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She blinked at him. The one thing she hadn’t expected to hear from him was a threat of blackmail. Gio was a filmmaker, but she knew his last two films hadn’t done well. So apparently, he was having trouble getting backing. Enough trouble that he was willing to fly to America for the sole purpose of blackmailing her.
Naomi was so furious with him, with herself, she could hardly draw breath. But Gio was oblivious of her thoughts and feelings, and went on outlining his business plan.
“Since you told me about the bambino,” he said, “I felt it my duty to check on you. And I have found that your fiancé is the man who invents so many wonderful things...” He gave her another of his I’m so disappointed looks and said, “He is very rich and yet you did not mention this to me. Why is that?”
“Because it’s none of your business?” she ground out.
“But yes, it is.” He leaned toward her again, reached out and covered her hand with his, and smiled into her eyes. “You will marry this man soon, yes?”
“Yes.” One word, squeezed past the knot of fury and humiliation lodged in her throat.
“Then you are able to afford to help me, sì? I have a film in production, and I want you to finance it for me. We will be business partners, bella!” He released her hand, sat back and smiled benevolently at her. “You, me, our bambino.”
Blackmail. Plain and simple. It was an ugly word, but it was the only one that fit. Naomi felt like an idiot for ever involving herself with this sad, shallow man. She could only hope that her genes would wipe out whatever of Gio was lingering in her baby. But even as she thought it, she realized that Toby would be her child’s father. He would be the role model her child needed—the guiding hand, the understanding heart—and that would more than make up for Gio’s faulty genes.
“Do we have an agreement, bella?” He pursed his lips, shook back his hair and positioned himself in the single slice of light piercing through a window. “I will keep your secret about the baby. I will not demand my fatherly rights. All you must do is help me with this. Is not such a bad bargain, sì?”
Naomi took a deep breath, shook her head and said, “No, Gio. It’s not a bad bargain.”
He smiled, clearly delighted with her.
“It’s a terrible one.”
His smile disappeared. “Bella, do not be foolish.”
“You know when I was foolish, Gio?” she asked. “When I looked at you and saw more than was actually there. I’m thinking clearly now.” Leaning across the table toward him, she said, “I won’t give you a penny. You’ll get nothing from me, Gio. Ever.
“So, you do your worst. Tell the world you’re the baby’s father. In fact,” she said, as brilliance flashed in her mind, “I approve. Go ahead. Take out an ad in every paper...splash it across cyberspace, claim my baby as yours. It’ll be easier to sue you for child support.”
He gaped at her, his mouth opening and closing like a fish on a line. Oh, he hadn’t expected this. He’d thought that Naomi would roll over and do just what he wanted to protect her own name. But she’d learned something with Toby’s help. You stood up to bullies. You didn’t let them dictate your actions. So she was taking a stand here, to protect herself and her baby.
He looked absolutely stunned, and the knowledge that she’d caught him off guard gave Naomi a huge rush of pleasure. Pushing up and away from the table, she looked down at him. “My husband will be my baby’s father, and no child could ask for a better one. So do what you have to do, Gio. But you’ll never get a dime from me.”
Smiling, she turned around and stalked out of the plush bar. She felt...liberated, and she couldn’t wait to get home to the ranch and tell Toby all about this meeting and how she’d handled it.
Naomi never noticed the man in the corner who’d been surreptitiously taking pictures during her encounter with Gio.
* * *
When his phone signaled an incoming text, Toby checked it, expecting to hear from Naomi that she was headed home from Houston. He opened it, stared and felt his stomach drop to his feet.
A picture of Naomi and a dark-haired man seated at a table together, looking cozy, as the man held her hand and looked meaningfully into her eyes. The message accompanying the photo was short and to the point.
You’re a fool. She’s meeting Gio Fabiani behind your back.
Gio. Her baby’s father. Toby actually saw red. His vision blurred and darkened at the edges as he stared at the damning photo. Naomi was meeting the man who’d gotten her pregnant and turned his back on her. The man she’d claimed she didn’t want anything to do with. Yet they looked pretty damn friendly, with him staring into her eyes while he held her hand.
She’d told Toby she was going to do some wedding shopping in the city. Instead, she’d gone to meet another man. She’d lied to him. So what else had she lied to him about? His heart felt as if it were being squeezed by a cold, tight fist. He couldn’t breathe, because the cold rage rising inside was choking him.
This was exactly what he’d worried about. Getting closer to Naomi only set him up for the pain he’d felt the last time he allowed a woman into his life. Naomi knew what Sasha had put him through, and now she herself, the woman he’d thought of as his best friend, was doing the same thing?
Why was she meeting Gio? Was she playing both of them against each other? Was she planning on walking out on him in favor of the guy who’d gotten her pregnant?
“What the hell, Naomi? What the hell is going on?” He couldn’t stop staring at the picture.
Maverick was behind this texted photo, he knew. Who the hell else would be watching Naomi and making sure Toby knew what was happening? Bastard had a lot coming to him when he was finally caught.
Shutting his phone down, he stuffed it into his pocket as if he could wipe the image of Naomi with another man from his mind if he just didn’t have to look at it. Pain stabbed at him. This was so much worse than when Sasha had walked out. It cut deeper because Naomi was a part of him. She’d been his friend. His lover. His fiancée.
