The Billionaire's Prize

“Neither do I,” her mother said. “I don’t think I’ve heard you this happy in years!”

Tears stung Dea’s eyes. “This is the beginning of my new life.”

“Your father’s going to be overjoyed with this news.”

“You’ve both given me wonderful advice and told me my future is out there waiting for me. Being able to work with Juliana, I know I’m going to find it!”

“Good for you, darling.”

“I love you and will call you later.”

She hung up, eager to get started on a design that would convince Juliana she hadn’t been wrong to do this enormous, unprecedented favor for Fulvia. Dea had meant it when she’d said this was the beginning of her new life.

While she’d been in therapy this last year, she’d been forced to dig deep into her psyche to understand what made her tick. She’d been given several assignments to work on: forget self, put other people first and be kind before blurting out something she’d regret, even if it was true.

But her assignment to let go of the pain of the past was easier said than done. She had to stop dwelling on the fact that her identical twin sister, Alessandra, had been the one to attract the gorgeous engineering magnate Rinieri Montanari, not Dea, in an incident that had brought on Dea’s emotional crisis.

She’d met Rini and his best friend Guido Rossano on board the fabulous Rossano yacht during a modeling assignment in Naples. Though Dea had been the first to meet Rini and had fallen for him on the spot—even kissing him passionately in front of Guido before saying good-night—Rini hadn’t been interested in her.

When she looked back on that now, she was mortified to imagine what Guido must have thought of her behavior. As for Rini, she’d never expected to see him again. But to her shock, he met Alessandra while he was on business in the south of Italy. That was all it took for the elusive bachelor to fall in love and marry her sister.

Dea had been crushed and her serious loss of confidence had required professional help. Through therapy it became clear that, among other things, she’d always been jealous of her sister’s intelligence and scholastic success. Alessandra had already written and published an important factual historical book on their ancestor Queen Joanna.

But it was her aunt Fulvia’s comment that had brought her up short and made her realize she needed help.

Dea Caracciolo, do you want to conquer every man you meet? What would you do with all of them? It’s not natural.

Her aunt had been right. It wasn’t natural. Despite Dea’s attempt to flirt with Rinieri, he hadn’t been drawn to her. Period.

Following her conversation with Fulvia and her mother, Dea had gotten counseling and had been going through a difficult, painful period of self-evaluation and remembered mistakes. Her darkest memory had involved Alessandra’s first love years earlier.

He’d pursued Dea. Part of her had felt guilty, yet another part had been flattered when he’d followed her back to Rome, where she was modeling at the time. But he’d turned out to be a man incapable of being faithful to any woman. A torturous time had followed for her and Alessandra. Only in the last year had they finally put the pain of that experience behind them and had become close in a new, honest way.

Still, trying to find one’s self was not an easy journey. Though being a top fashion model had initially brought her excitement and a lot of interest from men, in time Dea hadn’t found the fulfillment she craved in a career she’d always known couldn’t last forever.

As was brought out in therapy, those deep longings for inner contentment had eluded her. She knew she would have to change her focus if she was going to have a happy life like her parents, or like Alessandra, who was now ecstatically married and a new mother. Because of a soccer injury, Rini hadn’t been able to give her children, so they’d adopted little Brazzo. Dea couldn’t be happier for them.

After serious thought, she’d chosen to follow her natural inclination and make her way in a new direction that used her brain and God-given talents rather than her looks, but she was still filled with anxiety.

Forget self.

That’s what her brilliant underwater-archaeologist sister had done. In the process, she’d won a wonderful man and already had a family.

Somewhere out there, Dea’s prince existed. As her wise mother had promised her, “One day he’ll find you. In the meantime, work on finding yourself, darling.”

* * *

Friday afternoon Guido paused at the door of the soccer store adjoining his suite of offices in the Stadio Emanuele soccer stadium in Rome. “I’m leaving now, Sergio. As usual I’ll be back Sunday morning before the big game. Have a good weekend.”

“You too, boss.” His administrative assistant smiled because he thought he knew why, when he could, Guido spent every Friday night and Saturday away from Rome, unable to be reached by anyone. But Sergio would be dead wrong about the reason.

Guido eyed his spectacular soccer mate from the past, whose serious leg injury at the height of his game prevented him from ever competing again. Now that Guido was the owner of a minor national soccer team, he’d recruited Sergio to do a little of everything.

The man knew more about the ins and outs of the national soccer league than anyone. He not only ran their business and ticket sales with meticulous care, but he kept the museum and their soccer store stocked and profitable. On top of that, he handled the phones and kept out unexpected visitors unless they made appointments.

“How come you haven’t left already, Sergio? You work too hard. As far as I know you haven’t taken a break in months.” The man screened Guido’s incoming phone calls from the media, but most important, those from Guido’s hovering parents.

Being an only child, Guido realized they’d had a hard time accepting that he’d taken a year off from the Leonides Rossano Shipping Company to pursue an old soccer dream. Guido loved them and stayed in touch, but he’d felt smothered and enjoyed the freedom his new career was giving him away from the family business.

“Work saves me from my demons,” Sergio commented. Guido could relate to that. “Don’t you know there are tons of women calling here all the time after hours, or wanting to order stuff online? You’re still a poster hero with those who remember you winning those past championships.”

“Even after ten years?” Guido smiled wearily. “I leave all the fans to you. As I see it, you’ve been divorced long enough and need to find someone who can accept your passion for the sport. You had a big female following of your own.”

He scoffed. “That all ended after my marriage. I don’t think there is such a woman.”

Neither did Guido, but he kept that comment to himself. “Try to enjoy yourself this weekend.”

“I know you will,” Sergio fired back. “Go ahead and keep it to yourself, but you can’t tell me you don’t have a woman somewhere.”

Conversation over. “Ciao, Sergio,” he called to his friend before shutting the door.

There’d never been a lack of women for Guido. In his late teens he’d gotten into a serious relationship with one of the most popular girls at school, Carla, but over time he discovered she loved his celebrity status, not him. From that point on, he was wary of women.

The shock of learning she didn’t truly love him changed his perspective on the dating experience. After that, Guido continued to enjoy women, but he didn’t get into any more serious relationships. His soccer life had been so full, he’d put the idea of settling down out of his mind.

However, there’d been one woman over the last year who’d taken his breath and was still unforgettable. Dea Loti. Italy’s most famous model. Her lesser-known name was Dea Caracciolo.

He’d met her aboard his father’s yacht during a fashion show taped for television. It had been galling to realize she’d looked right through him in order to pursue his lifelong friend Rinieri Montanari, and it had aroused Guido’s jealousy.

That emotion was something that had never happened to Guido before. He’d tried to put it away because Rini was the best, but it still haunted him.

Guido left the stadium in his Lamborghini and headed straight for the airport. By dinnertime his private jet, with the logo of Scatto Roma—the name of his soccer team, which meant surge in Italian—landed at a private runway just outside Metaponto in Southern Italy. Rini would be waiting on the tarmac for him in the Jeep. They had a lot to catch up on.

Through a quirk of fate, his best friend had married Alessandra Caracciolo, Dea’s identical twin sister. Since the wedding, the couple had been spending part of the time at Rini’s villa in Positano and the rest of it at her family’s island castello.

Montanari Engineering, located in Naples, was now drilling for oil on Caracciolo land in Southern Italy, thus the reason for meeting Rini here on the island.

After learning his friend had become a father, Guido had invited Rini for a meal at his apartment in Rome. But this would be the first time Guido had been back to the island since Rini’s wedding to Alessandra when he’d been best man. They’d issued him many invitations to come, but Guido had turned them down, using business as the excuse. In reality, he didn’t want to take the chance of seeing Dea again.

By now it shouldn’t bother him that the woman who’d been so fascinated by Rini while they were on the Rossano yacht was none other than Alessandra’s sister. Dea had been her maid of honor. After the wedding ceremony, she’d sat down to dinner with Guido and his parents. While she talked to them, all he could see was her kissing Rini before saying good-night to him on board the yacht.

But that was a year ago. Time had passed and he knew her modeling career took her all over Italy. He was certain she wouldn’t be here at the castle. If Rini had mentioned otherwise, Guido wouldn’t have accepted the invitation.

As he exited the plane he could see Rini.

“Your team name is perfect,” his friend called out the window of the Jeep on the tarmac. “You are surging. Bravo.”

“Grazie.”