Page 289 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

‘It’s rude to hang up on your father. I taught you better than that.’

No. This couldn’t be happening.

Charlotte tried with all her might to pull free, but she was no match for his brute strength. Especially not when she hadn’t been to a gym in two years. In hiding, she had let herself become weaker. A mistake she was now regretting.

‘Let me go,’ she demanded. The strength in her tone shocked her when she was so aware of her fear. Her racing heart. Her sweaty palms.

‘I already told you, Charlotte. You’re coming back with me.’

‘I don’t want to! I don’t want to marry Grant! You know what he’s like.’

And my heart belongs to another.

‘I really don’t care. He is making this family a great deal of money. I raised you to know your duty to the company. Play your part.’

‘My part?’ Charlotte had thought she was consumed by fear. Now she was learning of the depth of anger she possessed too. ‘My part was supposed to be making a mark within the company. My ambition, my education is just as valid as everyone else’s. My part wasn’t to be traded like a possession. I am not a trinket, Gordon.’ Charlotte had respected her father even when she didn’t agree with him, always addressing him formally. He was her flesh and blood. Now she realised she didn’t have to. There was nothing worth respecting about the man, and she saw just how angry calling him by his first name made him.

‘You are my daughter and will do whatever I tell you to. If you don’t, I will hurt Enzo De Luca. I will hurt De Luca and Co. What do you think will happen when the press finds out that his PA is a fraud? A little girl that outsmarted the CEO.’

‘You wouldn’t.’ Horror. She knew Gordon could see it on her face. It wouldn’t matter that Charlotte only lied about her name; people wouldn’t see it that way. Gordon could say whatever he wanted, and then it would be up to Enzo to prove them wrong. People lost faith in companies for lesser reasons, and the company was everything to Enzo. What if he was forced to step down?

It wasn’t just the company Charlotte had to worry about. It was Enzo too. How would Gordon hurt him?

‘Please, I’m begging you, leave Enzo out of this.’

‘You don’t understand, Charlotte. You have cost me so much money already. This is all the mercy I’m willing to show. Come quietly or De Luca becomes collateral damage.’

Charlotte couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to Enzo. He had been through enough. She couldn’t be the reason he suffered any more. But Enzo was also powerful and vastly wealthy. Surely he could handle her father? Except she knew the only reason Gordon was even threatening Enzo was because of her. After Enzo had refused to hand her over and she’d essentially disappeared from Milan, Gordon would have understood that it was Enzo that was protecting her.

Maybe she could make a scene. There was security all around the airport. That way her father would have other problems to deal with, and she could slip away. But what would happen afterwards? He could make good on his promise. Charlotte couldn’t let that happen to Enzo. And she realised even though Enzo couldn’t love her, she loved him more than she valued her safety. This time,shewould protecthim.

So she stopped fighting.

‘I’ll go with you, but I need your word that you will leave Enzo out of this. He’s done nothing to us.’

‘I don’t care about De Luca, Charlotte. As soon as you are married to Grant, I will forget the name De Luca even exists.’

She had to believe him. No other options existed for her. She had to face this nightmare, face her sentence, even though she’d done nothing wrong except be born to the wrong family. But if she had been born to any other, she would never have met Enzo, and she couldn’t regret that.

So for the first time in a very long time, Charlotte didn’t run.

She let go of her suitcase. The man who had been holding the door open wheeled it into the airport.

‘Good choice, daughter.’

Pure, unfiltered hatred filled her at the word. She didn’t want to be Gordon’s daughter. She wanted to run back to Enzo. All the strength, all the adrenaline ebbed from her body and left nothing in its place. She was hollow.

Gordon placed his arm across her shoulders. To onlookers it may have seemed like a caring gesture. Charlotte knew the truth. He was simply making sure she didn’t run. Steering her to her demise.

Charlotte paid no attention when they were checked in, not even when they boarded and settled in first class. Nothing was worth paying attention to. Not when she was fracturing. She would never see Enzo again. Yes, that had already been her plan, but now she realised that a small part of her had hoped that maybe she would have seen him. Maybe he would have tried to find her. The possibility had been limited, but it had existed. Now that possibility was gone.

She clamped her teeth together and put on her sunglasses. She would show no emotion, none of the grief ripping her apart.

Closing her eyes, she replayed her last night with Enzo in her head. Being with him under the stars. She would never know a feeling like that again. And she knew, every memory they’d made in Italy would have to sustain her for the rest of her life.

The plane barrelled down the runway and took flight, Sydney falling away below her and taking her heart with it.

Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move for you to hide in Enzo De Luca’s company.