Seduced by the Enemy

by Alyssa J. Montgomery

  ‘I’d like you to tell me,’ she prevaricated.

  There was no mistaking his unease as he shifted on his seat. ‘Although it’s true this first baby may not be a match as far as providing bone marrow for Christiana, she may not need the bone marrow. Latest studies have shown us the umbilical cord blood is more successful at treating childhood leukaemia than the standard treatment of bone marrow transplant.’ He shrugged. ‘We could’ve applied straight to the Umbilical Cord Blood Bank, but it does seem more probable—though not scientifically proven—that any pregnancies you and Luca have will produce umbilical cord blood even more beneficial to Christiana.’

  What?

  She could hardly follow the doctor’s words as her brain screamed out in denial, and the tide of nausea rose higher in her gut with every word he uttered.

  ‘You’re telling me the umbilical cord blood from this baby will help Christiana?’ she clarified flatly.

  His eyebrows elevated and his head tilted to one side as he looked at her. ‘I thought you knew.’ His hands moved in a gesture of helpless apology. ‘I discussed this with your husband. Didn’t he tell you?’

  Betrayal slammed hard right up between her ribs. Luca hadn’t uttered a word.

  Neither confirming nor denying the doctor’s suspicions, she said, ‘I think you’d do a better job of explaining how this would work.’

  After clearing his throat he sat forward and clasped his hands in front of him. ‘Both bone marrow and blood from babies’ umbilical cords contain stem cells for creating new blood cells. This includes the immune system white cells that become cancerous in leukaemia patients.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘A study in the US showed that although cord blood took longer to rebuild blood-making cells in the body, it was associated with a lower risk of rejection.’ He unclasped his hands and began to gesture as he spoke. ‘Even mismatched cord blood cells can be as good as a bone marrow transplant but a perfectly matched donor cord may be the best option of all. As your husband and his brother were identical twins, and you are Christiana’s mother’s sister, the cord blood from your pregnancy is a fabulous chance for Christiana’s full recovery.’

  Oh my god.

  On the one hand everything he said was the answer to her prayers for Christiana, but at the same time …

  Why hadn’t Luca mentioned it?

  Was that the real reason he’d wanted a baby so quickly?

  Her heart atrophied so quickly, it was ineffective in pumping blood around her body. It made her short of breath, light-headed and she felt as though her insides had hollowed out.

  This was the reason he’d married her.

  This was the reason he’d made love to her at every opportunity.

  The doctor straightened. ‘Are you feeling okay, Signora Borghetti?’

  She looked up at him and for a moment she was totally disoriented.

  ‘Signora?’ He jumped to his feet.

  ‘I’m fine, merely a little dizzy.’ What was she supposed to say? ‘My heart is wasting away. Do you have a cure to the pain of finding I was married simply as a baby-making machine because of my DNA?’

  ‘Let’s check your blood pressure.’

  ‘No. I’ll be fine.’ She raised a hand to stop him. ‘Please, I want you to tell me exactly how this works for Christiana.’

  Although he looked unconvinced, he sat back down. ‘The stem cells will produce healthy bone marrow and provide a boost to Christiana’s natural immune system. She’s had her chemo and radiotherapy to eliminate the leukaemia cells, but she’ll most likely receive a smaller dose of chemotherapy right before stem cell treatment, to make absolutely certain the leukaemia cells are eliminated. The stem cells are then injected intravenously. They’ll travel to damaged areas of bone marrow and start healing those areas straight away.’

  ‘When does all this happen?’

  ‘As soon as you’ve given birth. We’ll be checking her blood cell count as usual and giving her extra red blood cell transfusions when necessary but when you’re approaching your due date, we’ll decide whether she needs another round of chemotherapy.’

  Bloody hell. Resentment rose sharply within her to know she’d been a pawn in this elaborate plan.

  ‘How long ago did you discuss this with Luca?’

  ‘When the results came back and we realised neither you nor your mother matched.’ He shrugged. ‘I knew how desperate you all were to help Christiana so I spoke to Luca about the possibility of you and he conceiving a child—so the cord blood would be the closest match possible. I proposed we harvest your eggs and use IVF. I had no idea you were falling in love and things would work out so well naturally.’ He smiled. ‘Some things are meant to be.’

  And other things are the product of manipulation and deceit.

  Olivia had been falling in love. She’d fallen deeply and quickly, and she’d trusted absolutely. As for Luca …

  He’s never told you he loved you.

  No. He hadn’t. But, nor had he ever told her he was marrying her for her DNA.

  ‘Doctor, remind me exactly what date you got the results from my compatibility blood test.’

  ‘I’d have to check in Christiana’s file. Is it important?’

  ‘Yes.’

  He swivelled around to his computer and tapped away on the keyboard to pull up the relevant files.

  When he finally spoke, Olivia reeled again. The date he’d received the result had been three days before her birthday.

  ‘You phoned Luca straight away?’

  This time he looked affronted. ‘But, of course.’

  Another wave of nausea washed through her and Olivia’s head began to throb because Luca hadn’t told her about the results until the day after her birthday.

  He’d known for days and said nothing.

  He’d known when he’d taken the day off work to show her around Rome—the day he’d kissed her at the Spanish Steps.

  He’d known when he’d taken her to bed.

  It had to be the reason he’d proposed marriage to her and been in such a hurry to start a family—the reason he’d never bothered using any contraception even on the first night.

  What was left of her heart cramped painfully.

  What a fool she’d been.

  ‘Of course, if the cord blood doesn’t work, this child will be another possibility as a close match for Christiana and may well be able to provide bone marrow for her in the future.’

  The room spun around her so quickly, Olivia clutched onto the armrests of her chair and fastened her gaze on the framed certificates on the doctor’s wall.

  ‘A designer-infant.’ Olivia gasped as the truth sunk in. She was absolutely appalled at the suggestion.

  The doctor frowned. ‘That was the reason you fell pregnant so quickly, was it not?’

  No. God damn it! She’d fallen pregnant so quickly because Luca had turned her body to hot molten need where every screaming, clamouring nerve ending had overridden all common sense as far as birth control went, and he’d been such a damned fabulous and caring husband she’d decided she liked the idea of starting a family sooner rather than later. Not for one second had she suspected his true motivation.

  You made a cardinal error, her inner voice derided. You forgot he’s a Borghetti who’ll do whatever it takes to achieve his own ends.

  You were seduced by the enemy.

  Hell! What was she going to do now?

  One thing was for certain. She wasn’t going to let Luca know he’d succeeded in his goal until she knew how she was going to handle it. Thank goodness he wouldn’t find out about her visit to the doctor from her security team.

  ‘Doctor, I’ve come here today as a private patient and I’ll settle my account for your consultation before I leave. I trust you’ll maintain patient-doctor confidentiality and not tell my … husband about my visit here?’

  His frown deepened. ‘If that’s your wish, of course I’m bound to respect it. But—’

  ‘Keep Chr
istiana’s name on the international bone marrow registry,’ she instructed. ‘I will consent to the umbilical cord blood being used after this baby is delivered, but this is not a spare-parts baby.’ Completely numb, Olivia stood up to leave.

  ‘Signora Borghetti, we have yet to discuss your referral to an obstetrician.’

  ‘Not today, doctor.’

  Resentment seethed through her and she cursed Luca with every colourful adjective she could think of because she should’ve been discussing her prenatal care—she should still be floating on a cloud of happiness at the news of her pregnancy and, instead, his deceitful motivations had completely overshadowed the news she was to be a mother.

  She walked out of the doctor’s office not knowing whether she had even bid the doctor farewell. Like a sleepwalker, she paid her bill and hailed a taxi to take her back to the movie theatre. Right now, she needed to be with her mum—the one person she could trust.

  All the way, she tried to find another angle to this to excuse Luca for his actions, but the evidence was damning. He’d known they weren’t a match for Christiana yet instead of passing on the news, he’d deliberately set out to wear down Olivia’s defences and bring her closer.

  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. The saying circled round in her head like a whirlpool, the evidence threatening to suck her right into the middle of it and draw her down so she drowned.

  Oh, he’d been charming as they’d toured the Colosseum together—such an interesting conversationalist as they’d had coffee together afterwards. And, like the totally trusting sucker she was, she’d fallen into his arms at the Spanish Steps and returned his kisses because she’d wanted to. She’d really believed their attraction was mutual and an unstoppable destiny.

  Huh! What an idiot.

  The clear version of events slammed home to her with all the force of a freight train. It’d all been carefully orchestrated. A wonderful day spent together and the incredibly extravagant art studio for her birthday had all been designed to get her to lower any remaining defences and to illustrate their compatibility.

  The night at the art exhibition was surely planned with her seduction in mind. Luca couldn’t have foreseen Carl would be there, but even her encounter with her ex-fiancé had played into his hands because seeing the two men standing side by side had made her appreciate Luca’s support and his sex appeal all the more.

  Oh man! She’d been ripe for seduction and in typical, scheming Borghetti style, Luca had capitalised on her mindlessness as he’d delivered ecstasy so masterfully, all thought of protection against pregnancy and safety for her own health, had been completely overlooked.

  She’d been too caught up in his thrall.

  Too trusting.

  Too ready to surrender her heart.

  All his talk about him being blown away with the passion of the moment was surely just that—all talk. Now her blinkers were off, she realised her idiocy in having thought for a second she could captivate someone of Luca’s worldliness to such an extreme. What would attract a multi-billionaire, sexier-than-hell man like him to a nobody teacher from Australia?

  Except she wasn’t a nobody, was she?

  As Christiana’s aunt, she was the most important person in the world.

  Her molars clenched as she concluded Luca had deliberately set out to make her pregnant—cold-bloodedly and calculatedly determined she’d conceive a ‘designer baby’ to save their niece.

  Of course a proposal of marriage had been important. If Olivia had fallen pregnant and not been married to Luca, how much easier it would have been for her to return to Australia and to have sole custody of their child—sole decision making to ensure this child she carried would never be asked to be the donor who kept Christiana alive?

  Tears flooded her eyes.

  Damn it all, she wanted Christiana to live, but she wouldn’t use another child to do it. Surely Jane wouldn’t want her to do it, either?

  In the midst of Olivia’s outrage, the most life-changing reality hit home.

  She was pregnant!

  She was really going to have a baby.

  Without conscious thought, her right hand settled over her lower abdomen. Deep in her womb, a child was already being nurtured. She wasn’t sure how much growth had taken place in six weeks but there was a tiny life growing inside her and she was responsible for providing all its nutrition and keeping it safe.

  Safe.

  How safe would the child be under Luca’s influence if she bore it here in Italy?

  A shudder started at the base of her neck and ran down towards her tail bone. Now she could no longer trust Luca, there was only one option available to her. She must return to Australia as soon as possible and never risk coming back here with her child.

  Unbearably stressed and fatigued, Olivia didn’t register she was even getting close to the movie theatre until the taxi left the main road and went down the back lane.

  ‘Grazie signore,’ she told the driver in halting Italian as she handed over several euro notes and jumped out of the vehicle without waiting for change.

  She’d tipped the usher in the movie theatre to leave the emergency exit door ajar so she could slip back in. The arrangement had been that she’d text the nanny who’d get up from the seat, keep her head down and hurry to the bathroom where they’d change places. Now, she didn’t care if her bodyguards saw her coming back into the theatre. Let them report back to Luca and tell him they’d lost her for the space of an hour and a half. For all she cared he could think she’d slipped off to meet a lover. In fact, it might be a good ploy. If he thought this baby was a lover’s child and not her own, he wouldn’t try to demand it be used for spare parts.

  Inwardly, she groaned. Hysteria was making her irrational and vindictive.

  She took out her phone and texted the nanny as she made her way to the bathroom. Better to stick with her original plan. Until she knew how she was going to cope with all she’d learned it’d be better to give Luca no cause to believe anything had changed.

  Chapter 16

  After a day of particularly difficult negotiations for a company he was taking over, Luca strode into the living room much later than usual, and well after dinner. The tension seeped from his shoulders when he saw Olivia sitting on the sofa with her legs tucked up beside her. Her beautiful face was a picture of concentration. She focused on the screen of her laptop which was propped on the armrest of the sofa.

  ‘Hello, cara. I’m sorry I wasn’t home for dinner.’ He went to her side to kiss her but frowned as she greeted him absently. Normally, her very kissable lips would curve into a warm, welcoming smile of greeting and she’d turn her face up to him for a kiss. Now, her eyes barely left the screen as she murmured a hello. ‘What has you so absorbed?’

  ‘This article on the internet.’ She turned her laptop so he could see the screen. ‘I’ve been doing some research and found something really incredible.’

  Luca read the heading and for a second, his diaphragm spasmed, disturbing the regularity of his breathing.

  ‘Did you know stem cells can be taken from umbilical cords and transferred into children with leukaemia to help them?’ Her voice was casual, but her eyes were an intense blue—seeming to watch him sharply for his reaction. Or … was it his guilt that made him imagine it?

  He reached out and shifted the laptop from the armrest to the nearby coffee table before settling on the couch beside her. If she’d already done the research, perhaps this was the perfect time to broach the subject with her. ‘I did know.’

  ‘Then why haven’t we tried it with Christiana?’ she demanded as she scrambled to sit more upright, but at the same time moved further away from him. ‘There are banks of umbilical cord stem cells available.’

  They hadn’t tried it because, God willing, an even better chance for Christiana may be only nine months or so away—a chance better than the stem cells from an unrelated donor.

  ‘It’s a possibility, but for now we’ll keep waiting
on the bone marrow donation.’

  ‘Do you think if I fell pregnant it would work in Christiana’s favour to use the umbilical cord stem cells from my pregnancy given you’re her father’s identical twin and Jane was my sister?’

  ‘Possibly. I’m not sure there’s any research to back it up.’ He couldn’t look at her as he started undoing his tie. This was the perfect moment to ask her how she’d feel about it, but before he had the chance she spoke again.

  ‘Any child we had might even be a compatible bone marrow donor.’

  Her words shocked him and unease filtered through him. ‘You’d consider that?’

  He thought he saw her jaw firm, but she stood so quickly, he couldn’t be sure. However, there was no mistaking the agitation beating off her in stormy waves.

  ‘Not for a second.’

  Luca’s tension eased. He would never agree to subjecting a child to providing a bone marrow donation.

  ‘If it was merely the umbilical cord blood used, I wouldn’t have a problem,’ she continued. ‘What I would have a problem with is creating life for that express purpose, and I’d want to make an informed choice about falling pregnant even for the purpose of using umbilical cord blood.’

  There was unspoken accusation in the tension of her posture, as if she knew …

  He dismissed the thought. She couldn’t possibly know about the suggestions the doctor had made.

  But, it was something his conscience had wrestled with from the moment the doctor had spoken to him and the suggestion still played on the edges of his mind. ‘But, we wouldn’t be having a baby for that sole purpose, would we? We both want children.’

  For a moment, she was silent as the fingers from each of her hands intertwined. Then, she bit down on her lip for a second before she told him, ‘I read a book once about a child who was conceived as a spare-part baby for her sister who had leukaemia.’ He watched her throat work up and down as she swallowed. ‘It was a work of fiction but the story devastated me.’

  When he didn’t speak, she continued. ‘The healthy sister brought a court case against her parents to stop them from getting her to donate a kidney to her sister. All her life she’d felt unloved—only wanted because she could be the answer to keeping her sister alive. Imagine how it would feel to know your purpose in life—the whole reason you’d been conceived—was to save the life of a sibling or relative.’