His Forbidden Heir

Chapter 2

DANTE

She was thirty minutes late.

I stood by the Bean sculpture, watching tourists take selfies, while my blood pressure climbed. Aria Romano. The woman who had disappeared from my bed like smoke. The woman now wearing Marco Valenti's ring.

The woman pregnant with my child.

I'd killed men for less than the disrespect she'd shown me six weeks earlier—leaving without a name, without a number, like I was some one-night stand she could forget. But when I'd woken to empty sheets and her scent still on my skin, I'd felt something I hadn't felt in ten years.

Loss.

"Boss." Luca, my second, approached. "She's here. Northeast corner, near the bridge."

I spotted her immediately. Jeans and a leather jacket, sunglasses hiding those green eyes, trying to blend in. She didn't. Women like Aria never did—there was something about her that demanded attention, even when she was trying to disappear.

I took my time walking over. Let her sweat. Let her remember who was in control.

She saw me coming and straightened, chin up. Defiant even now.

"You came," I said.

"I shouldn't have." She glanced around nervously. "If Marco finds out—"

"Marco won't find out. Unless you want him to." I stepped closer. "Is it mine?"

"I don't know what you're—"

"Don't." My voice cut like glass. "I've had you followed since last night. You visited a clinic this morning. Prenatal vitamins. So let's skip the lies."

Color drained from her face. "You had me followed?"

"Answer the question."

"Yes." The word came out broken. "It's yours."

Hearing her confirm it did something to me. Something primal and possessive that I'd thought I buried years ago. "Then you're not marrying Valenti."

She laughed—sharp, bitter. "I don't have a choice."

"There's always—"

"Don't say there's always a choice!" Her voice rose, then dropped when people looked. "You don't know what it's like. My father owes them two hundred thousand. The kind of debt you pay with blood if you can't pay with cash. Marco offered to clear it, give my father a job, set me up for life. All I have to do is marry him and smile pretty."

"And carry another man's baby?"

She flinched. "I'll figure it out."

"How? You think Marco won't notice when the timeline doesn't add up?" I moved closer, crowding her space. "Or maybe you're planning to get rid of it."

"No." Her hand went to her stomach, protective. "I would never—"

"Then what's your plan, Aria?"