she opened it back up. “Ferrara,” she whispered, her hand fluttering to her chest. She studied the photo of the market and saw Signor Poppa with his daughter Maria. She studied the photo of the inn. Nonna sat in her jewels and hair wrap with a fine china teacup in her hand, looking like the Duke of Este’s wife.

Her heart beat faster.

These people had really known her, and the feeling had been beautiful—until Drago ruined it.

And then she glanced back at the source of her sorrow and her speeding heart squeezed painfully.

His expression was hard and stressed, and she wanted to reach through the screen and soothe his brow. She understood that he loved Nonna, but regardless of what their nights of passion might have made him think, he hadn’t loved her. He loved sex, and that she was a means to an end. It had merely confused him for a second. Even the Dragon’s head could be turned by a woman.

But there was no longer any denying it. Stubbornly, she braced her mind against her heart: she was in love. With Ferrara.

But she’d see his face in every sharp business suit walking along the cobblestones, and hear the velvet of his voice gliding up her spine with the evening fog.

As it was, she couldn’t even take a shower in Malibu without being reminded of the dark intensity of his eyes.

She’d finally found her home.

But she could never go back.