Her Shameful Secret (4 page)

CHAPTER THREE

“T
HIS
is a law office?” Isabella asked as she studied the old building. “I haven’t seen one like this before.”

Antonio glanced up and saw that the façade was pale, almost pink-gold. He noticed the faded mosaics next to the arched windows and pillars. It was strange that he’d never really looked at the building before.

“Where did you think I would take you?”

“You don’t want me to answer that,” she muttered.

They entered the dark and musty building. It was unnaturally quiet and the only sound was their footsteps as they climbed the stairs. The silence Antonio shared with Isabella felt strange but he was grateful for it. He didn’t need to think about the easy conversations they’d once had that would last throughout the night. He didn’t want to remember how he’d used to call her up during the day just to hear her voice. He wanted the barrier of silence. Needed it.

The receptionist took one look at Isabella and sniffed with disapproval. Antonio glared at the dour woman, letting her know that he wouldn’t tolerate that kind of behavior. The woman bent her head from the silent reprimand and icily escorted them to the conference room.

When the door opened Antonio saw his mother, sitting regally next to the ornate rosewood table. Dressed severely in black, Maria Rossi was as elegant and private as always. She was trying to hide her distress, but he instantly saw it in her face.

“Mother, why are you here?” Antonio asked. “Your presence isn’t required.”

His mother’s expression darkened when she saw Isabella at her side. “Is this the woman?”

“This is Isabella Williams,” Antonio said with a hint of warning.

He reluctantly introduced Isabella to his mother. He had hoped to prevent these two women from meeting. With one wintry glance Maria made it clear what she thought of Isabella. She knew this blonde beauty was the reason her sons had been estranged.

Antonio’s first instinct was to protect Isabella from the slight. But that didn’t make sense. She was in the wrong and should suffer the consequences. She had created a scandal when she’d started living with Giovanni. The paparazzi had gone into a feeding frenzy, and had Antonio borne the brunt of the gossip. But he still couldn’t stand by and watch Isabella receive this treatment.

Most socialites he knew would have wilted under his mother’s apparent disgust. To his surprise, Isabella tilted her head proudly. She wasn’t going to back down or hang her head in shame. She stood before this doyenne of high society in her cheap clothes, with her tarnished name, and held her gaze unflinchingly.

His mother was the first to break eye contact. She
turned to him. “I can’t bear to be in the same room with her.”

Isabella showed no expression as she watched Maria Rossi leave the room and closed the door with a flourish.

“I apologize for my mother’s behavior,” Antonio said, fighting back anger. “I’ll see that it doesn’t happen again.”

“No need,” Isabella crossed her arms and walked to the large window. “I know you feel the same way.”

Antonio watched her as she stared at the view of the Pantheon. He suspected she wasn’t really looking at anything. It was as if she was in another time, another place, trapped in a memory.

If only he could do the same. His mind was always racing, predicting problems and creating solutions. He required an outlet for his inexhaustible energy and found it in his work. The money and power that came along with it wasn’t important. Antonio needed the challenge, to push himself to the razor’s edge.

There had been one time when he hadn’t felt that drive, and that had been when he was with Isabella. When they’d been together nothing else had existed. Isabella Williams had been his escape. And eventually his downfall.

“What did you tell your mother about me?” Isabella grimaced as the question sprang from her lips. She hadn’t meant to ask, but it was obvious that her reputation had preceded her. Isabella knew she shouldn’t care but it bothered her.

There was something about Antonio’s mother that intimidated her. The woman was beautifully groomed, from her coiffed hair to her pedicured feet, but she
also had an aura of power. No one would treat Maria Rossi with anything less than respect. Isabella had felt grubby next to her.

“We never discussed you,” he said stiffly.

She wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. Antonio rarely discussed his family. Everything she knew about his mother and his late father had come from Giovanni. And he’d probably been just as private about his love life with his family.

Isabella turned and approached Antonio. “But she knows you and I were once together?”

“Not from me.”

“Giovanni?” No wonder his mother hated her.

“My mother was prying into the reason why her sons weren’t on speaking terms again.” Antonio crossed his arms and looked away. “I’m sure Gio concocted some story that made him look like the innocent victim.”

“Again?” Her tired brain caught onto that word. “You and Giovanni had been estranged before?”

Antonio’s jaw clenched. “Yes.”

She felt the weight of guilt lift a little. All this time she’d thought she had ruined the strong bond between brothers. “But how could that be?” she asked as she remembered Giovanni and Antonio together. They’d had a tendency to use the same expressions, finish each other’s sentences. “You two were close.”

Antonio shrugged. “Gio had been trying to make amends and was on his best behavior. It was one of the few times we got along.”

“Why did you accept him back into your life?” That didn’t seem like something Antonio would do. You screwed up once and you were banished from Antonio’s life. You didn’t get another chance.

“I thought he had changed.” He sighed. “I wanted him to change.”

She saw the grief in his expression. She wanted to reach out and bring him comfort, but she knew Antonio would not appreciate the gesture. “How old were you when you first stopped talking to each other?”

His harsh features tightened. “I don’t want to discuss it.”

“Why not?”

“I answered your questions, now it’s my turn.”

Isabella jerked her head back. She saw the intensity in his eyes, the determined set of his jaw. Was he really trying to deflect her questions or had this all been a technique to draw her closer? Make her think he was opening up to her so she would feel obligated to do the same?

Isabella braced her shoulders. “I didn’t agree to that.”

“Why did Gio include you in his will?”

“I have no idea. I didn’t ask him to.” But she suspected she knew the answer. Giovanni had been playing games and now she was going to lose everything.

“The lawyers say that Gio changed his will a month ago.”

Isabella paled. That could not be a coincidence. “S-so?”

Antonio tilted his head to one side as he studied her face. “You know why. No one else does. No one knows why he gave you millions.”

“M-millions?” she whispered. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“And half the shares in Rossi Industries.”

“What?”
The shock reverberated through her body.

“He gave you half my birthright,” Antonio said in a growl.

She clapped her hand over her mouth.
Oh, Giovanni. What have you done? Why did you do this?

“I lost part of my birthright once before,” his said, his voice a harsh whisper. “I have no intention of losing it again.”

Isabella frowned. She felt like she was missing crucial information. “What are you talking about?”

Antonio didn’t hear her. “Why did Gio give all this to
you
? Why not the woman he was dating? Why not a woman who meant something to him? Why
you
?”

“Antonio …” She braced her legs and held her clenched hands at her sides. She didn’t have the nerve to tell him. She didn’t want to face the consequences.

“Was it so I would be required to work with the woman who had cheated on me?”

Had Giovanni done this out of spite? For his own perverse pleasure? It was possible …

“Or did you seduce it out of him? I admit you’re good in bed—but
that
good?”

Isabella felt the heat in her cheeks. If only she could run away. The moment she uttered the next words everything would change. Everything would be lost.

“It’s because I’m p-pregnant.”

He stared at her in shock. Isabella hunched her shoulders, preparing for the world to fall around her as struggled to get the words out.

She nervously licked her lips before she added, “And Giovanni
is
the father.”

Antonio staggered back as if he had been punched. His body went numb and his mind whirled. His world
tilted and he swayed. He wanted to grab hold of something so he wasn’t brought to his knees, but that meant reaching out to Isabella. The one woman who still had the power to hurt him.

“You …”

Isabella was having his brother’s baby. Gio had known and hadn’t told him. The pain radiated through his body.

“But I didn’t have an affair with him. I swear.”

An affair. A fling. Sex. It was all the same.

Antonio held up his hand. Rage billowed through him, crimson, hot and bitter. “You’re pregnant,” he said, as if he was in a daze. “How many months?”

She held her hands in front of her stomach. “I’m just past the first trimester.”

“Three months?” he muttered as the fury seized his throat.

“Antonio, you have to believe me,” she pleaded. “I only slept with him one time.”

He fought back the red mist that threatened to overtake him. “
Only?
Is a one-night stand supposed to make me feel better?” he asked in a low, biting tone. Was he supposed to believe that when she had lived with Giovanni for
weeks?

Isabella’s face tightened with anger. “How many women have you slept with since we broke up?”

“That’s not the issue. Those women were not the
reason
we broke up.” He would not allow Isabella to distract him. “I kicked you out because you were sleeping with my brother. Now you’re telling me you’re carrying his child.”

“It happened the night I heard on the news that you
were going to marry someone else.” Isabella spoke haltingly, as if the memory still tormented her.

“And that’s your excuse?” He stared at her. He didn’t know if she was feeding him lies or if she was planning to thrust another knife in his back.

“No. I’m trying to explain.” She covered her face with her hands. “I was emotional and I drank far too much. I had been like that for weeks. I was self-destructive and I made a lot of poor choices during that time. I’m not proud of what I did.”

But she had done it. Would she have told him about Giovanni if she wasn’t pregnant, or would she have taken her secret to the grave?

“Do you wind up in the nearest bed whenever you drink?”

She slowly lowered her hands. “I’m not sure what happened that night.”

“How convenient.”

She glared at him. “All I know is that I was an emotional mess. You had kicked me out, you didn’t want to have anything to do with me, and then I heard you were planning a future with another woman.”

“And what better way to get back at me than by sleeping with my brother?” He’d used to think Isabella was sweet and innocent, but she had hidden a vengeful streak. The people closest to him had warned him about Isabella, but he hadn’t listened. He’d thought he knew everything about her. But it turned out he didn’t know her at all.

“I didn’t know about your history with Giovanni.” Isabella stood rigid in front of him, her clenched fists at her sides. “I didn’t know you had discarded me like
a piece of trash because you thought I’d had an affair with your brother.”

“And look at what you did,” Antonio said. The red mist was creeping in and he was feeling dangerous. Out of control like never before. Antonio shoved his shaky hands in his pockets.

“Giovanni planned this!” she blurted out. “He took advantage of me.”

“I’m sure he got you into bed in record time.” Bile rose from his stomach and he wanted to be violently ill.

She thrust out her chin. “I’m not like that,” she said in a trembling voice.

“Yes, you are,” he said with a sneer. “You were with
me
.”

Isabella eyes widened as if she’d been hit. “You throw that back in my face?” she asked in a shocked whisper. “What we had was different. It was special. It was—”

“Part of your routine,” he finished coldly. “Only Gio got you pregnant. Was that planned or an unexpected bonus? Is that why he kicked you out?”

“He didn’t kick me out. I left the next morning,” she told him, her voice wobbling with emotion. “I didn’t feel safe there anymore. I ran as fast as I could.”

Antonio frowned and he crossed his arms. Her explanation niggled at him. Something didn’t add up. “Then how did he know about the baby?”

“I told him when I found out. That was a month ago.”

And his brother had changed his will a month ago. “What did Gio say?”

“Not much.” Isabella looked away abruptly.

“Isabella,” he warned in a firm tone, “tell me.”

Her shoulders sagged in defeat and her expression
turned grim. “He laughed,” she answered. “He said, ‘Antonio will never touch you now!’ and he laughed like a madman.”

Antonio took a step back. He shouldn’t be surprised, but he was. He hadn’t fully appreciated the depth of his brother’s hatred.

“And he was right.” She gestured at him, the simple movement indicating her disappointment. “He knew exactly how you’d react if you found out the truth.”

“That’s why you ran away at the café?” Isabella had been afraid of how he would react. And she was smart, because right now he wanted to lash out. He wanted to smash and destroy everything around him. “You are not the woman I thought you were.”

“That’s not true,” she spat angrily. “You just want to hear bad things about me. It’s easier for you because you’re looking for my faults.”

Easier? He felt like he had been ripped apart. He was never going to be the same again.

She gulped in a ragged breath. “I want you to know that I didn’t cheat on you.”