"Sit." Dante gestures to the chair beside me, and Giulia moves to it on shaking legs. She sits down, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on the floor.
"Look at me." Dante's voice is soft, but I can hear how angry he is. I know him too well to think he’s truly calm, and so does she.
Giulia raises her eyes to meet her father's, and I can see her trying to compose herself, trying to slip into the role of the dutiful daughter who does what's expected. But it's too late for that.
"Luca has told me an interesting story," Dante says, his voice still conversational. "About a woman named Valentina and a club in Manhattan. About deception and lies. Would you like to tell me your version?"
Giulia's throat works as she swallows. "It's true." Her voice is barely above a whisper. "All of it. I created Valentina. I went to the club. I—I've been seeing Luca, but he didn’t know. I disguised myself. And I'm pregnant."
The confession hangs in the air between us, and I watch Dante's expression for any sign of reaction. There is none. He just sits there, perfectly still, and that stillness is more terrifying than any rage could be.
"You created an entire false identity," Dante says slowly, "to seduce one of my soldiers. You lied to him. You lied to me. You lied to your brother. You got pregnant while engaged to another man. And you thought—what? That this would somehow work out in your favor?"
"I didn't think—" Giulia's voice breaks. "I didn't think I'd get pregnant. I didn't think he'd find out. I didn't think?—"
"No. You didn't think." Dante's voice is sharper now, the fury finally bleeding through the control. "You acted selfishly and recklessly, with no regard for the consequences. No regard for what this would do to Luca. No regard for what this would do to this family. I expected you to resolve the chaos your brother created, and instead, you’ve only destabilized us further."
Her eyes well up instantly. "I'm sorry?—"
"Sorry doesn't fix this." Dante stands up, and both Giulia and I flinch. "Sorry doesn't undo the deception. Sorry doesn't make you not pregnant. Sorry doesn't solve the catastrophic mess you've created."
He moves around the desk, and I tense, preparing for violence. But he doesn't come toward me. He goes to Giulia, standing in front of her chair, looking down at her. "Is it true?" he asks flatly. "Are you pregnant?"
"Yes." Giulia's voice is small, broken. "I think so. I'm late, and I've been sick, and I took a test?—"
"You think so." Dante's voice snaps in the air. "You've destroyed multiple lives based on something you think is true?"
"I'm sorry?—"
"Stop apologizing." He turns away from her and moves back to his desk, picking up his phone again. "Dr. Murdock. I needyou at the estate immediately. Yes, now. I don't care what time it is. Bring a pregnancy test. Multiples. I need confirmation of something."
He hangs up and looks at Giulia, his expression unreadable.
"You'll take a test. Tonight, supervised by Dr. Murdock. And if it's positive—if you are actually pregnant—then we'll discuss what happens next. But until I have confirmation, until I know for certain that this isn't just another manipulation, another lie—" He stops himself, his jaw clenching. "You'll wait here. All of you. Until Dr. Murdock arrives."
The silence that follows is suffocating. Giulia is crying quietly, her hands pressed against her stomach. Romeo is staring at the wall, his expression grim. And I'm sitting here, trying to process the fact that in the next hour, my entire future will be determined by the results of that test.
If it's positive, everything changes. The wedding to Alessandro is off. Giulia and I will be forced together, bound by a child neither of us planned for. The plans for the Marchesi family will be destroyed. And I'll spend the rest of my life trying to earn back the trust I've shattered.
If it's negative—if she's not actually pregnant—then this was all for nothing. All the lies, all the deception, all the destruction, and I’ll just have to…
I don’t even know what. I won’t be tied to Giulia from it, and that would be a relief. But it won’t change everything else that’s been destroyed.
Dante sits back down behind his desk and returns to his computer, dismissing us without words. We're not allowed to leave, but we're also not worth his attention right now. We're just problems waiting to be solved.
I glance at Giulia, and she's staring at her hands, tears streaming down her face.
We sit there in silence and wait for Dr. Murdock to arrive.
16
GIULIA
Dr. Murdock arrives forty minutes later. He's been the Ciresa family doctor for as long as I can remember, a quiet man in his sixties with kind eyes and steady hands who's treated everything from Romeo's childhood broken arm to the gunshot wounds that occasionally show up in the middle of the night. He's seen the family at its worst, its most vulnerable, and he's never once betrayed that trust.
Tonight, he looks at me with something that might be pity.
My father doesn't waste time on pleasantries. "Dr. Murdock. Thank you for coming on such short notice. My daughter needs to take a pregnancy test. Multiple tests, if necessary. I need absolute confirmation."
