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“I used a fucking condom. What more do you want from me?” I snap defensively.
“You need to take responsibility.”
“Hardly,” I scoff. “Besides, she’s probably just pretending to be pregnant because her feelings are hurt, and she wants to get back at me.” But the niggling guilt in my gut sours my words.
“Obviously, condoms don’t always work, Leo. And if you’re the big shot you think you are, I would expect you to know that!” His voice rises with each word in an uncharacteristic display of uncontrolled fury. My father’s lips pale as they form a thin line of frustration, and when he speaks again, his tone is cool and collected once more. “The Guerra girls have a reputation for their virtue because their father guards them so obsessively; so that Don Guerra came to me willing to discuss his daughter’s loss of virginity would definitely mean the girl’s pregnant. You think he wouldn’t be absolutely certain before exposing that information to anyone? Least of all our family.”
“And how is he so certain it’s me? A hundred guys could have knocked her up by now. She was far too easy to get into bed to be the virgin they claimed her to be,” I sneer. I know I was her first—no matter what I say. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t trying to entrap me in some way.
“I assure you, there will be a paternity test before we announce the engagement. But if you are, in fact, the father, to make things right, you will marry the girl.”
“The hell I will.” I’m not a pawn in this game. I’m the one controlling the board. Our family was nothing before my ambitions earned us the territory we now own. And my father will not be dictating the terms of my personal life over some girl’s pregnancy.
“If this child is yours, we will form an alliance with the family rather than absolve them of their power,” he commands, his gaze imperious as he looks down his nose at me.
“I won’t marry just to satisfy your whim,” I state flatly. “I’m a conqueror. We don’t need an alliance with the Guerra family. And now that we have the Valencia family under our command, they won’t be able to stand against us for long. So, it doesn’t matter if the girl’s pregnant. I will finish what I started. My way.”
Sighing heavily, my father rounds his desk to stand before me. We’re roughly the same size now, though I have a few inches on him while he’s several pounds heavier around the middle. But he has the same Roman nose and angular jaw. He’s a picture of what I will likely be in twenty-odd years, though I have no intention of growing soft with age.
Placing a hand on my shoulder, he holds my eyes, his gaze intense. “Blood is thicker than water, Leo, and allowing your bastard son—if the child proves to be a boy—to be raised by our enemies could end up destroying everything we’ve built if the child comes to claim his inheritance. The only way to ensure our family’s hold on Piovosa is to bring that child into the fold.”
My stomach knots at the grave truth in his words.
If I had legitimate children, then a bastard might not be such a threat, but regardless of the child’s legitimacy, he would be my eldest and, therefore, have a solid claim to inheriting my empire according to Piovosa’s traditions.
If the baby proved to be a girl, I would have far less to worry about. Women rarely came into an inheritance in families like ours, and an illegitimate girl would have even less of a claim. But can I really take that chance? My odds are fifty-fifty at best.
And if the child did prove to be a boy, the Guerras would be raising that child with every intent of vindicating themselves one day.
“Fuck,” I snarl, jerking away from my father’s grip as I scan the room for something to smash. Things really couldn’t look worse.
Just when I’m on the cusp of taking it all, I fall victim to my own schemes.
“An alliance may not be the victory we hoped for, but it’s better than the alternative,” my father states, his words rational now, seeming to have lost their heat now that my own fury is consuming me.
“If she isn’t pregnant—if I’m not the father—I’m going to crush that family so brutally their name will vanish from history,” I state coldly.
My father observes me silently, his eyes following my path as I pace the study.
“When are we doing the test?”
“Today. The Guerras have already called the doctor with the understanding that we both wish to keep this… discrete.”
I nod, my mind racing to think of the implications that might go into this unwanted pregnancy. I need to blow off some steam. “Tell me when he gets here. I’ll be in the gym.”
Striding from the room, I signal for my guards to follow, ready for a proper sparring session. I need to knock somebody senseless—or have my bell properly wrung. Right now, I’m not sure I care which one.
6
TIA
“Signorina Tia, the don would like to speak with you downstairs,” my maid says with a nervous smile.
“Thank you, Linda,” I say wearily, rising from my bed. I’ve come to dread these summons over the last few weeks, knowing that if my father wishes to see me, it can’t be for anything good.
Finger-combing my hair into place, I check my image in the mirror to make sure I don’t look too terrible. Then, I follow Linda downstairs to the drawing room. Both my parents wait for me there; my mother has become something of a translator for my father, seeing as he still refuses to speak to me.
“That will be all, Linda,” she says as the maid ushers me into the room.
