The Di Sione Secret Baby (The Billionaire's Legacy 2)

The solid white marble statue of the horse was surrounded by twelve cherubs wielding large flutes that spewed water into the fountain. The Arabian stallion was displayed in all his magnificent male glory, its wild and thick mane flowing in powerful abandon as it reared out of the water on its hind legs.

When she started to drift towards the fountain, Rahim lifted a hand and dismissed his trailing bodyguards. Their footsteps faded away until the only sound in the space was the splashing of the water.

‘That was my mother’s favourite horse,’ Rahim found himself confessing. ‘When he died in a racing accident, my father had this memorial built for her.’

She walked around the statue, examining it with wide-eyed fascination. When she reached the front of it, her fingers caressed the words carved in stone. ‘What does this mean?’

‘It translates loosely as Cherished One.’

A small smile lifted her mouth, one tinged with sadness a part of him recognised and commiserated with. ‘Every inch of this place is unbelievably breathtaking, almost like a fairy tale.’

Rahim tried to hide his bitterness as he answered. ‘That was the purpose behind the design. My mother wanted a fairy-tale palace. My father made sure she got exactly what she wanted.’

‘It is truly beautiful. A magical place.’ Her words were genuine, and Rahim saw her soft smile as she traced her fingers over the words once more. ‘Your father must have loved her very much if he moved heaven and earth to give her what she wanted?’

The seething sadness and underlying anger he felt when he thought about his father rose higher. ‘I guess you could say that.’

Allegra paused in her examination of the statue and glanced at him. ‘Oh? You didn’t see it that way?’

He shrugged. ‘Some would see it as love, I guess. Others might see it as an obsession that was detrimental in the long run.’

‘And you’re one of those who believe in the latter?’

Words he didn’t want to say locked in his throat. But the moment seemed to take over, the urge to share, to unburden surging from nowhere and catapulting the words from him.

‘Come with me.’

Her eyes widened. ‘Where?’

Rahim shook his head. ‘It’ll only take a moment.’ He caught her hand, his gut tensing at the sizzling contact.

His footsteps slowed as he reached the double doors that led to the north wing. Throwing it open, he flicked on the light and watched it bathe the plum and gold decor. Like elsewhere in the palace, the sweeping marble staircase was the centrepiece, designed for a princess to descend in grace and elegance.

‘Wow, I really can’t get over this place.’

Rahim, beginning to doubt his sanity in exposing himself to such disturbing memories, only nodded.

Perhaps alerted to his altered mood, Allegra completed the full admiring circle and faced him. ‘Why did you bring me here, Rahim?’

He let himself glance at the stairs. ‘You know why this wing is closed?’

‘No, there was no mention of it in the book...’

‘Of course not. That book is made for believers in fairy tales.’ She frowned at his thick cynicism, but didn’t interrupt. Only watched him as Rahim was assailed with the sudden need to pace.

‘My mother was rushing down those stairs to show my father a new ornament she’d bought when she tripped and fell. She suffered a concussion and a broken ankle and fell into a brief coma.’

He barely heard Allegra’s murmur of horror, caught up in the memory of those harrowing days and the real fear struck into his heart when he’d seen just how love could weaken a strong and noble man, a man he’d hitherto thought invincible.

‘Overnight, my father became a useless mess, neglecting everything and everyone, including his own confused and frightened son, as he’d mounted a vigil at my mother’s bedside.’

‘How long was she ill for?’

‘She was in hospital for six days. During that time I was allowed to visit her only once for five minutes. My father was terrified she could get an infection, despite the doctor’s assurances otherwise. He shut the whole world out, completely. The times when he was forced to partake in affairs of state, he would go through the motions with almost zombie-like animation. I heard some of his aides whispering about his mental state more than a few times in that week.’

‘But your mother got better?’

He whirled away from her, from the stairs that symbolised so many things he wanted to forget.