When the voice grows louder, against my better judgment, I press myself against the wall and listen intently. I shouldn’t care what has Giovanni so worked up he has to shout, but I do.
My concern is as insistent as my wish to see my mother grow old and has my feet refusing to budge for anything.
Even him.
12
GIOVANNI
I’m not a patient man, and today, my patience is stretched so thin it will snap at the slightest provocation. The head doctor’s office is suffocating. It’s too clean and lifeless not to deliver bad news with a fake smile and legally binding paperwork you signed without reading it.
I’m only here because someone couldn’t follow a simple instruction. I told them to cancel Valeria’s appointment, yet here I am, wasting time I could use teaching Valentina that I never back down when challenged.
I have a lead—finally. Valentina’s license was for a US address, but there was a card tucked in the bottom of her purse for a local pub. From what I gathered from the owner when I visited to ensure both he and his patrons know Valentina is off-limits for anyone, her shift begins in an hour.
I’m so close to winning this game of chase that I can taste it. I merely have to conquer this last obstacle first.
Dr. Di Petro’s droning monotone brings my attention back to the present. He hasn’t shut up for nearly half an hour. It’s mostly gobbledygook medical jargon that means nothing to me.
I hurry him along by tapping my foot and glancing arrogantly at my watch. Nothing works, so I glare at him, silently announcing he has five minutes to get to the point or I’ll bring my gun to the party.
I have stalking to do. That doesn’t wait for anyone.
The good doctor would already be dead if he weren’t a close friend of my father’s. That’s how infuriated I become when someone doesn’t follow my direct order. I won’t just take down the fool responsible for the mishap. Anyone associated with him will also endure the brunt of my wrath.
“Stop wasting my time and state your business. I don’t have all day.” I lean forward and glare at the doctor sternly enough for the tremor of his hands to be visible from across his desk. “We won’t know if the embryo transfer was successful for another five to ten days, so why the fuck did you call us in early? If it’s to apologize again for not heeding my request to cancel the procedure, it’s too late. The harm has already been done.”
Valeria, seated beside me, scoffs as if disgusted. The doctor doesn’t pay her any attention. His focus is solely on me. “SignorCaruso, there was a mix-up on the day of the procedure.”
“And?”
His face pales. “The sperm you donated months ago, to be placed into Valeria’s eggs… there was a mistake. They were placed into someone else.”
I don’t understand what he’s saying. I’m not stupid. His confession is just tainted with too many murky undertones to be comprehensible.
Then, slowly, the meaning of his words sinks in.
My child—the blood and legacy of my family—is out there in someone else. Not Valeria as per our contract and the woman my family expects. Someone else.
The mind swirls as my vision narrows. “You’re telling me”—my voice is dangerously calm but loud—“that a Caruso could be bornoutside the family? That my child, the fucking heir to my fortune, is in the stomach of a stranger?”
The doctor nods as his eyes widen with fear. “We’re so sorry,SignorCaruso. It was an administrative error. We’re doing everything we can to rectify?—”
“Rectify?” I cut him off, my temperature rising. “How do you rectify something like this? This isn’t a missed appointment or a lost file. This is my family. My fucking blood. This is the Caruso name. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Valeria scoots to the edge of her chair, her face ashen. She’s crying and clearly devastated. “I can’t believe this. You promised?—”
I barely hear the remainder of her words as fury and disbelief rage war inside me. The Caruso legacy is everything. It’s what my father built and my brothers and I have fought to protect. It’s the reason for every sacrifice I’ve made over the past thirty-four years. And now, because of some idiot’s mistake, it could all unravel.
I clench my fists while fighting the urge to put one through the wall. My jaw aches from how ruefully I grind my teeth. “Who?” I demand. “Who has my child?”
“Our child,” Valeria corrects. “They used my eggs too, Giovanni. This is as much my child as it is yours.”
The doctor shakes his head. “We can’t disclose that information. Patient confidentiality?—”
My laugh is harsh and bitter. “Patient confidentiality? You think I care about your rules? You’ve made a mistake that could change the course of my family’s history, and you’re hiding behind paperwork? A signature won’t protect you from what you’ve done!”
Instantly, I regret leaving my gun with my driver. Valeria knows I am a hothead, and when my short temper is combined with the frustration of my direct order being ignored, I become a raging lunatic.
