The way the redhead sitting behind the reception desk blatantly eye-fucks my husband makes me want to rip her fake nails off. Her attitude is utterly unprofessional, and if I had a phone, I’d leave a one-star review.
Slutty staff, would not recommend.
“Please take a seat, Mr. Di Rossi. Doctor Hammond will be ready for you shortly. Can I get you anything to drink?”
Alison, according to her name tag, flutters her eyelashes at Angelo while pouting prettily. He ignores her shameless behavior and shakes his head.
“No.” When he steps away from the desk to check his phone, I give her a huge fake smile.
“Go suck a lemon, sweetheart. He’ll never be yours.” The redhead blinks in surprise, taken aback by the venom in my voice.
He isn’t mine either, but she doesn’t know that.
Angelo grins when I follow him to the cream sofas by the floor-to-ceiling windows. The low coffee table has a stack of leaflets featuring cute babies. It makes me want to vomit.
“Jealous, darling?”
“No. Just reinforcing the story you and Fina put out there that I’m mentally unhinged.”
His jaw clenches. I guess he didn’t know I’m aware of the bullshit the Di Rossi’s spun after I did a runner.
“Threatening the receptionist certainly feeds into that narrative,” he agrees before picking up a magazine and flicking through the pages.
“Mr. And Mrs. Di Rossi?” A woman in a mint-green uniform appears from a side door.
Angelo stands. “Come, darling.” He takes my hand, ignoring my scowl at the intimate gesture, and drags me across the reception area.
I’m herded like a cow into a luxurious consultation room complete with posters of smiling mothers and babies. The doctor greets us with a warm smile. Probably because Angelo is paying him a fortune.
“I’ve read your notes, Mrs. Di Rossi,” he says after a few moments. “And I see no reason why you can’t conceive naturally given some time.”
Angelo squeezes my hand hard, and I fight back a sharp retort.
“My wife has a few issues around intimate matters,” Angelo explains with a straight face. “We would like to discuss assisted conception.”
The doctor chokes at the revelation my husband is suggesting I’m unable or unwilling to have sex. The poor man’s probably confused about why Angelo hasn’t just divorced me if he’s so desperate for a baby.
A few moments pass while the doctor considers his response. Angelo grips my hand in case I try running away if he lets go. If there weren’t two guards posted outside and likely others at the various entrances to this exclusive clinic, I would definitely attempt to escape. But I’m not an idiot.
I’ll wait for the right opportunity to come along.
Angelo can’t keep me confined to the mansion forever. People will expect me to show up at public functions now that the psychiatric facility where Iallegedlyspent the last twelve months has discharged me.
I smirk to myself at the thought of playing the mad wife let loose.
“There are several options if you,um, don’t wish to try conceiving a baby the natural way, Mr. Di Rossi. We can try intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilization. Intrauterine insemination is the simplest method. Your sperm would be placed in your wife’s uterus for nature to take its course. IVF would require eggs to be harvested from your wife and fertilized in a laboratory before—”
“No.” I cut off the doctor, unable to listen to further talk of egg harvesting. “Nobody is harvesting anything from me. I am not a lab rat.”
“Mrs. Di Rossi, I can assure you the procedure is perfectly safe.”
The man’s patronizing tone makes me want to snatch the gold fountain pen resting on his desk blotter and stab him in the eye.
“I don’t give a fuck whether it’s safe! Nobody is stealing anything from my body. Are we clear?”
The doctor’s gaze flicks from me to Angelo. Beads of sweat appear on his brow. He takes a tissue from the box on his desk and quickly mops it away. Then he attempts a smile, which comes across as more of a death rictus.
“Um, well, that’s something you can discuss with Mr. Di Rossi at home? Another option is to hire a surrogate, but that would also require egg harvesting, unless you opt to use a donor egg, of course.”
