The Billionaire’s Prodigal Wife (Mackenna and Alessandro) novel Chapter 25

Mackenna stepped off the airplane and immediately felt the sweltering heat of Milan envelop her. The flight back to her grandparents had been long and grueling, her pregnancy-related sickness airing its ugly head on the flight.

She turned her phone on sent her lawyer Camille a text message letting her know she'd arrived. While at the airport booking her flight back, Camille had reassured her even if Alessandro with all his money and power tried to take the child from her, Italy's legal system rarely ruled against a woman. Camille was certain at the most Alessandro could get shared custody. Mackenna would provide a deposition to the courts and petition for child support.

She made her way through customs and fanned her face as nausea began to creep back up on her. The agent at the gate noted she was turning green and asked if she needed a wheelchair. She wanted to refuse but the last thing she wanted was to faint in the middle of the airport. So it was in a wheelchair, pushed through by security personnel when Camille first caught a glimpse of her exiting the arrivals doors of the airport.

She gave a half-hearted wave and sighed as the woman began to immediately fuss over her. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Baby just wasn't thrilled with boxed air in the airplane."

"Well, let's get you out of here before one of Alessandro's goons find you," Camille rolled her eyes.

"Are you kidding? He wanted me gone. He said so himself," Mackenna objected. "Someone needs to remind him of this," Camille muttered as she helped her friend and client to the car.

Mackenna was confused as she waited for Camille to come round and get in the driver's seat. "What do you mean?"

"It means I've already filed a protective order on your behalf. Alessandro

Giordano is a pain in the backside." She threw her fingers up in the air in a hiss of frustration. "l don't think you were even through American customs when he started blowing up my phone. We filed an injunction already with the courts and the judge

2S once I told him of the harassing and bullying behaviors. He isn't allowed to be within

IOOyards of you unless under the supervision of a court appointed guard."

"How did you get the judge to agree?" Mackenna was amazed. "Surety his lawyer objected because I know he's been a colossal jerk,"

"l told him the stress caused by Mr. Giordano was a potential risk to your unborn baby. The judge has already made it clear she is tired of the stalling tactics. Alessandro's lawyer suggested the baby was proof that the marriage should not be terminated." aAre you kidding me?" Mackenna felt her temper rising at this game. "Two days ago, he threw me out of the hotel because he thinks my friend sabotaged his precious Dulce and today, he changes his mind?" She threw her hands up in the air. "Unbelievable."

"It's okay Mackenna," Camille shot a worried glance as the woman in her passenger seat went from pale to flaming red. "You need to take it easy. I will handle

Alessandro." She reached between them. '*This is the court injunction prohibiting him from having contact with you without your solicitor present. He is also ordered to stay one hundred metres away at all times, unless during a legal setting."

"This won't be worth the paper it's printed on," she felt the emotion clogging her throat. "I'm never going to be rid of him and his high-handed control over my life. He does not care about court injunctions and the law. In his eyes, I belong to him like property, and he will stop at nothing to keep me chained to his side like a little dog." "And this is why, I have already transported your grandparents to my husband's family home in Bergamo. I am taking you now to my office in the city where my husband's cousin will take you to them. It is a lovely little place, and you will be able to rest. I would suggest you keep your phone off as much as possible as it is entirely possible, he has tracking on your phone. Using one of those 'find my phone' apps would be easy enough for him."

"l told my friends back in America I would call once I was settled. I bought a pre-paid phone at the airport. There is no way he Can trace this number. Camille, I

Bonus

"Mackenna, it is my absolute pleasure, and I assure you, Alessandro will pay for every single minute of my time with you." She shot her a wicked grin. "And I am very expensive."

Mackenna chuckled, the first laugh she'd uttered in days. "Good, hit him where it hurts, in the wallet."

"He is a madman where you are concerned Mackenna. Italian men and women as well" she spoke wryly, "can be very passionate and obstinate. Unfortunately for him, I have zero tolerance for the primitive ape-like behavior he's displaying and so, I will fight for as long as you want Mackenna."

"Thank you," she smiled.

Two hours later, after two clandestine switches involving two cars, a change of clothes, meeting one of Camille's cousins who was remarkably close to Mackenna's height and sneaking out the backdoor of Camille's law office, Mackenna was settled nicely in the home of her lawyer's family.

Her grandparents were fussing over her, and she was nestled between them on the sofa, explaining to them all the things to have happened since her last visit. "l had hoped Mackenna this baby was because you were able to resolve your differences, but it seems it was more of Alessandro's bullying tactics." Her grandfather was distressed at her situation.

How did she explain to a man of a certain age with old-fashioned views of the world sometimes s*x was just s*x?

"Nonno, please, I know this is hard for you, but I have no regrets I am pregnant. For as much as Alessandro disrespects me and our marriage, I know this baby, on my part, was made with love. I may not like or respect Alessandro, but the heart is a very weird and complex thing and I do love him."

"Then why are you here and not with him?" her grandfather shook his head in confusion.

"Because Nonno, he would much rather the world never know I exist like some dirty little secret, while he gallivants all over the world as Dulce's lover."

Why does he insist on continuing to hurt you over and over again?"

"And this is a question you will have to pose to him," Mackenna shrugged. "He is an overbearing spoiled man, and he is not used to the word no. He takes what he wants and disposes of it when he's done and not a moment sooner. At some point he will tire of me, like a small boy with a toy, and be done. He is angry now because I walked away from him and not the other way around."

"But now there is a child to consider," her grandfather shrugged incredulously. "

How can he disrespect the mother of his child in such a way?"

"Again, Nonno, another question for Alessandro. I cannot answer." Mackenna leaned backwards as exhaustion from an overseas flight overwhelming her.

"We should tell you Mackenna," her grandfather started, scratching his balding head with his index finger, a very telltale sign he was uncomfortable with what he needed to say, "Rosetta has reached out multiple times to us since Alessandro told her you were pregnant."