Billionaires: The Hero: A Deal for the Di Sione Ring / The Last Di Sione Claims His Prize / The Baby Inheritance

The breath whished from her lungs. “You’re far more relaxed when you’re not in a suit and tie.”

“I’m not sure relaxed is the state of mind I should be aiming for right now.”

Her stomach plummeted. “This...talk,” she pointed out weakly, “is not helping the situation.”

His mouth curved. “I think being self-aware is not a bad thing at the moment.”

A discreet cough alerted her to the fact that they were not alone. Turning, she found a black-coated waiter at her elbow, holding a white cloth–wrapped champagne bottle and glasses. Apparently they had their own personal waiter for the evening, a fact that eased her nerves considerably. A chaperone was exactly what she and Nate needed.

The waiter filled their glasses, returned the bottle to the ice bucket and stepped back to stand unobtrusively by the door. Nate set a hand to the small of her back and guided her out onto the terrace with its spectacular views of Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. The press of his strong fingers against the bare skin of her back sent a tremor reverberating through her.

Dannazione. She needed to get a handle on herself.

She focused on the view in front of her. Found herself transfixed by the light exploding over the city. Laser beams and searchlights in a rainbow of hues shot off the tops of the buildings, casting rays of light into the inky sky and harbor. Fireworks dazzled the eye, timed to music she could just make out from this distance. It was a choreographed spectacle the likes of which she’d never seen.

“Fantastico,” she breathed. “What’s the occasion?”

“It’s called the Symphony of Lights. It happens every night. It’s meant to celebrate the energy and diversity of Hong Kong.”

Mina watched, transfixed. Thought about how spectacular, how foreign, it was. She might have been a whole planet away from her home rather than just on another continent.

It struck her then how much her life had changed in two weeks. How exhilarating, terrifying and irrevocable those changes were.

“That’s a contemplative look.” Nate rested his elbows on the railing and looked over at her.

“This,” she said, waving her hand at the view, “feels bittersweet. I wanted it so badly—my freedom. The chance to make my mark. But I also feel...torn. Homesick.” She sighed. “How silly is that? For a mother who barely tolerates me...a life that made me miserable.”

“It’s what you know,” he said quietly. “Walking into the unknown, even though you know it’s the right path, is scary. Sometimes you want to retreat. To stay with the known even though it makes you unhappy.”

“Did you feel like that once?”

“More than once.” His mouth curved. “I’ve taken a lot of risks in my life. You don’t achieve success without them. But that doesn’t mean I’ve never been afraid—afraid of making the wrong call, afraid the magic will disappear someday just like it appeared. It’s human to be afraid. It’s what you do with the fear that defines a person.”

She found that thought vastly comforting. That Nate, as successful as he was, had once not been so completely sure of himself.

She took a sip of her champagne. Watched another round of fireworks light up the sky. “I used to lie in bed at school at night after my father died, so scared of the future, of what would happen to me. I’d wonder why God had taken him and not my mother. I used to secretly wish that he had, then be terrified he’d punish me for thinking such awful thoughts.”

“I would say that’s understandable thinking coming from an eight-year-old.”

“Perhaps.” She lifted a shoulder. “To me they seemed wicked and irredeemable thoughts. So I made up a pretend family instead to keep me company. I had five brothers and sisters so I’d never be lonely, a dog named Gigi, who slept on the end of my bed, and parents who came to get me for every holiday.”

He frowned. “Your mother left you alone for some of them?”

“Often. After I met my friend Celia, I would spend the holidays with her family.”

He was silent for a long moment. “You’ll have a family of your own someday,” he said finally.

Would she? Did she crave the fantasy more than the reality? She had so much she wanted to accomplish before then, most of all finding out who she really was. What she wanted.

“Who was your mentor?” she asked Nate. “The one you spoke of?”

“My grandfather, Giovanni. He put me through university, took me in to work at Di Sione Shipping with him.”

“Is this the same grandfather who wants the ring?”

“Yes.”

“You said before your father wasn’t a part of your life. How did you come to know your grandfather?”

“My father died in a car accident when I was ten. My relationship with Giovanni began in my late teens when he developed leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. None of my half siblings were a match, so my eldest brother, Alex, sought me out to see if I was. I was a match and I did the transplant. Our relationship developed from there.”

Wow. “That must have been an incredibly emotional introduction to each other.”

“It was...intense.”

“You said you weren’t close to your brothers and sisters?”

He took a sip of his champagne. Rested his glass on the railing, a distant look in his eyes. “There is too much history between us to make that possible.”

“How so?”

“A lot of complicated relationships with many layers. Sometimes it’s simply easier to leave the past in the past. To not reopen old wounds.”

She recalled the lack of a personal background in his media profiles. It had not been an accident. He was protecting a past he had distanced himself from.

What had driven his father to abandon him? What had happened to keep him and his siblings from becoming close after his father’s death when one would think it would have been the ultimate bonding experience to give his grandfather his life back?

It was an incredibly enticing train of thought to want to pursue, but she left it at that because the walls around him as he stared out into the night said that particular conversation was over.

“Giovanni is very lucky to have had you.”

The lazy, seductive bars of a Duke Ellington tune filled the silence that followed. “I think it’s the other way around,” he said finally. “But I won’t have him for much longer. His leukemia is back and this time it will kill him.”

Her stomach dropped. That was why his grandfather wanted the ring. To reclaim a piece of his past before it was all lost to him.

“Nate—” She put a hand on his arm. “Mi dispiace. I’m so sorry.”

His expression hardened. “It’s fine. I’m lucky to have had him as long as I have.”

Except it wasn’t fine. She could see just how unfine it was in the glitter of emotion that darkened his eyes. In the clench of his jaw. The way his gaze refused to meet hers. He was suffering but you would never have known it. Taking a precious memory back to his mentor, who had perhaps been the father figure he’d never known, only to watch him die.

“It’s okay,” she said quietly, “for it not to be fine.”

He spared her a glance. “What else can it be? He’s dying and there’s nothing I nor anyone can do to prevent it.”

“Talking about it might help.”

“I’ve come to terms with it.” Storm clouds gathered in his eyes. “Leave it alone, Mina.”