“And where is your possible baby mama now?” I ask, curious.
“At my house, making herself comfortable, I’m sure.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah,” he agrees with a sigh.
“And if the baby is yours?”
“She wants to raise him together.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to be with her,” I point out.
“I don’t trust her. I’d rather have her in my house than living somewhere else.” He takes a sip of his water. “I’ve always wanted to get married and have kids, but this isn’t how I wanted it to go down. My parents were from an arranged marriage …” He looks at me. “Though I guess you probably know that.”
I did know that.
My father and his were best friends. But one night, Maria—Anthony’s mom—seduced my dad. Giuseppe—Lorenzo’s dad—was in love with her and heartbroken when he learned of her betrayal. By the time they learned of Maria’s pregnancy, thanks to her hiding it for as long as possible, my dad had already met my mom and fallen in love with her.
But because Maria was pregnant, Giuseppe called off the engagement with her, and she was forced to marry my father. A year later, Giuseppe’s dad arranged a marriage between him and Lorenzo’s mom, Tanya.
“I know my parents loved each other,” Lorenzo says. “But my father … he always loved Maria. I caught him talking to her once, and he played it off, but I don’t think he ever got over her.”
“I get it,” I tell him. “My dad never loved Maria, only stuck it out with her because of Anthony. He was in love with my mom, but he put the business first.”
Lorenzo shakes his head. “I don’t want that … to be married because of a baby. I know I sound like a little bitch for saying this, but I want to marry for love.”
I think about my views on marriage before I met Brielle. Business has always come first, which is why I never planned to marry, not wanting to put a woman in the same position my mom had been in. My dad might’ve loved her, but she was always second to his business.
“Brielle deserves better.”
Theo’s words swirl around in my head.
She does deserve better—she deserves everything. And I’m going to make sure she has it. I was close with my father, but I’m smart enough to learn from his mistakes.
“Whyare youpushing this whole thing with Bri?” Lorenzo asks.
For a second, I wonder if I spoke my thoughts out loud.
“You’re a smart businessman. Some of the deals you’ve made …” He whistles lowly. “The TechCorp deal? Fucking genius. And Avalon …”
“You stalking me, Russo?” I smirk.
He chuckles. “Any good businessman knows who he’s getting into bed with. But honestly, I knew who you were before you showed up here. Your father might’ve run the business into the ground?—”
“No,” I correct, my blood boiling at the false accusation. “He didn’t run the business into the ground. Your father and Andrey pushed him out. They threatened investors to pull out, cut him out of deals he should’ve been a part of. He had millions invested, and they took his money and then threw him to the wolves, leading to his downfall.”
“I get that,” he concedes, “but you revived the company and brought it back to life better than your dad had ever run it. You don’t need us or Bri. You’ve created a reputation for yourself that stands on its own.”
“Thanks,” I say, trying to play off the compliment like it’s not a big deal when the truth is, that’s all I wanted. To make my father’s company successful. It’s all he wanted, and he died, trying to doso. “But that doesn’t change the fact that my father lived and breathed for that company and put your fathers on a pedestal. He gave them everything until his last breath, so I owe it to him to right the wrongs, which includes a Rothschild marrying an Antonov.”
I might’ve changed my last name from Rothschild to Morgan—my mom’s last name—to ensure I’d stay under the radar, but at the end of the day, I’m still my father’s son.
“Shit.” Lorenzo looks down at his phone. “Results are in.”
He taps on the screen and stares at it for several seconds while I drag the bottle back over.
“So … are we toasting or drinking the rest of the bottle?”
