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)
“Then what happened? Why are you crying?”
Her wet eyes shifting between the doctor and the paperwork Valeria dumped on his desk swirls something inside me. It isn’t the carnage and brutality I’m accustomed to. It’s hope.
What the fuck?
Gradually, the situation becomes clear. The timing of our reunion, her confession that she had a procedure done that would keep her safe from pregnancy for a month, and the name the doctor used when trying to calm down Valeria. It all makes sense.
I stare at Valentina as my thoughts race away on me.
Could it be?
Is it possible?
Valeria’s distraught accusation answers my unvoiced questions. “It’s her.” The rattle of her sob reminds me that she’s still in my arms. “She’s the woman carrying our child.”
I stumble backward, shocked. My child, a direct descendant of the Caruso legacy, is growing inside the woman I am obsessed with.
I couldn’t have planned this better if I had tried.
13
VALENTINA
The clinic’s air turns suffocating when my dazed head translates Valeria’s wildly inaccurate accusation. “She’s the woman carrying our child.”
I’m overcome with shock. Then denial sets in. Her words can’t be for me. I’m not pregnant. I attended the clinic to sell my eggs, hoping I’d scrape together enough money to extend my mother’s life beyond the two to three months the medical professionals had given her, not to become the center of someone else’s tragedy.
I glance behind me, confident the once-desolate waiting room now houses another body.
Only the ghosts of karma remain.
When I return my focus front and center, the doctor gestures for me to enter the office next to the one I’m frozen in front of, clutching the bag I hurriedly packed as if it is a shield.
“We can talk in there.” His gaze bounces between Giovanni and Valeria, anticipating they’ll get the message and let him pass.
Giovanni doesn’t budge an inch. He plants himself beside me, folds his arms over his chest, and sets his jaw. His narrowed gaze expresses the words he doesn’t need to speak.
He isn’t going anywhere… and neither am I.
Valeria’s eyes are red-rimmed, yet she remains as obstinate as Giovanni. “If she’s carrying my child, I have every right to be here.”
I stare at her, bewildered. “I have no idea what you are talking about. I’m not pregnant. I didn’t come here for IVF. I…” My words trail off as shame swamps me. I honestly don’t know what makes me want to crawl under a pillow and die more. Selling my eggs for profit or being confronted by Giovanni’s big fat lie again in less than twenty-four hours.
I face the doctor with a look that asks him to corroborate my statement. He hesitates, peers at me in sympathy, then murmurs, “I understand this is overwhelming, Ms. Raimondi, but if you will give me the chance to explain, perhaps you won’t be so bewildered.”
“The chance to explain what?” I abandon all pretense of doctor–patient confidentiality when he looks at Giovanni and Valeria with weary resignation. “Say what you need to say. I’ve got nothing to hide.” Except my shameful face.
It’s astonishing that out of all the people in the world, two of the most glamorous people will learn about my desperation.
Valeria is crying but still possesses an air of sophistication. And don’t get me started on Giovanni or I’ll expose his adulterous ways with more than my fists. I’ve never wanted to kiss the arrogance off someone’s face as intently as I do right now.
Why does he look so cocky? It makes no sense.
Giovanni’s eyes never leave mine, and Valeria’s stare is heavy with distress when the doctor clears his throat before he begins to speak. “There was a mix-up. A junior associate confused your file with another patient’s. Instead of retrieving your eggs for donation, he prepared you for an embryo transfer.” The world spins following his next words. “The embryos created from Mr. Caruso’s sperm and Ms. Raimondo’s eggs were implanted in you.”
Despite not being able to see my reflection, I’m aware my face lacks color. My soul vanished along with the blood in my cheeks many minutes ago.
“No,” I whisper. “This can’t be right. I didn’t agree to this. This isn’t what I signed up for. I was to donate eggs, not have them put inside me.”
The doctor’s professional demeanor collapses with regret. “I know, and I’m so sorry. The associate misread the schedule. He saw your name and mistook it for Ms. Raimondo’s. The similarity in names and the pressure must have become too much. He didn’t double-check, and as such, he followed the protocol for an embryo transfer instead of an egg retrieval.”
Valeria rocks on her heels as her entire body shakes. “So it’s true. My eggs and Giovanni’s sperm are inside her?”
When the doctor nods, face abundant with regret, I stumble into his office and sit on the first chair I see, my legs too weak to support me.