Rieta stops dead in my bedroom doorway. “Wow, you’re glowing.”
“I know,” I mutter in annoyance, slapping my cheeks and scowling at my reflection in the dresser mirror. “This is terrible.”
It’s the afternoon of Mom’s stupid party, and I’m wearing the oyster chiffon dress Mom picked out for me. I styled my hair plainly and barely applied any makeup. I thought I’d look like shit, considering how badly I’ve been sleeping, but my complexion seems lit from within.
I swish my hair around my face in an unflattering way, but it’s no use. I’m radiant.
Rieta’s mouth twitches. “Been, uh, well satisfied lately?”
I shoot her an annoyed look. “Rieta, please.”
“That’s a yes.”
It sure is a yes. Laz has been finding creative ways and places to get me off. If the man Fabrizio brings as my suitor falls to his knees and begs for my hand in marriage at first sight, it will be all my lover’s fault.
Laz himself appears behind Rieta in a black shirt and black pants. He absolutely refused to wear a suit, but Mom pestered him into a button-down. He looks absolutely delicious.
My sister gives him a knowing smile and says, “I’ll wait downstairs.”
She’s driving us to the venue as she’s decided she’s not drinking anymore while she’s trying for a baby. Mom’s already there, so there’s just me and Laz upstairs.
Laz gives a low whistle as he walks slowly toward me. “Bambi, you look drop-dead gorgeous.”
“It’s ridiculous. I should look how I feel, which is like crap.”
His brows draw together in concern. “You feel sick?”
I rub the heel of my hand across my belly and grimace. “Yeah. This party is stressing me out. I haven’t been able to eat much all week because I’m nervous.”
“You’ve got nothing to worry about. Just be your beautiful self and I’ll handle everything.”
“You can’t stop Mom from pushing some man at me.”
“Oh, yes, I can.” His hand drifts up my ribs and he squeezes my breast. I gasp in pain and pull away.
“Shit, sorry. Bambi. Are you sore? Are you getting your period?”
Short of punching my suitor in the face and marching him out of the party, I don’t know what Laz can do about him. “I guess. I think I’m late, actually.”
“You are? How late?”
I grab a lipstick and shove it in my clutch. Why does my head feel so cloudy? I wish I could crawl back in bed for a nap. “A few days, I guess. I didn’t even get my period last month. I heard that you can miss your period if you’re stressed and I’ve not been sleeping well lately. Even when I do sleep, I’m so tired the next day.”
I should go to the doctor in case my prescription is messing with me and I need a different one. I expect Laz to berate me for not taking care of myself, but for some reason he cups my face with both hands and kisses me with passion.
A craving for this man sweeps over me. I didn’t realize how badly I needed a kiss like this. When he pulls away, I ask, “What was that for?”
Laz smooths my hair back, panting slightly as he gazes down at me. “Because you’re beautiful. Now, come on. Let’s get this stupid party over with.”
We arrive at the venue twenty minutes later and park. Mom’s rented a room with an enormous terrace, and a long table is set for fifty people. Everyone important in the Bianchi and Rosetti families is here.
I glance at the trays of champagne, wondering if I can get away with swiping one. I probably could, but my stomach threatens to rebel, so I ask at the bar for a sparkling water and lemon instead.
One of my uncle’s wives corners me and begins aggressively singing the praises of the man I’m going to meet today. Meanwhile, across the room, Laz appears relaxed as he lounges against a pillar chatting with Mom’s eldest nephew.
Mom appears at his side and takes his hand, and calls to the guests that it’s time to eat.
Laz stares at her hand holding his. Suddenly, he lifts his head and raises his voice. “Actually, I have an announcement to make before we eat.”
Mom looks at him in surprise.
My guts suddenly knot.
Everyone in the room turns their attention to Laz and the room falls silent.
My lover gazes slowly around at the crowd. “When I married Giulia, my brothers hoped it would mean their wild baby brother would finally settle down.”
There’s a smattering of polite laughter, but none of it’s from Laz’s brothers. Fabrizio narrows his eyes. He clearly wasn’t expecting or desiring Laz to make a speech.
“All my brothers, especially Faber, have been hoping that I’ll become a father. Okay, I’ll admit it didn’t appeal to me at first.” Laz smiles disarmingly at the crowd, and there’s more polite laughter. “But I’ve come around to the idea, thanks to one special woman, and I want everyone to know that I’m ready. I want a family of my own.”
Rieta shoots me a confused look and edges closer to whisper, “He’s planning on staying with Mom? Mom’s having his baby?”
The sick feeling in my stomach quadruples and my hands start to sweat. My soul feels like it’s being crushed beneath an unrelenting weight. Laz swore all this time that they weren’t having sex. He promised.
Mom smiles up at him, confused but pleased. She’s seeing her husband in a whole new light. He’s attentive. He’s taking charge. She practically purrs, “Darling, I’m so pleased to hear you talking this way.”
Heartbroken tears sting my eyes.
A handful of people step forward and start congratulating the happy couple.
Mom laughs and waves them off. “Don’t congratulate us. There’s no baby on the way just yet.”
Laz’s eyebrows lift in surprise. “What are you talking about, Giulia? The baby will be here soon. In about eight months, in fact.”
The smile drops from Mom’s face. “But I’m not pregnant yet.”
“No, you’re not.” Laz’s gaze swings to me, trying to disappear on the other side of the room. “But Mia is. Mia’s having my baby.”
My world contracts to a shocking pinpoint.
Confused heads turn to stare at me.
I’m what?
I stare at Laz across a sea of people. His handsome face is calm and his expression steady. My stomach is pitching back and forth like a ship on high seas, and the sparkling water and lemon has turned sour in my mouth.
Come to think of it, everything’s tasted weird lately, and my stomach has been so upset, but that’s because of nerves. It couldn’t possibly be because I’m . . .
Sore breasts.
Missed periods.
Tired.
Nauseated.
And yet I’m glowing.
I start shaking my head and backing away, but I run into a pillar.
It’s not true.
It can’t be true.
The silence is broken when Mom rips her hand from Laz’s and screams. No words, just a long, angry shriek.
Uncle Tomaso appears at my side and grabs my wrist, squeezing painfully. “Is this true? What have you got to say for yourself, you shameful whore?”
“Don’t you dare talk to the mother of my child that way,” Laz growls, pushing through the crowd toward us. “You have anything to say, you say it to me.”
Suddenly everyone is talking. Exclaiming. Gesticulating.
I’m trapped in a nightmare.
“I have a question,” Laz shouts over the din, and everyone slowly falls silent. “My brothers were so desperate for me to marry into the Bianchi family. What I want to know is, why I wasn’t offered Mia in the first place.”
Uncle Marzio and Uncle Roberto exchange glances. Marzio frowns and replies, “We didn’t think of Mia.”
Laz stares around at everyone, his eyes glittering. “That’s the problem with this family. No one ever thinks of Mia. I don’t understand why none of you even considered her when she’s closer to my age. Did you know she’s funny as well? That she’s clever? She’s got a witty comeback for everything. She drives like a goddamn demon, and you know what else? She’s beautiful, and I’m in love with her.”
Laz turns slowly on the spot, gazing into the astonished faces of his family and mine.
“Is it such a shock that anyone could love Mia?”
No one replies.
“You can all tell yourselves that this is some scandal or mistake, but it’s not going to change anything. Mia’s mine, and she’s having my baby. You can all drink your wine, eat your canapés, and go to hell.”
He stalks over to me and takes my hand, and the anger melts from his face. With a tender expression in his eyes, he murmurs softly, “You okay, Bambi?”
I stare at my hand in his, hyperaware that everyone’s watching us. “I’m not pregnant.”
“I’m pretty sure you are,” he replies.
“I can’t be. I’m on birth control.”
“Yeah, about that.” Laz pushes his tongue into his cheek like he’s ashamed about something, but he ruins it by smiling. There’s not a trace of honest regret in his handsome face. Actually, he seems pretty damn pleased with himself.
“I may have messed with your birth control.”
I remember how Laz reacted when he found out I was on the pill. He immediately started hunting through my things in search of the prescription, and he wanted me to give it up right there and then. Ever since, he’s been obsessed with coming inside me every time we have sex. He actually stops blow jobs so he can finish in my pussy, and then he stays there. Keeping his cum inside me. It’s not a fetish.
It’s a goddamn tactic.
“You did what?” I say in a low and deadly voice.
Laz has been watching me like a hawk for weeks and repeatedly asking how I’m feeling. It didn’t strike me as odd at the time.
“The packets are fake. All sugar pills.”
“You sabotaged my birth control and didn’t tell me? I’m pregnant, and I didn’t even know it?” I shove his chest with both hands. “I might have gotten drunk. I could have done cocaine.”
Laz reaches for me, but I shrug out of his grip. “Bambi, you don’t do coke—”
I clench both my hands into fists and scream at the top of my lungs, “That’s not the point. The point is you did this behind my back. You are unbelievable, Lazzaro Rosetti!”
“Take it easy, Bambi. It’s not good for the baby.”
I scream again.
His baby.
I’m carrying his goddamn baby.
This was the plan he was hinting about these past few months. I cover my face with my hands, wishing I could disappear. Laz reaches for me once more, but I pull myself out of his grip.
“We are not okay, asshole. Don’t follow me.”
“Bambi, please—”
He tries to take my hand again, but Rieta steps in front of him, an angry lioness staring him down. “She said don’t follow her.”
Over her shoulder, Mom is staring at me, white-faced and her hands clenched. Actually, everyone is staring at me, and I want to shrivel up and die.
Rieta grabs my hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
I keep my head down and let her lead the way. As soon as we burst out into fresh air, I gasp, “I need a pregnancy test.”
“I’ve got plenty. I’ll take us to my place.”
On the drive there, I keep picturing the way Mom looked just now. “Did you see Mom’s expression? She looked like she wanted to kill me.”
Rieta shakes her head. “That’s not fair. You obviously didn’t know he was going to announce it like that.”
“I didn’t even know there was a possibility I could be pregnant. I’m on birth control! Or I thought I was. Laz messed with my pills.”
“He did what?” Rieta looks as outraged as I feel. “You’re eighteen years old. You’re still his stepdaughter. What was he thinking?”
“What was he thinking? What was I thinking? I was screwing my stepfather.”
Rieta is silent a moment while she drives. “I thought the two of you were kind of romantic, like Romeo and Juliet. I knew it would be a load of drama when the time came for everyone to find out about the two of you, but I didn’t think Laz would go out of his way to make it as hurtful and dramatic as possible. Why did he do it that way?”
I scrub both my hands over my face. “I can guess. If I’m pregnant, Mom can’t drive a wedge between the two of us. He’s fulfilling his promise to his brothers to settle down and have a family. They’ll put pressure on Mom to divorce Laz so we can make this Rosetti baby legitimate and then they’ll finally hand over his inheritance.”
It’s a good plan.
The only problem is that I hate it.
At Rieta’s house, she leads me upstairs to the bathroom and hands me a pregnancy test and explains how to use it.
I close the door behind me and take the test, and then leave it on the vanity, face down, to develop. “You can come back in.”
Rieta opens the door, and we stand side by side waiting for the results.
“If you are pregnant . . .” she begins.
I tip my head back and moan. “I’ll kill him.”
“I know you’re angry, but if you think about it, this could actually be wonderful. You love him. He loves you.”
There’s so much hope in my sister’s face. I can tell she’s already half in love with the idea of me having Laz’s baby. “But he tricked me. This isn’t how it was meant to be.”
Her face falls, and she nods. “I understand. Sorry, I’m baby crazy right now. I’m not thinking straight.”
I reach out and take her hand. I wish with all my heart it was her test we were waiting on. That these were her pregnancy symptoms and her loving husband who was possibly going to be a father.
“Shall we look?” Rieta asks, and even though she’s trying not to hope, she’s practically crossing her fingers and bouncing on her toes.
I take a deep breath.
And flip over the test.
