Like fate.
No. She refused to believe that anything like fate was wrapped up in Romeo Accardi. Yes, it had been inevitable that they were going to do that. But inevitable that they were going to find themselves together forever?
No.
Then on top of that she had to contend with the fact that she might become a mother. That didn’t scare her. That would actually make her happy. If it weren’t for Romeo. He was the wild card. He was the problem.
The doorbell rang and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She buzzed the courier up to her floor, and they left the package outside. She waited for them to leave, then opened it up and took hold of the bag. With shaking hands she discarded the bag onto the floor, and began to unwrap the test on her way into the bathroom, leaving a trail of trash behind her. She read the instructions carefully—she had never even seen one of these out of the box in person before—and followed those instructions as carefully as possible. It seemed like a cruel thing that it took minutes for the test to reveal the answer. Both too short and too long.
But the two lines were inevitable. Undeniable.
She was pregnant with Romeo’s baby.
Her stepbrother.
The man who hated her more than he hated just about anything else in the entire world.
That man.
She put her hand on her stomach. She was pregnant with his baby. Pregnant with his baby. It seemed laughable. It seemed ridiculous.
She called Catherine.
“It was positive.”
“Do you want to change your mind? Because I will fly there immediately. I’ll give you whatever you need. I’ll help you.”
“I’m not changing my mind. If there’s one thing I’ve never been it’s afraid of him. I’m not scared of him now. It’s just…exhausting.”
“Of course it is.”
“You think I’m crazy.”
“It’s not up to me. You and he have some kind of connection that I can’t understand. I’ve never met the guy, but I’ve seen pictures of him. I understand why you’re attracted to him, but he’s awful to you. I’ve never understood why you… You have feelings for him, Heather. That’s always been obvious. He’s half of what you talk about in any given conversation.”
“My feelings for him are toxic and negative.”
“I think you wish they were. Only that. Anyway, let me know how he reacts.”
“I’m going to have to get on a plane. I can’t tell him over the phone.” Just thinking about it made her laugh. “I’ve never spoken to him on the phone. Of all the ridiculous things. But why would I? We don’t like each other. We don’t talk to each other. This is ridiculous.”
“I agree. It’s ridiculous. But you have to deal with him in the way that only you can.”
So she did one of the first very rich person things she had ever done as a woman who’d gotten a substantial inheritance. She booked a charter on a private jet. And then she cried the entire way to Italy.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Romeo was exhausted. Talking his mother down from her latest episode had been worse than any business negotiation he had dealt with. Sometimes he wondered if this was his life. Forever. Always flying across the world to where she was when she told him that she didn’t want to live anymore. But what else could he do? She was his last remaining parent. His father had done terrible damage to her, and she had never recovered. She was always seeking to re-create that relationship with new men, new lovers, and it was never good. It was always toxic. And it was just…
On top of that he was still dealing with Heather. Still dividing up all of these assets to liquidate, working on the legal aspect of buying her out of his father’s company. Her lawyers were being nitpicky with details, and he was about to…
He thought of her. Every night. And those thoughts left him hard and aching, and he couldn’t even bring himself to go out and find another lover because she had haunted his libido in such a way that he couldn’t exorcize the specter of her.
Every time he looked at another woman he saw her.
He had gone through bouts of this for a good portion of the last decade. But never this strong. Now he knew what it was like. To taste her. To be inside of her.
He wanted to get drunk.
