Chapter 70

• ‘Alessandro, neither of us wants this—surely it doesn’t have to be this way? I was the subject of a battle between my parents, both of them wanting me, both of them using me just as a pawn in their private battle. I don’t want to do that to Luca.’
• ‘And I don’t want the Emiliani name dragged through the gossip columns, my private life exposed. But Luca is my son. I didn’t go through a marriage I didn’t want just to see you take him from me and turn me into an absentee father.’
• ‘And I don’t want to be an absentee mother either…’