him. He had been jaded for far too long he had forgotten how it was to be appreciated by a woman without any preconceived notions. He had been surrounded by people who knew too much about him, what he had, what he could do for them, what they would gain from him.
His life story was not pretty. It was not something he would be proud to tell, especially to a self-made woman like Valenna Jones.
He was by far the wealthiest Medici in the whole of Europe today, but that was his curse more than his blessing.
The glory days of the Medicis ended in the 1700s, when the last male leader of the clan, Gian Gastone died without an heir. The Medici legacy was carried on for some time by Gian’s sister, Anna Maria Luisa but she eventually surrendered everything to the Holy Roman Empire. The Medici name ended with her death.
The Medici bloodline lived on through the intermarriages of the Medici women in various parts of Europe, but the dynasty was no more.
Almost a century later, a family who claimed to be direct descendants of the great Cosimo de Medici I, the most powerful leader of the clan who ruled the dynasty in the 1600s, rose to great power.
Thus a new generation of Medicis began.
They made successes in politics and commerce. However, their fortunes were not enough to elevate the family name to its old dynastic greatness. They needed more wealth to fill the Medici coffers.
Giovanni Zoldatti inherited a thriving automobile company from his own father. He turned it into a colossal enterprise. In the late 1970s, Impero di Zoldatti was already the biggest carmaker in Europe. But the Zoldattis lacked respectability. So, Giovanni manipulated his only son, Alfonso, to marry into the aristocracy. He chose a Medici bride for Alfonso.
The marriage was a disaster from the beginning. It was turbulent, filled with manipulations, hate, lies and infidelities it was a wonder that union produced a child at all. A disturbed child who grew up into an absolutely fucked up adult.
Him. Gianfranco de Medici Zoldatti.
His father died eighteen years ago. It was a tragedy he didn’t want to remember. Even today, he still felt sick to his stomach just thinking about Alfonso’s death. Three years after Alfonso’s demise, Giovanni followed his son to the grave.
As the only surviving legitimate Zoldatti heir, Gianfranco became the wealthiest young man in Europe in those times and everyone was after a piece of him. Every female he met wanted his children. But he didn’t want any. He won’t pass his demons onto an innocent child. Everything will end with him.
He was a stickler for protection since he’d knocked up someone in his teens. The pregnancy was terminated. He had learned his lesson.
No kids. No heirs. When he’d die, everything he owned will go to his chosen charities. His will had been drawn since he was twenty-one years old.
It was really out of his character to want to come inside a woman’s body unprotected.
But he just did.
Many times.
Inside Valenna.
Cazzo. What in Dante’s inferno was happening to him?
He couldn’t remember spending so much time in the shower with a woman. He had fucked in the shower but he never found himself shampooing a woman’s hair, gently massaging her scalp, running his soapy hands all over her, relishing every part of her as if her body was the finest chassis ever crafted.
It was true, he’d googled her this afternoon while he was waiting for his ESPN interview to commence. The media had gone crazy on them. The entire world was abuzz about them.
He didn’t regret crashing her presscon and putting her on the spot. He was a scandal’s child in Europe and he’d never given a rat’s ass about the press. He lived by his own rules. The press hated him for his intolerance toward them all these years. His fans in the racing world expected nothing less than badass attitude from him and they were as unapologetic as he was in their admiration for his notoriously difficult public personality. He was
Thomas Chatterton Williams