Rumours: The Secret Billionaires

‘He is my child too.’ Antonio’s voice reached her through the fog of hurt and disappointment. ‘And you leave me no alternative.’

‘What?’ She whirled round. What did he intend to do now?

‘I have appealed to you as a mother, but it seems that is not your real reason for dragging this out. So I will ensure that it is not only Leo who has a secure future. That is something I will do whatever deal we strike. But your parents—they are about to relocate back to England, no?’

What did her parents have to do with this? ‘Yes, and that is why I cannot even think of moving to Rome, much less marrying you. I need to go back to England with them.’

‘If you returned to Rome and became my wife, your parents would have a considerably more comfortable retirement.’ His calculated words burned a furious red before her eyes. ‘And you can be with Leo.’

‘Are you threatening me? Using my parents and my son?’ How dare he? Had he managed to find out that much about her and her family that he knew of the financial struggle her parents were facing in moving back to England?

‘The choice is yours, Sadie. Marry me and become a family or go back to England—alone.’

‘I can’t do that.’ She looked at him and knew, without a shadow of doubt, he was serious.

‘Then marry me.’

‘I don’t want to marry you, Antonio. Why would I want to marry someone who can use such threats?’

He moved towards her again and this time the hardness in his face had gone, the granite spark in his eyes had softened. He looked as he had done that weekend she’d fallen in love with him. He looked far too desirable and she wondered if she was losing her head, losing her ability for rational thought.

‘Because we had something good and from that has come Leo.’ He touched the back of his fingers to her face. ‘And we can have something good again, Sadie.’

‘No,’ she snapped and moved away from him. ‘Never that. If I agree, then it will be for Leo’s sake—and my parents’, as you have brought them into this. It will not be because I want to pander to your overinflated ego.’

‘Tough words.’ His voice was still incredibly sexy, but she wasn’t going to let him know that. ‘But so untrue. You still want me as much as I want you.’

‘Never.’ She wanted to shout the denial at him, but instead the lingering warmth of his touch was her undoing and her voice became husky. ‘I hate you.’

‘You hate me because you want me. Accept it, mia bella. It is still there between us.’

‘It most certainly is not.’ This time her words were full of ferocity and she pushed past him back into the centre of the room. Leo would be brought home by her mother any time now and the last thing she wanted was to have to explain what was going on. All she wanted was to get rid of Antonio, quickly.

‘Live daringly, mia bella. Marry me—for Leo’s sake if not for the passion and desire we shared.’

‘Do you know what your mother accused me of?’

‘For that I apologise. But Leo is the Di Marcello heir. Wouldn’t you like to prove her wrong?’

Too late she heard the sound of her son’s excited voice as he spoke to her mother and she knew her fate was sealed. Antonio had left her no choice. She couldn’t imagine life without Leo, who within minutes would burst into the apartment, her mother behind him. How was she going to explain Antonio’s presence and, even worse, the fact that she had no choice but to accept his so-called proposal? She couldn’t put her mother through any more worry. Whatever else happened her parents must think she was marrying Antonio for love, that they had found each other again. Only then could they stop worrying about her and Leo.

* * *

Antonio watched as Leo chatted to Sadie, hardly giving him a second glance. Was he that used to having strange men in his home? An uncomfortable sensation prickled over him as he thought of not only Leo looking up to another man, but Sadie too. Since when did he do jealousy where women were concerned?

‘I didn’t know you had company.’ A woman he could only assume was Sadie’s mother looked at him, suspicion in every line of her face.

‘This is Antonio Di Marcello.’ Sadie introduced him but offered no explanation for his presence in her small apartment.

‘I know exactly who this is,’ Sadie’s mother said and looked from him to Leo, confirming what he’d thought the first time he’d seen Leo. She too could see the unmistakable resemblance, the Di Marcello eyes which had stared out at him from many of the paintings of his ancestors all through his childhood. There was no doubting this child was his.

‘How very astute you are, Mrs Parker.’ Antonio filled his voice with as much charm as possible but couldn’t keep the fierce determination to get exactly what he wanted from it. He’d played his trump card, but the bitter taste of it wasn’t pleasing. ‘It is something I have only just discovered, but, now that I have, I intend to deal with things in the correct fashion. You have my word on that.’

Leo was trying to show Sadie something, but she glanced up at him, her green eyes wide and nervous. ‘Antonio and I are trying to sort something out.’

Was she speaking to him or her mother? He couldn’t tell, but he could hear the quiet acceptance in her voice. The fight she’d had when he’d arrived had gone, defused by her son. A sense of satisfaction slipped over him. She was going to accept his terms.

He had what he wanted. His son.

CHAPTER FIVE

SADIE STILL HAD doubts over her decision to come to Rome with Antonio, just as she’d had doubts for the last two months that moving back to England was the right thing to do. She still worried about the way Antonio had emotionally blackmailed her, using all they’d once had to get her to agree to marriage, but it was his threat to take Leo from her that had made any other option impossible. She’d always wanted to give him a chance to be a father, for Leo’s sake, but she didn’t know if she could forgive him for using Leo like that.

The idea of marriage to a man who’d turned his back on her when she’d needed him most and then blackmailed her wasn’t one which sat comfortably with her. Worse than that was the way he’d made her feel at just seeing him and that was before he’d caressed her face and looked at her with desire in his eyes, reminding her of all they’d once shared. No, she was adamant: their marriage would be in name only.

Leo, however, didn’t show any such doubts. After a period of initial shyness as Antonio’s plane had taken them to Rome, he was now embracing the new male figure in his life, although he didn’t yet have any idea that Antonio was his father. That had been a condition of accepting his terms: being able to tell Leo herself, when she was ready, exactly who Antonio was.

‘Mamma, Antonio can take us to see real Romans. Can we? Please?’ Leo enthused as he climbed into her lap while she sat on the terrace, trying to take in the fact that she was in Rome—with Antonio.

‘Then I guess we should,’ she said, hugging Leo to her.

‘Bene.’ Antonio’s voice startled her and she looked up at him as he came out onto the terrace. ‘We shall go today.’

He was dressed, not in the finest suit, as he had been when he’d called at her Milan apartment, but in jeans and a shirt. Casual suited him. And made him look very sexy. Hastily she pushed the thought aside. She wouldn’t be going down that particular path again.

‘Don’t you have to work today? Wasn’t that why you were rushing back?’ She regarded him suspiciously, trying hard not to read anything into the smile he gave Leo, as if they were co-conspirators.

‘I am the boss, remember. I want to be here with Leo. I want to get to know him’ He looked down at her as he stood next to her, his closeness sending sparks of attraction sizzling over her skin. ‘I also want to get to know you—more than I did before.’

‘Leo is very excited about it, aren’t you, Leo?’ She looked down at her son and hugged him, desperate to hide her desire for Antonio and prevent Leo being hurt or let down. This had to happen. Antonio had to get to know his son. It was time for her to share her son, but was Antonio man enough, able to be a father, able to love Leo as he deserved? Until she knew the answer to that she couldn’t let her emotions control her. She had to bury all that resurging desire.

He held out his hand to Leo. ‘Shall we go now?’

Sadie waited, expecting Leo to turn and hug her legs as he usually did when strangers wanted to interact with him, but to her amazement he slipped from her lap and ran across the terrace to take Antonio’s hand.

The arrogant rise of Antonio’s brows told her he knew exactly what she’d thought Leo would do and she couldn’t help but feel that somehow he was scoring points over her. Was he challenging her to be as welcoming?

As Leo clattered excitedly through the luxury of the antiques-furnished apartment, Sadie braced herself for Antonio’s displeasure. An apartment like this was not a place for a three-year-old boy, which was why she’d spent so much time on the terrace, giving him the freedom he craved. It had seemed safer than chancing any of the furnishings, which looked exactly as if they’d been lifted from his ancestral home.

To her utter amazement, Antonio laughed and the sound did something to her, as if in that unguarded moment he was truly himself. It chipped away at a little bit more of the wall she’d erected around her heart after he’d turned his back on her.

‘Leo, take it easy!’ Sadie called after him, getting up, needing to do something.

‘Don’t,’ Antonio said and reached for her as she moved towards the door into the apartment. She stopped instantly, his touch scorching through her blouse. ‘He is young and I just want him to enjoy himself.’

‘But all your furniture, all those lovely antiques.’ She wanted to pull her arm away from his touch, to stop him holding her, however gently. It made her remember that he was dangerous, but remembering would only open the door to her heart again.

‘I know what it is like to be a boy running through the grown-ups’ world where nobody notices you. It’s not much fun. Let him be a boy,’ Antonio said and thankfully let her arm go, but he smiled at her in a way which melted her heart and reminded her of Leo. ‘We will go out now if it makes you more comfortable.’

* * *

Antonio’s memories of his childhood had been thrown wide open as he’d watched Leo career around his apartment and he wondered why the hell he’d chosen such furnishings. Was it because that was all he knew, because anything else would be as good as admitting he wanted something he’d never thought possible—a warm and loving home? Images of Leo at the centre of such a home filtered into his mind. It thrashed home the point that he was incapable of being a loving father; Leo was alone, just as Antonio had been unless he’d sought the company of Mario, the friendly gardener who’d given him more attention than his father had ever done.

The sight of his son as he’d tumbled around the room with excitement was a sharp contrast to what he’d known as a boy; by replicating that cold environment he’d avoided considering that there were other ways of doing things.

Now, as they walked inside the ancient walls of the Colosseum, Leo’s attention darting everywhere, he knew what he was experiencing right now was exactly what he wanted—time with his son, to be a father. Sadie had already made it clear, even if she’d told Toni and not him, that she wanted to be married, wanted a father figure for her son, and that was exactly what he intended to be. A proper father. He would give his son all he’d been deprived of by a cold and unfeeling father. He’d had all the luxuries money could buy, but he’d never had that all-important and much-wanted father’s love.

All his life he’d known his duty was to his family, to keeping the good name which had been passed from generation to generation, but now none of that mattered. It was very clear to him where his duty really lay and that was in the little boy who was taking in his surroundings with great interest, and the woman he’d confided in Sebastien about after the avalanche who would have been the one for him had his family not pushed him down an alternative route.

‘I have arranged for our banns to be read for the first time this Sunday,’ he said calmly as Sadie stopped to look out across the remains of walls built long ago. She didn’t look at him, but he noticed the tension in her shoulders as she stiffened beside him.

‘I don’t want any fuss. All we need to do is sign a register.’ She still didn’t look at him, but behind her sunglasses he knew her green eyes would be full of determination. It flowed from her now like the power of the incoming tide and he admired her all the more for it. ‘There is no need for family or friends.’

‘It will be a civil ceremony, with the required witnesses, of course.’ He knew exactly who he wanted to be witness to his marriage, but as yet he hadn’t put in motion the plans to make that happen.

He’d waited to see if Sadie wanted her parents to be there, but she appeared as keen as he was to do this quietly and quickly, without any family. Sebastien and Monika would be perfect witnesses.

‘When?’

‘We shall be married two weeks from today.’ He wasn’t sure if he was disappointed that she didn’t seem to be putting up much of a fight any more. It certainly wasn’t because the desire and passion they had once shared had taken over.

‘So I have two weeks to change my mind.’ She turned and looked at him and he tried hard to read the expression on her face behind her sunglasses. Was she considering changing her mind? Could it be that she was holding out for more than her parents’ financial security or a father figure for Leo? Annoyance filtered through him. They would be married as planned. He would be a proper father to his son, create the family home he’d never had and do whatever was necessary to achieve that.

There was no way he’d let Sadie back out of it now; that wasn’t an option as far as he was concerned. Sadie would become his wife. Leo was already his heir, whatever name was on his birth certificate. That was another subject which needed to be dealt with—once they were married.

‘The time for that has long since passed, Sadie. You accepted my terms and we will be married.’ He tempered his voice, aware of Leo’s presence, although he was preoccupied with everything around him at the moment. Even so, he’d been witness to far too many stern conversations between his parents as a child and he wasn’t about to expose his son to the same.

‘Can I see the Romans now?’ Leo stood between them, looking up at him, those large dark eyes constricting his heart. He wanted to love his son, wanted to let his emotions have free rein, but he’d been brought up to believe that displays of emotion were a weakness and he wasn’t sure if he could change that.

‘Sì, sì, then we shall get some delicious gelato.’ Antonio couldn’t help being thankful for Leo’s intervention in his and Sadie’s discussion—and for making his first day out as a father memorable.

* * *

Sadie knew it wasn’t the end of the conversation, but she was thankful that Antonio hadn’t wanted to pursue it in front of Leo. It showed he at least thought of Leo, considered his feelings in all this. Could she be wrong about him?

‘I think that sounds like a fantastic idea, don’t you, Leo?’ She took her son’s hand and tried to ignore the sizzle of tension which rippled between her and Antonio. ‘Let’s go.’

As they neared the Roman soldiers Sadie pulled out her phone, an automatic reaction whenever there was an opportunity to capture a moment of Leo’s life. She took several photos of Leo grinning happily beside a Roman soldier and smiled to herself. She had so many of those precious memories captured, not just for herself but in the hope that one day she could show his father.

A stab of guilt hit her. Antonio had never seen any of those moments, never heard Leo as he’d tried to say his first word or watched as he’d taken his first steps. But he was the one who’d chosen to ignore that final letter. She shouldn’t feel guilty; it wasn’t her fault. It had been his choice.

‘I have lots of photographs of Leo,’ she said as she became aware of Antonio watching her. Whatever choices they’d made, he was still Leo’s father and she owed it to her son to bring Antonio into his life. She just needed to guard her heart, hang on to her emotions and not fall in love with him all over again.

‘I would like to see them.’ He stepped closer to her, instantly making her pulse leap in the way only he’d ever done. ‘But it is time for a family photograph, no?’

He took out his own phone and asked a nearby tourist to take their photo and, before she knew what was happening, Sadie was standing very close to Antonio, who held Leo in one arm and pulled her against him with the other. She forced a smile to her face as the tourist took several shots, trying to ignore the intense heat of Antonio’s touch, his body against hers stirring up all the desire and longing from four years ago. Time hadn’t dulled the heady passion.

‘Grazie.’ Antonio thanked the tourist and took back his phone and looked at the photo. She watched as a range of emotions swiftly crossed his face. Then, just as quickly, they were gone; he put Leo down and slipped his sunglasses back on. The controlled Antonio Di Marcello was back in place, the moment of softness with his son over—or had she imagined it?

As they made their way back to the busy streets, the atmosphere of the past left behind within the walls of the Colosseum, she couldn’t help thinking it was a shame that their past couldn’t be consigned behind high walls so easily. Maybe then she wouldn’t have to fight a growing attraction for the man who’d let her down in the worst possible way.

* * *

Even though it had been a week since their day out at the Colosseum, Sadie felt as if it had only just happened. Leo had settled into his new home far better than she’d ever thought possible, but his attachment to Antonio was becoming stronger and she worried that he would be let down, as she had been.

That worry intensified as she flicked through one of the glossy celebrity magazines she’d bought the previous day. The image she saw staring back at her brought everything that had happened that day sharply into focus. Her mastery of the Italian language wasn’t perfect, but she could translate the majority of the article which accompanied the photograph of the three of them outside the Colosseum.

Had it been an opportunistic photographer who had witnessed that single moment when the three of them had become a family, or had it all been set up by Antonio? He had, after all, made it perfectly clear he would do anything to be in Leo’s life. Was this his way of ensuring she didn’t back out on the marriage?

All day she stayed in the apartment, even though Leo didn’t like the confinement. She was worried by the thought that other photographers would do the same and while Antonio was at his office she tried to occupy Leo. It kept her mind from exploring those questions, but once Leo was tucked up in his bed and asleep she knew there was only one way to get the answers she wanted.

She sat on the terrace as the heat of early summer was cooling a little in the evening. Throughout the meal she and Antonio had shared, he hadn’t made any reference to the article. It was up to her to say something. At the very least she wanted reassurance that he’d had nothing to do with it, but doubt assailed her the more she thought about it.

‘I bought a copy of a magazine yesterday,’ she began as he joined her on the terrace. ‘Our photograph was in it.’

She looked directly at him, watching for any hint that he knew. Instead he frowned. ‘Which photograph would that be?’

‘Of us all together at the Colosseum.’

‘And Leo?’ Doubt and suspicion filled his voice, making her question if he really had instigated it. She wanted to believe that he hadn’t. He had much to gain from it and, from the way he’d brokered a deal with her, as if in a boardroom, he had scores to settle. Scores with her for shutting him out of Leo’s life.

‘Yes,’ she snapped, unable to calm her panic or soothe her humiliation that he was prepared to use his own son. ‘And now it is being used to name him as the love child who destroyed your marriage, and I am the gold digger who has snared a billionaire.’

She got up and went to the corner of the terrace to stand looking out over the rooftops of Rome. She couldn’t look at Antonio; it hurt too much. What she felt for him was coming back stronger than ever and her resistance was weakening. She wanted him to hold her, tell her it was all okay, but how could she trust him? He’d abandoned his billionaire lifestyle, lied to her for two weeks, pretending to be another man, just to satisfy himself that Leo was his child.

He approached her. She briefly closed her eyes as he lifted her chin with his fingers, forcing her to look at him, the intention in his gaze clear. ‘Don’t do this, Antonio.’

‘Do what, Sadie? Kiss you?’ His words were a husky whisper and, before she could do anything, say anything, he pulled her against him and his lips claimed hers.

Sadie’s body was on fire. The firmness of Antonio’s chest was against her and she couldn’t decide if it was his heartbeat she could feel or hers. She shouldn’t want this, shouldn’t be kissing him like this, but she couldn’t help herself. She was drowning in desire and all the emotions she’d worked hard to bury when he’d walked away from her rushed to the surface again.

She wanted to lose herself in his kisses, sink into his embrace, but she couldn’t. This was no longer about just the two of them. This was about Leo and, thanks to the deal Antonio had felt compelled to make, it was about her parents too.

These sobering thoughts dimmed the desire within her and she pushed against him. ‘This isn’t what I want.’

‘Isn’t it, mia bella?’

‘No. I’m here for Leo’s sake. He likes you. He wants you.’

‘And you? Do you want me too, like I want you?’

‘No. I don’t want you—or any of this. All I want is for Leo to be happy.’

She stumbled back a step as he let her go, the closed-off expression on his face only confirming what she’d suspected since the moment he’d walked into her apartment in Milan. He wasn’t here with her because of any feelings for her. He was here out of duty or honour to Leo.

‘What is it that you do not want, mia bella? Marriage to me or my kiss?’ The hint of huskiness in his voice didn’t quite disguise his contempt for the idea of marriage and a shiver of doubt slipped down her spine. This version of Antonio was so very different from the man she’d loved in such a carefree way four years ago. If he was here now, so much would be different.

‘I don’t want either, Antonio.’ She folded her arms across herself, hugging against the chill which suddenly hung in the evening air.

‘Then you are as calculating as I am, Sadie. Our marriage will be a perfect match.’ Antonio moved towards her with fierce intent, but she refused to move, refused to be intimidated.

She looked at him as below them the city of Rome bustled, but the air on the terrace was drenched in tension, not only from his commanding words but from the kiss which had just added heady sexual tension to the mix.

‘I am not, unless you consider doing what is best for me and my child as calculating. It wasn’t me who brought my parents into this—you did, Antonio.’

‘I thought you’d want your parents at the wedding, even if it is only a civil ceremony.’ The anger in his voice only irritated her further.

‘I don’t want my parents to know anything until we are married.’

‘And why would that be?’

‘So that they can’t talk me out of it.’ She hurled the slashing retort at him and turned to walk away. Then she stopped. What good would that do? Surely it was better to sort it all out now.

‘Why would they do that, when such a lovely, happy photo of the three of us has been published?’

Shock slipped over her like icy water. He’d known. This was just what he’d wanted.