Boss Meets Baby(76)

It wasn’t long before they were back in their bedroom.

‘I wish you had told me.’ Lily spoke without preamble. ‘That the only reason you wanted to marry me is to make your grandfather’s final days happier.’

‘There was no need to complicate our arrangement.’ Vito spoke shortly, not bothering to deny her accusation. ‘It was not your concern.’

‘Of course it was,’ Lily said. ‘I’m involved! I’m the one carrying your child—Giovanni’s great-grandchild. And I’m the one who is going to spend time with him during his last months.’

‘Save that for the rest of the world,’ Vito snapped. ‘Endless repetition won’t make it true, so stop trying to convince me that the child is mine.’

‘But it is,’ Lily protested. ‘Whatever you say, I’m not going to stop believing it—or saying it—because it is true.’

‘My grandfather is old and frail. He doesn’t have long to live.’ Vito brutally brought the subject back around. ‘It is the thought that his family line will continue that he needs. Not to socialise with you.’

Lily stared at him bitterly. Despite the circumstances, she had enjoyed meeting Giovanni. He was a wonderful— old man, and she was sure spending time with him would enrich her life.

‘Oh my God!’ she gasped suddenly, sitting down on the edge of the bed as her legs felt weak with shock. ‘As far as you’re concerned, this is a temporary arrangement. As soon as Giovanni passes away, you’re planning to throw me and the baby out again!’

She looked up at Vito in a silent appeal, desperate for him to tell her that she was wrong. But he just stared down at her, a hard, unfeeling expression on his face.

‘Your grandfather will have died happy.’ At last Lily spoke her awful train of thought aloud. ‘And you will have no further use for me. Or for the baby. No wonder you were able to suggest this, even though you are adamant that the baby isn’t yours!’

‘It was a practical solution,’ Vito said coldly. ‘And now you’ll finally understand that it is pointless for you to continually try to persuade me of your innocence. Or to build a relationship with my grandfather. Or to put down roots in Venice. As soon as his time comes, you’ll be history.’

Lily stared at him in horror as the cold brutality of his words sunk in.

‘You are a despicable human being!’ she cried, suddenly— flying to her feet and squaring up to him. ‘You don’t deserve a grandfather who loves you so much!’

‘I didn’t deserve a lover who cheated on me.’ The angry blue fire sparking in his eyes was the only sign of emotion on his face.

Lily glared at him, struggling for words. She couldn’t believe Vito would really do something like this.

All the time she’d lived with him she’d thought him to be a fair and generous man. That had changed the day he’d thrown her out for getting pregnant. Then, when he’d asked her to marry him, she’d been forced to rethink her opinion for a second time.

She knew he was angry and upset because he believed— she had betrayed him but after this latest, awful revelation her opinion of him had sunk to the lowest depths—into a confusing emotional mass of disbelief and disillusionment.

‘Give that to me,’ Vito said, lifting the antiquenecklace— box from her hands. ‘You can’t wear that.’

Lily stared at the box as he carried it away, her temper suddenly sparking again.

‘No wonder you didn’t want Giovanni to give it to me,’ she said bitterly. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to steal a priceless family heirloom from you.’

‘It’s very old and fragile,’ Vito said curtly. ‘The high humidity in Venice makes things deteriorate quickly. It needs expert attention to ensure it won’t fall apart when you wear it.’

‘I won’t be wearing it,’ Lily said. ‘It was a wonderful— gift—but you’ve tainted it.’

She looked up at Vito, and she could see his shoulders were rigid with tension, and a muscle was throbbing insistently on his angular jawbone. Although his eyes were cast into shadow by black brows that were drawn heavily downwards, she could see that powerful emotion glittered within them.

Perhaps he wasn’t as cold and unmoved by this discussion— as he would like her to think, but that didn’t change his intentions.

‘Once and for all, it’s time to make things crystal clear between us.’ His voice cut through her shattered nerves like steel wire. ‘Nothing you have discovered today makes any difference to our arrangement. You did very well with my grandfather this morning—and now you will continue to play your part as my adoring wife. Until I am finished with you.’

Lily glared at him angrily, unable to find words to express the horror she was feeling.

Was he really saying that she must put up with whatever unjust accusations and hostility he chose to throw her way? That she wasn’t allowed to speak up in her own defence, or express her opinion about anything?

And then, when he was done with her, that he would toss her out as callously as he’d done before—except this time she’d have a baby with her?

‘You lied to me,’ Lily said. ‘You lied to me about making a future for our baby.’

‘You lied to me first,’ Vito fired back at her. ‘When you tried to pass that baby off as mine.’