Page 29 of Claimed By the Silver Fox

I need to speak to him. That’s where all of this starts.

Once I talk to Antonio about this, I will be able to clear my head somewhat, make some sense of the mess that’s taking place in there right now.

I rise to my feet and splash some water on my face, looking at myself in the mirror. I can do this. I know I can do this, as difficult as it might be to imagine it right now.

The conversation Antonio and I had the other day about Andreo has convinced me that he is capable of handling news as enormous as this, and I am keen to get it off my chest. It’s clear he wants to do right by me, and I just have to pray that extends to this baby I’m carrying too, as hard as it might be to believe.

I change clothes a couple of times, not exactly sure what outfit is most in fashion for telling the man who’s twice your age that you just so happen to be pregnant with his baby. But I eventually settle on a dress, and I step out of the room to head down the hall and negotiate with whatever guard I have to in order to get out of here.

Paulo is there, and I sigh inwardly—no doubt he’s eager to make it known that he is taking his job seriously, and he won’t let me just wander out to go and speak to Antonio in his office. I reach his side, sugaring my smile as best I can, and gaze up at him hopefully.

“Paulo, could you tell Antonio that I want to talk to him?” I ask him, cocking my head to the side slightly.

He eyes me for a second, no doubt still irritated that I managed to land him in trouble before. “What about?”

“It’s private.”

He sighs. “He’s busy. He can’t just⁠—”

“It’s important,” I tell him, raising my eyebrows at him pointedly. “Very important. Not the kind of thing that can wait. Okay?”

I try my best to make it clear to him that I’m not going to wait, but he just crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head. “He’s busy. Whatever it is⁠—”

“Well, if you’re not going to get him for me, I’m just going to find him by myself,” I reply, irritated, and I brush past him and head toward the door. I can practically hear the panic in Paulo’s voice as he calls after me, trying to keep me from getting him into trouble.

“Julia—”

“I told you, this is important!” I call back over my shoulder, giving him one last chance to do as I ask instead of trying to brush me off. “I need to speak to him.”

I put my hand on the door and glance back toward the guard, practically daring him to disagree with me. He must know by now that I’m not the kind of woman who just lets go of what she wants, and I don’t care if it lands him or me or anyone else in trouble.

I have to see Antonio. Now.

He grimaces as he catches up with me, eyeing me as though searching for any small chink in my armor that he could use to brush me off. But, finding none, he shakes his head and walks past me. “I’ll get him for you,” he replies. “But you—you have to wait here, understood?”

He sounds stern, and I almost laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. This man, looking at me, telling me that I need to play by the rules or else I’ll get in trouble. I’m going to be a mother, and I have to play along in the hopes of not pissing him off.

I just nod and turn away from him, pacing the corridor like a caged animal as I wait for Antonio to appear.

And it only takes a few minutes until he does. It seems like the conversation we had the other day has been enough to break down at least some of the barriers between us, and now he’s willing to talk to me at short notice like this.

He locks eyes with me, no doubt sensing that something is amiss. “What’s wrong?” he asks. “Something wrong with the dinner Irina made you?”

“No, no,” I reply, shaking my head. “I just…I needed to speak with you, that’s all.”

He glances to Paulo, and jerks his head toward the end of the corridor.

Paulo leaves at once, and Antonio puts a concerned hand on my arm, gesturing for me to follow him. He guides me down to my room and pulls the door shut behind us. My dinner is still sitting on the bedside table, untouched, and I feel more than a little guilty for abandoning it like that with no explanation. I don’t want Irina to be offended, though I suppose she, if anyone, will understand what is going on here.

“Are you okay?” Antonio asks me, his eyes searching mine as though intent on getting to the bottom of what has caused me to seek him out like this.

I nod, almost more on instinct than anything else. “I just…I needed to see you,” I murmur, and I take a step toward him, all at once feeling a swell of relief that he’s here in front of me.

I know it’s not going to be easy, to put it all into words like this, everything that’s going on inside my head, but as long as he’s here, I know I can find a way. I’m going to have to, right? No matter how hard it seems, no matter how much it makes my head hurt, there has to be a way through this. A way for him to hear what’s going on without flipping his shit.

To my surprise, instead of reacting with frustration as I’ve known him to before, Antonio reaches a hand to my cheek. His touch sends a shiver down my spine, the very same touch that got me into this mess in the first place. And God, I know that I should know better by now than to indulge it, but when he lays a hand on me like that, it’s as though every bit of good sense within me just vanishes, and all that’s left is the way he looks at me.

He doesn’t speak, but his eyes tell me all that I need to know. That he understands me, that he knows why I might need him like this. That there’s a part of him that needs me too, even if he hasn’t been able to say it yet.