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“And her family. You’ve had them under protection.”
“Yes.”
He rumbles a short laugh. “Ah. She’s the one who owed you, hmm?”
I slow as I approach the building. Before, I did feel that Sybil owed me. She had been the one to sidetrack me that day when I was on the way to meet up with my brother. She had consumed me so completely that I hadn’t suspected a thing—until I arrived at the scene and saw his blood staining the puddles of rain. One look at his lifeless face had broken me, and it was all because I wasn’t there. Because of her.
Now, I can’t blame her. What happened was the Gattos’ fault. They took her sister and my brother, but I had been blinded with rage and chased Sybil away with the promise to kill her.
I once thought she owed me for taking my brother, but the only thing she owes me is her heart. After all, she took mine that day. It’s only fair.
My father interprets my silence as confirmation. “I want to meet her.”
I halt just before reaching my elevator. “Diavolo, no.”
“You have no say here. She’ll bear your heir someday, Dominick, and no worthy woman would leave her child so easily. This means she’ll be in our lives.Ora la tua donna è in famiglia.”
Now your woman is in the family.
I grit my teeth. “Father. No.”
“I’ll be there at six, Dominick. Make one of your mother’s recipes.”
He hangs up, and I fume before stepping into the elevator and punching the right button. As it rises, I pace.
He thinks Sybil won’t just give me full custody of the baby and walk away. But what if he’s wrong? What if she hates my life and what I’ve become enough that she would do anything to stay away from it? She and her family would be safe and free to live their lives no matter what, and she could simply leave again.
No. She ran from me yesterday because she knew she was pregnant. She must have done it out of worry for our baby’s future.
My chest warms at that thought, but it doesn’t ease the sour mood my father’s self-invitation has put me in. The elevator opens. I pace out of it and nearly crash right into Sybil, who’s holding a plate of eggs and fruit for breakfast.
“God! You scared me,” she mutters, setting the plate down on the counter and folding her arms over her chest. She’s wearing my bathrobe, and her damp hair is rolled into a messy bun on top of her head. Her single crutch is tucked under her armpit, and her ankle is in the thick brace I insisted she wear earlier. “I have a bone to pick with you,Mr. Fiore.”
Immediately, some of my tension lifts. I fight a smile. Of course, she’s looking for trouble. And with her looking as delectable as she does now, she’s certain to get it.
“Pick away.”
Sybil shakes a finger at me. “Why the hell did I wake up to a notification that a million fucking dollars were sent to my account?”
I reach out to move a wet strand of hair off her forehead and smirk when she bats my hand away. She’s so adorable. “It was in the contract.”
“I’m not taking your money. I don’t care if it’s not mafia money. I don’t want it, Nico.”
“You signed for it.”
“Yeah, well—" She huffs and steps closer, beautiful brown eyes earnest. “It just feels wrong, okay? You’ve already made sure I’m safe and comfortable here for now, and my family is happy and safe, too. And the baby...” She stops and swallows. “I don’t want to be paid like some surrogate, because I’m not just a surrogate—I’m the fuckingmother.I don’t want the money. Okay?”
My cock is stiffening as I examine her, fingers itching to caress her hips or her face. She’s always beautiful, but when she’s worked up, it puts a lovely faint flush in her cheeks. “Okay.”
She blinks. “You agree? That…was easier than I expected.”
“It doesn’t always need to be a fight. What you want matters to me.”
She sits on a stool, popping a grape in her pretty little mouth and studying me. I notice she left the big bag of grapes on the counter of the kitchen adjoined to the living room and put them away, tidying up other things as I go.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
