One Last Night Read Online Free PDF

tonight,' Luca said and, with another beaming smile, left through the French windows to find his young wife and child.
    'Luca is right,' Giorgio said after what seemed an endless pause. 'This is indeed a night for celebration.'
    Maya threw him a barbed glare. 'How could you lie to your own brother like that? This is a farce and you know it.'
    He gave a movement of his mouth that communicated total indifference to her opinion. 'This is about making my grandfather's last weeks or months of life as comfortable and happy as possible,' he said. 'You said you wanted the villa at Bellagio.' He gave her an indomitable look and added, 'Believe me, Maya, this is the only way you are going to get it.'
     

 

     
     

Chapter Three

 

     
     

     
    MAYA fumed as she left the balcony with Giorgio's arm planted firmly around her waist. Even more guests had arrived and a couple of camera flashes went off. She wondered if Giorgio had primed the select members of the press present to give her no chance of denying the announcement of their reconciliation. She would look a complete and utter fool if she said anything to the contrary now. After all, she had spent the whole time so far with him out on the balcony. People had already started talking.
    'Stop grinding your teeth, mio piccolo,' he said in an undertone as they moved through to where Salvatore was seated like a king in the main salone.
    Maya kept her lips pressed together, her words coming out like hard pellets. 'You set this up, didn't you? You set me up so I couldn't say no. You knew I would not want to spoil your grandfather's party and you deliberately played on that.'

    His arm tightened like a band of steel around her waist. It was a possessive touch but also a warning. 'Play along with it, Maya,' he said. 'Look at Nonno. He is enjoying himself so much.
    Our announcement on top of Luca and Bronte's will be the icing on the cake-literally.'
    The announcement hardly needed to be made formally for as soon as they walked into the salone all heads turned. There were whispers and gasps, nudges and did-you-see-that looks. More camera flashes went off and then Salvatore looked directly at Giorgio and Maya and his old weathered face broke into a rapturous smile.
    'Is this what I think it is, Giorgio?' he asked, tears glistening in his eyes. 'You and Maya have changed your mind about divorcing?'
    Maya felt Giorgio's hand reach for hers and squeeze it gently. 'Yes, Nonno,' he said. 'We have called it off. We are going to work at our marriage.'
    Salvatore grasped Maya's free hand and almost crushed it between both of his gnarled ones.
    'Maya, you and my grandson have made me such a happy man tonight. I cannot tell you what this means to me. All my family is here around me to share this wonderful news.'
    Maya could feel the bars of her gilded cage moving in on her, just as they had done for the last five years. She was trapped in a charade that went against everything she believed in. She felt such a fraud, playing to the crowd and most especially to Salvatore. She wasn't sure she could get through a night of it, let alone a few weeks. Surely someone would see it for what it was?
    The press were already eyeing her rather closely, she thought, or maybe that was her imagination. She had always found the intrusion of the press rather difficult to deal with. It was so different from her anonymous upbringing, when even her great-aunt had barely noticed her.
    More champagne was called for and more and more cameras documented the celebration. Luca and Bronte announced their delightful news which, in Maya's mind, deserved far more attention than theirs, but it seemed everyone was intrigued by the news of the acrimonious Sabbatini divorce being called off.
    Giorgio's mother greeted Maya with guarded enthusiasm. Maya understood Giovanna's caution; she had made things difficult for her son by bickering over every little detail to do with their separation, but Giovanna was gracious enough to welcome