Never the Same

Chapter 37

"Last year," Luca starts, his eyes dropping to look at the floor, "I went through a phase where I thought I wouldn't be happy again. From the outside, my life seemed great but it was far from it behind closed doors when everything calmed down at night. When my family, friends and security teams all went home, my life was anything but great. I fully admit to having one-night stands but they were only to fill that sense of need that I had and to fill the loneliness. They were never going to be permeant."

"Do you really want to tell me, your fiancé, about the list of women in your closet?" I raise a brow at him and he looks at me. "I know about your one night stands but do you really want to go down that route?"

"There's a point to it," he mutters, unwilling to argue my point. I'm not trying to start an argument but it sure isn't something I wish to discuss. I can tell that he doesn't really want to talk about them or why he contacted me just last year but he will. He's going to do it because it will explain a lot. "After putting Louisa to bed one night, I sat in my office overlooking New York and I started to think. I thought I'd never get to be happy like I was when we were together and that was when I was truly happy. Back then, nothing could bring me down and erase the smile from my face. I had learned to deal with the fact that I wouldn't see you again but then I started making my money. Thousands soon turned to millions, that turned into tens of millions that then escalated into billions . . . the thought occurred to me then that I could use my money and resources to check on you to see how you were doing. It was only for my peace of mind and when I got the news that you were happy, I let it be.

"I soon realised that you had a better life without me in it and despite my unhappiness with my own life, I didn't see it as fair to bring you back into my life to make it better. At that point in time, that is. I'm not saying that I planned for Carlo to hit into Allison's car back in August because I didn't. The meeting I was in had run late which had a knock-on effect with all of my other meetings so Carlo being Carlo, he did the one thing he normally does if we're running late and that is to drive quicker and take chances."

I narrow my eyes at him. "Are you admitting to Carlo being at fault for that accident?"

He shakes his head and looks up at me with a grin. "Kaylee, anyone with a brain and eyes could see that it was Carlo's fault. Carlo knew it was his fault but because I was in the back of the car and we were running late, he tried his best to get the situation dealt with as calmly and as quickly as possible."

"He underestimated Allison, then."

"That is an understatement. He's never had to deal with someone like Allison because he's never crashed a vehicle before. He was acting out of impulse because as soon as people found out who was in the back of the car, it would draw some unneeded attention and it was mean that my lawyers would be working on covering that story up as well as trying to deal with my legal documents for my company."

"Would it have killed Carlo to admit that he was in the wrong?"

"No, but you saw how Allison reacted. It was drawing more attention than there needed to be and everyone involved just wanted it dealt with so we could get on with the rest of our day."

"Not one of Allison's finest hours but you can see where she was coming from." I'll always defend my best friend in any circumstance, even if she's in the wrong. Her attitude that day was over the top but I can see why she acted the way she did. If the roles were reversed and it was my car that Carlo had hit into, I'd be going off my head at him, too.

"Anyway, that day, I had let Carlo go out and deal with the situation while I contacted both Trent and Fredrick to inform them of what happened. It wasn't until I got off the phone and got out of the car that I realised who both you and Allison were. I had only seconds to decide on what to do and how to act towards the two of you. I didn't want to come straight out and let myself be known to the two of you."