My hands are shaking so badly I have to clench them into fists. "You decided I was going to fall for you. You decided I was going to betray my oath. You decided I was going to become a father. And you did it all without asking. Without giving me any say in what happened to my life."
"I'm sorry." She's sobbing now, her whole body shaking. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen?—"
"Yes, you did." Every word is ice cold. "You meant for all of it to happen. You planned it. You orchestrated it. You created Valentina specifically to make me fall for you. And now you're pregnant, and you think that's going to fix everything. That I'm going to forgive you because we're having a baby together."
"I don't think that. I just—I needed you to know. I needed you to understand?—"
"I understand perfectly. I understand that you're a liar. That you're a manipulator. That you took away my autonomy. And I understand that I want nothing to do with you."
"Luca, please?—"
"Don't—" My voice breaks, and I have to stop and breathe, try to force the words out through the fury. "Don't make this worse than it already is."
"What about the baby?"
The question stops me. I look at her, seeing her still on the floor, her hand pressed against her stomach, her eyes desperate and pleading.
"I don't know.” I run a hand through my hair, feeling like I’m going to unravel. "I don't know what happens now. I don't know how to be in the same room with you?—"
I stop myself. "I need time," I say finally. "I need time to figure out what the fuck I'm supposed to do with all of this."
"How much time?"
"I don't know.”
"The wedding is in?—"
"I know when the fucking wedding is."
Giulia’s face crumples again. "I can't marry him. Not now. Not with?—"
"Then don't." The words are harsh. "Call it off. Tell your father the truth. Deal with the consequences of your deception. But don't expect me to save you. Don't expect me to step in and fix the mess you created."
"I'm not asking you to save me. I'm just asking you to?—"
"To what? To forgive you? To pretend this never happened? To play happy family with a woman who's been lying to me for months?"
"To give me a chance to explain. To let me show you that what we had was real?—"
"It wasn't real." I shake my head. "It was never real. Because it was built on lies. And I don't know how to trust anything you say anymore."
"Luca." Her voice is small and broken. "I love you."
I look at her, at Giulia Ciresa, stripped of her disguise, stripped of her lies, stripped of everything except the truth she should have told me from the beginning.
"I don't believe you.”
14
GIULIA
He doesn't believe me.
My hand is still pressed against my stomach, over where our child is, the baby he doesn't want. The baby that's supposed to fix everything but has only made it worse.
I need to make him understand, to explain that this wasn't supposed to happen like this—that I had a plan, that I was going to tell him everything, that the pregnancy changes everything in ways that could be good if he'd just listen. I push myself up from the floor, my legs shaking so badly I have to brace myself against the bed. My face is wet, and my chest is so tight I can barely breathe.
I have to fix this. But when I look at him, the expression on his face makes me take an involuntary step backward.
