A Woman's Empire

LVIII

CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

The plane to Italy was quiet. Almost too quiet. Orlando spent most of the time staring out of the window in awe of the thought of flying through clouds a thousand feet up in the air while Audrielle sat next to him, a book in her lap that she didn't take much notice of, her mind playing a hundred scenarios with the passing minutes.

Leo sat across from them, his head down in his laptop as his fingers rapidly tapped away on the keyboard. The flight attendant sat quietly in the front of the plane, outside the cockpit. Occasionally, she would stand up and offer them if they would like anything to eat or drink. Apart from muttering a few words at the very start of the trip, Audrielle and Leo hadn't talked much. Audrielle would find herself catching a glimpse of Leo every now and then. Her eyes focusing on his chiseled face that rested a frown or the sleeves of his shirt blouse rolled up, exposing the couple tattoos on his arms.

And often, Leo found himself doing the same thing. When his typing would slow down and his gaze drifted from the computer screen to Audrielle, he would find himself staring at her eyes, the way she would look down at the book in her hands and her eyelashes sprayed across her cheeks.

When they finally landed in Italy, the sun was setting and the lights at the runway were a golden glow. Tilting her head to her son, Audrielle realised that Orlando must've woken up from his sleep from the plane landing.

"Mommy, where are we?" Orlando groaned, rubbing his tired eyes with his petite hands.

"We're in Italy, sweetie. We're visiting your grandmother, remember?"
Audrielle reminded Orlando and he replied with a simple "oh".

As the pilot exited the cockpit to wish the pair a safe travels, Leo slammed the laptop shut and shoved it into his briefcase, handing it to the bodyguard who helped carry the luggage off of the plane and into the car. The weather in Italy wasn't as sunny as it was last time Audrielle was here. Instead of the sunny skies and humid air, the clouds were gloomy and grey and the wind lightly howled like a lone wolf in the night.

As Audrielle stared out of the car window, she began to realise that the roads they were going down weren't the roads to Camilla's house. The houses along the rural roads were scattered every few miles and Audrielle's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"This isn't the way to your mother's house." Audrielle said to Leo and he didn't bother looking at Audrielle, instead, he sat in the passenger seat with his eyes focused on the road ahead.

"I decided that we'd stay at mine for the next few days since there's now three of us. My mother and Stella will be visiting soon though." He stated. They soon pulled up to Leo's Italian house. The gate was locked and guarded and the driver then began to speak out of the window in Italian. After a few short words, the gate slowly rolled open and they drove ahead, parking right outside the front door.

There had been a few alterations made to the house since Audrielle had last been, many years ago on their honeymoon. The gardens were still in prestige shape but she noticed there were more pots of flowers, bright splashes of pink, reds and oranges here and there.

The house wasn't so empty either. Several guards stood outside the house and the property, doing what they were paid to do; guard the house.

Ronnie, the butler, patiently waited for them to turn up, a small smile on his face as he stood by the front door, watching the car slowly drive up.

As soon as the car had parked and the engine was shut off, Ronnie opened the door for Audrielle, greeting her and welcoming her back. When the bags were out of the car, Leo ushered them into the house. An odd feeling dropped in Audrielle's stomach and she had to avert her eyes from the scenic views that the living room overlooked, up to the white, clean ceilings.