Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
The silence is eerie, amplified by the prickling of awkwardness already coating my skin.
I hover by the desk for a few minutes, certain someone will eventually come out. When no one does, I clear my throat.
“Hello?”
My greeting bounces back to me, my request for help unanswered.
I wait a little longer. When the emptiness of the space homes in on me, I pace down the corridor toward the procedural rooms. My shoes squeak on the gleaming surface, and each shriek makes me feel more and more like an intruder.
When I walk by closed doors, memories of my last visit steamroll back in. The nerves, the paper gown, and the sterile scent I thought I’d never scrub from my skin bombard me.
Partway down, I hear voices. They’re muffled at first. Barely a low rumble. But the closer I get, the more one voice stands out. I’d know it anywhere.
Giovanni.
I freeze, and my breath catches halfway to my lungs. Turning around and retreating to Carlisle is tempting, but my feet root in place as my mind is caught between dread and something I refuse to name.
When the voice grows louder, against my better judgment, I press myself against the wall and listen intently. I shouldn’t care what has Giovanni so worked up he has to shout, but I do.
My concern is as insistent as my wish to see my mother grow old and has my feet refusing to budge for anything.
Even him.
12
GIOVANNI
I’m not a patient man, and today, my patience is stretched so thin it will snap at the slightest provocation. The head doctor’s office is suffocating. It’s too clean and lifeless not to deliver bad news with a fake smile and legally binding paperwork you signed without reading it.
I’m only here because someone couldn’t follow a simple instruction. I told them to cancel Valeria’s appointment, yet here I am, wasting time I could use teaching Valentina that I never back down when challenged.
I have a lead—finally. Valentina’s license was for a US address, but there was a card tucked in the bottom of her purse for a local pub. From what I gathered from the owner when I visited to ensure both he and his patrons know Valentina is off-limits for anyone, her shift begins in an hour.
I’m so close to winning this game of chase that I can taste it. I merely have to conquer this last obstacle first.
Dr. Di Petro’s droning monotone brings my attention back to the present. He hasn’t shut up for nearly half an hour. It’s mostly gobbledygook medical jargon that means nothing to me.
I hurry him along by tapping my foot and glancing arrogantly at my watch. Nothing works, so I glare at him, silently announcing he has five minutes to get to the point or I’ll bring my gun to the party.
I have stalking to do. That doesn’t wait for anyone.
The good doctor would already be dead if he weren’t a close friend of my father’s. That’s how infuriated I become when someone doesn’t follow my direct order. I won’t just take down the fool responsible for the mishap. Anyone associated with him will also endure the brunt of my wrath.
“Stop wasting my time and state your business. I don’t have all day.” I lean forward and glare at the doctor sternly enough for the tremor of his hands to be visible from across his desk. “We won’t know if the embryo transfer was successful for another five to ten days, so why the fuck did you call us in early? If it’s to apologize again for not heeding my request to cancel the procedure, it’s too late. The harm has already been done.”
Valeria, seated beside me, scoffs as if disgusted. The doctor doesn’t pay her any attention. His focus is solely on me. “Signor Caruso, there was a mix-up on the day of the procedure.”
“And?”
His face pales. “The sperm you donated months ago, to be placed into Valeria’s eggs… there was a mistake. They were placed into someone else.”
I don’t understand what he’s saying. I’m not stupid. His confession is just tainted with too many murky undertones to be comprehensible.
Then, slowly, the meaning of his words sinks in.
My child—the blood and legacy of my family—is out there in someone else. Not Valeria as per our contract and the woman my family expects. Someone else.
The mind swirls as my vision narrows. “You’re telling me”—my voice is dangerously calm but loud—“that a Caruso could be born outside the family? That my child, the fucking heir to my fortune, is in the stomach of a stranger?”
The doctor nods as his eyes widen with fear. “We’re so sorry, Signor Caruso. It was an administrative error. We’re doing everything we can to rectify—”
“Rectify?” I cut him off, my temperature rising. “How do you rectify something like this? This isn’t a missed appointment or a lost file. This is my family. My fucking blood. This is the Caruso name. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”