Brunetti's Secret Son

by Maya Blake

  Romeo’s throat moved several times before he could speak. ‘Sì, I am your papà,’ he intoned in a deep, moving voice.

  Lucca tilted his head to one side, then shook his head. ‘Not papà...daddy. I want you to be a daddy.’

  A telltale sheen covered Romeo’s eyes and he blinked rapidly before he nodded. ‘Va bene, I will be a daddy.’

  Lucca launched himself off her lap and threw his arms around his father. Romeo’s strong arms gathered the chubby body to him, his eyes closing on a depth of feeling that made Maisie’s eyes fill with helpless tears. Father and son stayed locked for an eternity. Or as much as a toddler could stand until impatience set in.

  When he was lowered to his feet, Lucca stared up at his father. ‘Can I tell Emily?’

  Romeo nodded. ‘You can tell whomever you wish.’

  Lucca started to race out of the door but then stopped suddenly. ‘I wished very, very hard for a daddy,’ he said solemnly. ‘And it came true!’

  Romeo looked stricken for several long seconds. Then he shook his head, as if denying whatever thought had crossed his mind. ‘I’m glad for you, bel bambino.’

  After watching Lucca run off, Romeo turned to her and pulled her to her feet. Seeing her tears, he gently wiped them away and planted a soft kiss on her lips. ‘Grazie, il mio dolce.’

  Swallowing the lump in her throat, she smiled. ‘I told you it’d be a piece of cake,’ she said.

  His blinding answering smile lit her up from the inside, starting a shaky weakness that made her lower her gaze in case he read the depth of emotions moving through her. ‘Perhaps I should listen to you more,’ he suggested with a quirked brow.

  ‘Perhaps I should get that in writing,’ she answered.

  He was still chuckling when they trailed their son. The announcement turned into an impromptu celebration with pancakes and juice, after which they got down to the urgent business of planning Lucca’s heavily duck-pond-themed birthday party.

  Finding out that the Giordano family would be joining them on the island in two days, along with the guests staying at the villas, and that Romeo was expected to host a dinner party, Maisie felt a rush of panic.

  The only party she’d thrown so far had involved a cake, sandwiches and screaming kids in a playgroup’s ball pit.

  She was nowhere near sophisticated enough to handle a houseful of billionaires. She tried to pin a smile on her face as Romeo’s eyes narrowed at her from across the kitchen island.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked as soon as they were alone.

  ‘Nothing...’ she started to say, then blurted, ‘I’ve never thrown a dinner party before. Or a birthday party for a billionaire’s son for that matter.’

  He frowned. ‘He’s still the son you raised from birth. As for the party, everything’s taken care of. I have caterers flying in from Honolulu to assist the chefs who cater for the island guests.’

  Somehow her anxiety only escalated. ‘Oh, so you don’t really need me at all, do you?’

  His frown deepened. ‘Of course I need you. What’s this really about?’

  On some level, Maisie knew she was reacting to a deeper anxiety, one that stemmed from the knowledge that Romeo’s life was so smoothly coordinated, aside from her role in his bed, he didn’t need her for much else. Even Lucca would be extremely well taken care of by Emily and Mahina, should Maisie suddenly find herself rubbed out of the picture.

  ‘Maisie?’ he growled warningly.

  She shrugged. ‘I guess I’m feeling a little surplus to requirements.’ Not to mention suddenly aware of her precarious position of temporary wife. ‘I barely do anything for Lucca any more besides eat breakfast and sometimes lunch with him. Other times, he’d rather play with Emily or hang out with you.’

  He took her by the arms. ‘You’ve had him to yourself for almost four years. It’s understandable the small separation on occasion would feel strange. And that separation was probably more pronounced because you were avoiding me,’ he pointed out. ‘But if you want me to prove that you’re not surplus to requirements, just say the word, and I’ll oblige you.’

  She looked into eyes darkening into burnished gold and a blaze sparked through her. But alongside it rose a wave of desolation. Sex with Romeo was out of this world. Each experience felt as if she were touching the stars. But it was just sex for him. It would never be anything more.

  So when he gathered her close and kissed her, she responded with a lingering taste of sadness that made tears brim behind her closed eyes.

  His phone rang just when she thought the tears would spill and betray her, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen. Frowning, he looked at her. ‘Sorry, it’s Zaccheo. I have to take it.’

  Waving him away, she hurriedly escaped the sunlit living room. Her first thought was to find Lucca. She found him in the playroom and pulled him into a close embrace. When he demanded she read his favourite story, she obliged.

  She was on the fifth read when Romeo entered the room.

  She jerked upright at the volcanic fury on his face. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Zaccheo and Eva are arriving tomorrow.’

  A day earlier than planned. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because they’ve been pulled into this insane situation in Palermo. It’s time to end this before it gets out of hand.’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  HER FIRST IMPRESSION of Zaccheo Giordano drove home the understanding of why the two powerful men were friends.

  He carried himself with the same ruthless energy as Romeo, albeit with a little less brooding intensity. That energy was exhibited clearly when he stepped from the buggy and clasped Romeo’s hand in an unsmiling, yet moving greeting.

  His intensity lessened dramatically when he helped his heavily pregnant wife up the short steps into the wide villa entranceway.

  Eva Giordano was gorgeous in a pocket-Venus, burst-of-energy way that drew interested eyes to her wild tumble of blonde hair and sharply contrasting dark eyebrows and darkly ringed green eyes.

  Despite the strong evidence of love between them, Maisie sensed a tension between her and Zaccheo, which was explained once introductions had been made and Romeo was hugging Eva.

  ‘I’m sorry we had to descend on you prematurely, but it was either we all came here or we all went to Palermo.’ She cast an irritated look at her husband. ‘The vote was eventually unanimous that we come here, since I refused to be left behind while Caveman over here went off to tackle Carmelo and Lorenzo on his own.’

  Zaccheo muttered under his breath about intransigent women and helped corral his twin sons when they escaped their nanny and started fighting over who was better suited to drive the buggy.

  Eva turned from greeting Romeo and her gaze fell on Lucca. ‘Oh, hello there, beautiful boy.’ Her wide smile seemed to enchant her husband, who lost his growly look and came to stand beside her, one hand gently caressing her swollen belly.

  The look of pure, blazing love that passed between them caused Maisie’s heart to drop in misery into her belly. But she managed a smile and coaxed a shy Lucca from behind her. Within minutes he and the Giordano boys were exploring the new toy room Romeo had installed for him.

  Mahina served drinks on the terrace and the tension mounted again the moment she left.

  ‘What exactly did Carmelo want from you?’ Romeo asked tersely, once Zaccheo had apprised them of the threat from Palermo’s other crime lord.

  ‘His ridiculous demands are the same as Lorenzo’s to you. They’re both terrified one would attain more power than the other. But he had the nerve to threaten my family. I cannot allow that to stand.’

  Eva rolled her eyes. ‘You realise how much like a bad gangster movie actor you sound?’ When his eyes narrowed, she continued, completely unfazed. ‘You have a veritab
le army guarding me and the boys when you’re not around, and Carmelo’s claims of you owing him allegiance because your father was a one-time lieutenant of his before he switched sides to Romeo’s father is flimsy at best. How do we even know that’s true?’ She looked at Romeo. ‘Besides, I know you two have enough dirt on the man to send him to jail for a long time.’

  Romeo shook his head. ‘I’ve talked to the lawyers about it. It’s all circumstantial without hard evidence. I only witnessed Zaccheo’s father being beaten.’ He sent his friend a look of grim-faced sympathy, to which Zaccheo nodded. ‘He was still alive when I was thrown out of Fattore’s mansion. We need irrefutable evidence of blood on Lorenzo’s hands.’

  ‘So, what’s the alternative?’ Eva exclaimed. ‘A duel at dawn beneath Mount Etna?’

  Romeo’s jaw clenched but he didn’t refute Eva’s outlandish claim. Maisie’s stomach hollowed out, both at the news Romeo had just delivered and his intent expression.

  ‘You’re not thinking of going back to Palermo, are you?’ she demanded in a shocked whisper.

  His eyes when they met hers were hard, implacable, with no trace of the gentleness they’d held yesterday before Zaccheo’s phone call. ‘It’s the only option. I won’t entertain the idea of my son living in fear.’

  Zaccheo nodded in grim agreement and captured his wife’s hand when she began to protest.

  Maisie struggled not to feel excluded and even more miserable as Romeo proceeded to converse to the couple, switching to Italian when the debate got heated.

  Once or twice, she spotted Eva’s probing glance and fixed a smile on her face, answering her questions about the island and the villa when she switched back to English.

  When Eva yawned loudly and started to droop, Zaccheo stood and ushered her inside.

  Knowing she wouldn’t be able to sit and make small talk while her insides were shredding with the knowledge that Romeo had room in his heart only for his son, and not her, she jumped to her feet.

  ‘I’ll go see if the boys are okay.’

  He caught her hand and stopped her. ‘You’re upset because I intend to confront Lorenzo?’

  ‘Does my opinion matter enough for you to change your mind? I thought you were pursuing a different route other than direct confrontation.’

  His jaw flexed. ‘I suspected his mellowed stance was all a bluff. Just as I suspect, this is nothing more than an extortion scheme, probably concocted between him and Carmelo. The timing is a little too synchronised. Whatever it is, I need to end it once and for all.’

  She tried to pull away but he held on. ‘Since your mind’s made up, there’s no need for my opinion, is there?’

  ‘Gattina—’

  ‘Don’t call me that.’ The blurted plea rushed out before she could stop it.

  He gave a hiss of frustration. ‘You suddenly have a problem with the name?’

  ‘No, only your use of it when you’re trying to put me back in your little box marked Handled.’

  His mouth twisted. ‘Even if such a box existed, the physical and psychological scratch marks you leave on me would point to an abject failure in my task.’

  She tugged at her hand again until he freed her. ‘And you’ll continue to fail. Because I won’t be put in a box and labelled as to what I need to be. Never again.’

  A new tension stilled his body. ‘You think that’s what I’ve been doing to you?’

  ‘What have you been doing, if not knocking down my every objection in a bid to get your way since you found out about Lucca?’ she threw back.

  ‘He’s my son. There was never a doubt that I would claim him. You knew that. Did you think I wouldn’t do everything in my power to give him everything that had been denied me?’ he demanded.

  ‘No, but what sort of mother would I have been if I’d wilfully turned my back on the one thing you led me to believe would save our son.’

  His nostrils flared. ‘You believe that’s no longer true?’

  ‘I went along with this marriage because it would protect us while you found a business solution to this problem. Now you tell me you’re planning some sort of vendetta-settling and I’m left asking myself whether this marriage was worth the aggravation I put myself through in the first place if the outcome is going to be a different one! Would I not have been better off in Ranelagh, alone with my son while you carelessly diced with death?’

  A searing wave of shock washed over his face before his eyes, mouth and jaw hardened in a look of pure bitterness.

  ‘So you regret this marriage?’ he demanded in a low, icy voice.

  ‘Tell me the truth, Romeo. Was marrying me really necessary?’

  His jaw clenched for a long time before he bit out, ‘Yes.’

  ‘To save Lucca from Lorenzo or to give him your name?’

  Her heart threatened to beat itself out of existence, and her limbs felt frozen and useless as she stared at him.

  ‘At the time, the two weren’t mutually exclusive.’

  ‘So you didn’t exaggerate one to get the other?’

  He jerked upright and strode to the edge of the terrace, his movements erratic. For several minutes he said nothing, and slowly his balled fists loosened.

  Then he turned. ‘You’re right. I should’ve thought this through a little longer, given myself better options.’

  Maisie’s agonised gasp was barely audible, but it seemed to open a new set of floodgates, bringing fresh waves of pain. She knew she was a fool then for expecting him to tell her their marriage wasn’t a mistake. That it was more than just a means to ensure Lucca’s safety. That however it’d started out, it was worth holding on to, worth salvaging.

  Hearing his words brought home to her just how foolish she’d been to hope. Just like five years ago, Romeo had made a mistake with her. One he regretted. Only this time, he’d told her so to her face rather than let his absence speak for him.

  Footsteps preceded Zaccheo’s reappearance on the terrace and brought a jagged but final end to the conversation. Catching the other man’s narrow-eyed, assessing glance, she pinned a smile on her face. ‘I’m going to check on the boys.’

  She stumbled blindly indoors, operating on automatic rather than with any sense of purpose, as she headed for the toy room. Reaching the doorway, she saw that Emily and the Giordano nanny had readied the boys for bed.

  Forcing her feet to move, she went to her son and brushed her fingers over his hair. He looked up for a moment, his deep hazel eyes connecting with hers in a wide, loving look before he was distracted by one of his new best friends.

  Feeling lost, cast adrift in a merciless ocean, Maisie wandered back out, trying hard not to buckle under the realisation that she’d sped up her exit from Romeo’s life with that last tirade. Because surely telling the man who’d married you for the sake of his son that you’d rather not be married to him was a request to be freed the moment the necessity became obsolete?

  Pain ripped through her heart as she entered her bedroom. How could it look so bleak and lonely after just a few short nights spent away from it? How could her heart shred so badly at the thought that she wouldn’t spend another night in Romeo’s bed?

  A broken moan, much like a manifestation of grief, poured out of her throat as she sank onto the side of her bed.

  Her shame at the knowledge that she would shed her dignity for another night in Romeo’s bed bit deep as she lay back and sobbed into her pillow. She would go back on her word, on the promise she’d made after distancing herself from her parents’ continued disapproval never to contort herself into another’s expectations of her. She would put herself in a box labelled desperate and willing to beg for Romeo’s love if she had the faintest glimpse that he returned a sliver of what she felt for him.

  The sickening feeling of how far she would go triggered harder sobs, until her h
ead throbbed and her body was wrung out. Still the pain came, washing over her in waves as the sun slid low and she knew she had to get up and dress for dinner.

  Over and over as she showered, she saw his face, felt his silence like a final, doomed slash across her heart and wondered how she would face him across the dinner table. For a moment she wished for the man who had brushed her feelings aside and taken control. But she shook her head.

  They’d gone past that this afternoon. There was no hiding from the glaring knowledge that Romeo didn’t love her and never would. That his only interest was for his son.

  Her only choice was to muddle through the next few days, and leave the island when Romeo did. If he was intent on having his son guarded by a security detail, he could do so in Ranelagh. She wouldn’t be able to bear staying here, cocooned in a fool’s paradise. She would confront reality head-on, put one foot in front of the other until she learned to live with the pain.

  Shutting off the shower, she dressed in an ensemble appropriate for entertainment, applied enough make-up to disguise the puffiness under her eyes and left her room.

  She encountered Eva emerging from her own suite and pinned a smile on her face.

  ‘Oh, good, were you going to check on Lucca? We can share story time and be done in half the time,’ Eva said with an engaging grin.

  They entered the large guest suite where the children had been relocated after Lucca refused to be parted from his new friends and took turns reading until all three fell asleep.

  In the living room, they found the men sipping whiskies. Romeo crossed to the drinks cabinet and returned with a mineral water for Eva and a glass of champagne for her, which he handed over with a rigidly blank look on his face.

  Her breath caught painfully and she looked away as Eva smiled and patted the bump covered by her stunning jade-green gown. ‘Sorry I conked out on you earlier. These two kept me up during the flight with their incessant kicking.’

  Maisie’s eyes widened. ‘You’re having another set of twins?’