Romantic Acquisition (28 page)

Kate stopped in the middle of the hallway. 
“But he has to.  Please, help me get in to see him.  I know he’s furious with me but I have some information he’ll want to know about.”

Kate wiped the tears from her eyes, hating
any show of
weakness to strangers.  This woman seemed very kind but
Kate
wasn’t sure if she would be able to pull any weight with Carlo.  Kate knew Carlo’s anger.  It was intimidating, she thought
, remembering the few times she had been the recipient of his anger
. 

Bet
s
y nodded her head in understanding. 
“I’ll see if he’s free but won’t mention your name,” she said and winked as she
waved Kate to a seat outside of a set of double doors
.

Kate smiled weakly.  “Thank you.”

The woman disappeared into an office.  Kate sat down on a chair, the weariness deep in her bones.   Three months ago, things were so much simpler.  She went to work, she left work, she had fun with her friends and she was mildly satisfied with her life. 

Now she was embroiled in an illegal scheme by her boss, she’d fallen madly in love with a man she never should have been involved with and she was about to subject an innocent child to the same
painful
life she’d grown up in. 

Kate put a hand protectively over her stomach.  She had no idea how she was going to raise this child but one thing was for sure, he or she would know enough love from her that they wouldn’t miss their father. 

She knew she’d have to tell Carlo about the baby, but it would be long after all this mess was cleared up.  She didn’t have the strength to tell him about an impending pregnancy and an impending
stock
scandal all at once. 

“
Why the hell are you here
?” Carlo demanded from the doorway to an office.
“Do you have any idea of what you’ve put me through this weekend?” he said, his voice deadly quiet. 

His secretary stood behind him and her jaw dropped at Carlo’s tone.  She pushed her way past him, her anger evident as she went back to her desk and started typing.

Carlo sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. 
His anger was still evident but he toned it down slightly. 
“Why don’t you come in
and tell me what’s on your mind?
” he said and walked back into his office, not bothering to see if she would follow.

Kate stood up and followed him on trembling legs.  She glanced at the woman who had stopped typing and was now watching as Kate walked towards the door.  Kate received a wink and for some reason, that small action gave her the last bit of courage she needed.

Kate squared her shoulders and walked into his office, knowing
that
what she needed to tell him
was extremely important
.  She refused to let the tears fall down her cheeks again.  They were wasted energy and Kate hated to waste anything.

“What’s up?” he asked, picking up a file folder and proceeding to read through the file. 
He was completely ignoring her. 

Kate decided to just start talking and hopefully he would hear her words. 
“I know you’re going to be angry about this but I have some information
I think you should know about,” she said and sat down on the edge of a chair in front of his desk. 

Carlo snapped the folder closed and tossed it on his desk before glaring at her from across the polished expanse of wood. 
“What would that be, Kate?  That you’ve been stringing me along all these months?  I already know that, don’t I?  Or that you’re dumping me for no apparent reason?  Well, I’ve gotten that message as well.  When a woman refuses all contact, phone, messages, in person, a man can take a hint.  I won’t bother you anymore.”

“What do you mean in person?” she asked, distracted by his words.

“Don’t try it Kate.  I went over to your house on Saturday around
eight o’clock
in the evening, worried about you.  You’re car was there and lights were on but you wouldn’t answer the door.”

Kate couldn’t tell him that she’d been asleep because she’d have to explain
why she was so tired that early in the evening.  “I didn’t know,” was all she said. 
Kate was shaking her head at the beginning of his speech.  “
Actually
,
why I’m here
has nothing to do with us.”

“Well, since there is no ‘us’ since you refuse to let it happen, perhaps you should tell me why you’ve ventured into the lair of the man you hate.”

Kate gasped.  “I don’t hate you.  I wouldn’t be here if I hated you.  Think anything else but not that.”

“What do you mean?
  Perhaps you should explain exactly why you are here.
”

Kate couldn’t look at him anymore.  She turned and faced the incredible view of
Washington
,
D.C.
instead.  “I overheard a conversation about an hour ago.  It was between David and another man but I don’t know his name.”

“Go on,
”
he said and stood up to pace about his office. 

It was now or never, she thought.  She was so worried that he would stop her, she rushed through her explanation. 
“They were talking about the sale of Jamison’s to
ATI
,” she started.  “I’m not sure about all the details, but they were saying how they were going to back out of the sale at the last minute, buy up all the dumped stocks and make millions on the resale.  There was something else about a payment
ATI
would owe that was also in the millions of dollars range but I don’t really understand that either.  I gathered that they were going to collect that as well.”

There was silence when she finished.  She wasn’t even sure if Carlo was still in the room or, if he was, if he’d heard her.  She had to turn around and find him.  He was right behind her. 

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked softly.

Kate shrugged.  “I’m guessing it is illegal.”

“Is there more?”

She nodded her head.  The tears started again and this time she couldn’t control them.  “David saw me and asked me to come in and join the party.  He wanted to thank me for seducing you and distracting you from the due diligence so they could work their behind the scenes deals.”  She hated admitting that.  “Please believe me, I didn’t have anything to do with what they were planning.  I don’t even really understand it but I didn
’t
help them.  I didn’t seduce you in an effort to distract you.  I promise,” she ended on a whisper.

“Did you seduce me?”

“No!” she said emphatically.  “I didn’t want this to happen.  I didn’t want to lo…I didn’t want to be involved with anyone.”

Carlo grabbed her shoulders.  “You were going to say love, weren’t you?”

She wiped away fresh tears. 
“Carlo there’s no time for this,” she said, pulling herself out of his arms.  “You have to do something to stop him.  He can’t get away with whatever he’s trying to pull.”

Carlo smiled.  “Kate, admit it.  You were going to say you loved me.”

“It doesn’t matter.  It isn’t going to work out.  Things have happened that have made it impossible.”  Kate stepped back from his smiling face, the tears streaming down her cheeks now.  “Oh, forget it.  I have to go.  I feel awful and this has just made things worse.  I should have just called you,” she said and turned to leave.  But the pain in her stomach worsened and she was suddenly doubled over in pain. 

“What’s wrong Kate,” Carlo said and lifted her gently into his arms. 
Kate just crumpled, her face completely white as her eyes pleaded with him to help her since she was in so much pain she couldn’t even speak. 

“
Betsy
, call an ambulance,” he called to the woman in the outer office.

He laid Kate down on the sofa in the corner of his office, kneeling down beside her.  Kate couldn’t hide the pain and she bit her lip as
she curled into a ball.  “Betsy
!”

The woman appeared in the doorway, the company nurse trailing behind her.  “An ambulance is on the way but they’re asking what the emergency is,” Jessy told him. 

“I don’t know.  Kate, what’s wrong?”

“Stomach,” she bit out. “Pain,” she finally said. 

Betsy
disappeared again, ostensibly to tell the paramedics what the issue was and to arrange for security to get the elevator to the ground floor for them. 

“Hang on Kate,” she heard Carlo saying but the pain was too intense.  She lost
consciousness
a moment later, staring at the worried expression in Carlo’s eyes. 

Kate woke up several hours later, late afternoon sunshine filtering through the vertical blinds of a strange room.  She wanted to move but her body hurt in too many places. 

“Don’t move, Kate.  I’ll go get a doctor,” Carlo was saying and he disappeared silently out the door
to what she assumed was a hospital room although she was still too groggy and feeling awful to focus enough to figure out
. 

Kate didn’t argue with him.  She felt too
dreadful
to try so she just laid against the pillows and tried to figure out what was going on.  She had no idea where she was but she
turned her head and noticed the monitors.  T
here was
also
an IV hooked up to her arm. 

Carlo reappeared with another man behind him.  He appeared to be a doctor but she wasn’t sure anything made sense anymore.  “What’s going on?” she croaked but her mouth refused to work properly. 

Carlo grabbed her
hand
while the doctor ran some tests.  He checked her pulse and scanned her eyes with a tiny flashlight, then pronounced her on the road to recovery.  He wanted her to stay for the night, but he didn’t see any reason to keep her longer. 

“The baby is fine but you’ll have to be on
bed rest
for a while.  You’ll need to check with your obstetrician as soon as possible.  We would have already contacted her or him but Mr.
Attracelli
wasn’t sure of the name.  I’ll leave you two alone to talk,” he said seriously.

Carlo stood beside the bed until they were alone again.  Then he sat down on a chair beside the bed and took Kate’s hand.  “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant
, Kate
?”

Kate looked at the ceiling, unable to look at his handsome face.  “I only figured it out myself last week.  It took a while to let it sink in.”

“Were you going to get rid of it?” he asked and her hand was gripped painfully.

“No!” she said immediately and pulled her hand away.  “I was going to tell you about it today, but then I overheard that awful conversation.  But I’m not getting rid of this child,” she said.  Kate was furious with herself for crying again.  She felt like a faucet that couldn’t be turned off. 

Kate continued despite her weepiness, wanting to get it all out now that he already knew about her situation. 
“I know you probably don’t want your life complicated with this so I won’t bother you with
this baby
.  But I’m not getting rid of it no matter what you say.”

“Thank god!” he replied, and the tension left his face.  “I was so afraid you were hiding it so you could have an abortion.”  He stared at her right in the eye.  “Why are you trying to push me away?”

“Because I’m pregnant.  I don’t understand how it happened.  But it did. 
I understand how you feel about children and
, like I said,
I promise I won’t bother you with this baby
.”