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)
And I’ll kill anyone who tries to convince her otherwise.
24
VALENTINA
Reluctant to surface from a dream I don’t want to leave, I wake slowly. The sheets are soft against my skin. They feel like silk spun from clouds and scream wealth. However, my limbs are heavy and sluggish. A week of indulgent comforts has softened me. My muscles ache. Not acutely, but in that dull, throbbing way that makes you crave more.
More movement.
More exhaustion.
More him.
I toss the covers off and stretch my arms overhead until my ribs groan. My stretch is slow and deliberate, and in seconds, it coaxes life back into tired limbs and brings a smile to my face.
For the past seven mornings, I’ve done the same routine. Though this is the first time I’ve woken up without Giovanni’s piercing gaze watching me as I sleep.
His possessiveness would concern me if it didn’t come with a heap of benefits. The past week has been wonderful. Giovanni and I spend every waking moment together, even the hours I’m at my mother’s bedside, and Mom messages every morning to assure me she’s well-rested. She also calls every evening at 6 to uphold her pledge, even if we’ve only just left her hospital room.
Her new medical team is skilled in the downfalls of her cancer, and although it’s still early days for her new treatment program, her prognosis is already showing signs of improvement. Her upbeat mood likely stems from Aunt Maria giving her all the gossip on how the one percent live rather than a Posturepedic mattress, but any progress is welcome.
Aunt Maria thought the market stallholders had the hot takes on the locals. They have nothing on the doorman at Carlisle’s most expensive building.
With my muscles loose enough to play another game of naked Twister, I sink deep into the mattress and sigh. I can’t believe it’s been only seven days. It feels like weeks. Months, even. It’s hard to remember a time when Giovanni wasn’t a part of my life. It’s as if he’s always been a part of the mess, which is both strange and scary.
I have no desire to question it, though. Everything is finally falling into place, and I was taught not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Those worries can wait until we can be in each other’s presence longer than ten minutes without mauling each other.
Fingers crossed that’s many moons away.
Smiling, I squint through the soft morning light filtering through the sheer curtains to collect my phone from the bedside table. I’ve only just scanned a good-morning text from my mother when I sense a presence. It prickles my skin with awareness, though it’s not the excited goose bumps I get when I sense Giovanni’s presence a second before I see him. It fills me with dread.
When I snap my gaze to the corner of the room, the air is sucked from my lungs. Valeria is standing next to a dresser, trailing her manicured nails across the trinkets arranged there. They’re not random pieces. They are the items Giovanni collected for me when he met with the construction crew supervisor rebuilding and remodeling my mother’s building.
He didn’t want them to get ruined. That’s how thoughtful he is and how far he’ll go to make sure I’m comfortable in his domain.
Initially, I opposed his plan to have the building remodeled. My thoughts only changed when he explained the local council would fund the rebuild. Apparently, the building citations they’ve issued over the past several years were illegal, thus not only giving the residents plenty of grounds to sue, but they were also entitled to a seven-figure refund.
All the residents agreed that the money go into saving one of Carlisle’s oldest buildings.
She’ll be a grand majesty once she’s finished, and it is all thanks to the Caruso family.
The reminder keeps me calm when my guest rummages through my things uninvited.
“Valeria…” My voice is rough with sleep but assertive enough to carry my displeasure of her unexpected snoop. “What are you doing?” When I push up on my elbows, the bedding pools around my waist. “Why are you in my room?”
Her slow turn reveals an icy expression. “We need to talk.”
“About?”
She picks up a small box and inspects it as if it’s a piece of evidence in a murder trial. “The IVF mix-up.”
I recoil as air rushes out of my lungs in a hurry. I’d completely forgotten the reason behind my reunion with Giovanni. Everything’s been so perfect that the clinic’s erroneous mistake slipped into the void at the back of my head.
Though I’d prefer it to stay there, now that it’s back, it is impossible to ignore.
“I…” A knot of anxiety forms in my throat. “What about it?”
Valeria’s smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Giovanni thinks you’re pregnant.”
My pulse spikes. Pregnant. It sounds foreign, like it doesn’t belong to me.