Ironically, Bianca hadn't needed that income for long. She'd died a few days later, when, while distracting her current boyfriend with caresses of an intimate nature-at least that was what the police believed-she'd caused him to accidentally swerve his convertible off a cliff, killing them both.
Vin had barely been able to face Giuseppe and Joanne at the funeral a few days later. They'd tried to hug him, to console him, telling him to pack up and come home with them. But he'd known if they realized he wasn't really Giuseppe's child, how quickly they would have given him up. Especially since they had their own child, an adorable little girl of four, who actually deserved their love.
He couldn't wait around for them to reject him. Better that he do it first. So he'd gone to live with his mother's brother in New York, a lawyer who worked eighty-hour weeks and had little to offer his grieving, lonely nephew except his example as a workaholic.
Now Vin stared at Giuseppe in the doorway of the villa. The man he'd once believed to be his father, whose hair had since gone gray. They'd both changed so much over twenty years. Would Giuseppe even recognize him now?
"Good evening," Vin said haltingly in his native Italian. The language tasted rusty on his lips. "I apologize for the interruption. I'm not sure you'll recognize me-"
Giuseppe's lips parted. Then his eyes suddenly shone with tears.
"Vincenzo," he choked out. "My boy, my boy-you've come home at last!"
The old man's arms went around him, and he felt the force of his father's sobs. A stab went through Vin's frozen heart, as if it had painfully started beating again.
Giuseppe pulled back, wiping his eyes, and called out loudly in Italian. Suddenly there were more people at the door, including two dark-haired women, one young, the other older, both pretty and smiling.
His stepmother, Joanne, and...could that be his sister, Maria, now a young woman of twenty-four? They both hugged him with cries of joy, and Giuseppe, weeping openly, hugged all three of them in his vast arms.
Vin blinked fast, feeling like his soul was peeling.
His father. His family. He longed to love them again. But he didn't have the right. And if they ever knew the truth, their love would evaporate.
"But who's this?" Giuseppe said in Italian, looking past Vin's ear. He saw Scarlett fidgeting shyly behind him in the gravel driveway. Heavily pregnant and still in the same casual khakis and jacket she'd worn in Gstaad, she looked incredibly beautiful, with her red hair, chewing her pink lower lip, her green eyes uncertain.
Vin took her hand.
"This is Scarlett, Papà," he said quietly in the same language. "She's carrying my child and we're going to be wed."
His father gasped, and all the new people now flooding around them-only a few of whom he confusedly recognized-immediately began crying out their welcome and approbation.
"You brought her home to meet us?" Reaching out, Giuseppe patted her cheek.
Vin said drily, "She insisted."
"Then she is already beloved by me," the old man said.
"Scarlett doesn't speak Italian."
He smiled. "She understands." And indeed, she had a bright, joyful smile as she looked between him and Giuseppe. She thought she'd brought Vin and his father back together.
If only it was the truth. If only it were even possible.
But in this moment, surrounded on all sides by love, Vin could not fight it. He pushed away his shame about the lie. As the Borgias whisked them into the villa, it was easier to just pretend, for just a short while, that he really was their long-lost son, their long-lost brother. Easier to pretend he was actually deserving of their love and care.
"You came to my engagement party!" His dark-haired young sister said happily, slipping her arm around his as she led him through the grand hall toward the courtyard outside. "You have made this a party to remember!"
"You are engaged, Maria?" he said incredulously. "You were a toddler last time I saw you! Do you even remember me?"
Her smile broadened. "I confess my memory is not perfect, but I know you from your picture." Her smile faded. "Our father often cried over it."
"Maria..."
"But all is forgiven now you are here." Brightening, she motioned across the decorated courtyard, her eyes sparkling. "That is my fiancé, Luca."
Luca barely looked old enough to be out of college, Vin thought. Or maybe he himself was just old. Outside of Manhattan most people did not wait until they were thirty-five to be wed. And even in New York, no one waited that long to fall in love.
"Forgive me for interrupting your party. If I'd known-"
"Vincenzo, having you here is the best engagement present in the world! Did you see Papà's face? He's prayed for this. When we sent you the invitation, we never dreamed you would accept."
Vin hadn't gotten the invitation, because he'd instructed his assistant to toss anything from the Borgia family straight into the trash. "Um..."
"And now you are engaged as well, and expecting a child," Maria said, her eyes shining. "Our family is growing!"
Beneath the fairy lights of the large courtyard, guests were dancing to the music of a small band. It didn't even feel cold, with the heat lamps. A beautiful evening party, with a panoramic view of the moon-swept Tuscan countryside.
He looked back at Scarlett, already sitting at a table near the dinner buffet, a plate of food in front of her as she talked to Giuseppe and Joanne. Amid all the elegant suits and gowns, she was still wearing the same casual clothes she'd worn on her morning walk in Gstaad. But it didn't matter. Just looking at her, Vin felt a flash of heat that blocked out all other thoughts and feelings. A welcome distraction.
As if she felt his stare, Scarlett turned. Their eyes locked across the crowd, and electricity thrummed through him, as if they were the only two people in the world.
Then his stepmother rose from the table, gesturing her to follow. Finishing a last bite of dinner, Scarlett rose. Lifting her eyebrow at him with a mysterious smile, she turned and disappeared inside the villa.
It was as if clouds suddenly covered the moonlight. Clearing his throat, Vin turned back to Maria, trying to remember what they'd been saying. "Ah...I hope you'll both be very happy."
"You, too, brother." Her smile broadened. "But since you're in love, getting married and having a baby, something tells me you're about to be happier than you can even imagine."
Ten minutes later, Scarlett was staring at herself in the full-length mirror.
"Thank you," she breathed, looking at herself in the borrowed floaty knee-length dress with charming bell sleeves. "Oh, thank you so much!"
Vin's stepmother, Joanne, beamed back at her. "It's vintage, darling. Haven't worn it in years. I'm just glad I had a dress with an empire waist!" She glanced fondly at Scarlett's belly. "How wonderful it will be-" she sighed happily "-to have a new baby in the family. Now I don't even have to pressure Maria about children for a while, because you're making me a grandmother!"
From the moment Scarlett had met Vin's parents, they'd treated her like family. While talking with them in the courtyard, Scarlett had shyly mentioned she felt woefully underdressed for the party, in wrinkled khakis.
"Your bodyguards just brought in your suitcase," Joanne had said helpfully, but Scarlett shook her head, looking down at her casual clothes with regret.
"All my clothes look like this."
"Don't worry!" Joanne had said suddenly. "I know just the thing!"
Scarlett had immediately liked the dark-haired British woman, with her obviously kind heart. Now, blinking back tears, she reached out and impulsively hugged her. "I'm so glad we're going to be family."
"Me, too, darling." Joanne smiled as she drew back, her eyes glistening with tears. "I can't remember the last time I saw Giuseppe so happy. You've put our family back together and added years to my husband's life. Now-" she shook her head briskly, wiping her eyes "-we just need to find you better shoes. I think Maria has some sparkly sandals about your size..."
After Scarlett was dressed, she brushed out her red hair and put on a bit of lipstick. Feeling nervous as Cinderella, Scarlett went back out to the noisy courtyard to join the party.
She'd hoped for a family reconciliation, but she'd never imagined a family like Vin's-so loving, so warm, so ready to welcome Scarlett and their coming baby with open arms!
Vin's father, Giuseppe, smiled at her as she returned to the festive tables on the edge of the courtyard. He said in accented English, "I'm glad you're here. I can see the love between you and my son."
Scarlett blushed and let the remark pass. She could hardly tell Giuseppe that she and Vin had gotten pregnant by accident. They didn't love each other.