***
Her house hadn't sold yet. She didn't want to call because it was Owen that gave her the cell phone and if she turned it on she suspected that he was able to track her. Her heart was having a hard time mending. She cast a glance at the photos that came in the mail.
She was shocked when she pulled them out of the envelope, but even more shocked at how beautiful the Italian model was. There were many times that she thought about confronting him since she left, but what was the point? She was a nobody and by the looks of that fashion model, she wouldn't be any competition.
She should have known better than to think that a gorgeous well sought after the man could settle for someone as ordinary as her. The pictures showed draped all over him followed by an intimate kiss.
When he went to Italy she trusted him. Then the envelope came with clippings from a newspaper about him and his Italian model mistress that he kept over there. The pictures showed them kissing. The photo was clipped out of the paper with the date attached obviously in case she doubted it. It was dated several days prior.
She tried to think of every excuse in the book that could explain that picture, but nothing came to mind. The envelope came with no return address and there weren't many people that knew she was living with him.
It was something that couldn't have been talked out of. Yet, she would probably believe whatever he said to her. He had a silver tongue. He'd convinced her to move in with him, pay for her education and marry him in less than a day. So she had to get out of there.
She wasn't sure if he did love her. He never said he did, and in her absence away from him, she began to think that he just told her all of those things so she would be dissuaded from thinking that it was because she felt beholden to Joseph.
It didn't help that she was still grieving over the death of her brother, and she was vulnerable. He knew exactly how to work her. Then she started thinking about the way his assistant looked at her, then the lipstick. Was he having an affair with her?
She wasn't so naïve to know that many marriages got broken up when a boss worked long hours with his secretary or Personal assistant. However, her heart hurt. So much that she cried herself to sleep just about every night. It didn't help that she had raging hormones either.
The pregnancy test came back positive. At first, she was devastated. Not because of the baby, but because she felt like she was being unfair to Owen in not letting him know about the baby or how he would grow up not knowing his father. Oh, how she wished Joseph was still alive.
He'd know exactly what to do. She knew what he'd say. He'd tell her to let Owen know. She just couldn't. She couldn't get that picture out of her head of him kissing that other woman.