Rosalia ‘Lia’ Cavalcante is the youngest child of Georgette Desjardins and Vincente Cavalcante VI. She has two older brothers, Vincente ‘Enzo’ VII and Amadeo. The children were raised in a strict environment without much interaction with their parents. Lia was closest to her oldest brother, whom she affectionately calls ‘Vinny’. The family have been on friendly terms with another family, the Sartore family, for years. Especially Enzo and Lia, who were close with Lorenzo Sartore. Lorenzo and Lia had a brief childhood relationship, though it was never serious.

When Lia was thirteen years old, her mother divorced and left her husband for a mason who had worked at the house. She left the home and took her middle child with her, seemingly abandoning Lia and Enzo. Their father strongly implied that she left because of Lia and Enzo’s bad behaviour; most specifically Enzo, who had been caught seeing an unsuitable (criminal) girl, Gina, shortly before her departure.

Lia blamed her mother instead of her beloved brother and was angry with her for years. Feeling isolated and abandoned, she sought comfort after that with many boyfriends. As she got older, she became known for her many flirtations and sexual relationships and her reputation tanked. Through it all, Lorenzo was still fond of her and eventually grew to fall in love with her once they became adults. Lia, however, never did fall for him because she was busy with more flashy suitors.

That all changed once Lia had a relationship with the oldest of the Conti family’s sons. After Lia broke off this relationship, Conti didn’t take it well. He stalked Lia, to the point that she couldn’t go anywhere without her brother for fear of him showing up. Eventually, Conti confronted her at a party at her house, demanding that Lia resume their relationship. In a fit of anger, Lia pushed him and he hit his head. Enzo found out about the fight and took responsibility for doing it when a family friend, Fabrizio, found out about it.

A few days after the fight, Conti passed away suddenly. Lia and Enzo were terrified that Fabrizio would run to the police, but he instead went to Enzo with a deal: He would keep his mouth shut if Enzo got him a sought-after painting and Lia married him. The siblings had no choice but to agree.

After it happened, Lia was distressed and Lorenzo offered her comfort. Despite her engagement with Fabrizio, her and Lorenzo began an affair. The two of them kept it hidden from her brother and Lia found a much-needed vent for her distress and frustration in Lorenzo. During the relationship, they rarely did anything but talk about her problems and have sex. Enzo eventually found out about the relationship and was angry that his sister and friend would do something that risked making Fabrizio mad.

Lorenzo could no longer take the guilt associated with lying to his best friend. When Lia said they should continue the relationship behind Enzo’s back, Lorenzo refused and broke it off. He said that he was also frustrated that she only ever took and never gave anything back in the relationship. Lia was devastated and when she told her brother about it she lied and said she was the one who broke it off.

The painting was eventually found and the blackmail resolved by Enzo’s old flame, Gina. She also brought it to light that the reason Enzo and Lia’s mother never contacted them was that their dad had used a series of restraining orders to keep her at bay; several of these even had Lia and Enzo’s own signatures—forged, of course—on them. They further realised that the reason their mother left with Amadeo was that their dad kicked him out for being gay. After this, Enzo decided to leave to be with Gina and Lia left with her brother.

Lia stayed at Lorenzo’s place for a while after leaving her dad’s house, but the two of them didn’t resume their relationship. He didn’t think it would be wise and had started seeing someone else, a woman named Costanza, in the meantime.

Later on, Lia finally spilled her frustrations to Enzo. She admitted to lying about her and Lorenzo and told him that they weren’t going to be together again. She was faced with the reality of living a normal life with a regular job. Enzo suggested that Lia stay with their other brother because he had gone through the same process after he left.

Lia spent some years living with Amadeo, his husband, and their daughter Natalia. She grew close to them all, as well as to the rest of her family. She discovered an interest in journalism and photography and started studying for a degree. Because of her hard work and dedication, she landed a good internship, which allowed her to make enough money to move to her own flat. She graduated with high grades and had a job already waiting at a small, local newspaper when she was done.

And that brings us to where Lia is today…

 

Author’s notes: Hey my guys. So, I guess I’m almost kind of sort of nearly back! This wasn’t a real chapter, but a little post to get you up to speed if you’re new to my writing and the absolute disaster that is the Cavalcante family. Could also just be that you read gen 2 and it’s been a while so you needed a refresher – whatever it is you need, I’m here for you. This also goes if you want a handy little family tree to visualise all this nonsense – check it here. Lia’s story will properly begin Sunday the 1st of March 2020, so as of this writing, in two days and I’m getting pretty damned excited. I hope I’ll see you guys then.

Cheers!


18 Comments

Jes2G · February 28, 2020 at 10:26 pm

Man! She was a hot mess lol.

    NotJustaBook · February 29, 2020 at 6:06 am

    Lol, no joke, she was. 😂

liesemietze · February 29, 2020 at 1:54 am

I’m exicted to read more about this beautiful mess of a family and looking forward to it.

    NotJustaBook · February 29, 2020 at 6:09 am

    Ha, ha, they really are a mess! Thank you – I hope you’ll enjoy it! 🙂

audreyfld · March 1, 2020 at 2:17 pm

Nice recap to bring us to the rest of her story! ❤️

    NotJustaBook · March 1, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    Thank you Audrey! 😊❤ So glad you think so – it was crazy hard to recap all the madness that is her story!

amyqueen · March 2, 2020 at 5:24 am

Love the effect you put on the pictures. It hasn’t been that long since I finally caught up, hehe, but I still enjoyed going through memory lane. Lia really is so pretty~ Just saw the chapter in my reader, excited to see where her story goes 🤗💕

    NotJustaBook · March 4, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    He, he, yeah, for some it’s been a little longer so I thought it’d be nice to catch everyone up. 😊

lisabeesims · March 6, 2020 at 6:34 am

look forward to seeing where life takes Lia from here <3

    NotJustaBook · March 6, 2020 at 7:58 am

    I’m glad! 😊 I’m excited for the story to unfold. Thanks for checking this out!

      lisabeesims · March 6, 2020 at 8:21 am

      I tried to find the link to follow you but was unable to

        NotJustaBook · March 6, 2020 at 8:28 am

        I’ve tried adding a button to my home page now – does that work? 😊

Kymber · March 28, 2020 at 6:58 pm

This is a lovely recap. I’m so excited to see where her story goes.

sempreviva · April 1, 2020 at 1:30 pm

I’m back and ready to catch up at last! 😀 <3
I loved this recap, because it tells us everything that happened (that we already know but maybe needed a reminder about certain events), but from Lia's point of view. Plus, the pictures were gorgeous! <3
I am sooo ready to delve into Lia's story!!

    NotJustaBook · April 2, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    Yay! 😊❤ I’m glad you liked it – it was really just to get everyone up to speed. Every time I recap the events in Lia’s life, they sound more insane to me – poor girl. 🤣
    Thanks for reading along, dear! 😄

Jowita · August 17, 2020 at 3:55 pm

Lia has been through so much. I remember I was rooting for her and Lorenzo in the past, but I realize now their relationship was toxic. Can’t wait to catch up on Heartwood! <3

    NotJustaBook · August 19, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    She really has. :'( Initially I really did want her and Lorenzo to get back together but yeah, like you I realised their relationship was toxic. They weren’t good for each other. So excited to have you reading. <3

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