“What kind of abuse?” the billionaire asked unexpectedly.
“That she wanted Eula out of the way because she wanted to have her own baby,” Maria rushed to lie. “She wants our baby girl to think she won’t be a part of your family for long.” Maria allowed her voice to tremble, and raising her voice, she finished dramatically, “Do you know that Vivian went as far as saying that she wished Eula was dead?”
The words easily reached Vivian, and she stared at Luca’s ex-wife, dumbstruck at the woman’s gall to utter such lies.
But then anger kicked in a moment later, and she began to bristle.
To heck with playing nice!
To heck with keeping things civil!
How dare Maria say something so vile about her?
Vivian charged without thought, but before she could reach for Maria’s hair, hoping to drag the other woman to the ground so she could bitch-slap the truth out of her, Luca had already moved with lightning speed, blocking her way to Maria.
Startled at Luca’s sudden movement, Maria turned around and then it was her turn to gasp at seeing Vivian standing behind her. But then Maria noticed the other woman’s hair, and a scathing laugh escaped her. “Dios mio, you really are a twelve-year-old trapped in an adult’s body!”
Even as she felt her face heating up at the somewhat apt description, Vivian forced herself to lift her chin, saying defiantly, “S-shut up…you…you…” But now that she was no longer blinded with anger, Vivian couldn’t make herself call the other woman any names, and in the end all she could do was say, “You…you liar!”
But Maria had already turned her back on her, and Vivian gasped when she saw the other woman heading her way to Eula.
“I can no longer bear it,” Maria cried out, seeing the opportunity to make a dramatic exit that would portray Vivian in a bad light at the same time. “You are obviously crazy! You come here accusing me of such things when you are the one who Eula cannot depend on! I can no longer trust my daughter with the likes of you!”
Maria rushed to where Eula was, hoping to get to her daughter before anyone else did, but she had forgotten just how annoyingly cunning her ex-husband was.
Luca was already with Eula, having left the two women while they had been exchanging words.
Maria forced her to a stop. Shit. She had planned to carry Eula away to make it seem as if she was protecting her daughter from an unstable-looking Vivian. Quickly regrouping, she appealed to Eula, saying, “Eula, you must come with me. I want you to stay with me. Don’t you want to stay with me, too?”
When Eula only stared at her mutely, Maria said very, very softly, “Be a good girl, Eula. Come with me.”
Vivian stiffened.
Something about the words made alarm bells ring in her head.
Luca stiffened when he felt his daughter jerk in his arms. “Principesa?” Looking down, he saw that Eula’s eyes were filled with tears. “Che cos’e?”
“Come, Eula,” Maria cajoled. “Come—-”
“Shut up,” Luca hissed.
“I won’t shut up when it’s my daughter’s safety at stake,” Maria snapped. “Your wife is deranged.”
“Watch your words,” Luca warned in a hard voice. “I’ll sue you for slander if you say another thing about her.”
Vivian knew she should defend herself, but right now she only had eyes for Eula, whose tears were running down her cheek. She had a feeling she already knew what was wrong, that all the puzzle pieces were there and she just had to make sense of them.
Maria had turned her attention back to Eula and stretched her arms towards her daughter. “Tell your papa you want to come with me, Eula. You want to be a good girl, don’t you?”
“No, Eula.” Luca’s harsh tone made his daughter jerk in his arms, and he immediately regretted speaking to her in a fashion.
Maria kept her eyes on her daughter. “Come, my dear little girl.” In contrast, her tone was soft and cajoling, but the look in her eyes held a steely warning. “Be a good girl and come to Mummy.”
Luca was shocked when Eula’s body started to lean towards Maria even as she kept crying. “Principesa…”
“That’s a good girl…”
The words echoed in Vivian’s mind.
Be a good girl.
Be a good girl.
She remembered how Eula had looked when Vivian used the same words.
Eula had looked hurt and alone, petrified and betrayed.
It was the exact look the little girl was wearing now.
Instinct took over, and before she could even figure out what to do, Vivian was already moving, crying out, “No!” She snatched Eula away from both Luca and Maria.
“Give me my daughter back,” Maria screamed.
“No!” Vivian moved further away, holding on to Eula. “Not until Eula tells me it’s okay.”
“You bitch!” Maria was about to yank Eula out of the other woman’s hold when Luca’s bodyguards suddenly held her back. Her head snapped up, and she demanded shrilly at Luca, “What do you think are you doing? Eula is my daughter!”