Delucca's Marriage Contract

She came over to Keelin and said, ‘You may go up to Signor Delucca’s office. He will see you now.’

Keelin stood up and made her way to the lift, muscles stiff after sitting for so long. When the elevator doors opened to admit her to his floor she held her breath in case he was on the other side again, breathing fire.

But the space was empty. Keelin stepped out and approached his door when it swung open suddenly, and he was filling it. She just about held in a gasp. He was seriously dishevelled and his jaw was dark with the growth of a beard. Hadn’t he shaved since she’d seen him? And did he look tired or was that just her imagination?

‘You’re not going to leave, are you?’

She shook her head. ‘Five minutes, Gianni, that’s all I ask. Please.’

For a long moment he just stood there and then he stepped back, indicating silently for her to come into his office. He didn’t move out of the way completely, so when she walked through, her body brushed against his and she had to repress a shudder of longing.

He closed the door and she turned to face him. His face definitely looked more lined and Keelin felt a pang and immediately quashed it, putting it down to business concerns and nothing more personal.

She hated that she looked so obviously wan and tired. She couldn’t bear to be under his disdainful scrutiny for longer than necessary so she said in a rush, ‘I’ve just come to show—’ She stopped and amended, ‘Well, to give you something.’

Gianni moved into the office to come and stand behind his desk, arms crossed. Keelin had been keeping up with business news and had been relieved to see that while her father going into receivership had undoubtedly hurt Gianni, it looked as though it was mainly a PR disaster and not necessarily a financial one.

She’d winced to see the rumours abound about why he’d got involved with O’Connor in the first place. And the resurgence of all the old speculation about links to the Mafia.

Keelin put her briefcase on a chair and opened it up, taking out a sheaf of papers. When she looked up Gianni was completely impassive. She steeled herself and put the papers on his desk and drew herself up tall, eyeballing him bravely.

‘This is a contract, signed by me.’

‘Divorce papers?’ he asked hopefully, and then, ‘You really didn’t have to come here personally.’

Keelin swallowed the flash of irritation. ‘No, I’ll be signing those next week once my solicitor has changed them so that I receive nothing from you.’

His brows snapped together. ‘What—’

She put up a hand. ‘That’s not why I’m here anyway. I’m signing over almost sixty per cent worth of shares in O’Connor’s to you. It’s enough to try and negotiate with the receivers to let you take control and build it up again, should you so wish.’

Keelin answered his unspoken question. ‘You’re probably wondering how I got the shares?’

He nodded, giving nothing away. She took a breath. ‘I started buying them up as soon as I knew what had happened, with my savings. And I persuaded my mother to sign her shares over to me. She’s never had any interest anyway and my father isn’t capable of much at the moment. All of his board have lost confidence in him. They’ll never accept him as CEO again.‘I’ve also given you a complete set of the most recent accounts and all of our contacts for clients.’

Gianni was stony. ‘Why are you doing this, Keelin?’

She forced herself to endure that black gaze a little longer. ‘I’m doing it because you didn’t deserve to be brought down with my father. He was dishonest about the extent of O’Connor’s problems. And I know if anyone can turn it around again, it’s you.’

She fought not to show any emotion and unconsciously hitched up her chin. ‘I’ve realised that my obsession with wanting to be a part of the business really stemmed from wanting my father’s attention. He loved the business and I believed that if I could be part of it he

’d love me too.’

She smiled but it was brittle. ‘It’s pathetic, I know. And it’s not that I’m not interested any more but I know I’m not qualified to take this on, on my own.

‘You’re welcome to it, Gianni. And for what it’s worth, I truly didn’t know what was going on. I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve this, but neither did I. I was as much of a pawn in my father’s machinations as you were.’

And then she took off her wedding ring and put it on the table, on top of the papers.

She picked up her briefcase and walked quickly to the door, her throat tight. She reached for the door handle but found that she couldn’t just turn it and walk out. An unstoppable urge was rising within her and it galvanised her to turn around again.

She blurted out, ‘I know this marriage was only ever a business contract to you, but it became something else for me when we were in Umbria. I know that you were just trying to make me believe a marriage could work but for a short time I thought it might. I was wrong. In any case, you helped me see that I can be strong enough to withstand the worst thing of all, and it wasn’t what I always imagined it would be, losing my inheritance for good.’

Keelin turned again and found the doorknob and turned it, pulling the door open. She heard nothing from behind her, not a word to stop or wait. So she swallowed her grief and kept walking, into the lift, down to the lobby and out of Gianni’s building and out of his life, for good.

* * *

Gianni looked at the closed door for a long moment. Had he just dreamed it? Keelin walking in? Giving him the papers, effectively signing over her family business? The business she’d entered into a sham marriage for?