Normally when you get engaged, it's a happy moment in your life. You get to enjoy the fact that you've agreed to spend the rest of your life with the love of your life. You get to start thinking about what your wedding will be like. You get to live in the bubble that was created out of happiness.
But not Luca and I.
No, we don't get the time to even comprehend anything like that before a bomb dropped that has put a massive dent in everything we thought would be fine. Instead, we're backtracking the steps we took only moments prior and are now heading back to Luca's work office to deal with an issue that we all know won't be going away any time soon.
Luca's grip on both my hand and my waist never loosens during the lift ride back up to the floor his company is based on. Even as we walk out the lift when it gets to his floor and the walk along to Luca's office, his hold never once relaxes. If anything, it only tightens and I welcome it as a way of keeping me focused on where I'm going and not trying to get another look at his ex.
I can see Trent beginning to pack his things up to leave as we get nearer Luca's office. He's just slung the strap of his black leather messenger brief bag over one shoulder and moved from the desk before his eyes settle on the oncoming group of people. He stares for a second before retracing his steps to open Luca's office door for us, dumping his bag on the floor quickly so he looks somewhat professional.
"Call my father and get him and my lawyers here as soon as possible," Luca quietly instructs to Trent who just nods as we pass by him.
Stepping into the quiet office, Luca presses a lingering kiss to the side of my head before finally letting me go so I can have a seat at his desk. I make a move to sit on one of the chairs in front of the desk but with a small push on the base of my back from Jones, I'm guided round to the other side of the desk and settled into Luca's plush leather chair. I place my bag on the floor as Luca comes to stand behind me, a single hand falling onto the back of the chair as we wait for the office door to close over after everyone has come into the office.
My hands clasp together and I take a deep breath before raising my gaze to look at Nadia. She's standing in front of us in between Carlo and Jones who are standing just behind her, both with their hands clasped firmly behind their backs. Through the gap between Carlo, who is standing to the left, and Nadia, I can see Trent quickly take a seat at his desk with the phone pressed firmly to his ear. He looks through the glass window, a worried look clearly plastered over his face. His lips begin to move and I know he's gotten a hold of Nick who will be here before we know it.
I look back to Nadia who smiles smugly at me.
"Kaylee," she starts.
Just the way she says my name has my skin crawling with disgust. My body rests back against the back of the chair, causing Luca's hand to fall onto my shoulder which he squeezes as a way to comfort me.
"Don't speak to her," Luca says sternly.
Nadia's gaze doesn't lift from mine at the sound of Luca's voice. I want to look away from her and up to Luca but I can't bring myself to do so. Just like what happened when I first met Louisa, I'm captivated by her pale blue eyes that are almost as pale as ice. Ice blue eyes to match her ice-cold heart.
"I would say I'm happy that you've found your way back to Luca but I'm not," she continues.
"I said don't talk to her," Luca repeats but it goes unheard.
"I always knew he would get you back. Even when we were together, it was always you who was at the forefront of his mind regardless of the situation. I knew I was never going to be enough for him when all he cared about was his darling Kaylee."
"Nadia," Luca says through gritted teeth, "I've told you twice already to not talk to her, so stop it. Cut the chit-chat and get to why you've turned up now."
Nadia's shoulders rise and fall before her head rolls to the side and her gaze finally lands on Luca. She flutters her lashes a few times before looking around the room. She chuckles then gracefully takes a seat on one of the chairs opposite me. She makes a show of crossing one leg over the other and then rests her arms on the armrests of the chair.
"My dear sweet Luca," she starts. She runs her fingers over the arm of the chair, her deep red painted nails scratching into the soft material. "It's not very business-like of you to not formally introduce me to your current partner."
I finally peel my eyes away from Nadia and look up at Luca. His eyes have gone dark and his jaw sets. His grip on my shoulder slackens before his hand moves back up to rest on the back of the chair.
He doesn't want to do this and I don't blame him. Nadia is playing a game here and it's falling on her terms. Luca doesn't seem to know what to do and judging by the way his body has gone tense next to me, I know he's trying to protect me for what's about to happen which is something no one can predict.
"Fine," Luca finally says. "Kaylee, this is Nadia." I look back at Nadia who waves at me with a self-satisfied look on her face."Louisa's biological mother. Nadia, this is my fiancée Kaylee."
"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" Nadia smirks, sitting up straighter.
"What do you want?" Luca asks again.
"You may be wondering as to why I'm here," Nadia starts which generates a roll of the eyes from both Carlo and Jones, "and the explanation is simple, really." She bats her lashes at me a couple of times before looking up at Luca. "I want access to my daughter."
My eyes widen and it's the same expression both Carlo and Jones have on their faces.
It's a joke.
It's got to be.
She can't be serious. She gave away all rights she had to Louisa over to Luca when she left. There's no way in hell she can be serious.
"Your daughter? Are you fucking kidding me?" Luca shouts. "She isn't your daughter anymore, Nadia! You gave up all your rights to her when you up sticks and left!"
I watch Luca as he moves away from my side and begins to pace back and forth. His hands are balled into fists and he's vigorously shaking his head, repeating the phrase 'No fucking chance. Not a chance in Hell' over and over again.
After all the things we've gone through recently from someone trying to pit Luca and Fredrick against each other by trying to buy out their airline, to me being watched by Terrence, then someone following Luca's dad, and the break-in at Luca's flat – this takes all those stresses to an entire new level.
I don't see why Nadia has come back at this point in time or why she has come back all together. Luca went through the proper court proceedings to get full custody of his daughter and Nadia willingly gave up custody of their daughter without any questions asked. She even went through a medical to see if she was suffering from postnatal depression or something else.
She wasn't.
She was as healthy as someone could be after giving birth.
To this day, I still can't wrap my head around how someone could give up their baby – a mother especially – after taking care of her for little over a month. It still baffles me like nothing else ever has before.
"I'm her biological mother, Luca." Nadia reminds him calmly. "You can't keep me from her."
Luca stops pacing and comes back to the desk. "I damn well can when I have full custody and you said you wanted nothing to do with her."
"The courts will see differently," Nadia says calmly.
"My lawyers won't."
"What lawyers? Your father?" She scoffs. "Your father couldn't win a case like this even if it wasn't you involved."
"Don't bring my father into this. He may be a lawyer but he isn't one of my lawyers." He rests his hands on the desk and leans towards Nadia. "You don't mess with me or my family. You try and do so, my lawyers will rip into you before you even have a chance to breathe."
"Threatening now, are we?" Nadia looks past Luca to look at me. "What kind of man have you gotten engaged to?"
"Someone I've known for a long time," I reply simply.
"Yes because no one could compare to his precious Kaylee. Even when we were together, nothing I did could take his mind off of you. I was only a mere second compared to you."
"You're deluded," Luca tells her.
Her attention turns back to him. "How can I be deluded when you were the one who couldn't take their damn mind off his ex who was across the water in a different country? You didn't truly care about me."
"I did nothing but care about you."
"So sending a private investigator to keep tabs on Kaylee once a month is caring for me? There's only one person here who's deluded and that's you."
I stare at Luca who has now straightened up but hasn't taken his eyes off of Nadia.
I always thought I was imagining things when I saw a car or someone following me. It would always happen for a week at a time but it came as quickly as it went. I kept pushing it to the back of my mind and only ever brought it up once and it was to Allison.
She said I was losing it and I thought I was. I thought I was hallucinating and the fact it happened every four weeks made me become even more on edge. It was one of the reasons as to why I gave Allison a key to my flat because then I knew who had the other spare key. Other than my parents, Allison was the only one with access to my flat and it put me at ease because then I knew who would be in my home when I wasn't there.
Granted, the sightings stopped after a year and it makes sense now. Luca was with Nadia for little under a year and then Louisa was born. It coincides with the same timeline as to when I stopped seeing someone following me. Four weeks passed and I saw and sensed no one following me. It just stopped and it was because he became a father.
His attention turned to his daughter and protecting her. He only had her to worry about and to raise as a single father. He didn't have the time to keep track of the information the private investigator kept on me. He let keeping tabs on me go for his daughter. His priority changed and for the better.
It's nice to know that I wasn't far from his mind but it's creepy at the same time. He was like my own stalker but I knew him in ways no one else did or does. I just didn't know it was him behind the people following me until now.
I can faintly see Nadia's grin get bigger and she points from Luca then to me and back again.
"You didn't tell her about that, did you?" Nadia says followed closely by a chuckle. "Oh my, look who has been hiding things, now."
Nadia gets to her feet.
"Face it, Kaylee," she continues, "you're going to be married to a man who cares more about being in control of people rather than being in love with them or caring for them."
"Shut up, Nadia!" Luca warns sternly.
"And someone who doesn't like to be proven wrong."
"Nadia, shut your goddamn mouth!" Luca screams.
Nadia shrugs then smirks. "I think I've said my peace."
She turns and pushes past Carlo and Jones.
"If you think for a second that I'm going to let you try and contact my daughter in any shape or form, you can think again," Luca speaks up and warns.
Nadia stops walking and looks back at Luca. "But haven't you heard?" She holds up her left hand and flexes her fingers, making a show of the simple diamond wedding band on her ring finger. It's something I didn't notice before and not something I was necessarily looking for. "I got married at the weekend and my new husband is more than ready to go head-to-head with you in court. Not only for my daughter but for your business, too."
She looks at me.
"And I just want to say a big thank you to you, Kaylee, for helping to plan my wedding. Not only are your company's skills on point, but our skills as an event manager really are extraordinary. I can't wait to see more of what you're capable of in the coming months when we meet up for work."
She opens the door and comes face-to-face with Jane Madden and Trent who is standing behind her. The two women stare long and hard at each other before Jane moves to the side and allows Nadia to leave. She waits until she's far away then steps into the office with Trent following her closely and closing the door over.
Jane places her bag down on the nearest chair. She puts her hands on her hips and glares at Luca. "Explain to me what the fuck just happened and what Nadia was doing here."