“I might be paranoid—”
Marco snorted. His brother wrote the book on paranoid when it came to guarding business secrets. “Might be?”
“Whatever. But he mentioned something that is on the new Vallerio model. And no one outside of you, me, Antonio and our R & D team has seen that.”
“You don’t have to stay for the race if you want to go back to Milan and do some more research,” Marco said.
“I want to. I think you race better when Tony and I are here.”
“I agree. I like to remind you both that I’m faster than either of you can ever hope to be.”
Dom punched him in the arm. “Speed isn’t the only thing that matters.”
“In our world it is.”
“True enough. Speaking of speed, did you get the e-mail I sent about the new marketing campaign?”
“Yes. I like it. I think it’ll be just what we need to launch the new Vallerio.”
“I agree.”
Marco thought for a moment. “Is it possible that someone could have figured out what we were doing by studying the cars? I’m using similar technology in my race car this season.”
“I’ll know more after I go back to the Milan office.”
Marco looked at his brother and thought of how hard they’d all worked to distance themselves from the fiasco that had been Moretti Motors under his father’s management. At times like this, Marco felt like no matter what they did, they were always going to be struggling.
The only times he didn’t feel that way were when he was on the track…and when he’d slept with Virginia. That night, he’d realized he could find peace in a woman’s arms.
Virginia landed in Barcelona on Saturday morning. Last week, when her period had started, she’d had a genuine excuse to return to Marco. Clearly their one night of passion hadn’t born fruit. She had been happy, because she’d missed Marco. And she knew that was a problem. What if her actions just perpetuated the curse on both families?
The truth was, she didn’t care. Every night she’d been away from Marco, she’d dreamed of him, rich and vivid images of the two of them together.
And not just making love.
She’d had strong visions of her and Marco with children dancing around them.
She collected her luggage and found the car she’d hired to take her to the hotel. She wished her grandmother was still alive so she could ask her about the curse she’d put on Lorenzo.
But she had no one. There had been a bit of sadness laced in the knowledge that she wasn’t pregnant. For the first time, she understood why her mother had been so happy to have her. A child meant the end to the loneliness that seemed to haunt each generation of Festa women.
She meant to end that loneliness.
“Welcome to Barcelona,” the liveried doorman at the Duquesa de Cardona Hotel said.
She’d chosen a luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Barcelona’s Gothic district. She smiled at the doorman as she exited the cab and walked into the hotel. It was odd to be traveling so much, yet at the same time, she felt like she was finally alive.
All those solitary years of staying at home on Long Island, going to school as a child and young woman and then teaching—it had been a life of nothing but routines; and now she had a mission. Something to fill her days. She felt alive for the very first time.
She had no idea how to contact Marco and knew she’d have to spend the day by herself until the race tomorrow. She wasn’t even sure if she’d be able to get close enough to see him and had no idea what she’d say to him when she did get there.
She checked into her room and changed her clothes. She thought about hanging out in her room, but she didn’t like the thought of waiting around for Sunday.
She knew that changing her life this year was about more than breaking the curse. She needed to find a way to be the woman she’d always dreamed of being. If she was going to be a mother, she didn’t want to be like her own mother had been, that solitary figure who rarely smiled and never left their small house. She needed to get out and experience life.
She went to the F1 track and watched the practice session, making sure to stay out of Marco’s sight, but getting as close as she could to him.
He looked thinner than he had been in Melbourne, but he smiled for his fans and signed autographs. She started to approach, but there was no way to get through the throng of people. And then Marco waved to the crowd and turned away.
She watched him until he disappeared into the garage area, and then she left the track. In her year of figuring out how to get close to Marco, she’d gone online to the F1 message boards and made friends with a lot of people. Using those contacts, she’d been able to get into the exclusive parties after the racing events. Even the VIP areas.
She took a cab to the Picasso Museum, because the thought of going back to her hotel room was unbearable. She strolled through the museum and lingered in front of a Picasso painting titled The Embrace, which the artist had completed in 1900. It struck Virginia how little couples had changed over time. Nothing was more soothing than standing together wrapped in each other’s arms.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
She glanced at the woman who’d spoken. She was tall and slender and very beautiful.
“Very.”
“I love Picasso’s work, before he started doing the abstract stuff.”
“Me, too. He reminds me a little of Pissaro in some of his early work.”
“I’m not that familiar with Pissaro. Just Picasso. Are you in town for the race?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“I saw you at the party in Melbourne. My boyfriend is Keke Heckler.”
“He’s on the same team as Marco Moretti.” Virginia didn’t know if Marco had mentioned her after their night together. She realized that she hoped he hadn’t. She didn’t really want anyone to know about what had happened between them, especially since she had no idea how he’d felt the next morning.
She’d left while he was sleeping, afraid that if she stayed there in his arms, she’d forget her plans and resolve and just stay with Marco until he tired of her. Leaving like that was something that she suspected her own mother had done with Virginia’s father.
“Yes, he is. We didn’t meet at the party, but I saw you dancing with Marco. I’m Elena Hamilton.”
“I’m Virginia,” she said.
“I have a confession,” Elena said. “I followed you here because I was curious about you.”
Virginia tensed. “Why?”
“Because Marco has been asking about you. Questioning everyone, to see if they know your last name or where you went. Keke said he’s never seen Marco so angry when he thinks no one is looking.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Marco’s like a brother to Keke. And I’ve come to know Marco, as well. He means a lot to me, and I don’t want to see him being used.”
Virginia was glad to hear that. Glad that Marco had good friends who looked out for him. “I’m not using him.”
Elena glared at her. “I don’t believe you. Just know that I’m watching you.”
Virginia