Secret Heirs And A Forever Family

‘Rafael,’ she whispered. ‘Stay with me. Please.’

A look of surprise flashed across his face and then Rafael slid into bed next to her. He pulled her into his arms, drawing her back against the solid wall of his chest so their bodies were like spoons in a drawer, fitting perfectly. With a sigh of contentment Allegra settled against him and drifted back to sleep. She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but tonight she felt safe and happy and hopeful.

Rafael sat in the doctor’s office, Allegra looking pale and tired next to him, both of them incredibly tense. Now was the moment of reckoning.

Last night had been one of the most intimate and intense experiences of his life—first feeling their baby kick and then holding Allegra in his arms all night long. The ache of desire at feeling her body so tantalisingly close to his had been overwhelmed by the fierce need to comfort and protect her. She needed him, and he wanted to be needed. Wanted to provide for her what only he could.

But this moment, he acknowledged with painful certainty, was outside his control.

The doctor came into the room, her bland expression giving nothing away. ‘Miss Wells, Mr Vitali.’ She smiled at them both before sitting down at her desk. ‘I have the results of the amniocentesis, and there is good news and bad news.’

Allegra’s hand snaked out, searching for his. Her skin was icy cold as Rafael clasped her fingers between his own, trying to imbue her with his warmth, his strength. ‘Yes?’ he asked, wanting to hear the worst and get it over with. Once they knew they could figure out how to move forward. What to do, even how to feel.

‘Your baby does have a heart defect,’ the doctor explained gently, her smile seeming kind. ‘But it is not as serious as it first looked. We’ll need to do some tests, but I believe the condition is operable and there is every chance your child will live a full and healthy life.’

Rafael stared at her in shock, barely taking in the words. He’d been bracing himself for the absolute worst news and now he felt blindsided by this wonderful surprise. Next to him Allegra let out a small, soft sob and brushed at her eyes, clearly overcome.

‘What kind of heart defect?’ Rafael asked. ‘What kind of operation?’

Rafael and Allegra both listened as the doctor explained the situation. Allegra would need to have some tests done in the next week, but if all went well then her pregnancy could continue normally to term. She would be scheduled for a C-section to avoid the traumatic effects of labour and delivery on their baby, and then a few days after birth an operation would be performed to fix their baby’s heart. The recovery would take several months but then their baby would, God willing, be healthy and whole.

‘Besides the heart defect,’ the doctor continued, smiling, ‘your baby is perfectly healthy, and everything looks normal. Do you want to know the sex?’

Rafael glanced at Allegra, saw a shy hope lighting her features, making her look radiant. She nodded.

‘It’s a boy,’ the doctor said. ‘A healthy baby boy.’

A boy. Rafael’s mind was reeling with the news.

Instead of the baby most likely doomed to die that they’d both been expecting, the awful outcome that Rafael had been bracing himself for, they could hope to have a healthy child. A baby boy whose condition could be healed, who was going to live and grow and know him. A son. He was filled with an incredible, overwhelming joy, almost too great to contain, and then realisation slammed through him, leaving him breathless.

This changed everything.

Allegra walked from the doctor’s office in a daze of hope and incredulous relief.

‘I can hardly believe it,’ she said as they climbed into Rafael’s waiting limo. ‘Our baby is going to be healthy…’ Again she was both laughing and blinking back tears, overcome by it all as she had been in the doctor’s office.

It had been such an intense twenty-four hours, with the concert last night and then learning they would discover the amnio results today. And then those wonderful moments when Rafael had put his hand on her belly and felt their baby kick. Everything in Allegra had ached at the look on his face, and when he’d held her for the rest of the night she’d felt so safe and secure. She’d never wanted that feeling to end.

Since then she hadn’t let herself think about any of it or what it meant, because the doctor’s appointment had taken precedence. Now she glanced at Rafael and saw the frown that settled between his brows, noted the hard line of his mouth, and unease rippled through her.

She’d opened a part of herself to Rafael last night, had let him in, let him affect her, let him matter. All the things she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do. It had felt so right, but now she feared she was going to pay the price for her trust and need. And so she scrambled to erect some barrier, find that much-needed distance. And yet how could she, when their baby was healthy? When every emotion she had was scraped raw?

‘Rafael?’ she asked cautiously. ‘You…you are pleased, aren’t you? About the baby?’

‘Yes, of course. Pleased and relieved.’ He paused, swinging his hard, amber gaze towards her and pinning her with it. ‘But you realise, Allegra, how this changes things.’

It was more statement than question, and it made her blood freeze. The look on his face was hard and unrelenting. He looked as he had when he’d ordered her out of his hotel room, and she felt the way she had then, uncertain, vulnerable, confused. ‘What…what do you mean?’

Rafael’s gaze remained unyielding as he answered. ‘Before this news the situation appeared temporary. It had an ending point, sadly.’ His gaze flicked away from her to the window where traffic streamed by in a blur of colour and sound. His jaw hardened, his profile reminding her of a Roman statue, perfect and cold. ‘Now the situation is ongoing and permanent, and that changes things between us, naturally.’

Allegra swallowed hard. Yes, she understood that. Now they would have a healthy child together, a child who would, God willing, live to adulthood. A child they would somehow have to raise together, because it was obvious Rafael wanted to be involved. And Allegra wanted him to be involved. She knew the searing loss of a father. She wouldn’t subject her child, her son, to it, if she didn’t have to.

And yet…how was this going to work? What was Rafael saying?

And what if he walked away from her and her son, just as he had before?

‘Of course,’ she said stiffly, ‘we’ll have to come to some arrangement.’ Surely they could, although right now she could not imagine what kind of custody arrangement would actually work. She was in New York and Rafael lived in Sicily. They could hardly pass a baby between continents like some parcel, and she wouldn’t want that anyway. Anything else, however, was unthinkable.

‘Arrangement?’ Rafael swung back to subject her to a cold stare. ‘I am not interested in arrangements.’

His eyes resembled shards of glittering amber as he kept his gaze on hers. ‘I… I don’t understand,’ Allegra said, although she was afraid she was beginning to. Here was the ruthless man who got what he wanted, who took over a failing company, who kicked a woman to the door. Here was the father of her child.

‘I’m not going to be fobbed off with some custody agreement,’ Rafael stated. ‘I would not wish such a thing on any child, and certainly not mine. I’m not going to be satisfied with weekends or holidays, an evening here or there.’

‘I think you’re being extreme,’ Allegra protested. ‘Plenty of children have divorced parents and they grow up well adjusted and happy. We can find a way forward that suits us both…’

Rafael arched an eyebrow. ‘Was that your experience?’

She bit her lip, caught by the admission. ‘That was different.’

‘How?’

‘Because we wouldn’t be getting divorced. Our child wouldn’t know one thing and then have to learn another. There wouldn’t be a sense of loss, because it would be how it always was, our son’s normal.’

His lip curled. ‘My lack of involvement would be normal?’

Allegra looked away. ‘Why does it have to be your lack of involvement? Surely we can work something out.’

‘How? You live in New York and I live in Sicily. A baby’s place is with his mother, I recognise that. So what happens? I get our son when he’s two or three? Four? Five?’

‘No.’ The word was torn from her, trembling and indignant.

Rafael gave a nod of cold satisfaction.

‘You wouldn’t want that either. You don’t want to share our child, and neither do I.’

Realisation crept coldly through her, a seeping mist obscuring rational thought. She understood what he was saying, and yet… ‘Then what are you suggesting?’ she forced herself to ask.

‘I want to be involved in our son’s life, Allegra,’ Rafael stated. ‘Completely involved. You cannot deny me that. You will not.’

Allegra stiffened, hearing an implied threat in the words. ‘And if I do?’ she dared to ask.

‘Do not even think of it.’ Rafael’s voice was a low thrum of grim intent. ‘You do not want to experience the full force of my anger and power.’

‘Wow.’ She let out a shaky laugh, amazed and horrified at how they’d got to this place. Last night he’d held her so tenderly, she’d been halfway to caring about him. Trusting him. Today he was the merciless stranger who had kicked her out of his bed. There was a lesson to be learned here. She’d thought she’d learned it already, but it seemed she hadn’t taken it in, not fully. ‘You’re bringing out the big guns, aren’t you? And I thought I’d felt your anger and power once before.’

‘Not even close,’ Rafael answered coolly. ‘Trust me.’

Never. The limo had pulled up to the hotel. Allegra gazed at the elegant building overlooking Central Park, and felt as if she were about to enter a prison, one to which Rafael held the keys. She couldn’t go inside, not willingly.

‘We can discuss the necessary arrangements,’ she told Rafael in as dignified a tone as she could manage. ‘Of course I want to accommodate you as best as I can. I want our baby to have an involved father as much as you do. A completely involved father. We can work something out, Rafael. I know we can.’ A bellboy came forward to open her door. ‘But I also want to return to my life,’ Allegra said as firmly as she could. ‘My apartment, my job. Now that we know things are okay there’s no need for me to stay here.’ And she could use some distance from Rafael and his autocratic commands, his unsettling presence. She moved to get out of the car and Rafael stayed her with one powerful hand encircling her wrist, the proprietary touch shocking her.

‘You don’t understand, Allegra,’ he informed her in a lethal tone. ‘You’re not going back to your apartment or your job or even your life. As soon as possible you’re coming to Sicily to live with me…as my wife.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

ALLEGRA STOOD IN the centre of their hotel suite, her whole body trembling. As his wife? The words he’d spoken moments ago in the limo reverberated through her. With no choice but to get out of the car and deal with this head on, she’d stalked up to their suite and then turned to face him, every atom of her being radiating outrage. Shock. Fear. Rafael, on the other hand, looked cool, calm and completely in control.

It was impossible. He was impossible. How could he issue such an outrageous command without batting an eyelid? Even now Rafael was shrugging off his jacket and heading for his laptop, as if it were a normal business day. As if their whole world hadn’t shifted on its axis.

‘Rafael.’ Her voice trembled along with her body. ‘You can’t… I can’t…’

He didn’t even look at her as he answered, ‘You can and you will.’

‘Just like that?’ Her voice rang out. ‘You want me to leave everything and marry you? That was your proposal?’

Irritation flickered across his face as he turned to her. ‘Don’t be melodramatic.’

‘Don’t be insane,’ she snapped, well and truly angry now. Anger felt better and stronger than the fear that surged right beneath it. Because even now she was afraid Rafael would win. He was richer, stronger, more powerful. And so far he’d achieved everything he’d wanted. Nothing stood in his way, and yet Allegra clung to her ground. She had to, because the alternative… ‘I’m not marrying you.’

Rafael regarded her levelly for a long, tense moment. Then he shrugged and went to sit down on one of the plush sofas. ‘Fine, let’s talk about it. What are your alternatives, do you suppose?’

On shaky legs Allegra moved over to the sofa opposite him and sat down. ‘To stay in New York and live my life.’

He arched an eyebrow. ‘Working in a café for most likely little over minimum wage, and living in a studio flat in an insalubrious neighbourhood?’

‘It is not insalubrious,’ Allegra snapped. ‘For heaven’s sake, talk about being melodramatic.’

‘I am not having my child raised in a near-slum.’

All right, maybe her street wasn’t the fanciest in Manhattan, but it was hardly a slum. ‘You’re being ridiculous.’ In all sorts of ways.

‘And I think you’re being ridiculous,’ Rafael countered coolly. ‘What about your job, Allegra? How do you propose to continue working with a newborn baby, one that will have particular and crucial needs at the start, and maybe after that as well?’

‘I’ll take time off, naturally.’ She lifted her chin, determined to remain strong. Defiant. She’d meet every challenge he threw at her.

‘And do you get maternity benefits with your job? Proper healthcare coverage?’ He sat back against the sofa cushions, the twist of his mouth belying the dangerous emotion she saw sparking in his eyes. Despite his level tone, his reasonable demeanour, she had the feeling that he was angry. Very angry.

He was also right. Her job provided healthcare, but it wasn’t the best coverage and she wouldn’t get much time off after their son was born, plus she couldn’t afford the kind of childcare she knew she’d need. All things she hadn’t yet had time to think about, much less sort out. She looked away, silently fuming, saying nothing.

‘You clearly haven’t thought this through, Allegra. Unless you intended to rely on your mother’s scant generosity?’

‘No.’ The word was squeezed out of her throat. She hadn’t thought through all these details, at least not enough, mainly because she’d just been trying to struggle through her pregnancy.

And now, thanks to Rafael, she had to think about them immediately. Allegra took a deep breath, trying to steady her jangling nerves. ‘I’ll admit there are some difficulties,’ she said as calmly as she could. ‘But that doesn’t mean the only other option is living in Sicily as…as your wife.’ A blush swept over her entire body at that thought. Marriage. In all the possible scenarios she’d envisioned, that one had never even crossed her mind. Yet Rafael now seemed to think it was a foregone conclusion.

‘Then name one option that would be acceptable to us both,’ Rafael stated.

‘I can’t,’ Allegra retorted, ‘because you’re being so unreasonable.’

‘I’m being unreasonable?’ Rafael leaned forward, his tawny eyes glittering. ‘What if you are the one who is being unreasonable, Allegra? You seem to think it is your right not to have to make any changes or adjustments to your life circumstances for the sake of your child. Is that reasonable?’

‘I didn’t say—’

‘You want to stay in your tiny apartment, walking up and down six flights every day?’

‘Plenty of women—’

‘Where would you even keep a stroller? Or a cot? That place is minuscule. There isn’t room for a baby, and you know it.’

Her lips trembled and she pressed them together. ‘I could get a bigger apartment, then.’

‘Can you afford it? Or are you expecting me to pay for it—to fund your freewheeling lifestyle while I take whatever scraps I can? What do you think is going to happen?’ Rafael demanded, his voice like the lash of a whip. ‘I fly over to New York for occasional visits? I don’t get to know my son until he’s school age? Impossible. I refuse.’ He glared at her, his whole body radiating both determination and rage. ‘That is not how I intend to be a father.’

Allegra glared back at him, caught between misery and fury. All right, yes, she saw there were problems with her unthought-out plan. Of course she did. But she hated being railroaded into a huge decision, with Rafael expecting her to acquiesce instantly. Marriage…she’d never considered it. Never wanted to be that close to a person, that vulnerable—and why would Rafael?

But of course that wasn’t the kind of marriage he was talking about. Even so Allegra couldn’t countenance it. Couldn’t let Rafael have that much power over her. Because, she knew, it would be power. Already he affected her too much. Made her want too much.

‘You’re not being fair,’ she said quietly. ‘I’m only four and a half months pregnant, and I’ve barely been able to keep a mouthful of food down until this last week. I’m sorry if I haven’t worked out every last detail of my plan yet. And anyway,’ she added, her voice rising, ‘I didn’t even know you were going to be involved at all until a few weeks ago.’

‘Which begs the question why didn’t you tell me,’ Rafael returned, clearly unmoved by her words. ‘I asked you specifically to tell me if you were pregnant. I told you I wanted to be involved in my child’s life. And you chose to ignore me.’

‘You also booted me out of your bed,’ Allegra returned. ‘Is that the kind of man I want in my child’s life?’

‘Now you have no choice.’ Angry colour appeared in slashes on Rafael’s high cheekbones. ‘And no matter how I treated you on that night, Allegra, you had no right to deny me my child. There is a world of difference between ending a one-night stand rather abruptly and refusing me access to my son.’ His jaw was bunched, his mouth a hard line. ‘Even you should acknowledge that.’

Allegra stared at him, chilled to the very bone by the dangerous glitter in his eyes, the harsh, implacable certainty in the set of his features. The man who had treated her so tenderly, who had cradled her last night was gone. Vanished, as if he’d never been, and perhaps he hadn’t. Perhaps that Rafael had been no more than an expedient mirage. She knew what it was like for people to change. To show their true colours.

‘And yet you want me to marry you,’ she stated shakily. She felt sick and dizzy, her skin clammy and cold. All the relief at their son’s good health had drained away, leaving a dark-edged terror in its wake. The future loomed, menacing and more and more certain. Rafael would not be dissuaded.

‘Marrying me is the sensible option,’ Rafael answered. ‘The only option. I want to be involved in my son’s life, Allegra. Completely involved. He’s my heir—’

‘Your heir? It’s not as if you’re some king,’ she interjected. Rafael’s gaze narrowed.

‘I am CEO of a multi-billion-euro empire. I intend to pass that on to my son, raise him to follow me into what would become a family business. He is my heir, and he is going to be raised in Sicily by both his parents.’

Staring at him, seeing how utterly implacable he looked, Allegra realised how trapped she really was. Rafael had all the power, all the money. If he wanted to—and at this point she wouldn’t put it past him—he could use the force of his influence to take complete custody of their child. She could resist all she wanted or dared, but she’d still lose in the end. Maybe even lose her own child.

She pressed her hands to her temples, a crashing headache beginning its aching pulse. ‘I need to think,’ she muttered. ‘And I need to lie down. I’m tired, and not everything is certain, Rafael. The doctor said I’d have to undergo some tests later this week.’

She rose from the sofa, stumbling slightly, and in one quick, fluid movement, Rafael rose to grasp her arm and steady her.

‘Rest is a good idea,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll make you some herbal tea to help settle you. Chamomile is what you like, isn’t it?’

She glanced up at him in confused disbelief. Who was this man? ‘Don’t do this,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t be horrible one moment and kind the next. I don’t understand it. I can’t take it.’ Not again. With what felt like superhuman effort she shook off his arm and walked alone to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Rafael stared at the closed door and swore under his breath. That had not gone as he’d hoped or wanted. Yet what else could he have done? He wasn’t going to negotiate, not about something as important as this. He certainly wasn’t going to settle for some custody arrangement. And trying to woo Allegra with false words and oozing sentiment had felt like a waste of time and, well, wrong.

When he’d learned their child would be healthy all his protective instincts had risen to a clamour inside him. He needed Allegra and their son with him. He needed to be in control. He needed to make sure nothing went wrong. Things would be different this time. He would be different. But first he had to get her to agree.

Impatient and yet resolute, Rafael stalked to the kitchen and switched on the electric kettle. He’d make her the promised cup of tea, at least, to show he wasn’t a complete boor.

But when he tapped on Allegra’s door and the quietly opened it, he found she was already fast asleep, her Titian hair spread across the pillow, one hand tucked under her cheek, golden-red lashes feathering her pale cheeks. She looks so vulnerable and lovely it made something in him twist and tighten, and he promised right then that he’d make it up to her, to them. They could make this work. They would.

Several hours later Allegra opened the door to her bedroom and appeared, yawning and sleepy. Rafael turned from where he’d been trying to do work on his laptop and mostly failing.

Now he tried for a neutral expression as he watched her stretch, the thin T-shirt pulling across her breasts. ‘Did you sleep well?’

‘Yes, surprisingly. I didn’t realise quite how tired I was.’ She went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, her hair tumbling about her face in corkscrew curls, her face now set in serious lines. ‘You asked me what my life would look like if I stayed in New York,’ she said as she curled up on the sofa opposite him and took a sip of water. ‘So now I want to ask you the same thing. What would my—our—life look like if I come with you to Sicily?’

Relief and hope expanded in his chest, made his head light. She was going to agree. He kept his expression steady, his voice mild as he answered. ‘We would live on my estate in the mountains above Palermo. It is spacious and comfortable, with every luxury to hand. A large garden, a pool, every amusement for a growing little boy.’

Allegra nodded slowly, looking less impressed than Rafael had expected or wanted her to be. ‘And what about schooling?’ she asked. ‘When the time comes? And friends?’

‘Of course those as well,’ he answered. ‘There are plenty of good schools in the area and if we could not find one that was to our satisfaction, I would be willing to consider other options.’

She arched a delicate eyebrow. ‘Such as?’

Rafael shrugged, his mind racing. He felt that Allegra was looking for something from him and he didn’t know what it was. ‘We could relocate, within reason. To Rome or Milan, perhaps. I have offices in both cities.’

‘Or New York?’

He hesitated, sensing a test. ‘The majority of my business is in Europe,’ he said finally. ‘A relocation to New York is not out of the question for some time in the future, but not now.’