He’d been there waiting for her.

A long pause. ‘No. She doesn’t need to.’ Rocco made no effort to move.

‘Either let me in or I let myself in.’

Now Rocco’s face did show some animation, a snarl flitting over it. ‘You enter my home when I say you do.’

Christian had had enough. He was there to see his wife, not debase himself by getting into a fight with his brother-in-law. Raising himself to his full height, he climbed the steps and stood eye to eye with him. ‘I know Alessandra is your sister but she is my wife and the baby she is carrying in her womb is mine—mine—and I will fight with every breath in my body to protect them. I am going to see her whether you like it or not, so, are you going to let me the easy way or the hard way?’

He couldn’t believe it had come to this, two old friends squaring up to each other. If he wasn’t so heartsick about his wife there would be some room in his heart to mourn the death of a friendship he’d valued so highly and had hoped, until this precise moment, could one day be mended.

To his surprise, Rocco’s stance relaxed a fraction. He looked him over, nodding slowly, his eyes thawing. ‘She’s in the summer room.’

Christian waited for the catch. When no catch seemed forthcoming, he headed off in the direction he remembered.

‘Memento vivere,’ Rocco called out.

The words made him pause in his tracks. He turned his head and supplied, ‘Remember to live.’

a smile attached itself to Rocco’s face. ‘The best life to live is with

a nod. ‘Living without the

sister is going to

raised up into a quick grin, he felt a fragmented piece of him reattach

his wife and see if all the other broken

chaise longue and a sofa, reading a glossy magazine. Beneath the simple black dress she wore, he could see the definite rounding of her belly, safely protecting

keep Alessandra and their baby

up, her eyes widening to see him there.

come to

a brow.

me. Where you

‘I told you I wanted some space.’ Her words were muffled behind the sheath of her hair that

space from

‘Nothing’s changed...’

down on his haunches before her, he gently swiped her hair away and placed a finger under her

brief

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