A Ring for Vincenzo's Heir(30)

Vin set his jaw. "Yes, by me. You were being unreasonable."

Her lips parted in disbelief. "Unreasonable?"

"I allowed you to stay in Rome-"

"Allowed!" she cried.

"-until Maria's wedding. But I already made it clear. My headquarters is  in New York. Tomorrow, we will pack a few suitcases and fly there. The  rest of our things can be forwarded. It's true. I have bought a  brand-new penthouse close to my office, near good private schools for  Nico."

Vin sat back, looking pleased with himself, as if he expected praise. Scarlett felt numb.

"We already have a home, here in Rome," she whispered.

"You'll like New York even better when we arrive tomorrow night."

"I'm not getting on a plane."

Vin's expression changed to a glower. "You have to face your fears."

She hated his patronizing tone. "No, I don't."   





 

"You have no choice now. You-"

"Children, children..." Vin's father broke in, his weathered face  anguished. "Scarlett, my dear one, I am sure my son only meant the best.  But if you do not want to leave Rome, he will not force you. He is a  good man. Vincenzo, my son, you must tell her that..."

Vin stood up so fast his chair fell to the floor of the dais. The noise  of the crash echoed in the suddenly silent ballroom. His voice was cold  as he looked at Giuseppe.

"Stop calling me your son. I am not."

Giuseppe goggled at him. Joanne and Maria both drew back in shock.

Vin's lip curled. "You wondered why I ignored you for twenty years?" he  said in a low voice. "Right before my mother died, when I asked her if I  could live with you in Tuscany, she laughed in my face. She told me I  was the result of a one-night stand with some musician in Rio. She lied  to you, Giuseppe," he said deliberately, almost cruelly, "so you'd give  her money. And you paid her. Blindly. Just as you blindly loved me all  those years." He slowly looked to Joanne and Maria. "So do not presume  to lecture me. You are not my family." He turned to Scarlett, his eyes  like ice. "And you will do what I say. You have no choice. You signed  the agreement."

"Agreement?" She was still reeling from his revelation that Giuseppe was  not his father. Then she realized what he was talking about, and a sick  feeling rose inside her. "Those papers this morning-"

He glanced at all the people in the ballroom, then spoke too quietly for  them to hear. "I always intended to make you sign, Scarlett. Either  before marriage or after."

The pre-nup he'd once threatened her with. The agreement that gave him  the right to make all decisions about their baby's life, and hers. The  agreement that gave Vin full custody of Nico if he ever decided to  divorce her. And she'd signed it.

Scarlett's world was spinning, crashing, on fire. Standing up from her  chair, she stared at him in horror. Then, snatching her  crystal-encrusted minaudière from the table, she turned away in her  four-inch heels, ducking around the waiters who'd just come pouring into  the ballroom with the next course. By the time she fled the ballroom,  she was crying.

How could she have been so stupid?

She should have listened to her fears, not her hopes.

Don't tell him about the baby.

Don't get a DNA test.

Don't marry him.

Don't love him.

And most of all:

Always read before you sign.

Furiously, she wiped her eyes, but tears clouded her vision as she  stumbled into the empty, high-ceilinged hallway. She saw Beppe leave his  post outside the ballroom door and start to follow her.

"Don't even think about it!" she barked. She'd never spoken sharply to  him before. She had the unhappy satisfaction of seeing him stop, his  expression hurt.

Turning away, Scarlett ran past a security guard sleeping in a chair  inside the foyer. She went out the front door of the palazzo, through  the same door where she'd arrived with such happiness on Vin's arm just  hours before.

Then, the exclusive Roman street had been jammed with arriving cars,  gleaming and luxurious, many driven by chauffeurs. Now, the street was  dark and cold and empty.

It was so cold, the drizzle of rain had turned to soft, silent  snowflakes. A small dog trotted down the street sniffing at doorways.  She saw a shadow of a homeless man leaning against the corner. She  shivered as snowflakes melted like ice on her bare skin. She'd been in  too much of a hurry to grab her white stole. But who cared about being  cold?

She'd been so happy. She swallowed against the ache in her throat. With  her baby. Her home. The man she loved. So completely happy.

But it had all been an illusion. Vin baiting his trap.

She had to get out of here.

Scarlett's heart pounded as she stood alone in the darkness in front of  the palazzo. Down the street, she saw a taxi coming her direction. She  could flag it down. She could rush to the villa, grab Nico and  disappear. She knew how. She'd done it before.

Her heart pounded as she watched the taxi draw closer. The thought of  leaving Vin, even now, and also separating him from the baby he loved,  filled her with anguish.

She tried to steel herself. She told herself she had no choice. She raised her hand to flag down the taxi.

Freedom. For her entire childhood, freedom had been her rallying cry. She had to follow her dream-

Scarlett remembered the look on her father's face the day she turned  eighteen and told him she'd given up her dreams of college and ever  settling down. With tears in his eyes, he told her that after all their  years on the run, he was turning himself in.   





 

"What about freedom?" she'd cried.

"We were never free," he'd said quietly. "Not once. I made a horrible  mistake, Scarlett. I was a coward. Running away all these years, I  ruined your life, and your mother's. But no more. You will be free now."  He'd taken a deep breath. "I'm doing this so you'll be free."

"Signorina?"

The taxi driver was looking at her impatiently through his open window.

Scarlett stared at him. Then, lowering her arm, she slowly shook her head. Numbly, she watched the taxi drive off.

She'd run from Vin before. If she ran now, kidnapping her innocent baby  from his father, starting life as a fugitive, she wouldn't be following a  dream of freedom. Not when her only idea of real freedom was to have  family, stability and a real home.

"Scarlett!"

Her shoulders tightened at Vin's angry voice behind her. With a deep breath, she turned to face him.

He stopped in front of her as gentle snowflakes flurried softly to the  sidewalk in the dark, cold night. "There's no point in running away," he  said quietly. "The postnuptial agreement gives total control of our  baby's future to me. And since I know you'll never be parted from him-"  he reached out to caress her cheek "-that gives me total control over  you."

For a second, she shook with fear, with regret, with rage. Then she remembered the one thing she still had.

Love.

With a deep breath, she lifted her chin, looking straight into his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here."

Vin looked surprised. Then he caught himself and glared at her. "Good-"

"But I'm not going to let you push me around." She put her hand over  his. "I love you, Vin. And you love me. That was the whole reason for  this, wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're afraid to love me."

He dropped his hand with a snort. "Afraid."

"Yes, afraid. So you tried to create a wall between us." She stepped  closer, until she could see the white of her breath mingle with his in  the faint light. She could see the snowflakes that had fallen in his  dark hair and eyelashes. "But I'm not going to let you do it. We love  each other. We belong together."

"You signed it. There's nothing you can do now."

"You're wrong." Reaching up, she gently caressed his rough cheek and whispered, "I can call your bluff."

His eyes widened, and he staggered back.

"You won't hurt me," she said. "You can't. Because you love me. And I love you."

"Stop saying that-" he said hoarsely. He clenched his hands at his  sides, then turned on his heel, stalking back into the palazzo, leaving  Scarlett standing alone on the sidewalk on the dark, quiet street.

She turned her face toward the snowflakes, relishing the feel of them, soft and cold, against her overheated skin.

She had to be right. She had to be.

If she was wrong...

Scarlett heard heavy footsteps behind her. Had Vin already returned to  tell her he'd changed his mind about the postnuptial agreement? Filled  with hope, she turned.

But it wasn't her husband. The scruffy-looking homeless man from the corner now stood before her.

Confused, she drew back. "Can I help you?"

The man was dressed badly, his face lumpy. But when he smiled, she  suddenly choked out a gasp as she recognized his face beneath the dirt.

"Yes, Scarlett." Blaise Falkner's eyes looked crazy above his evil smile. "You can."



As Vin entered the palazzo, his whole body felt tight, his hands  clenched at his sides. He didn't even know where he was going. He just  felt sick inside. Panicked. Like he had to either fight or run.