The Billionaire's Prize. Rebecca Winters

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      “Mille ringraziamenti, signora.”

      “Juliana, per favore.”

      Dea rushed around the desk to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m more grateful than you know for this opportunity.”

      After saying those words, she left the building and took a taxi back to her apartment. Located in the heart of Rome, the elegant complex she lived in was in walking distance of the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. It had been home to her for quite a while. She loved the ancient street, which was over five hundred years old, with its dozens of wonderful shops. On this particular Monday, the lovely April weather matched her lightened mood.

      Once she’d eaten lunch she would get to work designing a gown already forming in her mind. But first she needed to make an important phone call to her aunt, who’d made this unexpected meeting with Juliana possible.

      When the older woman answered, Dea said, “Zia Fulvia?”

      “Dea, how wonderful to hear from you! Your mother is here with me. I’ll put the phone on speaker so we can both talk to you.”

      “Mamma?”

      “Darling. I’ve been anxious to hear from you.”

      Her heart pounded with excitement. “Guess what? Juliana called my department at the Accademia and has taken me on. I’ve been given my first assignment. And it’s all thanks to you, Fulvia.”

      “Juliana wouldn’t have offered to help you if she didn’t already think you could do the job. When you break out on your own one day, your résumé will be worth its weight in gold because you’ll have worked under her tutelage.”

      “I know that and I’m so thrilled! It’s all because of you that I’m finally going to fulfill my dream! Now I’ve got to prove myself.”

      “I have no doubt of it.”

      “Neither do I,” her mother said. “I don’t think I’ve heard you this happy in years!”

      Tears stung Dea’s eyes. “This is the beginning of my new life.”

      “Your father’s going to be overjoyed with this news.”

      “You’ve both given me wonderful advice and told me my future is out there waiting for me. Being able to work with Juliana, I know I’m going to find it!”

      “Good for you, darling.”

      “I love you and will call you later.”

      She hung up, eager to get started on a design that would convince Juliana she hadn’t been wrong to do this enormous, unprecedented favor for Fulvia. Dea had meant it when she’d said this was the beginning of her new life.

      While she’d been in therapy this last year, she’d been forced to dig deep into her psyche to understand what made her tick. She’d been given several assignments to work on: forget self, put other people first and be kind before blurting out something she’d regret, even if it was true.

      But her assignment to let go of the pain of the past was easier said than done. She had to stop dwelling on the fact that her identical twin sister, Alessandra, had been the one to attract the gorgeous engineering magnate Rinieri Montanari, not Dea, in an incident that had brought on Dea’s emotional crisis.

      She’d met Rini and his best friend Guido Rossano on board the fabulous Rossano yacht during a modeling assignment in Naples. Though Dea had been the first to meet Rini and had fallen for him on the spot—even kissing him passionately in front of Guido before saying good-night—Rini hadn’t been interested in her.

      When she looked back on that now, she was mortified to imagine what Guido must have thought of her behavior. As for Rini, she’d never expected to see him again. But to her shock, he met Alessandra while he was on business in the south of Italy. That was all it took for the elusive bachelor to fall in love and marry her sister.

      Dea had been crushed and her serious loss of confidence had required professional help. Through therapy it became clear that, among other things, she’d always been jealous of her sister’s intelligence and scholastic success. Alessandra had already written and published an important factual historical book on their ancestor Queen Joanna.

      But it was her aunt Fulvia’s comment that had brought her up short and made her realize she needed help.

      Dea Caracciolo, do you want to conquer every man you meet? What would you do with all of them? It’s not natural.

      Her aunt had been right. It wasn’t natural. Despite Dea’s attempt to flirt with Rinieri, he hadn’t been drawn to her. Period.

      Following her conversation with Fulvia and her mother, Dea had gotten counseling and had been going through a difficult, painful period of self-evaluation and remembered mistakes. Her darkest memory had involved Alessandra’s first love years earlier.

      He’d pursued Dea. Part of her had felt guilty, yet another part had been flattered when he’d followed her back to Rome, where she was modeling at the time. But he’d turned out to be a man incapable of being faithful to any woman. A torturous time had followed for her and Alessandra. Only in the last year had they finally put the pain of that experience behind them and had become close in a new, honest way.

      Still, trying to find one’s self was not an easy journey. Though being a top fashion model had initially brought her excitement and a lot of interest from men, in time Dea hadn’t found the fulfillment she craved in a career she’d always known couldn’t last forever.

      As was brought out in therapy, those deep longings for inner contentment had eluded her. She knew she would have to change her focus if she was going to have a happy life like her parents, or like Alessandra, who was now ecstatically married and a new mother. Because of a soccer injury, Rini hadn’t been able to give her children, so they’d adopted little Brazzo. Dea couldn’t be happier for them.

      After serious thought, she’d chosen to follow her natural inclination and make her way in a new direction that used her brain and God-given talents rather than her looks, but she was still filled with anxiety.

      Forget self.

      That’s what her brilliant underwater-archaeologist sister had done. In the process, she’d won a wonderful man and already had a family.

      Somewhere out there, Dea’s prince existed. As her wise mother had promised her, “One day he’ll find you. In the meantime, work on finding yourself, darling.”

      * * *

      Friday afternoon Guido paused at the door of the soccer store adjoining his suite of offices in the Stadio Emanuele soccer stadium in Rome. “I’m leaving now, Sergio. As usual I’ll be back Sunday morning before the big game. Have a good weekend.”

      “You too, boss.” His administrative assistant smiled because he thought he knew why, when he could, Guido spent every Friday night and Saturday away from Rome, unable to be reached by anyone. But Sergio would be dead wrong about the reason.

      Guido eyed his spectacular soccer mate from the past, whose serious leg injury at the height of his game prevented him from ever competing again. Now that Guido was the owner of СКАЧАТЬ