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f his many hand-tailored suits. He must be going straight to the office, Lily thought, realising she’d have to speak fast if she didn’t want to lose her opportunity.
He looked so worried about his grandfather that she longed to comfort him. But she knew she was the last person he would accept comfort from—not while he still believed the worst of her.
She hesitated, knowing it might seem insensitive to bring up paternity testing while Vito was preoccupied with his grandfather’s health. But on the other hand, if she could make things right between them, she could be there to help him through his grandfather’s illness.
‘Vito.’ Lily took a deep breath and steeled herself to start a conversation that she knew could be difficult. ‘Have you got a few minutes to talk?’
Vito turned to look at her, holding a dark-grey suit on a hanger in his hand, and frowned. The last thing he wanted right then was to talk.
‘Make it quick,’ he said, laying his suit on the bed and going back to the wardrobe to select a shirt. ‘I have a meeting in half an hour.’
‘I will be quick,’ she said. ‘But you have to listen to me properly.’
Vito gritted his teeth and turned to face her. She’d been back in his life less than a day and already she was testing his patience.
‘You are upset with me because you think I was unfaithful,’ she said, shaking her sleek curtain of blonde hair back over her shoulders.
‘Upset?’ Vito repeated incredulously, watching her hair swing alluringly as it settled into place. Perhaps she was hoping to distract him with her feminine wiles. ‘My God! You English really have mastered the art of understatement.’
‘I’m not just going to let your accusation pass,’ Lily said. Her voice was calm, but Vito could see her hands were shaking as she gripped them together in front of her. ‘I was not unfaithful to you. And I don’t know why you think that. I’ve never done anything to give you that idea.’
Vito stared at her, wondering how she was able to make herself sound so sincere when he knew she was guilty as sin.
‘You are right,’ he said. ‘You covered your trail well. But that doesn’t change the fact that I know you betrayed me.’
‘I didn’t,’ Lily protested. ‘And the fact that you could even think that about me is just as much of a betrayal. But I don’t want to go on like this. I want a paternity test to prove you are my child’s father.’
Vito stared at her, feeling tension knot painfully in his stomach. She wanted a paternity test—the one thing he dreaded.
But he’d known it would come to this sooner or later. Although Lily had obviously been sleeping with two men at once, as far as she was concerned it was possible Vito might be the father.
For Lily a paternity test was just a game of chance. There would be a delay until it could be carried out, and she was willing to gamble on the outcome being lucky for her. It was a risk worth taking, because from her point of view she had nothing to lose—he already believed she’d been unfaithful.
But Vito had everything to lose. For him, the test could not produce a good result. There was no way he could win.
He knew he wasn’t the father—because he could not have children.
‘There will be no paternity test.’ Vito clenched his fists at his sides.
He would not allow himself to be subject to physical, public proof that he was not the father of Lily’s child. If his grandfather ever found out that the baby was not a true Salvatore heir, it would destroy his happiness for ever.
That was the whole point of marrying Lily. And he had to live with it until the time came when he could discard her and the baby. Even though she continued to show no sign that she had done anything wrong, or take any responsibility for her actions, this was the perfect way for Vito to bring a baby into the family—to make his grandfather happy before he died.
And then there was the other reason he would not submit to a paternity test. The real, gut-wrenching reason that made his palms start to sweat and his blood run cold. He simply could not bear to think of it—he could not face having his inability to father a child thrust in his face again.
‘Why not?’ Lily demanded. ‘Why not have a paternity test and put all this misery behind us?’
‘If I turned out to be the father, that does not prove your fidelity,’ Vito grated.
Only his ex-wife, Capricia, and her fertility expert, knew of his failure as a man. The memory of Capricia’s scornful face as she’d waved the doctors report under his nose was almost as painful as his infertility itself.
He would never admit his failure to anyone else—especially not to Lily.
‘But…’ Lily hesitated, looking up at his troubled face. There was something different in his expression, something she hadn’t seen before. But she couldn’t ponder it for too long. It had been hard enough to make this conversation happen, and it wasn’t over yet. She owed it to herself to keep trying to get through to Vito. And he owed it to her to give a proper explanation.
‘Where does that leave us?’ she continued. ‘If we don’t have trust—where can we go from here?’
‘This isn’t about us,’ Vito said coldly. ‘This is about saving your baby from a miserable life as an illegitimate child.’
