A Breath of Scandal, page 1
A Breath of Scandal
S. Anne Gardner
2023
Back of the Book
Adele Visconti, Contessa de Caravagio, is passionate and wild and doesn’t know the meaning of the word no. One day by chance she turns her head and in a very old cliché fashion she sees a face across the expanse of a Polo field and goes to meet it. Unknowingly this would change her life forever.
When Gillian meets Adele, she is in a committed relationship. The last thing she wanted was to be sucked into the maelstrom that is Adele. However, Adele was something that she could not fight against and her world was turned upside down from the moment they met.
Will their relationship survive against a tide of intrigue, manipulations, passion, family, and most importantly reconnecting the magic of their love for each other.
A Breath of Scandal
© 2023
By S Anne Gardner
Affinity E-Book Press NZ LTD.
Canterbury, New Zealand
Edition First (1st)
ISBN: 978-1-99-104048-0 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-99-104045-9 (EPUB)
ISBN: 978-1-99-104046-6 (PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-99-104047-3 (KINDLE)
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the author and publisher. Please note that piracy of copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights and is illegal.
This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Editor: Angela Koenig
Proof Editor: Lisa M
Cover Design: Irish Dragon Designs
Production Design: Affinity Publication Services
Acknowledgments
As always, I want to thank Julie who has been a constant support from the beginning. She pushed me, was patient with me, and held me to task. Thank you, Julie. You truly made this book happen.
Thank you to all the loves of my life, my wife and our children. Without them the world would have no meaning, no music, and no colors. They are everything.
Eternal love to the two little girls that reign in my heart; K and T, you brought me all the old sweet memories of long ago.
And finally, to my dearest friend Mel; I miss you every day. You were a constant encouragement, and you always found the words to bring me back to my writing.
To my readers, thank you for your patience and waiting for this book. Thank you.
Dedication
To my love, you are the constant, the sun and the moon but more than all that you are the heart and the blood that pumps it.
Ti amo tesoro mio, mi bella amada, Lisa
Other Books by S Anne Gardner
An Affair of Love
The Very Thought of You
Till There was You
Absolution
Cold and Lonely, Lovely work of Art
For the Love of a Woman
Poetry
In the Silence of the Unspoken
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Epilogue
About the Author
Other Books from Affinity
Chapter One
“If you think you are taking my daughter away from me then you don’t know me very well,” Adele said in controlled anger. She clenched her hands into fists as she tried to control her emotion.
“I am not taking her away from you, you have to believe that.” Gillian tried to reassure her. “She loves you; I would never do that, Dell.” She took a step closer to Adele as she said this.
“Will you move back to New York?” Adele only wanted those facts.
“No.”
“Then consider this the last time I deal with you. My lawyers won’t be as generous,” Adele said, seething with anger as she took a step closer to Gillian.
“Adele, don’t do this,” Gillian begged.
“She’s my daughter!”
“Not according to the law!” Gillian regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.
Adele flew at her with all the anger that she had controlled only moments before. She grabbed Gillian by the arms and began to shake her hard.
“I’ll kill you!” Adele spat as she shoved the younger woman against the wall violently.
Upon hearing the commotion, Gillian’s parents ran into the room and were appalled at the scene that was unfolding in front of them.
Brian Kendell stepped in front of Adele Visconti, preventing her from having access to his daughter; Gillian slid down the wall and was sobbing on the floor as her mother went to see if she was all right.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He demanded. Never in his wildest dreams would he have ever thought that the woman in front of him would be capable of doing what he had just witnessed. “Get out, Adele, leave now!”
Marilyn Kendell helped Gillian up off the floor. “Are you alright honey?”
Gillian nodded as she gradually stood up with her mother’s help as her sobbing continued.
†
Adele stood still as if in a daze. Her eyes were focused on the woman that had, in a single sentence, destroyed her world a week before. Adele was processing what she had just done and, to her surprise, it hurt her more than it gave her pleasure. Gillian was destroying her life; why wasn’t the love she felt for the woman dying within her?
Gillian was leaving her for someone else. She had fallen in love, her note had said, but worst of all, she had also taken their daughter with her. The child that they had shared together from the very first moment of conception to the actual birth; they had shared it all. It was too much to take and all the reasons in the world would not stop Adele from getting what she needed back.
“Adele, please go. I don’t want to involve the police. You’re a reasonable woman. I have grown to know you these past few years. This is not the way. Please, Adele, go,” Brian insisted. “I am not going to allow this treatment of my daughter.”
Adele was oblivious to all except the eyes of the woman that stared back at her now. The woman that had taken her heart and promised to treasure it. The woman that had, only a week before, coldly left her, leaving only a note behind, taking their child with her. In that short time, Adele had become the woman she had been all those years before meeting Gillian; and that was the woman that faced them all now. Nothing could have prepared them with what was going to follow.
“One last chance, Gillian,” Adele said softly.
†
Gillian knew this voice very well. Adele, at that moment, she realized, was completely lost to her. She could not reach her no matter what her reasons were to be. Adele was beyond rational thought and the whole situation, for the first time in her life perhaps, was simply beyond her control or comprehension.
“You can see her whenever you like. I won’t keep her from you.” Gillian had tears running down her face. “Please Dell…”
“I live in New York!” Adele yelled losing her control once more.
“Please, why not try to resolve this peacefully?” Brian intervened again.
“Peacefully?” Adele stared at him incredulously. “That time passed when she packed up and left with our daughter, leaving me a ‘Dear Adele’ note. Isn’t that what you Americans call it?”
Gillian’s head went down as she was unable to look at the distraught woman in front of her. Adele could not stop the tears from falling freely from her eyes. Gillian noticed that she had lost weight and her face showed the deep lines of strain. The beautiful face of the woman that had been her world seemed tired; Adele had obviously not been sleeping. Gillian wanted to just walk away. She didn’t want to see the proud woman she had loved all these years falling to pieces in front of her, because, if no one else could tell, she could.
The once-proud Contessa de Caravagio who had wooed and pursued her, had truly fallen in love and love was now killing her. Adele was dying inside, and she could see it. Gillian turned away and tried to shut out the vision. She had to be strong and stand firm. Adele would survive, Gillian kept telling herself over and over again. It was for the best in the long run. Making a clean cut was best for all of them.
“Adele, sometimes people fall out of love. We can’t always control what we feel.” Brian was angry after seeing what had transpired when he and his wife had walked in. A part of him was glad that this union had come to an end for his daughter, but he also knew that a woman like Adele Visconti was better placated then egged on. He knew h
†
Adele turned to him, and her eyes became sharp knives. She had seen through him years ago and now her aversion needed no curtain. Brian took a step back from her and she smiled. She then turned toward Gillian again.
“Where is she? Or is it he?” Adele looked from father to daughter. “Where is this new love of yours?” She asked sarcastically.
Gillian wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Who is it!” She demanded again loudly.
Gillian visibly jumped as she looked at Adele now. “Candice,” she murmured softly.
Adele’s face registered her surprise. She took a step back letting the information register in her brain. Her disbelief showed in her face as she looked back at Gillian.
“Candice, the woman that…” Adele was still in disbelief.
Candice Wentz had been the woman that Gillian had been with when Adele first met her. The betrayal had become suddenly all the more encompassing and cruel. Gillian was leaving her for her former lover.
The space between them suddenly became unfathomable.
“Have you slept with her?” Adele asked soberly but softly. The only sign of what asking that question had cost her was the pounding she began to hear in her own ears and the way her right hand began to tremble.
†
Gillian noticed Adele trying to hide it. It would have gone unnoticed by anyone that had not known and loved her. She closed her eyes as she answered the question, not wanting to see the reaction of the woman that stood in front of her waiting.
“Yes,” Gillian finally answered softly. In that instant she knew that Adele Visconti would never take her back.
“I’ll see you in court.” Adele’s voice was cold and distant. She pulled a cell phone out of her pocket and pushed a button. “Do it,” was all she said as she closed it and put it back in her pocket. A malignant smile covered her beautiful face.
At that moment Gillian knew fear.
“Possession is nine tenths of the law. You can do as you like, but you are not keeping my child.” Adele turned around and began to walk towards the door.
“Adele, what have you done?” Gillian was suddenly more nervous.
Brian and Marilyn looked at one another in confusion.
“Adele! Wait!” Gillian caught up with her, grabbed her arm, and turned her around.
Adele roughly pulled her arm away. “Don’t touch me,” she said menacingly.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Dell,” Gillian began as tears ran down her face.
“Don’t call me that!” She growled back.
“I’m sorry.” Gillian looked deeply into her eyes. “Give me my baby back, Dell,” Gillian pleaded softly as she placed her hand on Adele’s arm, more gently this time. “I need her.”
†
Adele was unable to control herself from taking a step closer. Everything inside her wanted to take Gillian into her arms and love her. But Gillian wasn’t hers anymore.
“No,” Adele responded softly. But then she coldly added, “She’s mine.”
“I know she is but she’s mine too. She’s all I have. Don’t take her from me, Dell, I beg you.” Gillian was still trying to reach the woman that once could deny her nothing.
“You think I am going to give you my child after what you’ve done to me?” Adele asked in disbelief. For a moment Gillian could see the strain of her emotions begin to show in Adele’s face.
Then what Gillian never thought would happen did.
“Come back, Gillian.” Adele suddenly relented and her eyes showed the pain her soul was feeling. “Come back, I beg you.” Her face showed the strain that she was experiencing. Adele was begging and Adele never begged for anything.
†
With an intake of breath Gillian stared at her in disbelief. Adele was begging her to come back. Adele Visconti was begging, her pride forgotten, and her arrogance laid at Gillian’s feet. At that moment, more than any other, Gillian knew the extent of the love felt by the woman in front of her. So many times, and in so many ways, Adele had defied all for her. By her will alone she had taken her and not only married her but had given her a child. Adele had denied her nothing. But never in her wildest dreams did she ever think to see the proud and arrogant woman she knew as Adele Visconti Contessa de Caravagio begging her to come back to her, especially after she had told her that she had been with Candice. Realizing all this, Gillian felt the pain inside her grow twofold.
“I can’t.” Gillian turned away sadly.
Adele stared at her for a moment then walked out without saying a word, leaving Gillian behind.
†
She wasn’t sure how she had been able to walk. Adele just kept telling herself to put one foot in front of the other and move. The whole world could have disappeared and she would not have noticed. A feeling of great loneliness and an aching that she knew would never be filled suddenly flooded her chest; she wished only to close her eyes and just make her life stop.
Gillian had left her.
The tall dark-haired woman went into the black limousine waiting for her and, when she felt the car begin to move, she let her head fall back and allowed herself to close her eyes. She wanted the world to stop turning on its axis. How could she live with this unbearable pain? Adele had been able from birth taught to control her emotions and her actions. She had learned from the cradle that some things were just not shown, and yet when she met Gillian, everything inside her had changed. All of her loved Gillian and now all of her was crashing with the unbearable pain she was feeling at losing her.
How had it all gone bad? Why? Why had Gillian stopped loving her? She hadn’t slept in three days and now she felt the weight of the world pressing, closing in around her. When she felt the darkness take her she didn’t fight it. She longed to lose herself into the abyss. And as so many other times in the last week, the past never released her.
Chapter Two
“Paolo, why am I here?” Contessa Adele Visconti de Caravagio asked haughtily.
“It won’t be long. You can present the cup and leave, Contessa. They know that you are on a tight schedule.” Paolo Morenza, one of her VPs for public relations in the United States, assured her.
“Paolo, only ten more minutes, I’m leaving for Firenze in two hours.” She told him impatiently.
She hated these things, but she knew that as the head of Caravagio Wineries and the Visconti Estates, this was expected. She was the sponsor of these games and although she hated attending functions such as these, she accepted that she must. Adele was looking around, bored, when a young woman on the other side of the field caught her eye. Her mouth smiled slightly; perhaps the day would not be a total loss after all.
†
The car made a sudden stop, and her eyes flew open. She looked around in confusion.
“I’m sorry Contessa, the car in front of us just stopped,” the chauffeur apologized quickly.
Adele nodded and looked out the window. She had not been able to stop Gillian invading almost every moment of her thoughts since she had left her. She could not stop the thoughts of Gillian invading every second since this nightmare that she was in began. Suddenly the confines of the car were more than she could take.
