He raised his empty glass with another grimace. “I can’t prove it, but that’s where my money would go. He wanted me indebted to him. I’m certain his plan from the start was for me to marry Siena, but there was no chemistry between us, no romance, nothing. And so he engineered it. The debt didn’t just include my financial liability for The Diamond venture, but my entire portfolio. He engineered it so I stood to lose everything.”
Georgia’s heart had flipped over at the mention of Siena’s name, and now it was all she could do to keep her voice steady. “Couldn’t your brother or Dante have helped you?” Both men had serious wealth.
“They could have,” he agreed. “They both offered. But my pride wouldn’t allow me to accept. I’d walked into the mess with my eyes open. I had no one to blame but myself.” He blew out a puff of air. “It wasn’t just pride. I didn’t want them involved in it, full stop. I couldn’t predict what Lorenzo would do.” He shook his head. “Anyone who ever tried to predict how Lorenzo would react in any given situation was a damned fool.”
She forced another mouthful of risotto into her churning stomach. There was such a lot to take in, but all she could think of was what he’d just said about Siena. Niccolo had made the lack of romance between him and Siena clear when he’d dropped the bombshell in Paris about marrying her, but that had been four months ago. Who was to say a romance hadn’t developed since? After all, Niccolo had jilted Siena at the altar because hecouldn’t marry into the Esposito family. That’s what he’d said. He hadn’t mentioned being unable to marry the bride.
Imagining Niccolo and Siena together had been a torture Georgia had lived with every minute of every day since Paris.
Unable to stomach another mouthful, she put her spoon in the bowl and pushed it away with the same force she pushed away the thoughts of Niccolo and Siena in bed together.
His dark eyes creased with concern. “Are you okay? You’ve gone very pale.”
She tried to smile. “Just trying to make sense of everything.”
The last thing either of them needed was for Georgia to turn into a jealousy-riven banshee. When Niccolo had driven away from her flat, she’d lost any claim to him.
How different would her life be if her boss had ignored her pleadings all those long months ago and refused to allow her to attend the pitch for The Diamond skyscraper project? If her boss had stuck to his guns, she would never have met Niccolo. His eyes wouldn’t have locked onto hers the moment he’d walked into the conference room.
And she wouldn’t be carrying his child.
For all the pain that had come from being allowed to attend that meeting, Georgia would never wish their child away. She had to keep faith that Niccolo would protect them all from Lorenzo’s vengeance.
“Nic…” A thought occurred to her, a thought that made her straighten. “Why do you keep referring to Lorenzo in the past tense?”
He blinked. His forehead furrowed. “You don’t know?”
“Know what? Is he dead?” She was only half serious.
He swore under his breath. “I thought you knew. Lorenzo went into cardiac arrest in the church yesterday, a few minutes after I made my escape.”
She stared at him blankly. “So heisdead?”
“Yes. Dante told me, and then it was confirmed in Rico’s message. By the time I drove off the Shuttle, it was all over the news.”
Comprehension was still an alien entity to her swirling mind. “Then… then who’s after us? If he’d dead, why are we in hiding?”
Guilt and pity combined and flashed over his face. “His family are blaming me for his death. It’s why we’re here and why I’m not in Switzerland arranging the transfer of my debt. They don’t want me to repay it – they want me to pay with my blood.” His throat moved numerous times before he added, “And yours.”
Chapter Seven
Okay,so itwaspossible to hate himself more than he already did, and watching Georgia hug her stomach protectively while her face turned an ashen colour and fear sprang in her eyes did it for Niccolo.
He took her hand and squeezed it tightly, holding her frightened stare just as tightly. Speaking with calm intent, he said, “I am not going to let anything happen to you,carina. Whatever happens, you and our baby will not be hurt. I swear.”
“You keep saying that, but this is about more than money and humiliation,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Why the hell do you think I got to you so quickly?” Niccolo had broken every speed limit in Italy, France and England to get to her. If he could have made the plane fly over the continent faster and put rocket fuel in the train taking him through the Channel Tunnel, he would have.
Pulling her hand to his mouth, he grazed kisses over the knuckles. “Let me explain some things. Lorenzo wrote off the debt when I agreed to marry Siena, but the threat was implicit that if I backed out of the wedding, the full sum and more would have to be repaid. Failing to marry her would mean a threat tomy life. Lorenzo’s death turns that threat into a whole different ball game.”
“That much I understand,” she said in the same hoarse whisper, but then something flickered in her eyes. “But you have the money to pay them off?”
“Every last cent of it plus interest. It’s in a Swiss bank account, but they won’t care about it,” he warned her. He didn’t want Georgia building her hopes up that the repayment of his debt would make everything magically better. She needed to understand that two of Lorenzo’s sons were seeking blood vengeance.
Her eyes widening, she pulled her hand away. “Youknewyou were going to jilt her?”
Considering what they were talking about, the question was completely left field. It took a beat to get his thoughts in order to answer it. “Not consciously, not until I did it, but I was clear-headed about the need to rebuild and secure my fortune as a means to protect myself for the future. I had an idle fantasy that I would pay them back and use my remaining millions to disappear, but it was just a fantasy because no one disappears from the Espositos. When I abandoned the wedding, it was with the full knowledge that they would come after me, would most likely find me and that I’d be lucky to escape with my life. I had no idea you needed protecting, too. I had no clue the Espositos had been keeping watch over you…” He blinked with sudden thought. “How did you know they’d found out about the baby? Rico didn’t mention it in his message when he warned me they were coming for you.”
