The Jealousy Game Over, Marriage Over: The Donna Who Walked Away novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: What Ilaria Kept

Marisa's POV

Pina opened the bakery at five, and at ten past five somebody knocked on the back door.

I was on a stool in the back room with a coffee, because I had not slept since the boardroom.

Pina wiped her hands and looked through the glass.

"It's her," she said. "Shall I set the dogs on her?"

"Let her in."

"Marisa."

"Let her in, Pina."

Ilaria stood in the alley with a suitcase and no coat.

Her hair was wet from the fog, and her mascara had run down both cheeks.

For once the tears were not for anyone.

"Mari." Her voice cracked. "Madre put me out. I don't have anywhere to go."

Pina folded her arms. "There's a hotel on Via Scarlatti."

"I don't have money. Madre had my card cancelled this morning."

"That's a shame," Pina said. "What a shame."

I put my cup down.

"Sit," I said.

Ilaria sat on the flour sack by the oven. She held her hands near the warmth and did not look at me.

"She says it's my fault," she said. "The Fenice share, the gala, all of it. I've been her goddaughter since I was nine. She told me I was a stupid girl who took a part too big for her."

"You did take it."

"I know." She wiped her face with her wrist. "I wanted it. I won't say I didn't."

Pina made a noise at the oven.

"I liked the house," Ilaria said. "I liked the staff calling me Donna. I thought that if I was good at it, he would keep me."

"He never would have."

"No. I worked that out in the boardroom lobby, when your guard held the door." She almost laughed. "He looked right through me."

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