How is this going to work out?
If they won’t admit that I’m Lorenzo’s daughter…how do Giuliano and I ever come out as a couple? If my mother doesn’t come forward with the truth people will naturally assume the paternity results have been faked. I need her to show a united front with us. We can’t do this alone.
So close and yet, so far.
For a long time, I sit alone in the darkness and even though Giuliano is here with me, I am all alone.
He’s lost in his own head, with no fucks to give about mine.
Eventually I take a long hot shower and get into bed behind Giuliano, I cuddle his back and kiss his shoulder. “I love you,” I whisper into the darkness.
Silence.
“Baby?”
“I love you too,” he says softly.
I kiss his back again, he loves me.
That’s all that matters.
*
The sound of a text coming in wakes me from my sleep and I vaguely hear Giuliano roll over and check his phone. He sits up and texts someone and gets out of bed.
He walks into the bathroom and I hear the shower turn on, I glance at the clock, Eight a.m.
What’s he doing?
Two minutes later the shower turns off and he walks back into the bedroom wrapped in a towel and walks into the wardrobe. “What are you doing?” I call.
“I have to go into work.”
“What?” I sit up onto my elbows. “It’s Sunday.”
“I know.” He reappears and I watch on as he buttons up his business shirt. “There are….” He pauses. “Things going on.”
“What things?”
“We have a mole working for Ferrara.”
“What?” Panic runs through me. “Well, is this dangerous?”
“Not for me.” He leans over and kisses me and lays me back down. “Go back to sleep, angel.” He pushes my hair back behind my ears as he stares down at me.
“I’m sorry about last night.” I whisper.
“Don’t be.” He cups my face in his hand. “Your mother and I are never going to get along. This will never be the big happy family that you want, you need to get your head around it.”
“I just….”
He kisses me softly, cutting me off. “Go back to sleep.”
“Well, what am I going to do all day?” I ask.
He shrugs as he stands. “Go see Anna.”
“She’s away with Carlo.”
“He’s on his way back now, she’ll be around.”
“Oh.” I smile, feeling a little bit better that her weekend plans got interrupted too.
“Jules.” I just want to wash last night from our memory. “I love you.”
“I know.” He kisses my forehead and then without another word turns and leaves.
I flop back onto my pillow in disgust, no I love you too.
How annoying.
Ugh…he can try to hide it all he wants but I know he’s disappointed at how last night went too, and he didn’t even hear what my brother had to say.
I get a vision of Giuliano threatening Matteo to stay out of his way and my stomach drops.
This is just one big fucking disaster.
Giuliano
The elevator opens at the top floor of the Ferrara building and I step out with purpose.
Nicolai has intel, he texted me this morning and wants me to meet him at the dock at one p.m., he knows who the mole is. And as soon as I know, that person will be meeting his maker. It’s one thing to be stolen from, but to find out it’s an inside job and that one of my own men is to blame…is a betrayal that I can’t accept.
He’s a dead man.
I walk through reception and down the corridor and catch sight of Lorenzo, he smiles. “Hello, son.”
“Fuck off.” I walk past him and into my office, I sit down at my desk and turn my computer on.
He appears at my door. “Have you got a moment?”
“Nope.”
He exhales heavily and walks in and closes the door behind him. “We need to talk about last night.”
“I’ve got nothing to say to you.”
He drops into the chair at my desk anyway. “Francesca is not my daughter.”
My eyes shoot up to his and I glare at him.
“I mean….” He shrugs as if searching for words. “Francesca is not my daughter, so whatever you were implying last night…. Whatever you think you know, it isn’t correct.”
I stare at him, my mind a clusterfuck of confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, that makes two of us, because I want some fucking answers too.”
“Are you saying that you weren’t sleeping with her before she fell pregnant?”
“We were in love, most definitely, and there were one or two times but the dates were way off, trust me. I wish more than anything Francesca was my daughter.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t have time for this shit today.”
“I left last night because I wanted answers.”
“You left?”
“Yes, I walked out and Bianca followed me. She swears that she didn’t sleep with anyone else.”
“You don’t believe her?”
He rolls his lips. “She was a beautiful woman. Back then who knows what she was capable of.”
“You think she was sleeping with more men on the side than just you?”
“Between you and me.” He pauses. “And this doesn’t leave this room, do you understand me?”
“Of course.”
“I’ve always had my suspicions about Antonio and Bianca.”
“Antonio?” I frown. “Francesca’s guard, Antonio?”
“Yes, he was her guard around that time.”
“He would have been only young.”
“He was. Early twenties, but he was besotted with her. She was this glamorous older woman who had needs and a womanizing absent husband.”
“But if she was in love with you….” My voice trails off as I try to put the pieces together.
“We had a few accidents, but I had decided that I wouldn’t sleep with her again until I had your father’s approval. He was my best friend and I wasn’t comfortable betraying him. She wasn’t happy about it, we fought often.”
“You think Antonio?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I’m trying to find a logical explanation and it’s the only thing I can come up with. I absolutely lost my shit with her last night after we left the wedding. Biggest fight we’ve ever had.”
“What did she say?”
“She denied it, swears there was nobody else but me.”
“You don’t believe her?”
“Who fucking knows?” He sighs sadly. “I’m gutted. It was bad enough knowing that the woman I loved fell pregnant to another man. But to find out there was someone else, a third person…and that he got to give her the child that I desperately wanted.”
“Fucking hell.” I sit back in my chair and let out a deep exhale, we both fall silent, this is one fucked-up situation. “She hates me.”
“She really does.” Lorenzo smiles.
I smirk, for some reason amused.
“She’s a good person, Giuliano. Regardless of what you think you know of her. She is a good woman who was put in a bad situation.” His eyes hold mine. “And if you hurt my beloved Francesca, I will kill you with my bare hands.”
I give him a sad smile. “I’m sorry she’s not your daughter.”
“Not as sorry as I am.”
12:30 p.m.
“I don’t like this,” Alex splutters as he swings on his chair. “Can’t he just tell you over the phone?”