by Amy Ruttan
“Money is not everything.” She didn’t like Dante’s father at all and now she understood why he didn’t like his father much either.
“Then why did you marry him?”
“To give my child a father.”
Marco snorted. “Do you know why he married you?”
“For our child.”
He shook his head. “For money.”
“I don’t have any money. I work for the United World Wide Health Association. I’m not in it for the money. Your son helps people as well and he doesn’t get paid astronomical amounts.”
Marco grinned deviously. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Her stomach twisted in a knot. She didn’t like the way this conversation was going; she should just leave, but she couldn’t move.
“He only married you to keep his trust fund. Dante and his brother have to marry by the time they’re thirty-five and produce an heir from that marriage in order to keep their inheritance. If they don’t, then they lose it all. It goes back to me. All their mother’s dowry, which she left in trust to those boys, becomes mine again.”
Her heart was crushed. She knew there was a reason why he’d been so insistent that they marry, but she didn’t want to believe it.
She wanted to believe better about him.
“Shay, your father will come back. I believe in him. He’s a better man than you give him credit for.”
It was the douse of cold water she needed.
She fled Marco’s room, tears threatening to spill.
She had to find Dante.
She had to find out if it was true, or whether his father was just being cruel.
Only deep down a little voice told her what she already knew.
And she was angry at herself for letting her guard down.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I’VE BEEN TRYING to get a hold of you for days. Where have you been?” Dante asked as Enzo answered his phone.
“Working,” Enzo said quickly, and Dante sensed there was something more going on, but he didn’t have time to pry at the moment. “What do you need, Dante?”
“Father came into the emergency room with a laceration to his right forearm.”
There was silence on the other end. Then Enzo cleared his throat. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“I said the last things I needed to say to him.” Dante snorted. “He’s not changed one bit, has he?”
“I don’t think that he’ll ever change, to be honest.” Enzo sighed. “How did he get the laceration?”
“I never did find out. All he said was that it was a minor altercation,” Dante said. “I just stitched him up. He told me my marriage is doomed and I left. I’ll have to go back and discharge him soon. Especially before Shay runs into him.”
Enzo was quiet on the other end. “He said your marriage was doomed?”
“He’s not wrong,” Dante said. “He said all Affini men were doomed.”
“Damned might be more appropriate,” Enzo groused.
Dante grunted in response. “I have to find Shay. I have to tell her about the trust fund and Olivia.”
“I already know,” she said.
Dante spun around to see Shay standing in the doorway, her eyes moist with unshed tears and her arms crossed. “I have to go, Enzo.” And he disconnected the call.
“It’s true?” she asked, coming into the room and shutting the door behind her.
“What were you told?”
“Your father told me that you married me only to keep your trust fund from reverting to your father. You married me because the baby guaranteed that the money, the land would be yours. And he filled me in on your exact acquaintance with Olivia, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m not like her and I’m sorry if you think that I was when I first showed up. I understand your distrust.”
“You met my father?” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry you had to meet him.”
“He wasn’t exactly pleasant,” Shay said. “And didn’t seem too thrilled about the prospect of the baby. Of course, now I know why. You’re taking money out of his pocket.”
“Is that what he told you?” Dante asked.
“Are you denying it?”
“No, but we need to talk about this calmly. For the baby.”
“Calmly?” she asked, tears in her eyes. It hurt his heart knowing that this was hurting her. He didn’t want her to get worked up. She was too fragile.
“Shay...” He tried to hold her, but she moved away from him.
“Tell me,” she said.
It’s for the best. Tell her the truth.
“Sì. That is why I married you. It’s my thirty-fifth birthday soon and our marriage put a stop to my father taking away the vineyard and the Lido villa until an heir, our baby, was born.”
She shook her head. “Why did you hide this from me? Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
“Would you have married me?”
“No. Probably not.” She sighed. “My parents were forced to get married and my mother loved my father. Dearly, but he didn’t return those feelings. It broke her heart. She just pined for him until the day she died. I don’t want that. I never want that.”
“Well, why did you marry me, then?” he asked. “Did you think that this could possibly lead to something more? You reminded me yourself just this morning that this is a business arrangement.”
Shay winced as if she’d been slapped and he regretted the choice of words.
“I want my baby to know their father,” she said, her voice shaking. “I thought you...”
“Thought what?” Dante asked, trying to stay calm to keep her calm.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly.
“Then why are you angry for my reasons?”
“Because you don’t want this child. Not for the reasons I thought you did.”
“And for what reasons did you think I wanted this child?” he snapped. “You show up here pregnant, my one-night stand. What am I supposed to think? I’ve been used before, people after my money. People after my title.”
“I don’t want any of those things,” she said. “I never have. I’m not Olivia.”
“I find that hard to believe. You grew up with nothing. You’ve probably been dreaming of a knight in shining armor to take you away. To save you. Well, I’m not him.”
Shay glared at him. “I know you’re not him. I’m painfully aware of that fact.”
“So now you know the truth,” he said in exasperation. “The reason I wanted you to enter into a marriage of convenience with me for a year. I thought you understood the parameters to our marriage. Everything was laid out in the contract. I thought you understood that it couldn’t go further than this. I thought you didn’t want more, but I was wrong. You want more than I can give you.”
“I wish you would have told me the reason why you wanted the marriage.” Shay couldn’t even look him in the eye. “This is why...marriage just doesn’t work. Unless both people love each other. It just... It can’t work.”
“I can’t give you anything more,” he repeated.
“I don’t want more.” A tear slid down her cheek, but she held her head up high.
“Are you going to ask for an annulment?”
She shook her head. “No, I won’t let you lose your property. Especially to that man. I signed a contract. I’ll stay your wife. You’ll give my baby a name, but when my twelve weeks’ contract is up I’m leaving.”
“You can’t leave,” he said, but he felt terrible.
“Then give me a reason to stay,” she said.
Only he couldn’t, because he was too afraid.
He was a horrible
human being.
Why did he have to hurt her?
Because it’s for the best?
Only he wasn’t so sure about that.
“I’d better go,” she said. “I’m going to pack and move back to the United World Wide Health Association quarters.”
“What?” He stepped in front of her. “You don’t have to do that.”
“What’s the point of staying at the Lido?”
“We have to keep up at least the pretense of being married. If you move back into the United World Wide Health Association quarters, then people will know that our marriage is a sham or on the rocks and my father will put things in motion to take back the land.”
“What does it matter?” she snapped. “I’m not going to divorce you and the baby will be born. Who cares what the press thinks? Who cares what people think?”
“I do! I care. It’s my family name, but you wouldn’t understand about family, would you, since your own father didn’t want you?”
The sting of her hand slapping him burned, but he deserved it.
She pushed past him out into the hall and he stood there, holding his face. The feel of her palm still burned into his flesh and in that moment he realized his father had been right. He was exactly like him.
* * *
It had been two weeks since their fallout and it still tormented her. He never came back to the villa. She lived there alone and, even though she was used to being alone, without him it was lonely. She missed his arms around her at night, and then she was angry at herself for shedding tears over Dante. For missing him, when he clearly didn’t want her.
What did you expect? Love?
She’d thought he was different. She’d hoped he was different, but he wasn’t. He was exactly the same.
The same as his father, the same as her father. So she made up her mind. Her twelve weeks were done. She was going to leave and head back to New Orleans. The place she always returned to. The only home she knew, even if it wasn’t much of one.
Shay leaned against the wall, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall, and she cursed herself inwardly for letting herself fall in love with a man like her father. Something she’d always sworn she wouldn’t do, but she’d done it. And she realized that she was just like her mother.
The only difference was that she wasn’t going to pine away.
She was going to keep working.
She was going to make damn sure that she forgot about Dante Affini.
How can you forget about him when you carry a piece of him inside you?
Now she had to get up the courage to find him and tell him she was leaving. Contract or not, she was going back to New Orleans. Her baby wouldn’t be used as a pawn for a trust fund. A sharp pain stabbed her just under her navel and she cried out. She was getting too worked up. She was supposed to be taking it easy.
Part of her wished that she’d just headed to the Lido instead of trying to find Dante. If she’d headed back to the Lido after the run-in with his father, then she wouldn’t have heard from Dante’s own lips the real reasons why he’d married her. Wouldn’t have had it confirmed that he thought so little about her and the baby. That he’d just wanted the baby because the baby would ensure his inheritance.
Nothing more.
He didn’t love the baby and she realized that she would be giving her baby the same kind of father she grew up with. It truly was all about business.
The pain hit again and she doubled over; her heart began to race. She was dizzy and she felt as if she was going to be sick.
It’s stress. Just stress. You have a flight tomorrow you have to catch.
Only the pain hit once again, with a lightening of her belly, and she knew it was something more than just Braxton Hicks. She slid down the wall, crying as the pain overtook her body. She was down a hallway that wasn’t busy in the evening. A hall that was filled with offices that were closed. She was alone.
Oh, God. Don’t let my baby die.
“Shay? Oh, God, cara...”
She rolled her head to look down the hall. She could see Dante running toward her and, even though her heart had been broken by him, she’d never been so happy to see him.
He was kneeling beside her. “What’s wrong?”
“Pain” was the only word she could pant through the pain racking her body. The world was spinning and she brought her hand up from where she had been clutching her lower belly. There was bright red fresh blood on her palm.
“Oh, no,” she whispered. Red fresh blood was never a good sign in a pregnant woman.
She was only twenty-eight weeks along. It was too early to have her baby.
“Oh, God, cara, you’re bleeding.” She was scooped up into his arms. He was holding her close. “We’ll get you help, Shay. Please stay with me.”
“It’s too soon, Dante. Please help our baby. Please.”
She gripped the lapel of his white jacket, holding tight to him as her body attacked her. Shay knew what was going on: she was in premature labor. She’d seen it so many times in Third World countries. And if she was bleeding, that didn’t bode well for her or the baby.
Her labor was progressing so fast. Why was it happening to her? Was it punishment for entering into this sham of a marriage?
She had just seen Dr. Tucci two weeks ago.
All she wanted was for her baby to live. She couldn’t care less about herself. Her baby had to survive. Her baby needed a chance at life.
Dante carried her into the trauma bay. The largest trauma bay and she buried her head in his neck while the pain coursed through her body. She was scared that he’d brought her here. The largest room was saved for the direst situations. How did she go from being normal and healthy to critical?
“Help. Me.”
“I know, cara. I know.” Dante set her down on the examination table. “Someone page Dr. Tucci to Trauma, stat!”
He held her hand as the trauma nurses and residents began to fill the room.
As she stared up at him she found herself slipping away from him. In more than one way.
“Shay, please stay with me.”
She turned her head away as the nurses slipped on the oxygen mask. She couldn’t look at him. He was concerned only because the death of the baby meant that he would lose everything. All his land, his money.
He didn’t deserve to be in this room with her, but she couldn’t tell him to leave either, because he was the only familiar thing in this room. She didn’t like being on the other side of a trauma as she took deep breaths and tried to fight the urge to slip off.
Dr. Tucci came bursting into the room.
“I’ll be back,” Dante whispered in her ear. He went to speak to Dr. Tucci.
Shay tried to focus on what they were saying, but she couldn’t. Instead she closed her eyes and listened to the heart-rate monitor that they had on her belly. The baby’s heart rate was speeding up, but it was still there.
Her baby was still alive for the moment.
“We have to get her into an operating theatre now,” Dr. Tucci shouted above the din. “Dr. Affini, you have to leave. She’s your wife. You can’t be in there with her.”
“Husbands go into the operating theatre all the time when their wives have C-sections.”
“I don’t want... I don’t want him in there,” she managed to say from beneath the mask.
Dr. Tucci nodded at her. “Dr. Affini, please leave the bay.”
Dante looked back at her, but she looked away.
If he only wanted their baby for monetary reasons, then he had no right to be here with her while she was losing it. He had no right to share in the pain she was feeling.
“Shay, we’re going to put you under general anesthesia. It’s safer for you both. We have to move fast,” Dr. Tucci sa
id. “Do I have your consent?”
Shay nodded. “Yes. Please save us.”
And that was the last thing she could remember before the world went black.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ALL DANTE COULD do was watch the clock on the wall. That was all his mind would let him do, because he couldn’t let his mind wander to where it wanted to go. He couldn’t let it wander to down the hall where Dr. Tucci was trying to save Shay’s and his baby’s lives. It crushed his heart that he had pushed her away.
That he’d hurt her. Those two weeks apart had made him regret his harsh words.
All he could think about was earning her love back again and not knowing how, but he was going to try. Without her...his world spun out of control. It was colorless. There was no light. No sun.
And the way he’d hurt her to protect his heart sickened him.
That he was like his father.
You’re not your father.
He hid his face in his hands and tried to shake all the thoughts away. All those dark thoughts that were niggling away in the dark recesses of his mind.
The one that stuck out the most was that he’d failed Shay and the baby.
He’d absolutely failed them.
Don’t let them die.
It was a silent plea, but one that he was hoping wouldn’t fall on deaf ears.
Not today.
Lives were saved every day and he wanted to be there when Shay’s life was saved, because that was all he had to cling to at this moment.
Dr. Tucci came out of the surgical hall. Still in his scrubs. The grim expression on his face made Dante want to scream; his heart sank into the soles of his feet. Further. Into the depths of absolute despair as Dr. Tucci approached him.
“Please,” Dante whispered. “Please don’t tell me... Don’t tell me she’s gone. Please.”
Dr. Tucci sighed. “She survived, and so did the baby, but it’s not good. Shay lost a lot of blood. A lot. We hung a lot of packed cells.”
“What happened?” Dante asked.
“Placental abruption.” Dr. Tucci ran a hand over his bald head. “We never know when they’re going to happen. It can happen so fast. Just be thankful that it happened here in the hospital and we were able to get the baby out. Usually, by the time the women get here the baby has suffocated and the mother has bled to death.”
