Never Giving Up

Chapter 12

Nothing is said between Jane and I, only stares which is most likely because we're each waiting for the other person to speak up first. Her eyes never leave mine, even when a waiter approaches our table to take our order, she never looks away from me.

"I'll have the tasted spelt risotto," Jane tells the fair-haired waiter.

"Make it two," I instruct to which the waiter nods.

"Bring us two glasses of ice cold water while we wait."

The waiter nods again. "Of course."

He disappears quickly without asking anything else, most likely out of fear. I watch Jane closely as she turns her head to look over her shoulder at the table where Jones sat down at. She looks back at me.

"I see my son has enlisted Jones to be your main driver and bodyguard," she says with a straight face.

"Under no orders from my behalf," I clarify.

She grins. "He doesn't take orders from anyone."

"Not anymore or have you forgotten what you did?"

"It was for his own good and I stand by that." She stops talking as the waiter returns and places two glasses of ice cold water down in front of us both. He leaves as quickly as he came and Jane reaches for her glass. "You seem to be forgetting that he's become a brilliant man in his own right since all of that happened."

I recline back, my hands slipping off the table and onto my lap, then shake my head. I can't believe she's trying to turn this onto me when it was all her fault we've ended up here talking about this. If she had kept her nose out of Luca's life, this conversation wouldn't be happening. But at the same time, Luca may or may not have become the businessman his is today.

I look down at my hands as I twiddle my thumbs, debating whether or not I should ask what it is I really need to know the answer to. If I don't ask them now, I may never get another chance to ask.

Fuck it.

"I have to ask you this, Jane, and I want an honest answer." I look back up to her. She stays silent, eyeing me with her lips puckered. "Have you always hated me?"

I'm expecting her to answer my question right away with the answer being 'yes'. What I'm not expecting is for her to scoff and look away from me then look down at her glass she places back on the table. She runs a finger over the rim of the glass and brings it back to her lips on a silent sip before setting it down once more.

"I didn't always, no." She finally voices.

I'm shocked.

I thought she always hated me because I was the one who had her sons undivided attention. I was the one he wanted to be with every minute of the day. She always hated the fact that he took me along as his date to family events. She never saw me as part of her family like Luca did and what he wanted.

"What changed?" I've got her talking but whether or not she's telling me the truth, I'll just have to go with it.

"The fact I got offered a great job in America, changed." She adjusts her sitting position until she's slouched back a little on the chair but still doesn't look at me. "I wanted my son to be something and to make something of his life. The only way any of that would be possible is if he got rid of the only thing holding him back from doing so which was you."

I'm not as taken aback by her confession because I knew that way before now. It was just the justification for what I already knew.

"Were you like this when Luca was with the mother of his child?" She looks at me then. I've gotten her full attention. "Judging by the way you're acting towards me, I wouldn't be surprised if you acted that way towards her, too."