“Because I cannot have my daughter be with the head of Lombardi Industries. He murdered her brother, her father and grandfather. I will not stand by and let you defect to his side. She would follow you to hell and back.”
“I’m not fucking defecting, are you listening to me at all, Bianca,” he barks. “I hate him more than you do, but spending my entire life living a lie, pretending to be someone I’m not and looking over my shoulder, is not an option for me.”
“Do not be a fool and let pride cloud your judgement on this,” she says, her voice rising. “In the event that you are a Lombardi, we keep it quiet. What does it matter if you are a Ferrara by blood or by marriage? Either way, if you marry Francesca you will be a Ferrara in the eyes of the law. You keep running the business as you are. Nobody will ever know. You do not tell a soul about your meeting with Lombardi, do you hear me?”
I close my eyes as hope blooms in my chest. Take the offer, baby.
Silence.
I listen and I know he’s thinking about it.
More silence.
What’s happening out there?
“And how will we ever know?” Giuliano says. “Do you really think I’m going to trust a piece of fucking paper about Lombardi’s DNA?”
“I agree.”
“I can’t ask him to meet me at a lab because it will probably be a trap. Who knows what that piece of shit is planning?” he says.
“Agreed.”
More silence.
“Hello, Matteo.” I hear my mother’s voice. I frown, what’s she doing? She’s calling my brother?
“I need you and Andrea to come home today,” she says before listening for a moment. “Your brother needs you.” She listens again. “Giuliano. Yes, you heard me right. Come home now.” She hangs up. “We will do a DNA test for the four of you together and know the truth once and for all.”
Shit.
I tiptoe back up the hall and open the front door and close it loudly, then I walk out into the living room as if I’ve just arrived back.
Giuliano is staring out the window, his back to us, deep in thought.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Your mother was just leaving,” Giuliano says as he turns back toward us.
“No. I’m not.” My mother smiles calmly, “Make me a cup of coffee, darling, we haven’t had our visit yet.”
Giuliano rolls his eyes and I smile and hug my mother. “I love you,” I whisper as I hold her tight.
“I love you too, darling,” she whispers back.
She’s trying to fix this…and maybe, just maybe.
She can.
Giuliano turns the hot water tap off and slides back in under the hot water, the deep bath sloshes over the side.
The bathroom is hot and steamy and Giuliano and I are lying top and tail in a deep bubble-filled bath. His legs are spread cradling my body and my legs are tucked under his arms.
We’ve been in here for over an hour, we lie until the water cools, let some water out and then refill it with hot once more.
Giuliano seems more relaxed since my mother’s visit this afternoon, it’s as if his mind has switched over from despair to something more positive.
Although, I’m not quite sure exactly what that is.
I’ve stayed silent, pretending that I don’t know what my mother has offered him.
He’ll tell me when he’s ready.
I hope.
Giuliano’s large hands slide up and down my legs as he lies deep in thought. Up on the insides of my thighs and I get tingles every time his fingers nearly skim the lips of my sex.
Nearly.
Then he runs them down on the outsides and repeats the delicious process.
I’m in bubble bath heaven.
“What did Mom say this afternoon?” I ask as I act casual.
He shrugs, his fingers gently skimming my sex this time, and I smile over at my beautiful man.
That’s it.
He shrugs. “Not much.”
I roll my lips to hold my tongue, tell me, damn it. I close my eyes as I act uninterested.
“She….” He pauses.
I purposely keep my eyes closed.
“She wants me to keep the Lombardi thing on the down low.”
“What do you mean?” I ask as I play along.
His hands slide up my inner thighs and he parts the lips of my sex and I inhale sharply.
Yes…right there.
“If it turns out that I am Lombardi’s son, she wants me to keep it a secret.”
“How?”
“Not tell anyone, act as if I’m still a Ferrara.”
My eyes open and meet his, I spread my legs a little wider, hoping to invite him in. “What did you say?” I ask.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I’m not spending my life with your mother blackmailing me to do whatever she wants. There’s no fucking way.”
What?
“Why do you think that everything she does is sinister? Did it ever occur to you that maybe she is protecting me?”
He shrugs, his fingers sliding through me, I clench on the up stroke.
“Did it ever occur to you that there is something seriously off with this?” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“Lombardi turns up one day and tells me that he’s my father and wants me to take over his company?”
I stare at him as I listen.
“What if your mother is working with Lombardi to get rid of me? What if this is some elaborate plan to bring me down from the inside. Don’t you think it’s weird that she’s done a complete 180 on our relationship?”
I frown. “You need to trust her.”
“Trust is earned, Francesca,” he says as he sits forward in a rush, bringing himself closer.
“I trust her,” I say. “My mother is a lot of things, Giuliano, but I know her. She will always do what’s best for Ferrara. She’s sacrificed everything for the family.”
He slides his finger into my sex. “Do you trust me?” he murmurs as his dark eyes hold mine.
I nod, my legs spread a little farther open and he adds another finger, his jaw clenches as he begins to work me. The room is steamy and hot, our eyes are locked.
Arousal is bouncing between us like electricity and, as if unable to wait a second longer, he grabs himself at his base and holds his dick up, it sticks out of the water like a tent pole.
“Get on it.”
Giuliano pulls his car into the car park and turns the engine off. He puffs air into his cheeks and stares straight ahead, he’s been quiet all morning.
I hate seeing him like this.
I reach over and rub his thigh, his strong quad muscle making its presence known beneath his jeans. “It will be over soon,” I say softly to try to make everything better. “Ten minutes and it will all be done and dusted.”
We’ve just arrived at the doctor’s to perform the DNA tests, we’re meeting the rest of my family here.
“Or ten minutes and life as I know it will be done and dusted,” he replies.
I nod, trying so hard not to say the wrong thing. I stay silent for a moment as I think.
“Either way.” I reach over and kiss his cheek. “We get to be together. I know this is…shitty.” I pull his face around so that he has to look me in the eye. “But I like this scenario a whole lot better than us being brother and sister and never being able to be together.”