Mystery

De Winter Chantelle

Description

From a privileged background, the daughter of an Italian businessman and an American catwalk/runway model, Valentina had the best of everything. A solid bi-lingual university education, a top interior design business and to top the cherry on the cake, she was married to the man of her dreams, whom she had loved relentlessly for over twenty years.Paulo, tall and distinctively handsome, was the successful Italian fashion designer Valentina worshiped.Their life together couldn't be better. Their only daughter, Francesca, now living in Italy with her husband, Italian psychologist, Antonio, is awaiting a visit from her parents in preparation of her daughter's first birthday. However, to her surprise and dismay, on the day of their arrival, only one of her parents is able to attend. Cutting her fourteen-day vacation short, Valentina returns unexpectedly late one night to her Kensington apartment. What she discovers, is a heart-breaking revelation. One that changes the destiny of the lives of the people around her, forever. Will she ever be Valentina, who loved, then found herself lost. Or is she?This is a story of love, intrigue, mystery, and perhaps a little madness.

Sujets

• Romance

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528969741
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Mystery
Chantelle De Winter
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-09-30
The Mystery About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Synopsis Chapter 1 The Mystery Chapter 2 The Doctor Chapter 3 A Holiday Romance? Chapter 4 The Truth Chapter 5 The Rush Chapter 6 The Revelation Chapter 7 The Interim Period Chapter 8 The Homecoming Chapter 9 Insomnia Chapter 10 The Dinner Date Chapter 11 Mystery in Maggiore Chapter 12 Let Bygones be Bygones Chapter 13 Turning Point Epilogue
About the Author
It was in the summer of 2011, that Chantelle De Winter joined a creative writer’s workshop whilst residing on the southern coast of Spain. From there, she began to write many stories of different genres until eventually, in May 2016, she started to write The Mystery and was inspired to turn her story into a book by the group leader and fellow writers. Having enjoyed writing as a child, she envisaged that one day she would accomplish writing a story of love. That vision has now come to fruition and Chantelle De Winter is confident that all lovers of romance and mystery will enjoy reading her first novel as much as she enjoyed writing it.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all mothers and lovers.
Copyright Information ©
Chantelle De Winter (2020)
The right of Chantelle De Winter to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Austin Macauley is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In this spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528938891 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528969741 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
I would like to give thanks for the inspiration of writing this book to Tony Merrington, Rigmore and fellow writers of the U3A international creative writer’s group, Marbella, Spain. My three children, Nicholas, Emily and Sarah and my daughter-in-law Jenny who have all encouraged me to write and publish my work. Special thanks also to Tom, who has given me his unconditional support. Thank You.
Synopsis
Valentina is the daughter of an Italian businessman and an American catwalk/runway model. She grew up in The Hamptons, New York, where she lived with her parents but spent most of her childhood and youth between Milan, Italy and the USA.
Born in 1969, she graduated from the University of Milan, with a degree in interior design, where she met and fell in love with Paulo, an Italian successful fashion designer.
The couple were married in New York in the spring of 1990 then moved to London, where one year later, their daughter Francesca was born.
Educated in both English and Italian, Francesca settled for an Italian psychologist, Antonio. Living in Lake Como, Italy, with their daughter Isabella, the couple are about to celebrate their daughter’s first birthday.
As it has been almost a year since Valentina and Paulo have seen both their daughter and granddaughter, Valentina is excitedly looking forward to spending the next two weeks in Como on vacation with her husband, Francesca and her family.
However, the night before their flight to Verona, Paulo breaks the unforgiving news to his wife over dinner, that due to the pressure of his work commitments, schedules and deadlines, he cannot possibly take the trip to Como and professes his regrets for his exclusion. Valentina, unhappy with the situation, becomes angry with her husband, which culminates in a row between the couple. Upset and disappointed, she boards the flight alone.
After only 10 days of her 14-day vacation, Valentina begins to reflect on the night she and Paulo had the row, which had left them both incommunicado.
Feeling sorry and remorseful for the way she had reacted towards her husband, Valentina decides to return to her London home earlier than expected, in order to surprise him.
On entering their Kensington apartment shortly after midnight, she discovers a shocking secret that is to change the destiny of their lives forever.
Chapter 1

The Mystery
When she opened the door, she paused. The smell was unmistakable.
Valentina had decided to visit her only daughter Francesca in Lake Como, Italy, where she lived with her husband Antonio and their daughter, Isabella.
The prospect of seeing Francesca after an absence of almost a year appeared very exciting to Valentina, as they had not had any physical contact since the birth of the baby, almost 12 months ago. It was now time to take a break and visit her daughter and son in law in time for Isabella’s first birthday on the 4th of July.
Valentina was the daughter of an Italian businessman and an American catwalk/runway model. She spent her childhood growing up between Milan, Italy and The Hamptons, New York. She graduated with a degree in interior design from the University of Milan, where she met and fell madly in love with her husband Paulo, a very successful Italian fashion designer. They married, in spring 1990, in New York City then later moved to London where their daughter, Francesca was born a year later. Educated in English and Italian, Francesca had settled to marry an Italian psychologist.
Paulo and Valentina had been having discussions on and off for the past two months as to whether Paulo was going to join his wife for their two week break at Lake Como, and join in the celebrations for Isabella’s first birthday and of course American Independence Day, but Paulo insisted he was far too busy with work and had deadlines to meet which put him under great pressure. As the couple sat down to dinner the night before the flight, Valentina could no longer control her anger.
“Well, I can’t tell you how disappointed I am,” she snapped.
“You knew the baby’s birthday was on the cards, why didn’t you make provisions for the occasion? Not to mention the fact that it’s almost been a year since you’ve seen our daughter.”
“Sì, sì, darling, I know,” replied Paulo, “there is no need to spell it out, I’m sorry, I just can’t drop everything at this moment in time. I’m sure Francesca will understand and besides, I did say I would visit in August for possibly a three-week vacation, we can catch up then.”
So with that conclusion, Valentina boarded the Boeing 737 from London Heathrow and took the early morning flight alone to Verona.
All was well when she finally arrived at her daughter’s lakeside residence in Lake Como, the weather was good and the lake looked splendid in the brilliant sunshine.
Her granddaughter, Isabella was beautiful, doll-like, angelic, with big blue eyes and a mane of blonde curly locks.
The birthday celebrations went down well during the day of the 4th of July, the sun shone at a perfect 70 degrees so followed that evening a superb barbeque and magnificent firework display in the grounds of the villa, mostly attended by friends of Antonio and Francesca.
Paulo had telephoned his daughter that morning to wish his granddaughter a very happy birthday and to apologise for his absence. Francesca politely responded with, “It’s fine, Papa, we’ll see you very soon, I understand the workload you have to contend with, especially in July. I love you, Papa, take care!”
Valentina was playing with baby Isabella at the time of the phone call but was aware of the conversation between her husband and her daughter.
Ten days into her visit, Valentina began to reflect on the conversation she had had between herself and Paulo before leaving for Italy. It was an awkward conversation and she felt bad at the thought of snapping at him because she was angry at the fact he had to work and couldn’t join in the family fun.
“Francesca honey,” she whispered in a soft voice, “I’ve been thinking about Papa being so busy with work and all by himself at home, so I’ve decided to leave and catch an earlier flight back to London, ideally tomorrow.”
“Are you sure, Mamma?” Francesca asked in a surprised voice.
“Yes, honey,” replied her mother, “I’ve had a long think about it and I feel the need to return to London tomorrow is for the best.”
“Oh, very well,” replied Francesca “I’ll see which flight is available for you.”
The following day Valentina prepared herself for the four-hour journey back to London. Her flight was not leaving until 20.00 hrs, which meant she would not arrive home until approximately near to midnight, however, she decided not to tell Paulo she was returning early as to surprise him when she walked through the door and perhaps make up for their little tiff.
After a separation of ten days with no communication, Valentina began to fantasise whilst on the plane how she and her husband would make hot passionate love when she reached home, and with such thought, she began to smile, almost breaking out into uncontrollable laughter.
It was ten minutes after midnight when her key opened the door to their Kensington apartment.
She put down her carry-on in the hallway and very quietly proceeded to walk towards the bedroom.
When she opened the door she paused, the smell was unmistakable. It was the distinct scent of her favourite perfume, Nina, the original, no longer available on the perfume shelves.
It was a wonderful, fresh and floral fragrance once compared to the distinctive scent of ‘la dama de noche’, a flower that opens at night in Spain. As Valentina drew closer to t