Читать книгу Her Shameful Secret - Susanna Carr - Страница 9

“I’M GOING to be a grandmother.” Maria Rossi sighed and clasped her hands together. “Gio’s child. Oh, I hope it will look just like him.”

“I’m glad to see you’re taking this well,” Antonio muttered as he’d paced the floor of the conference room. He should have left his mother in the waiting room but he had to tell her that their situation had changed. Their strategy had been blown apart by Isabella’s bombshell.

“I admit Gio had no business putting her in the will.” His mother’s voice was thick with annoyance. “Giving money and power to that woman.”

“He did it to cut me out.”

“No, Gio wouldn’t do that to you. He wouldn’t,” she insisted as he made a face. “That woman bewitched him. He wasn’t thinking straight. I can understand making provision for the child—but all that money?” Maria shuddered delicately. “We don’t know if it’s even his.”

“We’ll find out.” But Antonio’s instincts told him that the baby was Gio’s. His brother wouldn’t have pulled this stunt unless he had been absolutely sure. Gio wanted his child to inherit and gave Isabella the power over the money and shares until the child comes of age.

“Gio told me himself that that Jezebel seduced him,” his mother continued. “You both should have known better. I don’t know what either of you saw in the woman.”

He could easily make a list of things he had seen in Isabella, but it would scandalize his mother. Antonio raked his hand through his hair. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“There’s only one way a girl like her can land a rich man. She has to get pregnant.”

Antonio slammed his hand against the mahogany table so hard that Maria jumped. “That’s enough.” It also wasn’t true. Isabella had had him wrapped around her little finger without an unplanned pregnancy.

“Temper, temper,” Maria said as she patted her chignon. “If you plan to get full control of the Rossi fortune you need to show some patience.”

Antonio walked to the window and leaned against the pane. “I have one or two plans,” he admitted. He wasn’t happy about either of them. Both required him to get very close to the woman who betrayed him.

“How many months along is she?”

He had been reluctant to ask for details, but at the same time his mind was filled with questions. “She says she’s at least three months pregnant. I kicked her out the last week of May, so I know the baby isn’t mine. She left Gio on the first of July and that fits the timeframe.”

“You need to do something.”

“I know. It leaves me two options. I can seduce her into giving up her inheritance and leaving the country for good.”

But history had proved that he didn’t have an infinite amount of sexual power over her. Isabella had left his bed to go into Gio’s. He wasn’t sure if he could seduce Isabella knowing she was carrying his brother’s child.

“No,” his mother said firmly. “That child is the only thing I have left of Gio. I want it to be part of my life.”

Antonio inhaled sharply as jagged pain burned through him. His mother had had no problem banning him from her life when he had needed her the most. But then she’d still had Gio around.

“What is the second option?” she asked.

“Marry her and adopt the child as my own. That way I would have full control over the Rossi fortune.”

He had never thought about becoming a father. As the second son, he’d felt no pressure to sire an heir. Now he might be required to accept Gio’s child as his own. That baby would be a constant reminder of betrayal.

“That would be perfect,” his mother said. “We wouldn’t have to give up anything.”

Just his freedom, Antonio thought he looked out of the window and gazed at the Pantheon. And his peace of mind. If there had been any other way he wouldn’t have gone looking for Isabella. Now he might have to bind himself to the cheating vixen for the rest of his life.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Isabella said as she entered Antonio’s penthouse apartment. She heard the door close behind her and flinched when she heard it lock.

“I agree,” Antonio said, “but the paparazzi have already found out about your windfall and my home is the safest place. Anyway, it’s only for one night.”

Isabella scoffed. As if that meant anything. She had slept with Antonio within hours of meeting him. But she wasn’t going to tumble into his bed again, she reminded herself. He didn’t want her anymore. He had someone else in his life.